Hacker News Reader

Comment by thearn4 | Hacker News Reader

I am imagining that what they're going for will be biotech problems that can be addressed as software problems in disguise (since they would most certainly be in the right place and connected to the right people for that). Those connections may be worth more than the $2M or from SBIR (assuming they reached phase II), for companies that are fundamentally software shops.

Otherwise, I'm very curious what their strategy is for breaking into the bioscience and technology space in a broader sense, and if that would lead them to opening shop in other metro areas outside of the bay area.

View on HN

San Diego would be a nice place to have a base of operations for getting more involved in biotech.

Let's be honest - the only place that really matters for biotech is Boston, and the movers and shakers there have no desire or need to work with YC or anyone in Silicon Valley. San Diego's biotech scene is mostly just companies mindlessly pursuing cheaper and faster sequencing.

I wouldn't call that 'mindlessly', faster sequencing is going to unlock a whole slew of new offerings just like 'faster transistors' powered the computer revolution.

That's a terrible analogy, and here are two good links on why:

http://wavefunction.fieldofscience.com/2015/03/cancer-genomi...

http://thesciencenetwork.org/programs/reading-the-human-geno...

> the only place that really matters for biotech is Boston

The Washington DC area I believe disproves your hypothesis.

DC doesn't even come in the top 4 for biotech. The top 4 are probably Boston, SF, San Diego, and Seattle.

What about RTP?

If we are naming cities NYC should be included. With 8 leading medical research institutions, the second highest annual NIH funding, and a wealth of talent/capital in adjacent industries - NYC's foundation for Biotech is extremely strong.

The presence of NIH and the Federal Government apparatus alone (not to mention Johns Hopkins next door) should disprove your hypothesis.

As do facts and numbers:

http://www.fiercebiotech.com/story/top-15-cities-biotech-ven...

http://www.genengnews.com/insight-and-intelligenceand153/top...

I'll take a pro-Boston comment on hackernews however it comes!! It is true that BOS is basically unrivaled for pharma-biotech. Biotech is moving into other markets now too though. That said, we (Ginkgo Bioworks) are mostly non-pharma but are in BOS anyway. There is an awesome pool of bioengineering talent here.

Yes, I too could see YC bringing value to a software-intensive project. Perhaps I put too much weight on the "wetware" mention in the link, that makes me think "wet lab".

I would be fascinated to hear how they will handle the regulatory challenges, and how they bridge the cultural differences inherent to a group in a regulated industry vs. the more stereotypical software startups.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com