The Biotech Startups Podcast

Excedr provides research labs with equipment leases on founder-friendly terms to support paths to exceptional outcomes. Learn more at https://www.excedr.com/partners.“Knowledge is now a commodity, and it's your ability to ask the right question and the right next question that is really where the value is.”Scott Chetham explains why he left academia, how applied physics and industry-sponsored research prepared him for commercial healthcare, and what he learned leading technology and commercialization at ImpediMed. He discusses lymphedema detection, body composition monitoring, early GLP-1 research, and the long path from clinical measurement to drug development.The conversation then turns to scaling teams through uncertainty. Scott shares how company growth creates organizational whiplash, why founders often underestimate the need for change management, and how leaders can stay close to what employees and customers are actually experiencing.Scott also describes the shift from software and AI as coding problems to problems of product judgment, prioritization, alignment, and quality assurance. He outlines how better automation could cut roughly half the internal work involved in clinical development, while explaining why rigorous verification and human decision-making remain essential.Key Topics Covered:Leaving academia for direct impact in healthcareApplied physics, biomedical engineering, and industry-sponsored researchHow asking the right scientific question shapes clinical developmentImpedMed's lymphedema detection technologyBody composition monitoring in obesity and drug researchEarly GLP-1 clinical research and pharmaceutical partnershipsThe progression from diagnostic devices to clinical development softwareChange management inside fast-growing healthcare companiesFounder comfort with uncertainty, pivots, and executionKeeping leadership connected to employees as teams scaleAI-driven shifts in product development and engineering bottlenecksFront-loading quality assurance for regulated workflowsReducing clinical development time, labor, and costIf you enjoy The Biotech Startups Podcast, please consider subscribing, leaving a review, or sharing it with your friends. Thanks for listening.Listen and subscribe to The Biotech Startups Podcast:Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-biotech-startups-podcast/id1679591994Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2PSL162R2s0zOwU5913Zv4TBSP YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@thebiotechstartupspodcastTBSP website: https://www.thebiotechstartupspodcast.com/?utm_source=podcast&utm_medium=show-notes&utm_campaign=the-biotech-startups-podcast-ep285Find our guest, Scott Chetham, at these links:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/scott-chetham-2949001Website: https://farohealth.com/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.comIntro & Outro Songs Created by OkKyojin:https://flow.page/kyojinResources & Articles:ImpediMed: https://impedimed.com/Novo Nordisk: https://www.novonordisk.com/ClinicalTrials.gov: https://clinicaltrials.gov/Google X: https://x.company/Verily: https://verily.com/Companies, Universities, & People Mentioned:ImpediMed: https://impedimed.com/Novo Nordisk: https://www.novonordisk.com/Novartis: https://www.novartis.com/Versant Ventures: https://www.versantventures.com/Google: https://www.google.com/Google X: https://x.company/Verily: https://verily.com/DeepMind: https://deepmind.google/Meta: https://about.meta.com/Timestamps:00:00 Intro01:36 Why Scott Left Academia03:42 Applied Physics in Clinical Research04:52 The Value of Asking Better Questions04:56 From Research to Industry07:17 Scaling Through Change Management09:30 The Whiplash of Company Growth13:20 Staying Close to the Front Line15:46 ImpedMed's Clinical Applications19:14 Following the Clinical Research Thread20:25 How Google Changed the Thesis24:00 The New Prioritization Problem27:24 Why QA Must Come First30:46 The Economics of Faster Development32:46 OutroThe 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.

Excedr provides research labs with equipment leases on founder-friendly terms to support paths to exceptional outcomes. Learn more at https://www.excedr.com/partners.“Two-thirds of our work is QA. It's not the development anymore. It's how do you ensure it's doing what you think it's doing and that it will keep doing it, it won't drift.”Scott Chetham traces the influences that shaped his path into life sciences, from growing up on Australia's Gold Coast and watching his parents build careers through work and education to studying the intersection of engineering and medicine. He shares how a combined degree, early exposure to hospitals, and an unusual appetite for difficult problems pushed him toward biomedical research.The conversation then moves into the rapid evolution of cardiac electrophysiology, including early catheter mapping, implantable devices, and clinical trial work at St. Andrews War Memorial Hospital. Scott and Jon also examine a problem that has become central to deploying AI in regulated fields: polished outputs can still be wrong, models can drift, and rigorous QA, source grounding, and human judgment are not optional.Key Topics Covered:Growing up on Australia's Gold CoastLessons from early work at SeaWorldThe influence of Scott's parents and their path into higher educationBiology, functional anatomy, computers, and the decision to pursue healthcareThe value and limits of a highly regimented boarding-school educationAI-generated misinformation in venture research and company diligenceWhy human interviews still matter in an AI-saturated research processGuardrails, source-of-truth data, and degradation across repeated AI generationsScott's combined engineering and medical trainingEarly neural-network research for cardiac signal interpretationCardiac electrophysiology, pacemakers, ICDs, and catheter ablationThe transition from open-chest procedures to closed-chest 3D cardiac mappingWhy AI deployment requires extensive QA, model monitoring, and human judgmentIf you enjoy The Biotech Startups Podcast, please consider subscribing, leaving a review, or sharing it with your friends. Thanks for listening.Listen and subscribe to The Biotech Startups Podcast:Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-biotech-startups-podcast/id1679591994Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2PSL162R2s0zOwU5913Zv4TBSP YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@thebiotechstartupspodcastTBSP website: https://www.thebiotechstartupspodcast.com/?utm_source=podcast&utm_medium=show-notes&utm_campaign=the-biotech-startups-podcast-ep284Find our guest, Scott Chetham, at these links:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/scott-chetham-2949001Website: https://farohealth.com/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.comIntro & Outro Songs Created by OkKyojin:https://flow.page/kyojinResources & Articles:Stanford Medicine: https://med.stanford.edu/Google Model Cards: https://modelcards.withgoogle.com/aboutMedtronic: https://www.medtronic.com/Companies, Universities, & People Mentioned:SeaWorld: https://seaworld.com/KPMG: https://kpmg.com/Google: https://www.google.com/Stanford University: https://www.stanford.edu/Medtronic: https://www.medtronic.com/Anthropic: https://www.anthropic.com/Timestamps:00:00 Intro02:38 Growing Up on the Gold Coast03:05 The SeaWorld Production Line04:02 A Family Built Around Education07:18 Biology, Computers, and Healthcare08:24 Learning to Lead Outside the Classroom10:51 When AI Gets the Story Wrong14:49 Guardrails Against Model Drift16:27 Bridging Engineering and Medicine18:24 Neural Networks Before the Boom19:11 Inside the Cardiac Cath Lab19:48 From Clinical Work to Research24:58 The Revolution in Cardiac Mapping29:43 Why QA Is the Real AI Work33:47 OutroThe 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.

Excedr helps life science companies get the lab equipment they need through flexible leasing. Skip the upfront costs, stay lean, and focus on breakthrough science.As a TBSP listener, you can get exclusive perks through Excedr's partner network: special savings, promotions, and more. Explore these offers today: https://www.excedr.com/partners“If you can overthink all the bad stuff, why can't you overthink all the good stuff?”As Slone Partners grew beyond its original five-person team, Leslie Loveless had to confront one of the hardest parts of leadership: letting go. She talks about delegation, resisting the urge to rewrite everyone else's work, and learning that a different approach can still be the right approach.Leslie also explains how Slone protects culture by listening for what different people need. The firm's culture ambassador helps turn that feedback into action, while Leslie reflects on when leaders should solve a problem, when they should simply listen, and why some issues need time to breathe.Looking ahead, Leslie sees growing demand across medtech, healthtech, AI, and machine learning. She discusses the limits of recruiting from the same blue-chip companies, the realities of relocation and family decisions, the tension between remote and on-site work, and the people who helped her build the firm.Key Topics Covered:Delegation and the difficulty of letting go as a company growsAccepting different communication and work stylesListening before jumping into problem-solving modeUsing a culture ambassador to gather and act on employee feedbackBuilding executive team leadership inside a growing search firmAI and machine learning hiring demand in medtech and healthtechWhy technology can improve executive search without replacing human intuitionExpanding candidate searches beyond blue-chip companies and primary biotech marketsRelocation, family considerations, and executive hiring decisionsBalancing remote, hybrid, and on-site work modelsThe value of documenting institutional knowledge in distributed organizationsGratitude toward family, employees, and long-term clientsIf you enjoy The Biotech Startups Podcast, please consider subscribing, leaving a review, or sharing it with your friends. Thanks for listening.Listen and subscribe to The Biotech Startups Podcast:Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-biotech-startups-podcast/id1679591994Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2PSL162R2s0zOwU5913Zv4YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@thebiotechstartupspodcastWebsite: https://www.thebiotechstartupspodcast.com/?utm_source=podcast&utm_medium=show-notes&utm_campaign=the-biotech-startups-podcast-ep283Find our guest, Leslie Loveless, at these links:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/leslieloveless1Slone Partners: https://slonepartners.com/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.comIntro & Outro Songs Created by OkKyojin OkKyojin: https://flow.page/kyojinResources & Articles:Slone Partners: https://slonepartners.com/Faro Health: https://farohealth.com/NVIDIA: https://www.nvidia.com/Purdue University: https://www.purdue.edu/Companies, Universities, & People Mentioned:Purdue University: https://www.purdue.edu/Faro Health: https://farohealth.com/Timestamps:00:00 Intro01:53 The Hard Part of Growing Beyond Five People02:43 Learning When to Speak Up03:25 Different Ways of Doing the Work04:09 A Type A Leader Learns to Slow Down04:36 People Need Different Things05:07 The Culture Ambassador Role07:39 When Listening Beats Problem Solving09:43 Giving Problems Time to Breathe12:32 Slone's Next Growth Areas12:55 Creating an Executive Team Mindset13:58 Technology, Efficiency, and Human Intuition17:33 The NBA Draft Mentality in AI Recruiting19:16 Looking Beyond the Usual Biotech Markets24:19 Remote Work, Relocation, and Role Fit33:53 Overthinking the Good Stuff35:38 OutroThe 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.

Excedr helps life science companies get the lab equipment they need through flexible leasing. Skip the upfront costs, stay lean, and focus on breakthrough science.As a TBSP listener, you can get exclusive perks through Excedr's partner network: special savings, promotions, and more. Explore these offers today: https://www.excedr.com/partners“People are our clients. People are our product, and connecting them is what we do.”Leslie Loveless joined Slone Partners after a major personal transition, leaving a large healthcare company to become employee number five at a small recruiting firm. She hadn't worked in recruiting before, and at the time, she didn't fully appreciate how big the leap would be.Leslie revisits the firm's early startup days, when meetings ran through improvised conference calls and the team relied on paper, notebooks, and spreadsheets. She also explains how Slone expanded beyond laboratory and diagnostics recruiting into biotech, research tools, pharma services, healthtech, digital health, and academic medicine.At the center of that growth is a relationship-driven approach to search. Leslie discusses investor and portfolio-company relationships, the importance of long-tenured teams, the difference between an experienced candidate and the right fit, and why attitude matters when the work is inherently unpredictable.Key Topics Covered:Leaving a large healthcare company to join a five-person recruiting firmAdopting Leslie's daughter during her first year at Slone PartnersEvaluating whether candidates can thrive in startup environmentsSlone Partners' expansion beyond laboratory and diagnostics recruitingExecutive search relationships with venture capital and private equity investorsHiring across biotech, genomics, research tools, pharma services, and healthtechThe changing role of diagnostics, liquid biopsy, prognostics, and early detectionWhy long team tenure can compound relationships and industry knowledgeReading candidate motivations, behavior, and company fit beyond the resumeWhy attitude and resilience matter in a people-centered businessIf you enjoy The Biotech Startups Podcast, please consider subscribing, leaving a review, or sharing it with your friends. Thanks for listening.Listen and subscribe to The Biotech Startups Podcast:Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-biotech-startups-podcast/id1679591994Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2PSL162R2s0zOwU5913Zv4YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@thebiotechstartupspodcastWebsite: https://www.thebiotechstartupspodcast.com/?utm_source=podcast&utm_medium=show-notes&utm_campaign=the-biotech-startups-podcast-ep282Find our guest, Leslie Loveless, at these links:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/leslieloveless1Slone Partners: https://slonepartners.com/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.comIntro & Outro Songs Created by OkKyojinOkKyojin: https://flow.page/kyojinResources & Articles:Slone Partners: https://slonepartners.com/Labcorp: https://www.labcorp.com/Quest Diagnostics: https://www.questdiagnostics.com/NVIDIA: https://www.nvidia.com/Companies, Universities, & People Mentioned:LabCorp: https://www.labcorp.com/NVIDIA: https://www.nvidia.com/Jensen Huang: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jensen_HuangPurdue University: https://www.purdue.edu/Timestamps:00:00 Intro01:39 The Promotion That Coincided With Adoption02:16 A Phone Call, Then a New Baby02:36 Reconnecting With Adam03:01 Becoming Employee Number Five03:33 A Leap She Didn't Fully Understand07:17 Hardcore Startup Mode07:44 Who Can Really Thrive at a Startup?08:49 Why Leslie Still Uses Notebooks11:31 When the Original Market Changes11:54 Building Around Investor Relationships12:32 The Expanding Life Sciences Footprint14:22 How Consolidation Reshaped Diagnostics15:23 Growing One Connection at a Time17:03 People Are the Product19:52 The Difference Between Experience and Fit32:03 OutroThe 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.

Excedr helps life science companies get the lab equipment they need through flexible leasing. Skip the upfront costs, stay lean, and focus on breakthrough science.As a TBSP listener, you can get exclusive perks through Excedr's partner network: special savings, promotions, and more. Explore these offers today: https://www.excedr.com/partners“No one looks at a teacher's resume and thinks they can go sell.”Leslie Loveless leaves the classroom for pharmaceutical sales in 1999, a coveted industry at the time. She describes the culture shock of moving from a school building into a territory-based role, where her days meant driving between providers, managing her own schedule, and learning to sell one-to-one.The transition wasn't easy on paper. Recruiters and hiring managers saw that Leslie lacked sales experience, but they missed the skills she had built teaching: public speaking, preparation, performance, and the ability to hold an audience's attention. At Takeda, those skills helped her win President's Club in both of her first two years.Leslie then explains how a call from Adam Slone led her to Quest Diagnostics, where she moved quickly from individual sales into national sales training. The selling motion was completely different: hospital and laboratory deals required service, economic value, and buy-in from medical, operational, procurement, and financial stakeholders.Key Topics Covered:Translating classroom teaching skills into pharmaceutical salesPharmaceutical sales training and role-playingTakeda and the importance of partner repsWinning President's Club without prior sales experienceWhy scientific founders need commercial awarenessWorking backward from market adoption and investor sentimentMoving from provider sales to hospital and health system salesEnterprise sales in laboratory medicineStakeholder alignment across procurement, finance, lab services, and clinical leadershipService quality, turnaround time, and specimen reliabilityEconomic value propositions in healthcare salesIf you enjoy The Biotech Startups Podcast, please consider subscribing, leaving a review, or sharing it with your friends. Thanks for listening.Listen and subscribe to The Biotech Startups Podcast:Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-biotech-startups-podcast/id1679591994Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2PSL162R2s0zOwU5913Zv4YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@thebiotechstartupspodcastWebsite: https://www.thebiotechstartupspodcast.com/?utm_source=podcast&utm_medium=show-notes&utm_campaign=the-biotech-startups-podcast-ep281Find our guest, Leslie Loveless, at these links:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/leslieloveless1Slone Partners: https://slonepartners.com/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.comIntro & Outro Songs Created by OkKyojinOkKyojin: https://flow.page/kyojinResources & Articles:Takeda: https://www.takeda.com/Quest Diagnostics: https://www.questdiagnostics.com/Companies, Universities, & People Mentioned:Takeda: https://www.takeda.com/Quest Diagnostics: https://www.questdiagnostics.com/Timestamps:00:00 Intro01:37 Choosing Pharmaceutical Sales02:38 The Teacher Resume Problem02:54 Two Weeks Of Training In Chicago04:04 Learning The Territory04:27 Freedom Outside The Classroom05:07 Public Speaking As A Sales Skill05:53 Selling One To One08:47 Two Presidents Club Wins08:54 The Value Of Orthogonal Experience10:16 Connecting Science To The Market13:12 Adam Slone's First Call14:50 Joining Quest Diagnostics15:25 An Unexpected Training Role18:05 Selling Into Health Systems20:39 Service And Economics Win Enterprise Deals26:22 OutroThe 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.

Excedr helps life science companies get the lab equipment they need through flexible leasing. Skip the upfront costs, stay lean, and focus on breakthrough science.As a TBSP listener, you can get exclusive perks through Excedr's partner network: special savings, promotions, and more. Explore these offers today: https://www.excedr.com/partners“You need to really be in tune with what's being heard and received and understood.”Leslie Loveless starts at the beginning: growing up in a close-knit Indiana family, watching her father build a career as a pharmacist, and learning early that education mattered even if the eventual career path was left up to her.She explains how high school shifted her interests from mathematics to English, grammar, and writing, then describes the college experience that deepened her love of literature, stories, and critical thinking. A full scholarship close to home shaped her university decision, even as she sometimes wondered what it might have been like to leave Indiana.Leslie also takes us inside her years teaching ninth, tenth, and eleventh graders while earning a master's degree at Butler University. Managing crowded classrooms, mixing current events with drier material, and keeping students engaged taught her a leadership skill she still relies on: read the room, then adapt.Key Topics Covered:Leslie Loveless's Indiana upbringing and close-knit familyThe influence of her father's career as a pharmacistWhy Leslie shifted from mathematics to English in high schoolGrammar, writing, and sentence structure as a bridge between analytical and humanistic thinkingChoosing a nearby university with a full scholarshipStudying literature, interpretation, and critical thinkingEarning a master's degree in English at Butler UniversityTeaching ninth, tenth, and eleventh grade EnglishBalancing classroom teaching, graduate school, grading, and coachingKeeping teenagers engaged through varied lesson formats and current eventsReading the room as a transferable leadership skillWhy teaching began to feel too structured and all-consumingThe freedom and financial considerations behind a possible career changeIf you enjoy The Biotech Startups Podcast, please consider subscribing, leaving a review, or sharing it with your friends. Thanks for listening.Listen and subscribe to The Biotech Startups Podcast:Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-biotech-startups-podcast/id1679591994Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2PSL162R2s0zOwU5913Zv4YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@thebiotechstartupspodcastWebsite: https://www.thebiotechstartupspodcast.com/?utm_source=podcast&utm_medium=show-notes&utm_campaign=the-biotech-startups-podcast-ep280Find our guest, Leslie Loveless, at these links:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/leslieloveless1Slone Partners: https://slonepartners.com/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.comIntro & Outro Songs Created by OkKyojinOkKyojin: https://flow.page/kyojinResources & Articles:Butler University English: https://www.butler.edu/academics/college-of-liberal-arts-sciences/english/Purdue University College of Pharmacy: https://pharmacy.purdue.edu/Companies, Universities, & People Mentioned:Purdue University: https://www.purdue.edu/Butler University: https://www.butler.edu/Timestamps:00:00 Intro02:59 Growing Up in Indiana03:27 A Close-Knit Family05:02 The Pharmacist Influence05:46 Lessons From Her Parents07:10 When Math Stopped Clicking07:41 Falling for Grammar and Writing11:42 Choosing a University Close to Home15:26 Discovering Literature16:02 A Future in Education16:18 Teaching While Earning a Master's19:18 Inside the High School Classroom20:32 The Reality of Teaching20:52 Keeping Teenagers Engaged24:40 Reading the Room27:04 Considering a Change33:25 OutroThe 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.

🧬 The Biotech Startups Podcast is powered by Excedr: helping life science startups accelerate R&D and commercialization with founder-friendly equipment leasing. Skip the upfront costs, stay lean, and focus on breakthrough science.As a TBSP listener, you can get exclusive perks through Excedr's partner network: special savings, promotions, and more. Explore these offers today: https://www.excedr.com/partners“If I can sum up my reason to be on this Earth, it's to be a catalyst.”Moderna's rapid COVID-19 response was years in the making. Örn Almarsson explains how quiet work in mRNA manufacturing, lipid nanoparticles, bioinformatics, and vaccine development created the capabilities needed when the moment arrived.He then turns to company building at Axelyf: in vivo cell reprogramming for solid tumors, modular lipid nanoparticles, AI-informed discovery, external partners, and a deliberately lean operating model. The conversation closes with the mentors, expectations, and leadership philosophy shaping his next chapter.Key Topics Covered:Moderna's preparation for COVID-19Personalized cancer vaccinesIn vivo cell reprogrammingCAR T for solid tumorsLipid nanoparticle deliveryAI-informed drug developmentCapital-efficient company buildingVirtual biotech operationsCDMO and CRO partnershipsHepatocellular cancerMentorship and leadershipCatalyst mindsetIf you enjoy The Biotech Startups Podcast, please consider subscribing, leaving a review, or sharing it with your friends. Thanks for listening.Listen and subscribe to The Biotech Startups Podcast:Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-biotech-startups-podcast/id1679591994Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2PSL162R2s0zOwU5913Zv4YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@thebiotechstartupspodcastWebsite: https://www.thebiotechstartupspodcast.com/?utm_source=podcast&utm_medium=show-notes&utm_campaign=the-biotech-startups-podcast-ep279Find our guest, Örn Almarsson, at these links:Website: https://www.axelyf.com/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/orn-almarssonFind 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.comIntro & Outro Songs Created by OkKyojin, OkKyojin:https://flow.page/kyojinResources & Articles:National Cancer Institute: CAR T-cell therapy: https://www.cancer.gov/about-cancer/treatment/research/car-t-cellsBioNTech: https://www.biontech.com/Pfizer: https://www.pfizer.com/NCBI Molecular Biology reference: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK21054/Companies, Universities, & People Mentioned:Moderna: https://www.modernatx.com/BioNTech: https://www.biontech.com/Pfizer: https://www.pfizer.com/Merck: https://www.merck.com/Transform Pharmaceuticals: https://www.transformpharma.com/Alkermes: https://www.alkermes.com/Lyndra Therapeutics: https://www.lyndra.com/Johnson & Johnson: https://www.jnj.com/Copel Farm and Biotech: https://www.copel.co/University of Iceland: https://english.hi.is/UC Santa Barbara: https://www.chem.ucsb.edu/MIT: https://www.mit.edu/Slone Partners: https://www.slonepartners.com/Quest Diagnostics: https://www.questdiagnostics.com/AmeriPath: https://www.ameripath.com/Timestamps:00:06 Intro01:17 Moderna's Overnight Success Was Years in the Making01:28 The Capabilities Behind Moderna's Rapid Response01:52 From Prototype Vaccines to Personalized Cancer Vaccines02:45 Why Moderna and BioNTech Were Ready04:46 Leaving Moderna for the Next Challenge06:16 Axelyf's In Vivo Cell Reprogramming Strategy07:49 Building a Modular Lipid and Cargo Toolkit08:09 Targeting Difficult Cancers and Faster Development10:06 Staying Small, Virtual, and Capital Efficient10:26 Using AI to Improve Lipid Nanoparticle Models12:22 Choosing Specialized Partners Over One-Stop Shops13:05 External Collaborations and the Path to the Clinic20:12 Mentors, Growth, and the Catalyst Philosophy23:06 OutroThe 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.

Örn Almarsson, a biotech executive and drug-delivery scientist, recounts his path through Johnson & Johnson, Alkermes, and Moderna. He discusses acquisition-driven pharma, transforming Alkermes, layoffs, patent cliffs, and biotech’s volatile cycles. Then he reveals the engineering challenge of therapeutic mRNA delivery, from evading immune alarms to scaling production from micrograms to kilograms.

🧬 The Biotech Startups Podcast is powered by Excedr: helping life science startups accelerate R&D and commercialization with founder-friendly equipment leasing. Skip the upfront costs, stay lean, and focus on breakthrough science.As a TBSP listener, you can get exclusive perks through Excedr's partner network: special savings, promotions, and more. Explore these offers today: https://www.excedr.com/partners“You gotta build that over time thoughtfully.”Örn Almarsson explains why thoughtful networking matters, especially when you don't need anything right away. He also reflects on evolving professional networks, learning from failure, and the entrepreneurial culture that drew him to the United States.At Merck, a three-month visa detour exposed Örn to another laboratory and reinforced the value of adaptability. He then describes leaving a secure role for Transform Pharmaceuticals, building a small team and collaborative culture, developing new formulation technologies, and helping create the patents and assets that led to a Johnson & Johnson acquisition.Key Topics Covered:Thoughtful networkingProfessional relationshipsLearning from failureEntrepreneurial cultureMerck R&DVisa challengesInterdisciplinary collaborationStartup formationHiring and company culturePharmaceutical materials discoveryPatents and licensingJohnson & Johnson acquisitionIf you enjoy The Biotech Startups Podcast, please consider subscribing, leaving a review, or sharing it with your friends. Thanks for listening.Listen and subscribe to The Biotech Startups Podcast:Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-biotech-startups-podcast/id1679591994Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2PSL162R2s0zOwU5913Zv4YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@thebiotechstartupspodcastWebsite: https://www.thebiotechstartupspodcast.com/?utm_source=podcast&utm_medium=show-notes&utm_campaign=the-biotech-startups-podcast-ep277Find our guest, Örn Almarsson, at these links:Website: https://www.axelyf.com/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/orn-almarssonFind 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.comIntro & Outro Songs Created by OkKyojin, OkKyojin:https://flow.page/kyojinResources & Articles:Merck: https://www.merck.com/Johnson & Johnson: https://www.jnj.com/MIT: https://www.mit.edu/Excedr partner network: https://www.excedr.com/partnersCompanies, Universities, & People Mentioned:Merck: https://www.merck.com/Transform Pharmaceuticals: https://www.transformpharma.com/Johnson & Johnson: https://www.jnj.com/Massachusetts Institute of Technology: https://www.mit.edu/Timestamps:00:06 Intro02:10 Networking Through Curiosity03:46 Growing A Living Network04:54 Learning From Failure06:05 Entrepreneurial Risk And Meritocracy07:01 The Merck Visa Detour09:21 Merck's Fast R&D Culture12:08 Working Across Disciplines13:48 The University Of Merck15:20 Leaving A Secure Role19:42 Building Transform21:53 Experience Before Startup Leadership23:40 Transform's Mission And Culture26:42 Patents, Licensing, And Exit29:49 OutroThe 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.

🧬 The Biotech Startups Podcast is powered by Excedr: helping life science startups accelerate R&D and commercialization with founder-friendly equipment leasing. Skip the upfront costs, stay lean, and focus on breakthrough science.As a TBSP listener, you can get exclusive perks through Excedr's partner network: special savings, promotions, and more. Explore these offers today: https://www.excedr.com/partners“Perfect is the enemy of good. How do we get there?”Örn Almarsson traces the early experiences that shaped his approach to science, from growing up in Iceland and Denmark to playing electric guitar and discovering a deeper curiosity about chemistry.He describes his first research opportunity at the University of Iceland, an early industry project in Copenhagen, and the mentors who pushed him toward bioorganic chemistry. The conversation follows his move to UC Santa Barbara, his work with Tom Bruice and Alex Klibanov, and the networking connection that led to Merck.Key Topics Covered:Growing up in Iceland and DenmarkElectric guitar and playing in bandsThe influence of family in pharmaceuticalsStudying chemistry at the University of IcelandFirst research experience with lipidsHaraldsson as an early mentorEarly exposure to industryPractical and applied scienceChoosing graduate school in the United StatesBioorganic chemistry at UC Santa BarbaraMentorship and solving overlooked problemsNetworking and finding a role at MerckIf you enjoy The Biotech Startups Podcast, please consider subscribing, leaving a review, or sharing it with your friends. Thanks for listening.Listen and subscribe to The Biotech Startups Podcast:Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-biotech-startups-podcast/id1679591994Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2PSL162R2s0zOwU5913Zv4YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@thebiotechstartupspodcastWebsite: https://www.thebiotechstartupspodcast.com/?utm_source=podcast&utm_medium=show-notes&utm_campaign=the-biotech-startups-podcast-ep276Find our guest, Örn Almarsson, at these links:Website: https://www.axelyf.com/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/orn-almarssonFind 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.comIntro & Outro Songs Created by OkKyojin, OkKyojin:https://flow.page/kyojinResources & Articles:NCBI Molecular Biology reference: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK21054/UC Santa Barbara Department of Chemistry: https://www.chem.ucsb.edu/MIT Department of Chemistry: https://chemistry.mit.edu/University of Iceland: https://english.hi.is/Merck: https://www.merck.com/Companies, Universities, & People Mentioned:University of Iceland: https://english.hi.is/Novo: https://www.novonordisk.com/Novozymes: https://www.novonesis.com/UC Santa Barbara: https://www.chem.ucsb.edu/MIT: https://www.mit.edu/Merck: https://www.merck.com/Transform Pharmaceuticals: https://www.transformpharma.com/Alkermes: https://www.alkermes.com/Lyndra Therapeutics: https://www.lyndra.com/Moderna: https://www.modernatx.com/Johnson & Johnson: https://www.jnj.com/Berklee School of Music: https://www.berklee.edu/UChicago: https://www.uchicago.edu/Timestamps:00:06 Intro03:06 Growing Up in Iceland and Denmark05:05 Electric Guitar, Bands, and the Pull of Science08:40 A Family Connection to Pharmaceuticals09:33 Choosing Chemistry at the University of Iceland11:06 Haraldsson and the First Lipid Research Experience12:40 An Early Introduction to Industry14:03 Why Practical Science Mattered14:46 Finding a Graduate Program in the United States16:11 Tom Bruice and the Foundations of Bioorganic Chemistry18:13 Inside a Demanding Chemistry Lab19:38 Music, Visibility, and Academic Witness Protection21:12 From Santa Barbara to an MIT Postdoc22:53 Networking, Mentorship, and the Path to Merck24:37 OutroThe 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.