The Big Experiment
Ever wondered how technology start-ups, well, start-up? For most founder entrepreneurs, it is the biggest experiment they'll ever run. Like most experiments, the result isn't known beforehand and it often doesn't work first time. On a bigger scale, how do big tech companies turn innovative science into profit?
Mark Davison interviews founder scientists, executives, investors, communicators, and others in the technology start-up and corporate science ecosystems.
Learn how great ideas turned into thriving businesses (or not) from those who made it happen (or didn't). Get business tips, lessons learned, and life lessons straight from the people who know.
Inspiring, disastrous, funny: hear what life in a science-driven company is really like.
Straight-talking, no nonsense, but conversational style. All technical content is explained for the non-specialist - you don't need a PhD or fluency in jargon and technobabble.
The Big Experiment
Darrin Disley: Footballer to PhD to CEO
What are the biggest challenges facing scientific innovation?
The path from science ideation to business execution is not an easy one. You will eventually need to translate great ideas into well-positioned products or services, and bring investment into the business from what can be a complex ecosystem of stakeholders.
Knowing how to overcome these challenges is key to any innovation’s success.
In this episode I am joined by Dr Darrin Disley OBE. Darrin is a seasoned veteran of UK life sciences. He is currently CEO and investor in Mogrify Ltd, a pre-clinical stage biotechnology company developing a pipeline of in vivo reprogramming therapies that address chronic diseases of ageing, using a systematic direct cell conversion and maintenance platform powered by big-data.
Before Mogrify, Darrin was CEO of Horizon Discovery, a discovery tools specialist, growing the company very quickly from start-up to UK AIM-listed PLC . We discuss his career journey, from school in London’s East End through life as a semi-professional footballer to how he became a successful, multi award-winning entrepreneur. He also discusses the challenges faced in commercialising scientific innovation and how to grow a business in the biotech industry.
This is a fascinating masterclass for any aspiring entrepreneur, or anyone with an unconventional start to their scientific career. Darrin proves that whatever your starting point, with application (and some good fortune along the way) you can achieve your dreams.
You’ll hear about:
01:30 – Darren’s nonlinear journey of self-discovery
05:07 – Darren’s life as a semi-pro footballer
08:55 – Darren on being inspired by his teacher
14:59 – From a PhD to entrepreneurship
21:20 - Technology and drug discovery
24:59 - Challenges in commercialising scientific innovation
30:56 – Growth in the biotech industry
41:13 - Building a successful biotech company
48:42 – Challenges faced in public markets
Follow Darrin:
LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/darrinmdisley/
Twitter - https://twitter.com/DarrinMDisley
Mogrify - https://mogrify.co.uk/
Connect with Me:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/markdavison100/
Grant Instruments: https://www.grantinstruments.com/
Grant Instruments on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/grant-instruments-cambridge-ltd/
