Female Founders Conference

Shetty describes Ginkgo as a Boston company that designs organisms to spec. She explains that DNA sequences shape an organism’s behavior, making biology something engineers can learn to program.

Shetty argues that founders can raise substantial funding if it helps their mission, while staying careful about how they use it. After a funding round, a team may feel pressure to hire, add departments, and take on more work, which can lead to bloated costs and headcount.

Shetty says a company needs someone to keep attention on business metrics and efficient use of people and money. She notes that women in this role may face stereotypes, but says maintaining pressure for efficiency extends a startup’s runway and preserves options.

Drawing on advice from YC partner Ali Rowghani, Shetty recommends linking a company’s mission to its commercial strategy and measurable indicators of success. She says those connections help employees see how daily work supports the company’s goals, and recommends including at least one efficiency measure.

Shetty says Ginkgo’s mission is to make biology easy to engineer and describes its strategy as aggregating genetic engineering research and development. The company tracks how much genetic engineering it can do per person.