Highs, Lows and Risks

Behind the scenes of building a biotech company: A big milestone unlocked and supply chain dramas 🥳 😵‍💫

The highs: 🥳

1️⃣ I’m so pleased with how our FBS-replacement solution, FRS, is looking. I’ve been working out the final shipping format over the past months, and every time I go into the laboratory and see a wide range of cells growing in FRS after weeks and months, it just makes my heart happy.

2️⃣ Product is being shipped to scientists doing important work, who want and need to replace FBS in their cell culture. Some of these folks have worked alongside me in the past, and it feels really special to share this moment with them.

Frankly, I probably need to pause and celebrate this milestone a bit more. I think it just doesn’t feel real yet.

The lows: 😵‍💫

1️⃣ Gosh, life sciences supply chain can be so tough in Australia. Reagents might come with a quoted 6-8 week lead time...but sometimes I’ve seen that become 4+ months if it arrives at all!

Sometimes I wonder if I should just fly to the US to visit family & pick up reagents at the same time! (Would this make the flight a business expense? Not sure what the import implications would be, so please don’t interpret this musing as a recommendation!)

2️⃣ The last 2 months have brought some personal life challenges. One of my jobs as company leader is to constantly assess “what are the biggest risks to the business right now?” Reality is, at this tiny stage of company growth, if something slows me down even marginally, it’s going to slow down company progress as well. Something I’m keen to de-risk as we move into 2025 and figure out what scale-up looks like.

Overall, it feels good. I’m a cautious scientist by nature, but I’m becoming increasingly excited about the potential FRS has to replace a great deal of FBS out there - making cell culture more sustainable, consistent, and contaminant free.

Photo: Our first labels! It’s getting real 😍
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