Boba & Biotech

Boba & Biotech is a candid podcast about what it takes to develop new drugs and the ecosystem of academics, biotechs, pharma and investors behind it. Our field is often misunderstood by outsiders and insiders alike due to the poor communication habits and complex science that underlie human disease. I, Armon Sharei, was a PhD student in chemical engineering when I was first enamoured by the idea of engineering a patient’s own cells to attack their disease. Throughout my journey, we spun out a company, SQZ Biotech, from MIT, raised $400M in investor and partnered funding from Roche, and went public on the NYSE. Eventually my board and I had a big fight, I got kicked out and started all over again! Please join me as we chat with the people that have dedicated their careers to improving human health and how they navigate the challenges of science, money, corporate politics and the rollercoaster of clinical development. As we sip on our boba throughout th

Boba & Biotech is a business podcast hosted by Unknown Host, with 13 episodes on record and a Required Pod Score of 80. PitchCentric scores this show on Booking Probability, Listen Score, and live audience signals refreshed every 24 hours.

Unknown Host hosts Boba & Biotech, a business show with 13 episodes published.

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  Boba & Biotech

  Robots, Cells, and the Future of Individualized Medicine

  Jul 30, 202642 min

  Guest: Fred Parietti In this episode of Boba & Biotech, Armon sits down with Federico ("Fred") Parietti, Co-Founder and CEO of Multiply Labs, for a conversation about bringing robotics and AI into one of biotech's biggest bottlenecks: manufacturing. Fred shares how meeting his future co-founder at MIT opened his eyes to just how manual biopharmaceutical manufacturing still was, inspiring the creation of Multiply Labs to automate the production of advanced therapies. Nearly a decade later, the company has grown into a leader in robotic biomanufacturing, partnering with major pharmaceutical companies to help scale cell/gene therapies, antibodies, and other biologic medicines. The conversation covers the realities of raising capital as a first-time founder, how Y Combinator helped launch their journey in Silicon Valley, why peer-reviewed data and live customer demos matter more than hype, and how AI is shifting biotech's next bottleneck from drug discovery to manufacturing. Along the way, Fred reflects on the resilience required to navigate difficult partnerships and investors, and why staying optimistic is one of a founder's most valuable skills.Fred is the Co-Founder and CEO of Multiply Labs, a biotechnology company developing robotic manufacturing platforms for advanced therapeutics, including personalized pharmaceuticals and cell therapies. A robotics engineer by training, Fred earned his Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from MIT. Links Armon’s LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/armonsharei/   Fred’s LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/fred-parietti/  Credits Hosted by Armon Sharei, PhD Research by Julie Kim, Briana Mach Produced by David Woje, Woje Productions, Andressa Carroll, Portal Edited and mixed by David Woje 

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  Boba & Biotech

  Building Precision NanoSystems and the Road to a Danaher Exit

  Jun 18, 202633 min

  Guest: James Taylor In this episode of Boba & Biotech, Armon sits down with James Taylor, co-founder of Precision NanoSystems, for a candid conversation about building a platform technology for nanoparticle-delivered RNA medicines from a PhD project into an 11-year journey that ended in an acquisition by Danaher Corporation, a leading global life sciences and diagnostics healthcare company. They cover the early grind of bootstrapping with non-dilutive grants, why it took five years to raise a Series A, and the case for staying a tools company even as the "sexier" path to therapeutics beckoned. Taylor opens up about a near-death experience scaling the sales team, the hard lessons of building a channel as a technical founder, and why boards don't run companies, management does. They also dig into building in Vancouver V.S. the US, the tension between royalty and per-unit business models, and what he'd change about how the industry communicates its impact to the world. James Taylor is the Co-Founder and former CEO of Precision NanoSystems (PNI), a Vancouver-based life science tools company specializing in lipid nanoparticle platform technology. He holds a B.A.Sc. in engineering physics and a Ph.D. in genetics from the University of British Columbia (UBC). After 11 years building PNI, James led its acquisition by Danaher, where it was integrated into Cytiva's Life Sciences portfolio. Links Armon’s LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/armonsharei/ James’ LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/taylorrobertjames/ Credits Hosted by Armon Sharei, PhD Research by Julie Kim, MBA Produced by David Woje, Woje Productions, Andressa Carroll, Portal Edited and mixed by David Woje

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  Boba & Biotech

  From PhD to Public Company: Jason Kelly on Building Ginkgo and What Comes Next

  Jun 4, 202658 minS0

  <p>Guest: Jason Kelly</p> <p>In this episode of Boba & Biotech, Armon sits down with Jason Kelly, co-founder and CEO of Ginkgo Bioworks, for a conversation about what it takes to build a biotech company from scratch when no one will fund you, why platform business models in biotech are harder than they look, and where he thinks the biggest opportunity in biotech history is hiding.</p> <p>They cover how Ginkgo got started on grants and stubbornness out of MIT, why Jason was deliberate about protecting voting control through IPO, the case for autonomous labs replacing manual bench...

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  Boba & Biotech

  The Biotech IPO: What Bankers See That Founders Miss

  May 21, 202642 minS0

  <p>Guest: Mark Dempster</p> <p>In this episode of Boba & Biotech, Armon sits down with Mark Dempster, Co-Head of Healthcare Investment Banking at Stifel, to pull back the curtain on what biotech bankers actually do and why it matters more than most founders realize.</p> <p>They cover the public vs. private financing divide, why the stigma around banks helping with private rounds exists and whether it still makes sense, and what founders consistently get wrong when they go public for the first time. Mark also shares his honest take on why generalist investors stay skittish about biotech, what...

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  Boba & Biotech

  From Bench to Boardroom: What Drug Development Actually Takes

  May 7, 202657 minS0

  <p>Guest: William Pao </p> <p>In this episode of Boba & Biotech, Armon sits down with William Pao, a physician-scientist who has run oncology R&D at Roche, served as Chief Development Officer at Pfizer, and is now CEO and Co-Founder of Revelio Therapeutics. Few people have seen drug development from as many angles.</p> <p>They get into the real economics behind why a single molecule can cost $600M to advance, what it actually feels like to kill a program you believe in, and why the jump from pharma to biotech is more disorienting than most people expect. Plus: w...

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