Tao Fang

Examiner
DISC Type : sc

Associate Director (Sr. Associate/Merck Research Lab Ventures Fund) at Merck

Greater Boston, United States

Overview

Tao Fang is a biotech investor at MRL Ventures Fund, Mercks strategic investment arm, focusing on advancing first-in-class therapeutics. He has a background in company creation from his time at Flagship Pioneering, where he helped build Ampersand Biomedicines and Profound Therapeutics. He holds an MBA from NYU Stern and completed a Postdoctoral Fellowship at MIT.

He was a founding member of Cerberus Therapeutics, where he contributed to the origination and fundraising for immune tolerance vaccines.

Personality Overview

Late Adopter

Tough To Convince

Process Oriented

They do not like taking risks at all and go for proven options in the end.  They tend to have clarity about their needs and constraints, and are unlikely to over-promise. Being observant comes to them naturally.

Topics They Care About

Biotech Investing
As part of the MRL Ventures Fund, he focuses on investing in early-stage companies developing first-in-class therapeutics.
Company Creation
Has direct experience in building biotech companies from the ground up, including Ampersand Biomedicines and Profound Therapeutics during his time at Flagship Pioneering.
mRNA Technology
Worked directly on mRNA vaccine design as a Senior Scientist at Flagship Pioneering, indicating a deep scientific background in this area.

Media Appearances

Tao has no verified media appearances

Work History

6-2025
Associate Director (Sr. Associate/Merck Research Lab Ventures Fund) at Merck
Senior Associate at Flagship Pioneering
Senior Scientist at Flagship Pioneering
Research Scientist at Eli Lilly and Company
Founding Member at Cerberus Therapeutics

Education

NCI Postdoctoral Fellowship from Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Master of Business Administration - MBA from NYU Stern School of Business

More Information

Social Presence :

Prographics :

Exp : 1 Location : Greater Boston, United States Job Level : Senior Designation : Associate Director (Sr. Associate/Merck Research Lab Ventures Fund) at Merck
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Insights For Selling To Tao

During A Call Or A Meeting

DO's

  • Be firm in your communication and stay in control
  • First of all, focus on building their confidence by sharing examples, case studies etc.
  • Spend time addressing concerns around risk and change, they will have them even if they don't express them

DONT's

  • Avoid getting into storytelling mode, especially when they ask specific questions
  • Don't be very accepting if that is your natural style, stay firm
  • Don't use phrases like 'do not worry', 'i promise' etc.

When Cold Calling

When Writing An Email

While Negotiating & Closing

    The secret to closing fast with Tao is

  • Adoption by others is very important to them, followed by confidence in ROI.
  • Will you ever get a clear answer from Tao

  • They don’t say no often, they push out the decisions or keep going around in circles.

Insights For Deal Planning

    How fast (or slow) will Tao move?

  • They don't like to hasten, so their speed of decision-making may be slow.
  • Can Tao take some risk or not?

  • They have little willingness to take risks, and prefer making calculated decisions.

You And Tao

Personality Compatibility


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