​Founders are constantly asked to make high-stakes decisions with incomplete information. Whether it’s choosing a strategic direction, allocating limited resources, hiring key talent, or deciding when to pivot, the weight of these choices can feel especially heavy when the future is unclear.

​In this speaker series session, Michelle Florendo, MBA will share a practical and grounded framework for decision-making with confidence, even when the path forward feels foggy. Drawing on her platform, Michelle will unpack how strong decision-makers evaluate tradeoffs, manage uncertainty, and move forward decisively without waiting for perfect data—which rarely exists in early-stage or fast-moving organizations.

​This talk is especially valuable for founders and executive leaders who are the primary decision-makers within their organizations. These individuals are responsible not only for making sound judgments, but also for setting direction, maintaining momentum, and inspiring confidence in their teams—often while navigating ambiguity, risk, and competing priorities.

​Attendees will leave with:

• ​A clearer framework for structuring complex decisions

• ​Tools to reduce decision paralysis and over-analysis

• ​Strategies for balancing intuition, data, and timing

• ​Greater confidence in making forward progress despite uncertainty

​If you are building, leading, or scaling an organization—and regularly find yourself making decisions without all the information you wish you had—this session will provide both clarity and reassurance that confident, thoughtful decision-making is a skill that can be learned and strengthened.

​About the speaker:

​Michelle Florendo, MBA, is a decision engineer and executive coach for Type-A professionals. 

​With a BS in Management Science and Engineering from Stanford University, and an MBA from UC Berkeley's Haas School of Business, she is passionate about helping people make decisions with intention, from the small consistent microdecisions over time that govern how they show up as leaders, to the big macrodecisions they make about what direction to take next in business or in life.

​​Meet our Host:

​​​​​Berkeley Pharma Tech Foundation is a nonprofit committed to expanding biotech understanding and improving access to the industry through education, mentorship, and networking. We host roundtables, speaker panels, and community events to connect aspiring scientists and entrepreneurs with industry leaders. Our goals: launch a funded research program within two years and build a state-of-the-art lab in the Bay Area within five. Follow us on LinkedIn or reach out to Vanloan Nguyen to get involved!