Embracing Curiosity and Risk-Taking in Career Development

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Part 3 of 3. 

My guest for this week’s episode is Grant Aarons, Co-Founder and CEO of FabricNano, a London-based biotech whose mission is to transform industrial chemical processes using cell-free biomanufacturing. FabricNano empowers users with the world's most advanced, flexible, and easily scalable biocatalyst platform, providing highly stable and performant biocatalysts to enable profitable production of sustainable and biobased chemicals. Their approach starts with novel immobilization engineering for enzyme stabilization, followed by budget-conscious protein engineering and process engineering to reach their clients' targets for commercialization of their new biochemical production process. 

Before FabricNano, Grant was a Research Analyst at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, and while pursuing his PhD at the London Business School, became an Entrepreneur In Residence at Entrepreneur First, an international business accelerator that has created over 300 companies worth over $10 billion. Grant's diverse experience gives him a unique perspective on the startup ecosystem that everyone can benefit from.

Please enjoy my conversation with Grant Aarons.

Find Our Guest, Grant Aaron, at these links: 

00:28 Intro

01:36 What Entrepreneur First was like and the mentality one should have while in an accelerator

02:58 Meeting his co-founder and the spark of curiosity that ended up never dying

05:01 Launching FabricNano and learning how to properly run an email marketing campaign

07:43 The underrated value of sales in the biotech/scientific community and how show and tell helped Grant learn how to talk to VCs

09:39 Why FabricNano wants a future powered by enzymes and biology misconceptions

14:40 The current state of the biology market and why petrochemistry is so important to it

17:49 How do we move away from petrochemicals and what is FabricNano's role in that

21:00 What is FabricNano's go-to-market strategy and why now is the right time to disrupt the petrochemical market

24:29 Tips to other founders on how to navigate difficult economic markets and bring your innovative ideas to life

25:53 What is on the horizon for FabricNano

27:21 Teaching people about the dark horse of the industrial biology industry, synthetic biology

28:39 Grant shouts out his mentors, FabricNano, family, and why no founder gets to where they are on their own

30:17 Advice to a younger Grant

31:39 Outro

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/excedr/ 

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@excedr 

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/excedr_inc 

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Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/excedr 

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@excedr 

Podcast Website: https://www.thebiotechstartupspodcast.com/ 

Topics Mentioned:
Entrepreneur First https://www.joinef.com/ 

Streak CRM https://www.streak.com/ 

Cell-Free https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cell-free_system 

Synthetic Biology https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synthetic_biology 

Petrochemicals https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petrochemical 

Biotech Investors https://www.excedr.com/blog/top-vc-firms-for-biotech

More Biotech Investors https://www.excedr.com/blog/biotech-seed-and-angel-investors 

Biotech Funding https://www.excedr.com/resources/biotech-startup-funding-options

Lab Equipment for Synthetic Biology https://www.excedr.com/blog/lab-equipment-list-for-synthetic-biology-research 

The Power Law https://www.amazon.com/Power-Law-Venture-Capital-Making/dp/052555999X

Ferdinando Randisi https://www.linkedin.com/in/ferdinando-randisi/?locale=en_US 

Thomas Synnott https://www.linkedin.com/in/tom-synnott-babb774/

The Biotech Startups Podcast gives you a front-row seat to the business and science of building a biotech. Hosted by Jon Chee, CEO of Excedr, the show features honest conversations with founders, execs, and investors about their work, their companies, and how they got there. From scientific breakthroughs to startup lessons, each episode explores what it really takes to grow a life science company—from pre-seed to IPO.