Episode 05 | Part Two: Live Long and Prosper

Gregory Shepard, an entrepreneur who's built and sold 12 businesses, a recipient of 4 private equity awards, TEDx speaker, and Forbes author. This is The Boss Podcast with Gregory Shepard.

Welcome back to part 2 of my interview with Scott Amex. He's a venture capitalist, speaker, and author. Scott, we've talked about how entrepreneurs impact the military sector, and we talked about how humans will handle the robot age. But there are 2 subjects that you are super, super passionate about, surviving and thriving in space and raising capital for DNA sequencing. So let's start out with surviving and thriving in space. You know, I've actually signed up to go into space on a weather balloon inside of a capsule. So I'm like very interested. So I'm really excited to hear what you say about surviving and thriving in space.

We actually have within our portfolio a startup called Capsule Biologics. When we think about astronauts and survivability in space, you know, one of the things that's a really big one that everyone automatically thinks about is exposure to gamma rays. So, even if you're inside a spaceship or some habitat, those dangerous wavelengths, gamma and others, are going to penetrate through those substrates and structures, you know, soft or hard, whatnot, and still, you know, penetrate right into your body. So, what that means is in space, you're going to be susceptible to cancer and other type of diseases, and you're going to deteriorate and age very quickly because it's such a severe, harsh environment. What NASA has created is this notion of using nanotechnology, nanotubes, where it's essentially plates of nanocarbon structure that creates this, let's call it a miniature, tiny, but yet visible cylindrical type of a container, and in that you basically insert in therapeutics. So let's take something very simple so everybody can understand, is let's talk about diabetes insulin. Right now, if you have diabetes type 2, you have to, you know, self-administer, or someone has to administer insulin into your body on a certain frequency, right? Well, the way this works is because it's an implantable biologics means that once it gets put into your body It will stay there for potentially, you know, weeks, months, even years, and continually providing, in this case, insulin into your body in the right amount that the body needs safely and automatically without you getting involved. Here's a technology that was developed specifically for space exploration, but this company has been able to patent it so that now we can actually use it also on Earth. Because one of the biggest issues is drug adherence and compliance. So, one of the biggest issues is how do we control this in a way that is seamless? And, because it's implantable, it's one of those things you implant it, you forget it, and it works and your health is better as a result of it. And, it is agnostic in the sense of the disease that it's attacking because it's nothing more than a container essentially, a nano-based container that you can fill with anything inside of it. But, in some cases, not just fill a therapeutic inside, but also it can also generate or create within it inside of your body as well. So, a lot of opportunities and interesting things that we're talking about.

Wow, that is super cool. And, what about this DNA side of things, raising capital for DNA sequencing? So, maybe you could dive into that a little bit.

Gosh, there are a lot of startups that's really working on this. One in particular, they're focused on DNA sequencing. When you look at DNA, you're examining all your past ancestral health and the potential disease profile.

Mm-hmm.

So, what that means is you can start to understand and map out, wow, there's traces of cancer, this kind of cancer, or there's traces of certain mental diseases like deterioration of your cognitive functions. So, if you know these things, then you can assign a certain degree of probability. Why would you not want to plan for that?

A lot of times people say, I don't want to know if there's something in my DNA that says I'm susceptible to cancer. I don't want to live thinking I'm going to get cancer. But the other side to that same coin is to say that there's a probability that I could have it. So maybe I should prepare, you know, my family and live my life in accordance with somebody that could have this happen instead of it just hit you on a Tuesday afternoon, right?

Absolutely. So if you know these things, why won't you want to address it? There is a startup that's providing a very interesting DNA test where they're actually able to identify a singular sequence specific to a type of cancer. It is actually B2C. They're trying to bypass the whole challenges of working directly with the insurance and so forth. So a consumer, just like 23andMe, would subscribe to a monthly subscription. To get tested to see how you're doing. You know, are your levels, certain indicators higher showing that your probability of certain cancer growing, or is it stabilized, or is it decreasing? And it's just this measuring real time, almost like a yardstick, that gives you some degree of peace that you're able to have some degree of control around this and be preemptive as possible. That's really what we're talking about in terms of the potential power of DNA.

Okay. So I want to switch a little bit because I don't want to run out of time. So I want to switch to a new subject. And this has to do with this change that has to do with COVID right? So as a speaker, and just like you do, you're a real prominent speaker and you're always on the circuit doing all kinds of stuff. And then COVID happens and then all of a sudden there's this huge change, right? From being a prominent speaker to large crowds, and then all of a sudden now it's moved to this virtual environment. So how has this transition been for you from being constantly traveling to doing more virtual events? I get a lot of questions from people where they would do pitch events and, and they would go to trade shows and conferences, and a lot of the stuff that happens in the startup world happens in person, and now that's just stopped completely and people are doing things online.

And I wonder if you could point out some advice Personally, for me, it has been both challenging but also very positive. I do speak quite a bit and that is a big part of what I do. Looking forward, the kinds of engagement, the pipeline that I would have normally had, I'm not seeing as much anymore because there are just no facilities for those. However, I would say I'm equally busy and I'm talking just on the speaking side because even though I'm Equally not traveling as much, I'm still doing a lot of things. busy on the online, whether it's VC pitch and panel and evaluation, whether it's speaking. I just spoke to a group of Industrial Association of Communicators, for example. So those things are still happening. So on a given week, I'm easily speaking at least twice, if not more, per week on some capacity.

In my world, there's a TEDx event that is going on in San Diego, specifically circling around COVID. It was the first one that they're doing on totally virtual. 100%. So, I mean, do you think that we're not going to see these events for a long time, and, and will we ever go back? I mean, it— a lot of people are saying, look, COVID's changed things permanently, and a lot more stuff is going to be done virtually, and less stuff is going to be done where people travel and have to get hotels and take time off of work and all that sort of stuff. You know, what is your sort of prediction on that from your perspective as a professional speaker that's There's certainly a lot of validity to what you're sharing.

I think there is a certain degree where the behavior change to online will stick to a great extent, and I think we'll learn to adapt to that. And I think, you know, this is what I was just about to talk about in terms of my personal impact is, you know, the positive has been, and I think people are starting to see it, you know, especially if their residence or their home allows for that, space is that I've had incredible quality time with my family, and not to mention my dry cleaning bill and all the headaches of connection flights and all those things that I have had to do.

So, one positive takeaway from all this craziness is that it's forcing people to think more creatively and be together and push the envelope in terms of innovation. I saw a business the other day with People that hold these virtual events and they have all these cameras all over and people are sort of just in one virtual environment, but it's far away from being done. Do you see other things like that to help out with this immediate change in our way of communicating in business and socially?

I do. I do think so. I think that's the short answer. One of the things, and I wrote an article on Forbes around this, this notion of constraints. A healthy type of constraint is actually very good, and it forces us to leverage what we do best, which is creativity. And when we're in this difficult position, it actually allows for us to shine, and we can shine together. There is a lot of interesting background and context that's, that's happening right now, both from a BLM as well as just people feeling frustrated with the pandemic and being locked down. So there's a lot of kind of subcontext, but at the same time, we're also moving forward in a very creative, innovative way.

I wanted to ask you lastly, and I try to ask everybody this, it's really helpful for the listeners. What is your one best piece of advice for entrepreneurs or anyone who wants to be successful in business? What would be the one nugget you'd tell them?

It's about the North Star. I think, you know, entrepreneurs were driven by, of course, the ability to make outrageous, you know, money and increase our net worth. But at the same time, we're solving something that is meaningful. In our lifetime, we will go through not only many, many careers and many potential startups or ventures, but one thing that shouldn't change really is what I call North Star. Whether we're talking about the 1600s and sailors that were in the Atlantic Ocean or the Pacific Ocean, They would you know navigate based on the star system. Well, even now, although we have incredible GPS and and and lat long and other types of you know capability that tells us where we are in the water or air or land, is that we need to look to something that is not going to move, and that's our personal North Star. Meaning, what are you really trying to achieve in your lifetime? You know, one of my biggest frustrations as I get older and hopefully more mature and hopefully a little bit more wise is that. It can't just be money. If you're driven by money, and this goes for organizations as well, you're going to be limited in your potential. It doesn't matter if your net worth is $100 million or $100 billion or a trillion dollars, because there is no way that you can even take a single cent after you pass away. All that hard work, all that potential greed, self-interest, right, all the things that we see out there in corruption isn't going to help you a single dime when you pass away. So we got to be doing more than just producing and consuming and, and growing our nest egg. We have to serve a greater purpose. So as a singular carbon-based form, we got to make some sort of an impact. And for others, maybe it's a local impact, but for others, it's a larger community. And for me, I've had a heart for global transformation. As a serial entrepreneur, and hopefully those that are listening, is that there's nothing from a life lesson than failure and past experience. It's those humbling experiences and successes that over time builds up who we are. And I think we need to put more value into that. So the journey, to a great extent, is more valuable than where you think you're going. And if you're not looking at the North Star, but you're looking at something else, there's a good chance that you're probably going the wrong direction.

I love it. It was enlightening, to say the least. We've talked about the U.S. military. We talked about space. Thank you for your time, Scott.

Greg, it's been my pleasure. Thank you.

Thanks for checking out the Boss Podcast with Gregory Shepard. Get more on Greg's business operating support system, Boss, at GregoryShepard.com. This has been a production of Forbes Books Radio.