🧬 Why Most Biotech Startups Fail (And How to Survive Market Crashes) | Aaron Edwards (Part 2/4)
"You might not have developed it. You might not know where that is. But you're finding what that North Star is."
In this episode of The Biotech Startups Podcast, Aaron Edwards shares how a bold cold email launched him from Kentucky to a cutting-edge mRNA vaccine lab in Boston, setting the stage for a dynamic biotech career.
He explores the culture shock of city life, how curiosity fueled his leadership, and the key lessons learned navigating academia, big pharma, and nimble startups—ultimately revealing how market cycles, organizational models, and operational discipline drive innovation and resilience in biotech.
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🧬 Embracing Identity & Curiosity: Being Different Fuels Innovation | Aaron Edwards (Part 1/4)
"There was something else there that I needed to keep searching for... and that's a theme in my life."
In this episode of The Biotech Startups Podcast, we explore the formative journey of Aaron Edwards, Co-founder and CEO of KiraGen Bio, as he shares how curiosity, conviction, and challenging convention led him from a small town in Kentucky to the forefront of biotech innovation in Boston. Aaron reflects on his upbringing with pharmacist parents, the impact of early mentors, and the pivotal experiences that shaped his leadership style and scientific vision.
Listeners will hear how Aaron’s path was shaped by balancing competitive athletics with academic pursuits, navigating personal identity in a close-knit community, and seizing opportunities that broadened his perspective beyond traditional career paths. From his first wet lab experience with butterfly genetics to transformative internships in cancer research, Aaron’s story is one of resilience, self-discovery, and a relentless drive to make a difference in oncology.
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🧬 Growth Without Venture Capital: The Bootstrapped Bioscience Playbook | Ivan Liachko (Part 4/4)
"It's not a brute force approach. It's a cleverness-based approach. It's a new kind of information that lets us do new things."
Host Jon Chee sits down with Ivan Liachko, founder and CEO of Phase Genomics, to unpack how clever, constraint-driven science turned a scrappy, bootstrapped lab into a genomics powerhouse. Ivan explains how their breakthrough technology—capturing the physical proximity of DNA—opened new frontiers in genome assembly, microbiome discovery, and cancer diagnostics, all propelled by a lean, scientist-led team and organic growth.
The episode dives into Phase’s evolution into a data-driven research leader, its focus on non-dilutive funding over venture capital, and its vision for clinical impact and therapeutic spinouts—all fueled by a passion for unlocking powerful new biological information.
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🧬 How 3D Genome Mapping is Changing Everything We Know About DNA | Ivan Liachko (Part 3/4)
"If you get a new kind of information, suddenly you can do something with it that you couldn't do before at all."
In this episode of The Biotech Startups Podcast, Ivan Liachko shares how scientific curiosity and unexpected collaborations took him from DNA replication research in yeast at Cornell to a breakthrough in 3D genome mapping and the founding of Phase Genomics.
Embracing Hi-C technology at the University of Washington, Ivan and his team unlocked a new kind of biological information, enabling scientists to assemble genomes and map complex microbial communities and their viruses—transforming what was once impossible into a new standard for genomics. His journey highlights how creativity, collaboration, and seizing serendipitous moments can drive the most impactful scientific innovations.
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🧬 Startup Survival Skills: Resilience, Frugality & Real Talk in Biotech | Ivan Liachko (Part 2/4)
“Every time you think you’re right and somebody puts you in your place and you learn from it, eventually you’re like, that guy gave me the greatest gift… You learn to love it.”
In this episode of The Biotech Startups Podcast, Ivan Liachko, CEO and co-founder of Phase Genomics, delivers an unfiltered look at the realities of building a biotech company, revealing how the mental toll of leadership, managing egos, and embracing frugality shaped his journey from academia to entrepreneurship.
Through candid stories of scrappy problem-solving and bootstrapping Phase Genomics, Ivan and host Jon Chee highlight the surprising overlap between science and business, the importance of knowing which game you’re playing, and why resilience, adaptability, and learning from failure are crucial for startup success.
The Biotech Startups Podcast by Excedr features weekly conversations with founders, scientists, and investors driving biotech innovation. Host Jon Chee dives into the challenges of building biotech startups, from pre-seed to IPO. New episodes every Monday and Thursday.
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