🧬 Shekhar Mitra - InnoPreneur & P&G - Part 1 | Growing Up in a Multigenerational Household | Undergraduate Experience at IIT | Groundbreaking Lab Research at Columbia | Diverse Experiences in New York City

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Part 1 of 4. 

My guest for this week’s episode is Shekhar Mitra, former Senior Vice President of Global Innovation and Chief of Innovation at Procter & Gamble and current President and Founder of InnoPreneur, a strategic advisory firm that enables development of innovation capabilities, ideation, and organizational development for Fortune 500 corporations and new ventures. 

Prior to InnoPreneur, Shekhar spent 29 years at Procter & Gamble where he worked his way up from staff scientist to Senior Vice President of Global Innovation and Chief of Innovation, becoming a part of P&G's top leadership team and a member of the CEO's Global Leadership Council. Shekhar’s time at P&G paints a successful entrepreneurial road map for those looking to learn, grow, and innovate within large corporations. Post retirement from P&G, Shekhar spent several years as a board member and strategic adviser to several Fortune 500 corporations, new ventures, and private equity companies developing transformational new ideas, business strategies, and organization capabilities to drive growth. With over 50 patents awarded in different fields, Shekhar’s an expert with an exceptional track record in creating and developing game changing technology platforms and formulating disruptive innovation strategies, whose extensive background in R&D offers unique insights that listeners can benefit from.

Please enjoy my conversation with Shekhar Mitra.

Timestamps
00:28 Intro

02:40 Episode starts, early years, growing up in a joint family of immigrants

09:38 Lessons learned about leadership from managing family relationships and experience in sports 

12:23 Attending the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) in Kanpur and focusing on biophysical chemistry, undergraduate lab experience at IIT

17:43 Decision to move to New York City from India to pursue a Master’s and PhD at Columbia University, experiences in a new city as an immigrant

24:57 Appreciating the difficult moments and finding joy in all circumstances in both life and business

30:01 Experiences and opportunities working in the lab at Columbia studying biological proteins in cells

38:58 Taking risks and being willing to fail in order to grow and make a meaningful impact

43:07 Outro

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Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur

Columbia University

National Academy of Sciences

Journal of Biological Chemistry

Lab Equipment for Biochemistry Research https://www.excedr.com/blog/lab-equipment-list-for-biochemistry-research

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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.