CDL Seattle Office Hour - Startup Speedbumps & the CDL Program
Are you building a Computational Health or Manufacturing startup? Join us for a dynamic 1-hour session hosted by Creative Destruction Lab – Seattle, where we bring together CDL Mentor Will Canestaro and Jason Fontana, CEO of alumni venture Wayfinder Biosciences, to dive into their experiences with the CDL program and discuss common problems faced by early-stage startups.
🧠 What to Expect
Fireside Chat with a CDL Mentor, Will Canestaro and CDL Computational Health Alum, Jason Fontana
Topics include:
Leveraging the CDL Network to Accelerate Growth
Wayfinder Bio's early-stage journey and how CDL helped.
Addressing Core Early-Stage Challenges
🎙️ Meet the Speakers
Will Canestaro, PhD
Venture Partner – Pack Ventures | Healthcare Lead – Pioneer Square Labs
Will is a venture capitalist, health economist, and meta-epidemiologist. He currently serves as Managing Director at the Washington Research Foundation, where he oversees a portfolio of biotech and engineering investments across 19 Washington-based companies. A lecturer at the UW School of Business and School of Pharmacy, Will is known for his deep expertise in health innovation and his ability to connect founders with the right people at the right time. He holds a PhD in Health Economics and Outcomes Research from the University of Washington and an MSc from the University of Oxford.
Jason Fontana, PhD
CEO – Wayfinder Biosciences
Jason is the co-founder and CEO of Wayfinder Biosciences, a CDL alumni venture building a biotechnology platform to discover RNA-targeting small molecules for cancer and neurodegenerative diseases. The platform integrates high-throughput fluorescence screening with machine learning to unlock drug development for previously undruggable targets. Jason completed his PhD in bioengineering at the University of Washington in the labs of James Carothers and Jesse Zalatan, where he developed next-generation CRISPR tools to optimize microbial biosynthesis. He also served as a leader in the Engineering Biology Research Consortium and stayed on as a postdoc to commercialize his research before launching Wayfinder with co-founder David Sparkman-Yager.
Live Q&A with Will, Jason and CDL Seattle Staff
Ask your questions live about your own early-stage startup, how to stand out in the CDL application process, or how to make the most of the program once you're in. Learn what top-performing ventures do to get the most value from CDL’s mentorship, student support, and investor network.
The deadline to apply for the 2025/26 CDL program here is fast approaching on July 25th!