On 20 November 2015, BioBeat, the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute and EMBL-EBI presented BioBeat15: a fascinating, one-day conference exploring the burgeoning opportunities for developing companies that harness the potential of genomics. Women scientific leaders including keynote speaker Professor Dame Sally Davies shared their perspectives on challenges and successes in starting and growing biotech businesses, and inspired a full audience of entrepreneurs, basic researchers, funders and many others with a passion for bio-innovation.