E51: Seth Bannon on Deep Tech, Biotech, and VC Strategies

Erik Torenberg sat down with Seth Bannon, co-founder and general partner at Fifty Years, a pre-seed and seed focused VC firm. They discuss the challenges of commercializing academic research, the differences between biotech and tech bio companies, exploring recent advancements in bioengineering, genetic engineering, synthetic biology, and the significance of the "bio moment." They also cover the impact of AI and machine learning on biological research and examine alternative funding models transforming the scientific startup landscape. Control your company's spending and close your books 3x faster: visit rippling.com/spend for a free demo and one month free trial.🔥 Apply to join over 400 founders and Execs in the Turpentine Network: https://hmplogxqz0y.typeform.com/to/JCkphVqj–RECOMMENDED PODCASTS:🎙️ This Won't Last - Eavesdrop on Keith Rabois, Kevin Ryan, Logan Bartlett, and Zach Weinberg's monthly backchannel. They unpack their hottest takes on the future of tech, business, venture, investing, and politics.Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/id1765665937Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2HwSNeVLL1MXy0RjFPyOSzYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ThisWontLastpodcast–SPONSORS: 💳 Imagine total control over your company's spending with Rippling Spend, the all-in-one platform for expense reports, corporate cards, and bill pay. Control spend, set custom approval chains, and close your books 3x faster. Visit https://www.rippling.com/turpentine for a free demo and one month free trial.🛠️ Building an enterprise-ready SaaS app? WorkOS has got you covered with easy-to-integrate APIs for SAML, SCIM, and more. Join top startups like Vercel, Perplexity, Jasper & Webflow in powering your app with WorkOS. Enjoy a free tier for up to 1M users! Start now at https://bit.ly/WorkOS-TCR 💥 Head to Squad to access global engineering without the headache and at a fraction of the cost: head to https://choosesquad.com/ and mention “Turpentine” to skip the waitlist. –LINKS:Spinout Playbook: https://www.fiftyyears.com/spinoutPaul Graham’s How to Start a Startup: https://paulgraham.com/start.htmlSolugen - https://solugen.com/More on Fifty Years:Website: https://www.fiftyyears.com/  Seth Bannon on Twitter: https://twitter.com/sethbannon/status/1813633256128192617The world needs 10x more scientist-founders. 5050 helps scientists and engineers become great founders and start indispensable companies. Apply / nominate! ➜ http://fiftyyears.com/5050 –TIMESTAMPS:(00:00) Intro(00:53) Seth Bannon's background and inspiration(03:38) Founding and mission of Fifty Years(03:51) Defining deep tech and investment thesis(04:34) Challenges in commercializing academic research(10:14) The Spinout Playbook(12:23) Sponsors: Rippling Spend | WorkOS(14:38) Empowering PhDs to become entrepreneurs(15:06) Building deep tech companies(20:41) Biomoment in technology(27:41) Rapid integration of large language models(28:06) Startups leading the charge in pharma innovation(28:46) The role of proprietary data in bioengineering(29:31) Understanding spatial context in cell biology(30:43) Getting into biology without formal training(33:22) The beginner's mind investment philosophy(34:14) The future of deep tech and network-driven VC(36:33) Sponsor: Squad(38:01) Tech bio vs biotech(45:54) Alternative funding models for science(49:41) Incentivizing failure in scientific research(53:50) Wrap