Advice for Biotech Founders

Iorns saw how hard it was for researchers to find specialist labs, assess their quality, and handle contracts and ownership of results. Science Exchange grew from that problem into a curated marketplace, where researchers could compare providers and prices; she recalled seeing tenfold price differences for equivalent experiments.

Iorns had few startup role models in Miami and was unsure how university ownership rules might affect her idea. She found little guidance from the tech transfer office, then applied to YC after reading about it in Wired. She advises science founders to join YC after grant-funded research has established the R&D, when the company can focus on development.

Science Exchange began with a simple request-posting website, then evolved into a B2B platform with provider qualification, confidentiality agreements, and project management. Iorns found demand harder to build than supply, and said adoption by Amgen across its discovery research marked product-market fit. The company’s Reproducibility Initiative also raised its profile and helped open pharmaceutical partnerships.

Iorns pointed to increased capital, new therapeutic approaches, and experienced pharmaceutical employees starting companies as forces expanding biotech. She said company-building skills such as hiring and culture resemble software, but biotech outcomes depend on whether the science works and on risk-reducing milestones. Founders should run the decisive experiment early, even when the result could end the company’s current plan.

Iorns said a business co-founder is not a requirement; shared commitment, resourcefulness, and working well together matter more early on. Programmers can contribute through bioinformatics without lab experience, though experimental research requires understanding how experiments are designed and interpreted. Non-scientist founders can build credibility through deep preparation, motivation, and a strong scientific team.