iGEM Startups Entrepreneurship Summer School
On the 15th and 16th of July, our team attended the Entrepreneurship Summer School organized by iGEM Startups. The first part of the program showcased the importance of the judging handbook in the evaluation process for the iGEM competition, as well as practical information on the entrepreneurship area at the Jamboree. The presentation provided tips on how to make the teams' projects appealing to the judges. They also showed us an example of a business plan that we could follow, which we used to write our own business plan! In the second part of the event, the emphasis was put on intellectual property (IP) matters. One of the most important aspects of IP according to the speaker was that one should not disclose any IP information to anyone before filing a provisional application. Otherwise, once disclosed, the information becomes part of the public domain and the inventor will lose the opportunity to file an IP application. The session of 16th of July consisted of a panel discussion with two speakers: Rodrigo Ferrer, the Biotechnologist and CEO in early-stage startup RebX and Daniel Georgiev, co- founder and CEO of Sampling Human. They both offered advice on iGEM start-ups. For instance, they gave advice on funding strategies, differentiation from competitors, and communication to stakeholders. Moreover, we discussed in great detail the process of how to set up a business plan. The last part of the workshop was about how to effectively pitch a project.
YarroWCO’s Business Plan
The entrepreneurship summer school inspired us to write our own business plan! It was brainstormed at the Münster meetup during a workshop about the subject and improved afterwards.
Executive Summary
Our company, YarroWCO, is a pioneer in the world of waste cooking oil, focused on synthesizing steroid precursors from waste cooking oil (WCO). YarroWCO will revolutionize the steroid industry by focusing on the environmentally responsible production of steroid precursors. We aim to offer cheap, efficient, and sustainable steroid production methods, while eliminating the need for extracting precursors from plants and simultaneously tackling the environmental problem of the WCO.
Key Partnerships
Most importantly, YarroWCO would need a steady supply of WCO. For this, we would collaborate with Quatra. Quatra buys waste cooking oil from businesses and sells it to the industry (currently this is mainly the biofuel industry). Check out our integrated human practices page for more information about Quatra. As our activity is of great interest to both the government and the broader European community, we would have access to grants and financial incentives from the authorities. Our project could not have existed without the invaluable support from our academic advisors. Because YarroWCO is still in the development phase and thus requires academic support, we would continue to partner with universities for laboratory space and exchange of knowledge. For our lab supplies we would partner up with suppliers like Thermofisher and frequently collaborate with legal experts for patent-related issues. Our partners would also benefit for this because they might get a share in the IP, will be included in all of our outreach activities, and thus will also be in the spotlights as our business grows.
Key Activities
Since YarroWCO is still in its early stages, we would engage in extensive networking to foster connections within the pharmaceutical industry. We would invest in research and development to enhance production techniques and scale up operations. One important aspect to acknowledge is that it is difficult to develop a medicine from waste material due to strict quality control regulations concerning pharmaceutical products. Therefore, for YarroWCO it would be critical to implement strict quality control measures to make sure our synthesized active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) are pure and safe as well as collaborate and discuss with authorities regarding this matter. Finally, our key activity would be dedicated to one final goal: establishing facilitaties for large-scale production of our API’s.
Key Resources
YarroWCO would employ skilled scientists in chemistry, engineering, and pharmaceuticals as a source of knowledge. For the supply of WCO, we would make use of the existing infrastructure surrounding WCO collection in Belgium. We would also make use of laboratories and factories to execute our R&D and facilitate the production of our steroid precursor molecules.
Our Value Proposition
YarroWCO offers a more efficient supply of steroid precursors through biotechnological synthesis in Yarrowia lipolytica, as opposed to the more inefficient process of extracting campesterol from plants or slaughter. Moreover, by recycling WCO, our business contributes to a more sustainable and healthy planet. In addition to this, through biotechnological processes, YarroWCO ensures a reliable and stable supply of high-quality steroid precursors to pharmaceutical companies.
Our Customer Relationships
What we learned from our iGEM journey is that close relationships with stakeholders, including customers, is of high importance. Therefore, we would regularly discuss with several stakeholders also presented on our Integrated Human Practices page that would buy our product. This mainly concerns the pharmaceutical industry, but we would also want to make sure that patients feel safe using our product. It is sourced from a waste product after all. To achieve this, we would also contact entities such as patient advocacy organisations. We would approach these stakeholders with utmost care through frequent face-to-face meetings and genuine personal discussions. This will lead to us maintaining close contact through meaningful interactions and consultations. We would also provide automated services for orders processing, payment, and feedback collection.
Our Customer Segment
Our customers are large pharmaceutical companies or companies, meeting their bulk steroid precursor requirements. Moreover, not all pharmaceutical companies will have the facilities to turn campesterol (our product) into actual steroid medicine, so we would also sell to companies supplying API to the industry.
Our Channels
Through iGEM, YarroWCO already gained some notoriety its word. However, we took it a step further by ensuring extensive media coverage (RobTV, MijnLeuven). As a company, we would continue to make ourselves known to potential clients, other stakeholders and the public. Additionally, we would also make ourselves known to potential clients through more direct means such as cold calling. YarroWCO would also participate in industry events and exhibitions to showcase its products. Thus, we aim at increasing publicity, networking with other companies, and recruit employees if necessary.
Cost Structure
Most of our costs would come from Quality Control, facilities, and R&D. In addition, in the early stages of our company, legal services would be outsourced. Therefore, YarroWCO would require a budget for external legal experts, such as patent attorneys and lawyers for compliance and patent-related matters. We would also need to allocate a travel budget for industry events and other collaborations.
Revenue Streams
YarroWCO’s main income would come from selling steroid API precursors to pharmaceutical companies and API manufacturers. To maximize our revenue potential, we would offer subscription-based recurrent pricing models and dynamic pricing based on market demand and production costs.