Dewpoint Therapeutics was founded five years ago, and today we are poised to ignite the science of biomolecular condensates into life-changing medicines. What started as just a handful of people working on an abstract scientific concept has transformed into a fully-fledged biotech with over 120 employees across three main sites on two continents.

I have been fortunate in my career to work for some of the most successful pharmaceutical companies, and to have experienced fascinating cultures in action. When I joined Dewpoint, an innovative start-up on the cusp of delivering truly revolutionary science, I knew that we had the opportunity to create a culture that was as flexible and unique as our science.

As we celebrate our 5th anniversary and reflect on our successes, I realized the five candles burning on our anniversary cake are symbolic of five cultural traits that we have worked hard to instill in our organization and that make ours a company where both science and people thrive.  

Candle 1: A deep sense of purpose 

Without exception, every member of the team is here because they passionately believe that our pioneering work with condensates will allow us to develop life changing treatments for some of the most devastating diseases. I see this belief every day, in the actions of team members who regularly go above and beyond their roles and during the engaging scientific discussions at the coffee machine. This belief stems from the passion of our founders, scientific pioneers who have instilled scientific curiosity into our DNA. 

Candle 2: Strong shared values 

Company values only resonate when every employee is willing to embrace them across all aspects of their work life every day. This is why we defined ours collaboratively with the full team. We refer to our four guiding values as “i to the power of 4” – because powered by these four values the power of each individual is multiplied exponentially.

Candle 3: Supportive environment 

Like many biotechs, we employ great people, offer a competitive package, beautiful workspaces, flexible time off and a fun packed social calendar. This makes for an engaging employee experience, but for each person and our science to truly thrive, we need an environment where the diverse ideas of every person are fully appreciated, where each employee is empowered to push limits – not scared of failing, where every person feels valued as their authentic self. To support this spirit throughout the organization we have promised every member of the Dewpoint team:

• A unique opportunity to be a part of a revolution in medicine working closely with condensate pioneers and global healthcare leaders;
• A thriving, diverse and multi-national environment, partnering with top global pharma companies;
• A genuine spirit of collaboration and learning to support their learning and growth;
• A culture of care and respect that fosters wellbeing and values the contribution of every team member.

Candle 4: Collaboration 

At Dewpoint we have always prided ourselves in our collaborative nature. Externally, this is most obvious from our partnerships with pharma and tech companies and academia. Inwardly we work hard to promote collaborative working across sites and teams, encouraging the cross fertilization of ideas. Organizationally, we take the sense of collaboration an extra step further, making sure that team members have the opportunity to input into key decisions. This deep-rooted ethos of collaboration gives the team a unique feeling of ownership and encourages us to build upon our personal and scientific goals. 

Candle 5: A willingness to adapt 

What has worked for us over the past five years might not be what we need to succeed over the next five. That is why the process of shaping our culture is ongoing. This summer we held our first all-employee cultural day – a cross site event that provided employees with a simple methodology to reflect on what was and wasn’t working for them. Through workshops, individual reflection time and, above all listening, we are fine tuning our processes and working methods to better suit the needs of our employees to achieve our goals. The process, as well as being hugely cathartic, allowed us to identify what is working and areas for improvement. We are already implementing many of the ideas our team members shared.  

With these five elements, we have built a culture that has supported significant scientific breakthroughs over the past five years, and that has also seen the individuals in our team thrive. I have no doubt that it is these same qualities that will continue to drive our success over the next five years as we move towards delivering on our purpose of developing life-changing treatments for some of the most devastating diseases. 

An article from Lori Escobedo, Dewpoint’s Chief People Officer