(Tofu) Skin in the Game

The world’s first textbook on DNA Data Storage is out now, commissioned by Springer, one of the world’s leading scientific publishers. I am the youngest co-author on the book alongside veterans in the field across academia and industry.

My chapter focuses on end to end rewritable DNA data storage and the unit economics that makes it possible to build it today (vis a vis DNA synthesis), which is the fundamental thesis on which BioCompute is built. And it’s the first time in the world that such an analysis has been published, so check it out!

Over the next few weeks, we will be breaking down the concepts in my chapter in bite sized formats that is easily accessible.

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“They’re everything to each other for this short stretch of time because they’re all there is. They are each to the other a representative of the human race - they each have to suffice for billions of people”
- Samantha Harvey, Orbital

Harvey was writing about six astronauts from different parts of the world on a spaceship orbiting our planet. She could have easily been describing the Synbiobeta delegation that I visited China with last week.

It was an eye-opening trip for many reasons.

1. The collaborative ecosystem
   For the first time ever, I saw academic institutions, startups, startup enablers (like incubators and accelerators) and government work in such close coordination to ensure that businesses succeed. There are multiple reasons why this is happening, but highlighting the ones I found most relevant within the context of my interactions.
   
   i) The KPIs of local government officials are tied to metrics like getting more foreign entrepreneurs set up in their locality, accessing grants from the federal government for specific startup programs, i.e. they are evaluated more like a private sector employee than anywhere else in the world.

   

   
   ii) The state owns the means of production including land, this gives them an incentive to ensure that the value of their land grows exponentially by enabling businesses. This also gives government bodies a fair reason to build regulation in a way that enables entrepreneurs to succeed, for instance Kevin Zhao founder of Qi Biodesign told us that he was able to get export licenses for his genetically modified agricultural products by demonstrating the commercial value of his product (and not through crony capitalism), and now this regulation supports other companies in the same domain.

   
   iii) Academic institutions hire dedicated folks to enable tech transfer, instead of expecting an academic/an administrator to pick up this role. For instance, Cam Watson who joined us on this trip is working with XJTLU to enable their students and faculty to start and run their own deep tech companies.
   
   Breakneck by Dan Wang would be a good starting point if you want to dive deeper into understanding China’s growth and ecosystem.

2. Openness to do business with the rest of the world
   There is a perception in the rest of the world about China that they are closed to outsiders and don’t want to engage/do businesses with us. I learnt that nothing could be farther from the truth than that.

   
   The hospitality I experienced in China, from individuals as well as from the organizations we visited is impeccable (at one of the dinners, when I said out loud that I really loved their tofu skin, they got an extra bowl of that made for me xD). Moreover, many of the government officials I spoke to were eager to help us access government grants in China; the incubators we visited wanted to enable setting up facilities for foreign companies; the organizations we visited were actively investing in international business partnerships.
   
   It’s a little tricky to navigate the social landscape if you don’t speak Mandarin and are not familiar with the cultural nuances, but that’s operationally solvable if you know what you want to get done.

3. Unit economics advantage
   China has a clear cost arbitrage when it comes to scaling up. We have seen this in microelectronics manufacturing and assembly before. And we are now seeing it in biomanufacturing. They produce fermented products at a 1000th of the cost anywhere else in the world, while adhering to all the safety standards.

   
   This is partly due to the availability of cheap labour, but it’s also because they have innovated on manufacturing processes and hardware, and they built an ecosystem that enables them to iterate real quick when a customer requirement comes in.
   
   We are in early conversations with some Chinese companies for partnerships, more on that soon!
   

4. The Great Wall of China is really real
   There are wonders of the world that you hear about, see in photos and videos and they attain a certain unreal quality in your mind. But when you see it with your own eyes, your belief in human ingenuity grows a little bit.

   

There is something life-altering about sitting at a dinner table with folks from wildly different parts of the world, across ages, backgrounds, and lived experiences starting to talk about biotech and gently slipping into talking about our biggest dreams, fears, frustrations and what makes us human across borders. Creating spaces like these to come together is incredible given the heat of the geopolitical tensions, and I am grateful John Cumbers made it happen (like he always does).

*A huge shoutout to Lynn and Emily from Globaltech IP for being our generous hosts, if you are looking to plan a trip to China let them be your sherpas. Also, make sure you have your VPNs, Alipay and WeChat set up before you land in China (that will make your trip 100x more convenient).

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We have wrapped up our Bangalore operations, and I am taking a break at home (okay, as much of a break a founder can take xD) before heading out to the US. And we are building V1 of our storage device in the mean time.

Excited for the road ahead!