Jun 6, 2023
Jay Keasling, the CEO of the Joint
BioEnergy Institute (JBEI). He is also a Professor in the
Department of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering and also the
Department of Bioengineering at the University of California,
Berkeley.. He’s also a Senior Faculty Scientist @ Lawrence Berkeley
National Laboratory and also holds other prestigious positions
around the world.
We talk about Jay’s initial foray into startups; working with grad
students and postdocs; challenges translating lab research to
startups; funding; partnerships; equity splits; lessons learned
from failures and other topics.
Shownotes:
- Jay Keasling CV: https://www.jbei.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/2019.10.19-Keasling-CV.pdf
- Joint Bioenergy Institute
(JBEI)
- Initial foray into startups: Amyris
- Deciding which research projects become startups
- Working with graduate students and postdocs
- Building partnerships
- Working with investors: Philanthropy, angel investors, VCs and
corporate VCs
- Faculty co-founders and equity split challenges
- Pivots & networking
- Lessons from failures