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We are trying something new here at Juxtapose and as part of our usual CEO partnership announcement, we are excited to share more about that new initiative.
Building on our tried-and-true process of deep internal work, where we often invest years working to vet a business opportunity, perform user and product research, and determine the right partnership with an entrepreneurial operator, we are now introducing a pathway to selectively bring in other investors or strategic institutions at even earlier stages of our process.
We are calling these partnership-driven opportunities Co-Builds.
These Co-Builds not only stay true to our core philosophical principle — doing few things and doing them well — but in specific cases (and when done right) they truly bring additional acceleration and advantage to our traditional company-inception process. Our Co-Builds, like everything we traditionally dedicate time to, are focused on large-market spaces. They also similarly benefit from our deep expertise in user research and, as a matter of principle, will continue to only be brought to life in conjunction with a world-class entrepreneurial operator.
Today, we are excited to announce both our first Co-Build partner and the amazing entrepreneurial operator with whom we are working to jointly found the company.
Our inaugural Co-Build partner is Obvious Ventures. We have had a long-standing relationship with the senior-most team at Obvious, in particular managing director James Joaquin, a co-founder of the firm. Over his thirty-plus year career, James has assembled a unique track record and blend of experiences, not only investing in high-growth ventures but also in consumer-oriented incubation. Additionally, he has operated as a CEO for over a decade.
Obvious Ventures’ mutual conviction in the new venture’s opportunity space, and our complementary experiences as firms, was palpable from the initial conversation about jointly partnering here. We are thankful for the commitment and resources that James and Obvious Ventures have already invested to date.
We are also proud to announce that, after a year-long process of mutual vetting and establishing a working relationship, we have joined forces with Ken Chahine as the founding CEO partner for this new venture.
Dr. Ken Chahine is the type of entrepreneurial operator with whom we love working: a two time CEO with decades of operating experience, including his career-defining leadership role building Ancestry DNA and growing Ancestry.com. As the founder and founding general manager of Ancestry DNA, Ken built the consumer-meets-science business from scratch, taking it from zero to eventually the largest business unit and most profitable segment in the company. Ken’s unique depth of experience around healthtech product development combines scientific discovery, data and AI, as well as delightful consumer experiences, and is an ideal fit for this next opportunity.
Ken has also built and managed large multi-functional teams, and has a track record of scaling new businesses in deeply operationally complex environments: he developed the largest genomic lab testing supply chain and biorepository (that at its peak had a throughput of over 11 million samples a year), which led to a business that approached serving 10 percent of the entire United States population. Ken’s background as a scientist — with a doctorate at that! — and his legal training also serve him well in managing and building science-oriented businesses in highly regulated spaces.
We are honored to be partnering with Ken on this latest venture that sits at the juncture of telemedicine, the allergy value chain, and cutting-edge biology research. More to be shared on the venture in short order, but in the meantime: Welcome to the Juxtapose family Ken, James and the Obvious Ventures team. We are thrilled to be co-building here together!
