"If you are capable of acquiring knowledge, of applying the knowledge, and you like it, you can succeed. It doesn't matter what it is." We’re revisiting some of our previous episodes over the holidays this year. Our next re-release is this episode of The Biotech Startups Podcast, in which Jacob Glanville breaks down how he built Distributed Bio from a napkin-stage idea into a full-service antibody discovery platform—without traditional venture capital. He shares how creative partnerships with USF’s biotech master’s program and a scrappy animal facility in Guatemala helped him access labs, talent, and proof-of-concept data, even as early setbacks with SuperHuman 1.0 cost him clients and sleep. The conversation then dives into the realities of scaling: squeezing into half a bench at JLABS before expanding into a 7,500-square-foot facility powered by smart equipment leasing and a growing team. Jacob also introduces his “Respiration Model” of leadership—open debate followed by uncompromising execution—and explains why rising competition and strong universal vaccine data led him to sell Distributed Bio to Charles River Laboratories and spin out Centivax just as the pandemic hit.

Ask this episode

“What did the council decide on item 42?” — answered with the speaker and the moment.

Transcript

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