Guidance for Material Science Startup Founders on Achieving Market Traction and Validation

On this episode of My Climate Journey, we have two guests: Susan Schofer and Po Bronson.

Susan is partner at SOSV and Chief Science Officer at Hax, which is SOSV's initiative around hard tech. She has a PhD in chemistry from Caltech, and most recently spent eight years at Modern Meadow, a growth stage startup in the bio leather space.

Po is general partner at SOSV, and managing director of IndieBio, which is SOSV's initiative around biotech. Po has written seven New York Times bestsellers, and has won nine national awards for science journalism.

Cody and our guests cover Susan and Po's backgrounds, the challenges in evaluating material science startups, their journeys from academia and the food industry, and early-stage deep tech investment models. They also discuss business economics in material science startups, scaling challenges, sustainable sourcing, and the potential and limitations of synthetic biology in the context of material science startups.

In this episode, we cover: 

• [02:01]: Susan and Po’s roles at SOSV
• [03:08]: The complexity of evaluating material science startups
• [04:49]: Susan's journey from chemistry academia to industry
• [07:13]: Po's transition from the food industry and writing to IndieBio
• [09:12]: Comparing Hax's and IndieBio's methodologies within SOSV
• [11:54]: SOSV's early-stage deep tech investment model
• [14:46]: Business economics in material science startups
• [17:11]: Unmet needs and sustainable sourcing in materials
• [19:48]: The critical role of performance in bio-based materials
• [22:22]: Scaling challenges in sustainable startups
• [24:08]: “Pure” vs. blended materials
• [30:54]: Scaling issues faced by bioleather companies
• [34:35]: Trends in the plastics space and circularity
• [37:15]: Challenges in the cosmetics and skincare industry
• [41:47]: Defining terms “biomanufacturing,” “bioeconomy,” and “synthetic biology”
• [45:07]: Challenges in biology vs. chemistry
• [51:35]: Susan and Po’s advice for founders

Episode recorded on Jan 16, 2024 (Published on Feb 20, 2024)

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*Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant