Ginkgo Bioworks is a platform company that provides bioengineering services through their automated labs in Boston. They offer infrastructure to startups and biopharma companies for cell engineering and research, operating on a platform business model similar to Amazon Web Services. The founders bootstrapped the company for five years before receiving outside funding, demonstrating resourcefulness and frugality. They emphasize the importance of finding a co-founder and having a scientist or PhD advisor involved in deep technology companies. Ginkgo Bioworks started with easier customers and gradually worked their way up to more challenging ones, transitioning from serving small customers to working with high-profile names in various industries. The company aims to make synthetic biology accessible and widely distributed, similar to the evolution of computers. They have formed partnerships in food, agriculture, metabolic diseases, and gene therapy, expanding their range of applications. The relationship between science and venture capital has led to advancements and innovations in various fields.
Intro
- Surbhi Sarna, Reshma Shetty, and Jason Kelly are the founders of Ginkgo Bioworks.
- The discussion in the video is attended by individuals with tech and bio backgrounds.
Ginkgo Labs
Ginkgo Bioworks is a platform company that offers outsourced bioengineering services through their highly automated labs in Boston. They provide infrastructure to startups and biopharma companies for cell engineering and research, enabling others through their platform business model.
Key points:
- Ginkgo Bioworks provides bioengineering services through their automated labs in Boston.
- Their services are accessed as a platform, similar to Amazon Web Services.
- They offer infrastructure to startups and biopharma companies for cell engineering and research.
- Ginkgo Bioworks aims to enable other people's products through their platform business model.
Bootstrapping to Success
Bootstrapping to Success: The founders of Ginkgo Bioworks, Surbhi Sarna and Reshma Shetty, share their experience of bootstrapping the company for five years before receiving outside funding. They started in 2008, opening their first lab in 2009 without external financial support. Their resourcefulness and frugality, buying equipment on eBay and finding affordable office space, became ingrained in the company's culture. These lessons are crucial for aspiring founders.
- Ginkgo Bioworks founders bootstrapped the company for five years before external funding.
- They opened their first lab in 2009 without any financial support.
- The founders were resourceful, buying equipment on eBay and finding affordable office space.
- The company's culture reflects their frugality and scrappiness.
- These lessons are important for aspiring founders.
Finding Co-Founder
Finding a co-founder for a startup is crucial for success. Here are the key points discussed in the video:
- Ginkgo Bioworks, a successful startup, has five founders who met at MIT while studying synthetic biology.
- The founders emphasize the importance of having a scientist or PhD advisor involved in deep technology companies.
- Getting your thesis advisor to join your startup full-time is seen as a strong signal of success.
Tips to Pull People Out of Academia
Tips to Pull People Out of Academia:
- The importance of having full-time founders, rather than professors or advisors, in building a successful company.
- Founders need to commit their time and energy to the company and not waste equity or moral authority on someone who is not fully dedicated.
- Lack of resources available in the past for aspiring founders.
- The power of founder-led companies and the need for real ownership.
- Professors should give equity to their students and take a smaller piece themselves to incentivize them to join full-time.
- Short-term thinking often hinders the transition from academia to the startup world.
Founder-Led - Biotech vs Tech
Founder-led biotech companies are traditionally replaced by professional management due to the control and ownership held by biotech VCs. However, a shift is occurring where founders are able to retain control through non-diluted funding. YC is helping drive this shift, although it is slower in biotech compared to tech. Ginkgo Bioworks exemplifies this shift by starting with grants and leveraging them for better terms when raising venture capital. The high upfront costs of starting a biotech company hinder founder-led startups, unlike tech companies that benefited from lower costs. Ginkgo Bioworks is working to reduce these costs and make founder-led biotech startups more feasible.
Why Did you Join YC?
The decision to join Y Combinator (YC) was influenced by a blog post written by Sam Altman expressing interest in funding non-software companies, which presented an opportunity for Ginkgo Bioworks to receive funding for their biotech work. The founders of Ginkgo Bioworks joined YC because they believed in their own authentic vision and were inspired by the founders of other successful companies. They emphasized the importance of genuinely believing in what you're doing as an entrepreneur and highlighted the high stakes involved in entrepreneurship.
What Changed At Scale
The transition from bootstrapping to raising funding led to cultural changes at Ginkgo Bioworks. Initially met with skepticism, the company successfully tackled new challenges, leading to a group of employees willing to push boundaries. The video emphasizes the importance of good scientists and engineers in companies that build real technology.
Building Culture
- Building a strong culture at Ginkgo Bioworks involves maintaining an unstable equilibrium between skepticism and ambition.
- Skeptical scientists and engineers who have experienced success become less skeptical and more excited to work on challenging projects.
- The goal is to develop better taste in taking tasteful risks and avoiding tasteless ones.
Customers
The most profound aspect of the text is the importance of starting small and not being picky when it comes to finding customers.
- The founders of Ginkgo Bioworks emphasize the need to start with easier customers and gradually work their way up to more challenging ones.
- They advise against focusing on brand names or investors and instead recommend taking small steps and not being afraid of starting with scrappy deals.
- The fear of giving away too much or looking bad should not hinder founders from getting their first deal.
- Offering something valuable and leveraging opportunities to grow is crucial.
- Ginkgo Bioworks transitioned from serving small customers to working with high-profile names in various industries, despite facing criticism.
- They remained focused on serving their customers throughout the transition.
Going Public
Going public has helped increase Ginkgo Bioworks' profile and sales. The founders describe the excitement of bringing the whole company to the New York Stock Exchange and celebrating with friends, advisors, and families. Taking a moment to celebrate and reflect on their journey as a community was a valuable experience.
What is Synthetic Biology?
Synthetic biology is a field that treats DNA as digital code, allowing it to be read and written using DNA sequencing and synthesis. It aims to apply engineering theories to biology, revolutionizing the field and expanding its applications. Key points include:
- Synthetic biology is a tools revolution that makes it easier to apply biotechnology across all markets.
- Advancements in sequencing, DNA synthesis, genome editing, protein design, and measurement technologies have expanded the range of applications in synthetic biology.
- It involves designing and constructing new biological parts, devices, and systems using genetic engineering techniques.
- Synthetic biology has the potential to revolutionize industries such as healthcare, agriculture, and manufacturing.
- Ginkgo Bioworks is a leading company in the synthetic biology space, offering infrastructure and services to help customers leverage this technology.
Parting Advice
- The most profound aspect of the parting advice for founders is to not underestimate their ability to learn and to be willing to put in the effort to learn and grow.
- This advice applies to all areas, including technical and non-technical aspects of running a company.
- Another important piece of advice is to not start a lab, as it is not worth it.
Q&A - Let's Talk Dragons
Dragons: A Q&A Summary
The Q&A session in the video focuses on dragons, sparking curiosity among the audience. These dragons are biological in nature and appeal to children.
Key Points:
- Jason Kelly's tweet about discussing dragons generated interest among the audience.
- The dragons being discussed are biological in nature.
- The topic of dragons is appealing to children.
Long Term Goal
The long-term goal of synthetic biology is to make it accessible and widely distributed, similar to how computers have evolved over time. This future is seen as beautiful and full of potential.
- Synthetic biology aims to make biology low-cost and accessible to all ages.
- The goal is to enable people to design and create using biological materials.
- This vision is inspired by the evolution of computers and their widespread use.
Women Founder in Bio?
The most profound aspect of the topic is the challenges faced by women founders in the field of biotechnology, and the importance of staying focused on building and finding believers rather than worrying about gender-related challenges or unconscious bias.
Key points:
- Women founders in biotechnology face challenges, but success requires the same qualities and mindset for both men and women.
- Don't let gender-related challenges occupy too much mental space, instead focus on giving back and lifting up other women in the field.
- Unconscious bias is an issue, but it's important not to let it consume mental energy.
- Stay focused on building and finding a few believers, rather than worrying about everyone's opinions.
Boston vs Silicon Valley?
The video compares the biotech ecosystems in Boston and Silicon Valley, highlighting their respective advantages. Boston is known for drug development and big biopharmas, while Silicon Valley excels in cultural product development and innovation in non-pharma areas of biotech. The talent pool in San Diego and San Francisco is also mentioned. The speakers predict that Silicon Valley will dominate in new materials and bio-apps.
- Boston is known for drug development and big biopharmas
- Silicon Valley excels in cultural product development and innovation in non-pharma areas of biotech
- Talent pool in San Diego and San Francisco is mentioned
- Silicon Valley predicted to dominate in new materials and bio-apps
AI and ML in Synthetic Bio
AI and ML in Synthetic Bio:
- AI and ML can have a significant impact in synthetic biology by leveraging large amounts of data.
- The availability of data sets is crucial for the success of AI and ML models in synthetic biology.
- Automation is necessary for generating biological data systematically and reliably.
- The intersection of organoid intelligence with synthetic biology needs further clarification.
Science vs Venture Capital
The profound aspect of the topic is the relationship between science and venture capital, and how it has led to advancements and innovations in various fields.
Key points:
- Ginkgo Bioworks allocates capacity to customer cell programs and internal R&D to improve the platform and develop IP.
- The company aims to capture a significant portion of cell engineering in biotech applications.
- Ginkgo envisions a future where centralized infrastructure replaces individual, costly versions of biotech processes.
- Advancements in science, driven by venture capital investments, have led to significant improvements and innovations.
- Infrastructure and data centers play a crucial role in driving progress in fields like AI.
- The goal is to shift from in-house operations to a more scalable infrastructure.
Current Partnerships
Ginkgo Bioworks has formed diverse partnerships in food, agriculture, metabolic diseases, and gene therapy, improving tools and serving different industries. The implications for biology are significant.
- Ginkgo Bioworks has formed partnerships in various fields such as food, agriculture, metabolic diseases, and gene therapy.
- The company is excited about the broad range of applications and the improvement of tools.
- These partnerships allow Ginkgo Bioworks to serve different industries.
- The implications of these partnerships in the field of biology are significant.
Outro
- Early employees play a crucial role in the success of a company.
- They help create a strong foundation and maintain the company's culture.
- Having employees who can grow along with the company is important.
- Early employees carry the vision of the founders and contribute to the overall success of the company.