I've just started a bootstrapped biotech company in the last ~4 months, and it's definitely possible, but does depend on your niche. I'm lucky because I can live with my parents and convert my room into a lab, but normally you have to rent a lab to even get things shipped to you. I also previously had intentionally developed the skills to do work on an actual "DIY" capex budget, which most folks coming out of academia don't have.
Intense domain knowledge + knowledge of programming + affordable automation is really a fantastic combination to have with biotech. When the software isn't advanced enough, you can do tricks with hardware. When the hardware isn't advanced enough, you can do tricks with biology. When the biology isn't advanced enough, you can do tricks with software.
It really does depend on connections, though. All of my early customers are folks I've known in the community for years, so I can get paid while working out all the kinks in the system.
Right now, Opentrons rules with their open source robots, so liquid handling robots are pretty well handled. Xarm makes good arms for interfacing with Opentrons, so then it comes to everything else necessary to get to full automation.
1. Automated plate hotels
I need plate hotels to storage samples that interfaces with my robot arm and robot systems. This I'm basically using Theo Sanderson's designs for this https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2668120 since buying them commercially is so darn expensive. I really need this for my system, so I am building em.
2. Plate sealer / unsealers
My entire full automation pipeline is built around NOT needing a plate sealer or un sealer (something you can't do with the vast majority of screening systems). Automated versions of just the sealer itself cost more than 2 liquid handling robots and a robotic arm combined (and all it does is seal plates!) I think there is an opportunity for building simple but effective automated plate sealers and unsealers.
3. A train system
I think Concentric (Ginkgo's COVID company) uses something similar, but basically a system that can use small trains to bring plates and reagents around a lab to different robotic stations. I'll probably just do that with lines of robotic arms, but I definitely spent quite a bit of time thinking of how to do this. (in my factorio megabase I really learned how to route trains, and I think it's exactly the same problem I face with my robotic work stations). I'm not sure how to scale the selling of that though.
I'm a CTO as well and have been fascinated by biotech field. Could you please describe briefly what's it like to be CTO in biotech? What kind of problems do you solve?
Not parent, but have been involved in getting patents. The process itself is not that complicated, but it can be difficult to get a patent which has some value (very easy to end up with a worthless one). I recommend reading the Nolo book on patents, if only to help you understand what's going on, and help you select a good attorney.
You can buy a ton of very expensive biotech equipment off of ebay for very little, which is what a lot of bootstrapped biotech companies do (plus gov-deals and other pharma auction sites)
>>> Finding an initial product that’s reimbursable and then taking the shortest path to get there
This is really inspiring. Contrast with the typical story like Sana Bio which burns tons of R&D cash. My question is: how do you systematically search the potential solution space which may not be your initial area of expertise? How did the solution to focus on easily billable pre-natal diagnostics present itself to a team with oncology expertise?
>How did the solution to focus on easily billable pre-natal diagnostics present itself to a team with oncology expertise?
Make the most of what you have to work with.
I like to build laboratories using research equipment for money-making purposes, not biotech but industrial chemicals.
An ideal way to start can be with a procedure which the laboratory has recognized expertise in, often with a firm foundation of unique or advanced apparatus.
A lot of work involves instruments and they can be expensive and supported by very versatile (costly) infrastructure in academic or industrial research environments.
A worthwhile operation, well rehearsed on an earlier model of the same equipment, can often be invoiced repeatedly in a more businesslike way if the gear can be maintained without completely relying on costly manufacturers' service and supply offerings.
Especially once it's paid for, then even if the invoiceable work drops off you can leave the fully depreciated asset in the lab as long as you want anyway.
Without the institutional overhead a good niche is to offer very limited variety of functions which actually cost the researchers more to have accomplished in their own large laboratories. Plus if you can help them overcome delays or previously unsurmountable obstacles they will want you to work overtime.
If everything turns out good each project pays for itself and always performs profitably after that whenever needed.
But in between your invoiceable sessions you end up with way more instrument time than any institutional researcher, and have more freedom to do whatever you want most of the time.
That's a huge multiplier on the equipment productivity alone in case you do need to pull ahead in the experimentation & discovery department, you can often outperform a PhD who doesn't have nearly as much chance for bench discoveries, and many do not spend very much time at the bench anyway.
Simply too many bright PhDs of all ages would experiment more if they could but there has never been enough time across the board.
With a bootstrapped high-productivity structure, if you disclose the full one percent of your actual progress people will think you're highly accomplished and you can publish it yourself with handouts at conferences.
Until you decide to monetize any breakthroughs or milestones, you can survive or even thrive on the output of your documentation process if you can just issue a single page on average per day of laboratory data to a client. I'm sure there are a number of niches where the going rate is now over $1000 per page and it can be worth working up to it even if it takes a few years. Also took me a while to get a basic report onto a single page for each invoiceable process. After that I never had to publish anything I didn't want to unless somebody was paying for every page.
Plus then you can carry on your research however long it takes.
Without having to do any excess paperwork seeking grants or publishing lack-of-progress reports. You'll have to deal with business paperwork and client interaction instead. That can be just as frustrating but at least it pays the bills at the same time it can build shareholder value.
You don't need citations if you can give clients their money's worth and have an invoice printer attached to your instruments like they don't have at the university or places like DuPont research.
Plus once you're in business you'll have backups they don't have either.
Without connections in the industry it would be hard.
These things cost time and money. It’s not something you can do in one year. You need five to seven years... if you’re on the right track.
Also you cannot know in advance if a clinical product can be repurposed because that’s not evident till you begin studying your first target (where the data might show other unpredicted positive outcomes elsewhere.)
> Arpeggio used their own technology to do drug discovery, and sold it as “consulting” to build credibility with investors and trust with a few initial clients.
This sounds like a great example of them focusing on one thing and doing it well. It must have been a tightrope walk not to give too much information away about their IP and get crushed by competitors.
If you can get into an incubator lab space that isn't in a major market like SF or Boston, where the rents are insane, one can expect to set up a reasonable wet lab for most uses given $200k in equipment and reagent costs and a couple of months of time. Then expect $5-10k/month in operating costs outside of salaries.
Are there any guides on filing Patents as an individual for biotech inventions? Seems like that is the most obvious way to raise capital and protect IP.
Patent fees for an individual/small entity are only a couple thousand dollars in the US.
Readit News
Intense domain knowledge + knowledge of programming + affordable automation is really a fantastic combination to have with biotech. When the software isn't advanced enough, you can do tricks with hardware. When the hardware isn't advanced enough, you can do tricks with biology. When the biology isn't advanced enough, you can do tricks with software.
It really does depend on connections, though. All of my early customers are folks I've known in the community for years, so I can get paid while working out all the kinks in the system.
Right now, Opentrons rules with their open source robots, so liquid handling robots are pretty well handled. Xarm makes good arms for interfacing with Opentrons, so then it comes to everything else necessary to get to full automation.
1. Automated plate hotels I need plate hotels to storage samples that interfaces with my robot arm and robot systems. This I'm basically using Theo Sanderson's designs for this https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2668120 since buying them commercially is so darn expensive. I really need this for my system, so I am building em.
2. Plate sealer / unsealers My entire full automation pipeline is built around NOT needing a plate sealer or un sealer (something you can't do with the vast majority of screening systems). Automated versions of just the sealer itself cost more than 2 liquid handling robots and a robotic arm combined (and all it does is seal plates!) I think there is an opportunity for building simple but effective automated plate sealers and unsealers.
3. A train system I think Concentric (Ginkgo's COVID company) uses something similar, but basically a system that can use small trains to bring plates and reagents around a lab to different robotic stations. I'll probably just do that with lines of robotic arms, but I definitely spent quite a bit of time thinking of how to do this. (in my factorio megabase I really learned how to route trains, and I think it's exactly the same problem I face with my robotic work stations). I'm not sure how to scale the selling of that though.
We're recently opened up a position for a Staff Software Engineer (https://apply.workable.com/billiontoone/j/2F0405817C/).
If you're interested, please reach out to me directly at david+hn@billiontoone.com
https://store.nolo.com/products/patent-it-yourself-pat.html
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-018-05655-3
This is really inspiring. Contrast with the typical story like Sana Bio which burns tons of R&D cash. My question is: how do you systematically search the potential solution space which may not be your initial area of expertise? How did the solution to focus on easily billable pre-natal diagnostics present itself to a team with oncology expertise?
Make the most of what you have to work with.
I like to build laboratories using research equipment for money-making purposes, not biotech but industrial chemicals.
An ideal way to start can be with a procedure which the laboratory has recognized expertise in, often with a firm foundation of unique or advanced apparatus.
A lot of work involves instruments and they can be expensive and supported by very versatile (costly) infrastructure in academic or industrial research environments.
A worthwhile operation, well rehearsed on an earlier model of the same equipment, can often be invoiced repeatedly in a more businesslike way if the gear can be maintained without completely relying on costly manufacturers' service and supply offerings.
Especially once it's paid for, then even if the invoiceable work drops off you can leave the fully depreciated asset in the lab as long as you want anyway.
Without the institutional overhead a good niche is to offer very limited variety of functions which actually cost the researchers more to have accomplished in their own large laboratories. Plus if you can help them overcome delays or previously unsurmountable obstacles they will want you to work overtime.
If everything turns out good each project pays for itself and always performs profitably after that whenever needed.
But in between your invoiceable sessions you end up with way more instrument time than any institutional researcher, and have more freedom to do whatever you want most of the time.
That's a huge multiplier on the equipment productivity alone in case you do need to pull ahead in the experimentation & discovery department, you can often outperform a PhD who doesn't have nearly as much chance for bench discoveries, and many do not spend very much time at the bench anyway.
Simply too many bright PhDs of all ages would experiment more if they could but there has never been enough time across the board.
With a bootstrapped high-productivity structure, if you disclose the full one percent of your actual progress people will think you're highly accomplished and you can publish it yourself with handouts at conferences.
Until you decide to monetize any breakthroughs or milestones, you can survive or even thrive on the output of your documentation process if you can just issue a single page on average per day of laboratory data to a client. I'm sure there are a number of niches where the going rate is now over $1000 per page and it can be worth working up to it even if it takes a few years. Also took me a while to get a basic report onto a single page for each invoiceable process. After that I never had to publish anything I didn't want to unless somebody was paying for every page.
Plus then you can carry on your research however long it takes.
Without having to do any excess paperwork seeking grants or publishing lack-of-progress reports. You'll have to deal with business paperwork and client interaction instead. That can be just as frustrating but at least it pays the bills at the same time it can build shareholder value.
You don't need citations if you can give clients their money's worth and have an invoice printer attached to your instruments like they don't have at the university or places like DuPont research.
Plus once you're in business you'll have backups they don't have either.
I'll be doing it again, would recommend it.
These things cost time and money. It’s not something you can do in one year. You need five to seven years... if you’re on the right track.
Also you cannot know in advance if a clinical product can be repurposed because that’s not evident till you begin studying your first target (where the data might show other unpredicted positive outcomes elsewhere.)
This sounds like a great example of them focusing on one thing and doing it well. It must have been a tightrope walk not to give too much information away about their IP and get crushed by competitors.
Patent fees for an individual/small entity are only a couple thousand dollars in the US.