Anne Wojcicki of 23andMe on the “North Star” of Entrepreneurship

In 2006, when Anne Wojcicki cofounded 23andMe, she was driven in part by her belief that too many people had been intimidated for too long by science and math.  “All sorts of people can understand medicine and biology,” she told the packed audience at Startup Grind’s 2016 annual conference at the Fox Theatre in Redwood City.  “Anyone who has the right motivation can be engaged in science.”

In a frank onstage interview with The Atlantic’s Washington editor Steve Clemons on the second day of the conference, Wojcicki explained that some of her early drive came from watching her mother stand up to health care professionals and refuse to go along with others’ dictates.  She said that by the time she moved out on her own in her 20s, she thought it was almost normal to argue and sue people.  “My mother refused to be taken advantage of,” she said.  “It taught me to stand up for myself.”

23andMe’s mission is to help people access, understand, and benefit from the human genome.  Since 2006, the company has prompted more than one million people worldwide to learn about their genetic makeups, the better to understand their health risks and actively manage their medical futures.

The company’s approach has not been a favorite of health care professionals and the FDA. Wojcicki, who used to be married to Google cofounder Sergey Brin, said her goal is to take costs out of the healthcare system and reconfigure some of the ways healthcare and drugs are delivered.  “It’s not that physicians don’t have a role in the healthcare system,” Wojcicki said. “But it’s not a relationship that scales.”  She said it’s possible to create tools to help people research health conditions and inform themselves, consulting medical professionals only in acute situations or crises.  “We’re trying to drive a level of efficiency in the healthcare system,” she explained.

In addition to helping individuals take charge of their health, Wojcicki said, 23andMe also aims to use its aggregate health data to help forge new ways of developing therapeutics.  “Right now it costs billions to develop new drugs,” she pointed out.  “Human genetics is a much better starting ground than using research on mice.”  In a glimpse of where 23andMe may be heading, Wojcicki told the audience that the company had recently hired a former research and development executive from Genentech.

“People have to love what they do. I love what I do.  That’s how I can be so driven – because I really believe in the mission.”

For the Startup Grind audience, largely young and aspiring entrepreneurs, Wojcicki’s most insightful comments probably came in response to Clemons’ ending query about what, for her, represents the “North Star” of entrepreneurship.  Wojcicki said that she consistently sees two things as the foundation for being a successful entrepreneur.

“People have to love what they do,” she said.  “I love what I do.  That’s how I can be so driven – because I really believe in the mission.”

And, she added, you have to accept your failures. “You have to be comfortable with owning your bad decisions,” she said. “I’m constantly reevaluating what we’re doing, and to do that you have to recognize that you will fail a lot of the time.  That’s the only way you can build on what actually works.”