Insights.

Interviews Karl Schmieder Interviews Karl Schmieder

An Interview with Seasoned Venture Capitalist Tom Baruch

Tom Baruch, a seasoned entrepreneur and venture capitalist, began shifting his VC practice from materials science, IT, and biotechnology to the then-nascent field of synthetic biology in 1997. Over the years, he has funded more than 12 synthetic biology companies and has an enviable track record, never losing money and exiting at 5x to double-digits in as little as 18 months.

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Ginkgo Ferment 2021: Highlights

I was lucky enough to attend this year's Ginkgo Ferment Summit at the end of October 2021. Because of the pandemic, this was the first time in two years that Ginkgo Bioworks held the event. Here are a few learnings.

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Bio-Manufacturing Rules OK

Once you’ve engineered your microorganism to produce your billion-dollar molecule, how are you going to scale up production?

In 2020, A16Z’s Vijay Pande and Judy Savitskay wrote a paper called, The Biggest Open Opportunity in Synthetic Biology, listing out the need for novel bio-manufacturing platforms.

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Bilbao, Food4Future, and Bio-Strategy

Bilbao, the capital of Spain’s Basque country, sits in a river valley surrounded by green mountains. Dominated by the Frank Gehry-designed metal-clad Guggenheim, the city was the site of this year’s first-ever Food4Future conference.

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Distributed Drug Manufacturing

Last week I mentioned, I've been obsessing over generic drug manufacturing.

This isn't an out-of-the-blue Karl Schmieder obsession. I've worked on communications projects for biopharma manufacturers and, for about a decade, have written about quality control issues associated with foreign manufacturers.

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Not Seeing Around Corners

I have to admit, I'd been writing a newsletter based on Rita Gunter McGrath's book SEEING AROUND CORNERS. McGrath is one of my favorite business strategist. Her work is practical and highly actionable.

My piece involved some sci-fi systems thinking and speculation about our post COVID-19 world. Ultimately I was unsatisfied with the draft, So, I put it aside and decided to write something else. 

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Messaginglab COVID-19 Resources

At Messaginglab, we value communications and connections.

I started this company to help life sciences companies better communicate with their audiences. The 2020 COVID-19 pandemic feels like one of those times when stories are more important than ever.

As the COVID-19 pandemic unfolds, I want to take a moment to share a few thoughts and updates on what I am doing to serve you and my clients.

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Why Your Story Matters Now More Than Ever

Everything is different. A month ago, I was helping plan an April 30th consumer biotechnology conference. Two weeks ago, my co-organizers and I were discussing whether or not we should cancel the conference because of COVID19 news. Seven days ago, the pandemic was declared. New York City asked us to stay home. The U.S. declared a national emergency.

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