The Biotech Startups Podcast 🧬 Working 3 Jobs at Harvard: How Desperation Built Conviction | Krish Ramadurai (1/4)
Dec 1, 2025
33:21
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"You’ve just got to embrace the suck. When everything sucks, you just execute against it. It's nice because then when that situation happens again, which adult life works like that all the time, you can be more systematically prepared."
In this episode of The Biotech Startups Podcast, we explore Krish Ramadurai's unconventional journey from Chicago's South Side to becoming a Partner at AIX Ventures. Krish shares how a career-ending femur fracture during his track and field career redirected his path from Johns Hopkins to the University of Illinois, where he discovered the intersection of hard science and business that would define his future.​​
Krish takes us through his audacious approach to getting into Harvard—auditing classes before formal admission, working three jobs simultaneously to afford tuition, and sending over 500 cold emails to find research opportunities. He reflects on how working alongside figures like US Secretary of Defense Ash Carter, CIA Director David Petraeus, and Nobel Prize winner Mike Kremer at the Belfer Center shaped his understanding of applied science and policy intervention. Most importantly, Krish emphasizes how rejection built conviction, turning financial desperation and constant setbacks into the foundation for his success in venture capital.
Key topics covered:
- From Superhero Scientists to STEM: How growing up with a cardiologist father and fascination with the scientists behind Marvel superheroes sparked his interest in biotechnology and applied research​
- Pivoting After Injury: The femur fracture that ended his track career and forced an unconventional path to higher education​
- The Unconventional Harvard Path: Auditing graduate courses before admission, juggling three jobs, and leveraging one connection into a full graduate school opportunity​
- Building Conviction Through Rejection: How sending 500+ cold emails and facing constant rejection taught resilience and self-understanding that would prove essential in venture capital​
- Applied Science in Action: Working on biological water filtration in Sub-Saharan Africa, collaborating with global policy leaders, and transitioning from think tank work to venture investing
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Find our guest, Krish Ramadurai, at these links:
Find our host, Jon Chee, at these links:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonchee
Learn more about Excedr:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/excedr/
Website: https://www.excedr.com
Intro & Outro Songs Created by OkKyojin, Owned by Excedr:
Website: https://flow.page/kyojin
Resources & Articles:
Nobel Prize in Economics https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/economic-sciences/2019/summary/
3D Bioprinting Technology https://news.mit.edu/2025/new-3d-bioprinting-technique-may-improve-production-engineered-tissue-0917
Venture Capital Due Diligence Process https://www.investopedia.com/terms/d/duediligence.asp
Companies, Universities, & People mentioned:
Harvard University https://www.harvard.edu​
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign https://illinois.edu​
Johns Hopkins University https://www.jhu.edu​
Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs https://www.belfercenter.org​
Harvard Kennedy School Taubman Center https://www.hks.harvard.edu/centers/taubman
Ashton "Ash" Carter https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ash_Carter ​​
David Petraeus https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidpetraeus/ ​​
Michael Kremer https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Kremer
Paul Farmer https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Farmer
Sujatha Bhatia https://www.hks.harvard.edu/about/sujata-k-bhatia
Rachel McCleary https://www.linkedin.com/in/rachel-mccleary-b26bb630/
Eric Schmidt https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Schmidt
Timestamps:
00:00 Intro
04:38 Upbringing and Early Interest in STEM
06:18 Parental Expectations: Doctor, Lawyer, or Engineer
08:49 Femur Fracture and Shift in College Plans
10:28 Undergraduate Experience at University of Illinois
11:47 Research on Biological Filtration in Sub-Saharan Africa
17:19 Path to Harvard Graduate School
19:58 Working Multiple Jobs While at Harvard
23:21 Working at Belfer Center and Meeting Key Mentors
25:34 Sending 500 Cold Emails and Facing Rejection
28:22 Embracing Failure and Building Conviction
31:47 Outro
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.