Curing Cancer

1,626 people just invested $4.2M in Nicole Paulk and her Siren Biotechnology team, to try to cure cancer. Never have I been more proud to work for Wefunder.

Oct 21, 2025

Cancer is the second leading cause of death worldwide, with 10 million lives lost annually. 26,000 Americans will receive a brain cancer diagnosis this year, and the average survival for the most common form of brain cancer is 1 year. For the deadliest brain cancers, there are no effective therapies.

Enter Stage Right: Nicole Paulk, and her team at Siren Biotechnology.

A PhD in AAV Gene Therapy and Regenerative Medicine from Oregon Health and Science University, a Postdoctoral Fellow at Stanford University School of Medicine, and an Assistant Professor at UCSF, Nicole is the epitome of a startup founder. Bursting with relentless, positive energy, wicked smart, and ludicrously determined, I’ve had the pleasure of meeting 10,000 startup founders over the last decade. Nicole might be my favorite, ever. (And to the other 9,999… I love you guys too. Your blog posts are coming soon…).

Nicole and her team are piloting a new approach to fighting cancer. To quote from their Wefunder page:

“At Siren, we’re pioneering a revolutionary approach to treating cancer using an established gene therapy tool called adeno-associated virus (AAV).

AAV is a safe virus that acts like a microscopic mail carrier — delivering medicine directly where it’s needed.

It’s exceptionally skilled at delivering precise instructions to specific areas of the body and has been used for decades to successfully treat genetic blindness, muscular disorders, and a pediatric form of Parkinson’s disease.

Now, we’re using it to train the body’s immune system to find and destroy cancer.”

I’m not a scientist. And I’m not that smart. I did get three A*’s in my Chemistry, Physics and Biology GCSEs. But that was in the 20th century. Until 10 minutes ago, I thought AAV was a large insurance company.

But Founders Fund is a pretty legit VC to have on your cap table. And this guy seems smart. Both an MD and a PhD with experience in stem cell transplants, here’s his investor note from when he invested in Siren last week:

Scott Nolan. 100000000% better at “science” than Jonny Price

Last week, Siren Biotechnology concluded their Wefunder community round. They raised $4.2M from 1,626 investors.

Never have I been more proud to work at Wefunder.

Curing cancer is hard. And startups are hard. Investing in an early stage oncology startup is a risky investment. And these 1,626 investors might lose all their money. But this is what Wefunder is all about. As stated in our Public Benefit Corporation charter. And this is why I work for Wefunder.

To enable everyone — not just rich people — to invest in founders, companies, and causes they care about.

And to get more capital flowing to founders with the courage to tackle the biggest problems facing our world.

To quote directly from the investor update that Nicole wrote in the days after their community round concluded:

To read the full update, click here.

588 investment memos

To get a sense for the energy, and motivations, of the 1,626 people who invested in Siren over the last few months, here is but a tiny selection of the 588 investor notes on their page:

“Your business provides hope for the future for so many of us impacted by cancer!”

“I sure would like to see a cure for this horrible disease. I lost a very good friend to cancer.”

“My daugther had cancer. And I believe your way could solve it in a dramatically different way.”

“I am a 4-time cancer survivor, so this hits close to home (tho mercifully, with very early detetection and treatment except for the first one). But still. It’s great to finally see methodologies that focus on the immune system vs drugs! Our bodies can and should do it better than any pharmacological treatment.”

“Have close friends that had and have brain cancer. Love the opportunity to bring something to market that could help. It also looks like a great investment!”

“I lost a dear friend to cancer in August of last year. She was truly the best, amazing, caring, and giving and yet the world somehow dares to keep spinning in her absence. Your research could one day save someone in her situation, and I know she would want me to help support that.”

“My wife died of cancer and I want to fund tools to beat cancer.”

“I am a Cancer survivor.”

“As a physician assistant, and someone who lost a family member to glioblastoma, I love the potential for real impact here.”

“As an investor and a health professional, I absolutely love Dr. Paulk’s pursuit of finding a cure for Glioblastoma. I lost two very close friends to Glioblastoma. It is my dream that Dr. Paulk whom I respect and admire so much can pull this noble cause off successfully, and save many lives.”

“Dr. Paulk is a force!”

And my personal favorite: “Fuck cancer!”