Starting Over at 40: My Journey from Academia to Entrepreneurship
tl;dr
From Academia to Entrepreneurship: Dr. Latchmi Raghunanan left a rigid academic career to thrive in the fast-paced world of startups, eventually founding Maman Biomedical.
A Personal Struggle Sparks Innovation: Her challenging experience with fertility treatments inspired her to develop advanced drug delivery technology to eliminate the need for daily injections.
Reinventing the Future: She encourages others to take risks, embrace unexpected opportunities, and build better systems when the existing ones fall short.
Hi there. I’m Dr. Latchmi Raghunanan, CEO and founder of Maman Biomedical. We’re an early-stage life sciences startup developing novel drug delivery technologies to eliminate the need for daily injections in treatments like infertility.
But my journey to this point didn’t start with Maman. It started long before that - before I even knew I’d end up here.
From Trinidad to Canada: Chasing a Dream, Then Questioning It
I’m a first-generation immigrant from the Caribbean - Trinidad and Tobago, to be exact. In 2011, I moved to Canada to pursue my PhD in Materials Science. At the time, I thought I had my future mapped out: a career in academia, teaching, and research.
But somewhere along the way, I started to realize that academia wasn’t what I thought it would be. I saw how rigid the system was, how difficult it was to create impact beyond publishing papers. But walking away from a path I had committed to for so long? That took time.
Jumping Into Startups: The First Leap
When I finally left academia 3 and a half years later, I walked straight into a UofT spinout startup founded by one of my closest friends from my own PhD days. And I thrived in this space. I brought all of my creativity and resourcefulness to get more done for less. I brought my industrial background and lessons picked up from my partner’s PMP expertise to implement structure and create roadmaps for vision execution. I spent the next four years growing within the space, learning how to navigate early-stage development, funding, and commercialization.
And then - I hit a wall. There was no more growth to be had. I had outgrown my role.
Turning 40 & The Mid-Life Crisis That Followed
By this time, I was turning 40. And I was nowhere near where I thought I should have been in my career - or life.
Cue the existential crisis.
Up until this point, I had put everything into my work. Thoughts of family had always taken a back seat to my career. Now, suddenly, I was questioning everything. What had I done with my life? What did I have to show for it? Had I made the right choices?
And that’s when I found myself on the other side of the healthcare system - not as a scientist, but as a patient.
From Patient to Founder: The Birth of Maman Biomedical
Fertility treatments are a brutal process - physically, emotionally, financially. I went through it firsthand and was shocked by how outdated and burdensome it was. Twenty injections in thirteen days. Twenty injections too many. All self-administered. Imagine the fights every night to take these injections - did you inject the right amount, are there air bubbles, did you inject it all the way in, did all get in, did we ruin the cycle.
And here’s what made it worse: in my years of research and work in drug delivery, I had seen firsthand the solutions that already exist in other therapeutic areas. The technology was there. It just wasn’t being applied to reproductive health.
So, I decided to change that.
That’s how Maman Biomedical came to be - born out of frustration, necessity, and the knowledge and confidence that I could do this.
What I’ve Learned Along the Way
Sometimes, you have to walk away from the plan. We’re told that career paths should be linear. They’re not. Reinventing yourself isn’t failure—it’s growth.
Opportunities come from unexpected places. I never thought I’d end up in startups, let alone founding one. But the best opportunities come when you’re willing to take a risk.
If the system isn’t working for you, build something better. Fertility care wasn’t designed with the patient experience in mind. But that doesn’t mean it can’t be.
Looking Ahead
Maman Biomedical is still in its early days, but we’re building something that could change fertility care as we know it.
And for anyone reading this who’s wondering if they should take the leap—whether it’s leaving a career that no longer serves them, starting a company, or just betting on themselves—my advice? Do it. You don’t need permission. Just start.
