#174 CEO & Co-Founder Ginkgo Bioworks, Jason Kelly: Life Finds a Way
Grit22 Jan 2024

#174 CEO & Co-Founder Ginkgo Bioworks, Jason Kelly: Life Finds a Way

Guest: Jason Kelly, CEO and co-founder of Ginkgo Bioworks

Almost everyone in the second generation of biotechnology entrepreneurs, says Ginkgo Bioworks CEO Jason Kelly, works in that field because of one thing: Jurassic Park. The Michael Crichton novel-turned-Steven Spielberg movie captured both the wonder and beauty of bioengineering, and the challenges of bending DNA to your own ends. “You didn’t invent biology,” Jason says. “You need to have humility in the face of it ... because life will find a way. It will do things you don’t expect. It’s not a computer.”

In this episode, Jason and Joubin discuss the Wall Street rollercoaster, designer cells, the history of biotech, Herbert Boyer and Genentech, ChatGPT, extinct flowers, Sam Altman and YCombinator, first principles thinking, compounding risk, Patrick Collison, super-voting shares, capital intensive businesses, Pets.com, and why biology is like “freakishly powerful alien technology.”

In this episode, we cover:

  • Being private vs. being public (00:58)
  • How bioengineering works (04:27)
  • Jurassic Park (08:51)
  • Biotech breakthroughs (12:15)
  • Why this field is not well-known yet (16:57)
  • “The ChatGPT moment for biotech” (22:05)
  • Meaningful stuff takes forever (26:23)
  • Ginkgo’s first five years (29:02)
  • Why the company went public (36:20)
  • Short sellers, Warren Buffett, and Elon Musk (42:08)
  • Applying AI to DNA engineering (47:57)
  • The long-term future (55:57)
  • Who Ginkgo is hiring (58:39)

Links:

Episoder(279)

CRO Twilio, Marc Boroditsky: A Behind the Scenes Look at Twilio’s Go to Market Strategy

CRO Twilio, Marc Boroditsky: A Behind the Scenes Look at Twilio’s Go to Market Strategy

Marc Boroditisky brings a unique perspective to the table as CRO of Twilio, as a founder and builder who has led several companies. In this episode of Go to Market, Joubin and Marc discuss his unique ...

30 Nov 202051min

SVP and Head of Sales at AppsFlyer, Mar Brandt: Leadership Insights

SVP and Head of Sales at AppsFlyer, Mar Brandt: Leadership Insights

Mar Brandt is a sales veteran and ad tech expert who has spent time at leading organizations including Experian, Sitecore, and most recently AppsFlyer. Mar is also a founding member and senior executi...

16 Nov 202045min

COO of LinkedIn, Dan Shapero: Discussing Go to Market Leadership

COO of LinkedIn, Dan Shapero: Discussing Go to Market Leadership

Imagine taking a company like LinkedIn to a billion dollars in sales in just a few years, only to leave at the top of your game to rebuild your career and pursue a different path in product. That’s ex...

2 Nov 202050min

B2B General Manager of Calm, Jim Herbold: Describing ‘Unicorn Meat’

B2B General Manager of Calm, Jim Herbold: Describing ‘Unicorn Meat’

Jim Herbold played an instrumental role in scaling Box, growing the company from $600k to $200m over the course of seven years — only to pivot and leave the company a year before their IPO.In this epi...

19 Okt 20201h 9min

VP and GM at Shopify, Loren Padelford: Breaking the Rules in Sales

VP and GM at Shopify, Loren Padelford: Breaking the Rules in Sales

Sales is full of doctrines, or commonly shared beliefs, that are repeated over and over again, often without question — from hiring to business development. And blindly following can inhibit growth an...

5 Okt 202052min

SVP Sales Modern Health, Hannah Willson: Overcoming the Stigma of Mental Health in Sales

SVP Sales Modern Health, Hannah Willson: Overcoming the Stigma of Mental Health in Sales

In this episode of Go to Market Grit, Modern Health VP of Sales Hannah Willson explains how Modern Health is working to normalize and de-stigmatize cognitive wellbeing health in the workplace.  Accord...

21 Sep 202039min

Chief Sales Officer at Brex, Sam Blond: Recruiting Talent

Chief Sales Officer at Brex, Sam Blond: Recruiting Talent

If there’s one person who knows a thing or two about sales growth, it’s Brex Chief Sales Officer Sam Blond, who has been a part of some legendary sales runs during his career. Sam joined Zenefits in 2...

8 Sep 202051min

CRO Cockroach Labs, Jeff Miller: Building an Effective Open Source Go to Market Strategy

CRO Cockroach Labs, Jeff Miller: Building an Effective Open Source Go to Market Strategy

In a study from Red Hat, 95 percent of respondents said open source was strategically important to their organization, while 77 percent agreed that open source will continue to grow. Yet, that doesn’t...

24 Aug 202035min

Populært innen Business og økonomi

stopp-verden
dine-penger-pengeradet
e24-podden
rss-borsmorgen-okonominyhetene
rss-penger-polser-og-politikk
pengepodden-2
utbytte
finansredaksjonen
morgenkaffen-med-finansavisen
rss-sunn-okonomi
livet-pa-veien-med-jan-erik-larssen
okonomiamatorene
tid-er-penger-en-podcast-med-peter-warren
pengesnakk
lederpodden
rss-fa-makro
rss-markedspuls-2
lederskap-nhhs-podkast-om-ledelse
boligbobla
rss-andelige-tanker-med-camillo