The Biotech Startups Podcast

Excedr
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The Biotech Startups Podcast by Excedr features weekly conversations with founders, scientists, and investors driving biotech innovation. Host Jon Chee dives into the challenges of building biotech startups, from pre-seed to IPO. New episodes every Monday and Thursday.

  1. 🧬 The Bank Heist Model: How to Build Your Startup Team | Sergey Jakimov (2/4)

    قبل ٣ أيام

    🧬 The Bank Heist Model: How to Build Your Startup Team | Sergey Jakimov (2/4)

    "Building a deep tech company or building anything, pretty much, like being a founder in anything, it's like planning a bank robbery. It's like putting together a crew where, you know, you need a driver, you need someone to pick locks, you need someone to not sell, and you need someone who has the intellectual capacity to come up with a plan." In this episode of The Biotech Startups Podcast, Sergey Jakimov, Managing Partner at LongeVC, shares his journey from uncertain graduate student in Budapest to serial deep tech founder. He discusses launching his first startup at age 22 in the conservative oil and gas industry with zero experience, pioneering drug-eluting coatings for orthopedic implants, and building Lungesys—a clinical data platform that revolutionized trial patient recruitment and helped establish the world's largest biobank. Sergey challenges the "dropout culture" narrative while defending both formal education and learning by doing. He reveals why the least specialized person often makes the best founder and shares surprising truths about big pharma, including that only 14% of first-in-class cancer drugs are developed internally.

    ٤٣ من الدقائق
  2. 🧬 Childhood Without Tech: Building a Foundation for VC Success | Sergey Jakimov (1/4)

    قبل ٦ أيام

    🧬 Childhood Without Tech: Building a Foundation for VC Success | Sergey Jakimov (1/4)

    "Retrospectively, this was honestly the best childhood one can get, and it was absolutely without gadgets." In this episode of The Biotech Startups Podcast, we explore the formative years of Sergey Jakimov, founding partner at LongeVC, as he takes us from his childhood in post-Soviet Latvia to his graduate studies in Budapest. Sergey shares what it was like growing up in a small rural town near the Russian border, where limited resources, no technology, and long winters shaped his resilience, diplomacy, and drive to succeed.​ Sergey recounts his unlikely journey into competitive tennis under a retired national coach, training on concrete courts and turning the sport into both a discipline and a livelihood. He describes the grueling path to university admission—waking at 2 AM every Saturday for four-hour bus rides to attend prep courses in Riga—and the intense workload that followed, surviving on just three to four hours of sleep while juggling translation work and coaching gigs. A pivotal parliament internship shattered his idealistic views of government, leading him to embrace technocracy and meritocracy as guiding principles. Finally, Sergey reflects on earning his master's at Central European University in Budapest, where diverse perspectives and world-class academics further expanded his worldview and prepared him for entrepreneurship.​​

    ٣٧ من الدقائق
  3. 🧬 How Autonomous Science Will Change Drug Discovery Forever | Jimmy Sastra (Part 4/4)

    ٦ نوفمبر

    🧬 How Autonomous Science Will Change Drug Discovery Forever | Jimmy Sastra (Part 4/4)

    "Risk management is really just planning for when things go wrong." In this final episode with Jimmy Sastra, PhD, co-founder and CEO of Monomer Bio, host Jon Chee explores how Jimmy redefines biotech leadership by treating fundraising as a strategic tool rather than a necessity. The conversation dives into building a company that combines scalable software with hands-on lab services, the importance of creativity and risk management in uncertain times, and Monomer’s bold vision for "autonomous science"—where AI and robotics revolutionize experimentation. Alongside deep biotech insights, Jimmy shares personal reflections on balancing entrepreneurship, family, and his immigrant journey while pushing the boundaries of automation in life sciences.

    ٢٦ من الدقائق
  4. 🧬 Autonomous Labs: The Future of Cell Culture | Jimmy Sastra (Part 3/4)

    ٣ نوفمبر

    🧬 Autonomous Labs: The Future of Cell Culture | Jimmy Sastra (Part 3/4)

    "People are looking at cells, making decisions, and then acting on them—that’s a robotics loop. I felt it could be done autonomously." In this episode of The Biotech Startups Podcast, host Jon Chee sits down with Jimmy Sastra, co-founder and CEO of Monomer, to discuss how his team transformed hands-on lab automation consulting into a breakthrough biotech robotics company. Jimmy shares how Monomer’s vertically integrated platform unites robotics, software, and biology to automate cell culture, cut reliance on animal models, and boost reproducibility. He also explains the company’s adaptive go-to-market strategy—ranging from software-only pilots to full robotic deployments—and reflects on the power of cross-disciplinary teamwork, global collaboration, and flexibility in navigating today’s challenging biotech landscape.

    ٢٩ من الدقائق
  5. 🧬 Lessons From Building the World's First Robotic Cloud Lab | Jimmy Sastra (Part 2/4)

    ٣٠ أكتوبر

    🧬 Lessons From Building the World's First Robotic Cloud Lab | Jimmy Sastra (Part 2/4)

    "Life is amazing, but it’s also very fragile. I could not think of a more important mission than trying to understand how life works." In this episode of The Biotech Startups Podcast, host Jon Chee continues his conversation with Jimmy Sastra, CEO and co-founder of Monomer Bio, tracing his evolution from a self-taught PhD student to a Silicon Valley engineer at the forefront of robotics and biotech innovation. Jimmy recounts his time at Willow Garage during the rise of ROS, his groundbreaking work at Transcriptic—where he helped build the world’s first robotic cloud lab—and how those experiences shaped his vision for Monomer Bio. He also explores the power of hiring for personal mission alignment and shares how a life-changing moment involving his brother inspired a career dedicated to understanding life through technology.

    ٢٥ من الدقائق
  6. 🧬 The Rebellious Mindset That Builds Successful Startups | Jimmy Sastra (Part 1/4)

    ٢٧ أكتوبر

    🧬 The Rebellious Mindset That Builds Successful Startups | Jimmy Sastra (Part 1/4)

    "Maybe because of that experience, we still keep in touch. I feel fortunate that my friends and I built something together back then—even if it started with murals and late nights, it taught me about creativity, risk, and teamwork." In this episode of The Biotech Startups Podcast, Jimmy Sastra, CEO and co-founder of Monomer Bio, unpacks his global journey from The Netherlands and Japan to transforming lab automation in biotech. Shaped by his father’s engineering legacy at Philips and ASML, Jimmy recalls lessons in creativity, rebellion, and resilience that guided his path from the University of Pennsylvania to a PhD in robotics. His story reveals how curiosity and systems thinking became the foundation for Monomer Bio’s mission to empower scientists through smarter, automated lab solutions.

    ٢٩ من الدقائق
  7. 🧬 100 Discovery Interviews Built a $3M Biotech Launchpad at Berkeley | Darren Cooke (Part 4/4)

    ٢٣ أكتوبر

    🧬 100 Discovery Interviews Built a $3M Biotech Launchpad at Berkeley | Darren Cooke (Part 4/4)

    "If anyone comes to me and says, 'Hey, I’ve got this idea. I think we could do something with it,' I’m like, 'You gotta take the I-Corps class first... it really changes your mindset.'" In this episode of The Biotech Startups Podcast, Darren Cooke, Interim Chief Innovation & Entrepreneurship Officer and Executive Director of the Life Sciences Entrepreneurship Center at the University of California, Berkeley, reveals how 100 discovery interviews turned a $3 million campus experiment into a powerhouse for biotech innovation. He shares the creation of Berkeley’s flagship fellows program, the launch of speed teaming and venture grants, and how simple ideas like fostering connection and collaboration transformed campus culture. Darren also reflects on the leadership of Chancellor Rich Lyons and offers candid lessons on perseverance, mentorship, and the art of “showing up.”

    ٣٥ من الدقائق
  8. 🧬 How to Turn Regulatory Chaos Into Competitive Advantage | Darren Cooke (Part 3/4)

    ٢٠ أكتوبر

    🧬 How to Turn Regulatory Chaos Into Competitive Advantage | Darren Cooke (Part 3/4)

    "If you’re not challenging what you’ve always done, you’re not going to move forward or innovate." In this episode, Darren Cooke, Interim Chief Innovation & Entrepreneurship Officer and Executive Director of the Life Sciences Entrepreneurship Center at the University of California, Berkeley, reveals how he’s navigated the fast-changing world of financial advice by embracing regulatory shifts, championing innovation, and building trust through integrity and open communication, sharing hard-won lessons on personal growth, resilience, and finding new opportunities amid uncertainty and change.

    ٢٥ من الدقائق
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The Biotech Startups Podcast by Excedr features weekly conversations with founders, scientists, and investors driving biotech innovation. Host Jon Chee dives into the challenges of building biotech startups, from pre-seed to IPO. New episodes every Monday and Thursday.

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