Episode 45
🧬 Grant Aarons - FabricNano - Part 1 | How NYC Shaped a Love of Engineering | Benefitting from Great Diversity at Cooper Union | Experiences & Opportunities at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York | Impact of the Economy on Deep Tech
Part 1 of 3. My guest for this week’s episode is Grant Aarons, Co-Founder and CEO of FabricNano, a London-based biotech whose mission is to transform industrial chemical processes using cell-free biomanufacturing. FabricNano empowers users with the world's most advanced, flexible, and easily scalable biocatalyst platform. With clients ranging from startups to multinationals like Sumitomo Chemical Company, FabricNano provides highly stable and performant biocatalysts to enable profitable production of sustainable and biobased chemicals.
The Biotech Startups Podcast · Excedr
May 15, 202438m 15s
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Show Notes
As a podcast listener, you can redeem exclusive discounts with a growing list of biotech vendors and get $500 off your first equipment lease by using promo code “TBSP” on https://www.excedr.com/rewards.
Part 1 of 3.
My guest for this week’s episode is Grant Aarons, Co-Founder and CEO of FabricNano, a London-based biotech whose mission is to transform industrial chemical processes using cell-free biomanufacturing. FabricNano empowers users with the world's most advanced, flexible, and easily scalable biocatalyst platform. With clients ranging from startups to multinationals like Sumitomo Chemical Company, FabricNano provides highly stable and performant biocatalysts to enable profitable production of sustainable and biobased chemicals. FabricNano's approach starts with novel immobilization engineering for enzyme stabilization, followed by budget-conscious protein engineering and process engineering to reach their clients' targets for commercialization of their new biochemical production process. Before FabricNano, Grant was a Research Analyst at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, and while pursuing his PhD at the London Business School, became an Entrepreneur In Residence at Entrepreneur First, an international business accelerator that has created over 300 companies worth over $10 billion. Grant's diverse experience gives him a unique perspective on the startup ecosystem that everyone can benefit from.
Join us this week and hear about:
- Benefitting from diverse experiences while studying engineering at Cooper Union
- Embracing experiences at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York as a research analyst
- The impact of the economy on deep tech companies
- Tips for embracing capital dependency, intensity, and efficiency
- And much more!
Please enjoy my conversation with Grant Aarons.
Find Our Guest, Grant Aaron, at these links:
Find Our Guest, Grant Aaron, at these links:
Find Our Host, Jon Chee, at these links:
Timestamps:
00:28 Intro
2:29 Episode starts, early days, growing up in upstate New York and New York City’s influence on Grant’s career path
5:42 Decision to attend The Cooper Union and study engineering
7:38 Undergrad experience with physical and chemical labs, courses about new inventions
11:45 The value of diverse work experiences in coding, mechanical electrical plumbing (MEP), and economics, experience as an Android developer
17:28 The challenges of a slow feedback loop in engineering and its impact on his career choice
19:10 Experiences and opportunities at The New York Federal Reserve Bank, the opportunity to attend research presentations and being employed as a research analyst
23:39 How times of uncertainty and stress at The Fed led to innovation, new tools, new models
25:53 The purpose of the Federal Reserve Bank and its goals to keep inflation in check and keep unemployment low
30:02 The current state of the economy, coming off zero, and its impact on deep tech and innovative technology businesses
34:29 Benefits of deep tech embracing capital dependency with capital intensity and efficiency
37:02 Outro
Social & Website
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Topics Mentioned:
The Cooper Union https://cooper.edu/welcome
Federal Reserve Bank of New York https://www.newyorkfed.org/
Mechanical Electrical Plumbing
What is debugging?
Tappan zee Bridge Replacement Project
DSGE Model-Based Forecast
New York Fed Nowcast
Equipment Leasing vs. Traditional Financing https://www.excedr.com/resources/equipment-leasing-vs-traditional-financing
Loan Covenants 101 for Startups https://www.excedr.com/resources/loan-covenants-and-their-effects
Lease Financing vs. Debt Financing https://www.excedr.com/blog/lease-financing-vs-debt-financing
What Is an Operating Lease? https://www.excedr.com/blog/operating-lease
People Mentioned:
Christopher Sims https://jrc.princeton.edu/people/christopher-sims
Domenico Glannone https://www.linkedin.com/in/domenico-giannone-55755b45/
The Biotech Startups Podcast gives you a front-row seat to the business and science of building a biotech. Hosted by Jon Chee, CEO of Excedr, the show features honest conversations with founders, execs, and investors about their work, their companies, and how they got there. From scientific breakthroughs to startup lessons, each episode explores what it really takes to grow a life science company—from pre-seed to IPO.