NEW: We're now partnered with Catapult x UPenn as a content partner! Learn more about our partnership here.
Aug. 2, 2024

901: From PhD Chemist to VR Innovator... and how a scientific approach can boost your business w/ Jared DeCoste

Ever wondered how a renowned scientist transitions into a successful entrepreneur, making science thrilling and accessible? Today, we sit down with Jared DeCoste, whose fascinating journey takes us from his days as a PhD materials chemist to his groundbreaking work at the US Army's Chemical Biological Center and his visionary role in founding XpeRience Science in 2022. Jared discusses his passion for teaching and his mission to inspire the next generation of scientists through immersive experiences, blending science, technology, and entrepreneurship. You’ll learn how he’s leveraging his extensive background to make science both accessible and exciting.

Imagine facing the challenge of monetizing innovative virtual reality projects within a rigid government framework. Jared shares his transformation story—from navigating the complexities of securing funding to building impactful prototypes that capture imaginations. He sheds light on how participating in the National Science Foundation’s I-Corps program helped him master the business side of science. By sharing his resourcefulness and networking strategies, Jared offers invaluable insights into turning scientific rigor into market-ready products, proving that entrepreneurial spirit can thrive even in the most structured environments.

Curious about the future of virtual reality training and how to promote such transformative technology? Jared gives us an insider’s look at how showcasing demos at high-profile events like the BioMADE consortium's meeting can turn skeptics into believers. He talks about the importance of building long-term partnerships with industry and educational institutions and highlights the need for strategic planning and passionate advocacy. You’ll also hear about innovative methods to engage younger generations and the essential role of passion in driving entrepreneurial success. This episode is packed with inspiration and practical advice for anyone looking to blend science with business in meaningful ways.

ABOUT JARED 

Jared DeCoste, PhD, is a renowned chemist and innovator. He earned his PhD in Materials Chemistry from Binghamton University in 2009 and served as a Chemistry professor at Ball State University. From 2010 to 2023, he was a chemist at the US Army's Chemical Biological Center, rising to Chief Scientist for the Protection Division. Named the 2018 Maryland Chemist of the Year by the American Chemical Society, he has published over 60 peer-reviewed articles with more than 7,000 citations. In 2022, he founded XpeRience Science, creating immersive scientific experiences.

LINKS & RESOURCES

Chapters

00:00 - From STEM Scientist to Entrepreneur

13:28 - Monetization Strategy in Business Development

20:23 - Future of Virtual Reality Training

25:59 - Strategic Planning and Networking Strategies

35:42 - Entrepreneur Podcast Appreciates Their Guests

Transcript

WEBVTT

00:00:00.100 --> 00:00:01.062
Hey, what is up?

00:00:01.062 --> 00:00:04.272
Welcome to this episode of the Wantrepreneur to Entrepreneur podcast.

00:00:04.272 --> 00:00:09.941
As always, I'm your host, brian LoFermento, and, being from Boston, I feel like I'm qualified to say this.

00:00:09.941 --> 00:00:12.326
But today's guest is wicked smart.

00:00:12.326 --> 00:00:18.085
He not only has had an incredible career up to this point, but I love that he is now one of us.

00:00:18.085 --> 00:00:30.614
He's a fellow entrepreneur who's passing on his brilliance to young people to inspire them to pursue a career in the STEM industry, while he's building a business that's impacting people all across the US and beyond.

00:00:30.920 --> 00:00:32.347
Let me tell you about today's guest.

00:00:32.347 --> 00:00:34.006
His name is Jared DeCoste.

00:00:34.006 --> 00:00:36.588
Now, jared has a wealth of accolades.

00:00:36.588 --> 00:00:41.560
He received his PhD in 2009 from Binghamton University in materials chemistry.

00:00:41.560 --> 00:00:45.537
He was a professor of chemistry at Ball State University.

00:00:45.537 --> 00:00:54.524
He's been a chemist in the US Army, in their chemical biological center, raising to the position of chief scientist for the protection division.

00:00:54.524 --> 00:01:00.484
He was named the 2018 Maryland Chemist of the Year by the American Chemical Society.

00:01:00.604 --> 00:01:03.372
All of this stuff is right in line with his accomplishments.

00:01:03.372 --> 00:01:09.272
It's all backed up with really impressive accolades, because he's been published in more than 60 peer-reviewed articles.

00:01:09.272 --> 00:01:18.769
He's been cited more than 7,000 times we're a ways away from 7,000 episodes here on the show but, most of all, directly relevant to today's episode.

00:01:18.769 --> 00:01:25.870
He started his company Experience Science in 2022 after initial success in creating immersive experiences.

00:01:25.870 --> 00:01:36.233
So today's topic is really going to be at the intersection of science and a career background in science, with entrepreneurship, with really cool technology, with serving and inspiring others.

00:01:36.233 --> 00:01:37.722
I'm excited about this one.

00:01:37.722 --> 00:01:40.852
Let's dive straight into my interview with Jared DeCoste.

00:01:40.852 --> 00:01:47.817
All right, jared, I am so very excited that you're here with us today.

00:01:47.817 --> 00:01:48.802
Welcome to the show.

00:01:48.802 --> 00:01:51.248
Thanks, brian, thanks for having me.

00:01:51.347 --> 00:01:52.510
I didn't know you're from Boston.

00:01:52.510 --> 00:01:55.786
I was born in Boston as well, so that's a great fun tidbit.

00:01:56.227 --> 00:01:57.248
No way, very cool.

00:01:57.248 --> 00:01:57.930
Yeah, it's crazy.

00:01:57.930 --> 00:02:06.691
I know we were talking geography before we hit record here today, but it's always cool to be linked to New England, where my roots very much are, although I'm a terrible New Englander.

00:02:06.691 --> 00:02:07.912
Jared, I can't do cold weather.

00:02:09.694 --> 00:02:14.050
You know, there's something to be said for shoveling once a year, so that's it.

00:02:14.692 --> 00:02:16.743
No, no, I'll watch YouTube videos of shoveling.

00:02:16.743 --> 00:02:19.014
It'll just bring back all my childhood memories.

00:02:19.014 --> 00:02:22.443
But, jared, honestly we're so excited to have you here on the show today.

00:02:22.443 --> 00:02:23.344
First things first.

00:02:23.344 --> 00:02:25.048
I'd love for you to take us beyond the bio.

00:02:25.048 --> 00:02:28.473
I know there's so much that has gone into your professional career up to this point.

00:02:28.473 --> 00:02:29.655
So who's Jared?

00:02:29.655 --> 00:02:32.040
How'd you start?

00:02:32.061 --> 00:02:32.661
doing all these cool things.

00:02:32.661 --> 00:02:40.610
You know, ultimately what it comes down to is I am a scientist, that's what I am good at, and we always have to start with what we're good at.

00:02:40.610 --> 00:02:42.572
I'm a STEM professional.

00:02:42.572 --> 00:02:45.876
I thought for years I wanted to go into medicine and biology.

00:02:45.876 --> 00:02:55.284
Ultimately, chemistry is what became my passion and what I loved.

00:02:55.284 --> 00:02:57.270
After I got my PhD, I went on to love to teach and inspire others.

00:02:57.289 --> 00:03:09.728
Whenever I was still being a scientist, a researcher, doing my own projects, I really always wanted to find ways to give back work on STEM outreach and things along those lines.

00:03:10.360 --> 00:03:28.294
So when I could find ways within my career to bring in young scientists into my lab, go out and give talks to elementary school, middle school, high school kids, that was a real, real important piece for me.

00:03:29.700 --> 00:03:58.252
But what I'm really excited to talk to you guys about today is not just what I love and what I'm good at, but ultimately how I was able to turn that into an entrepreneurial exercise and really kind of get that reason for being and really get that, as the Japanese call it, the ikigai, and understand where that overlap is and how to really monetize that and find that white space.

00:03:59.099 --> 00:04:00.923
So really throughout my career.

00:04:00.923 --> 00:04:31.264
I was a successful scientist, as you kind of pointed out there, but really now I'm moving beyond that, into the next stage of my career, into into really how to give back and into really understand what is it the world can use from what I've learned over the years and ultimately turn that into a business, into different areas that are worthwhile to the scientific community.

00:04:31.264 --> 00:05:16.709
And ultimately, my number one goal is to bring folks into the scientific community and the STEM fields who haven't felt like there were career paths for them and what is interesting is, with good training and good backgrounds, into these up and coming fields STEM fields folks who may not have felt like they were an A student in science in high school can find that there is a place for them in the scientific community and within, ultimately, the biomanufacturing community and the bioeconomy, which is exploding and going to be probably the largest growing sector over the next 50 years.

00:05:17.492 --> 00:05:38.461
Yeah, jared, I love that overview, especially because I'll be transparent with you Part of our conversation here today is laced with my excitement in immersive experiences, because I'm an early adopter to the Apple Vision Pro, and I will say that when I got to see a human heart directly in front of me, I immediately FaceTime my sister, who is a veterinarian, and I said, christina, this is crazy.

00:05:38.461 --> 00:05:43.947
And she said, yeah, it's amazing that you get to see that, whereas previously I just got to read about it in a book.

00:05:43.947 --> 00:05:46.591
And so I think that technology is changing.

00:05:46.591 --> 00:05:57.547
You pointed out the academic world is changing, and where I really want to kick this off, jared, is that with that precursor to this conversation, you decided to be a part of this revolution.

00:05:57.547 --> 00:06:00.372
You decided to be a change agent in this space.

00:06:00.372 --> 00:06:10.232
Where, along the way, did you realize you know what entrepreneurship, starting a business and implementing enacting change through that vehicle is the way that I want to go.

00:06:11.759 --> 00:06:13.904
You know, what's really funny is I don't think I.

00:06:13.904 --> 00:06:20.083
I always worked in this what I would call an entrepreneurial science space.

00:06:20.083 --> 00:06:30.415
So if you're a scientist and a principal investigator, someone who leads a laboratory and different projects, you're actually entrepreneurial by nature.

00:06:30.415 --> 00:06:43.396
So even though I was working for the government, I had to constantly come up with new ideas, pitch them, find someone to fund them and then execute on them and then convince someone that I had done good work on the back end.

00:06:43.396 --> 00:06:46.646
Well, that might not be monet good work on the back end Well, that might not be monetizing that.

00:06:46.646 --> 00:06:47.367
On the back end.

00:06:47.367 --> 00:06:53.149
It got a lot of those skills and we always and I we always said, where we work, that we were very entrepreneurial.

00:06:54.560 --> 00:07:00.959
I thought five years ago I was kind of on a career path of working for the government for forever.

00:07:00.959 --> 00:07:05.232
I was honestly set in my ways.

00:07:05.232 --> 00:07:10.865
I could work there forever and make a fantastic career and honestly have a very fulfilling career.

00:07:10.865 --> 00:07:23.411
But I was really lacking this kind of like one piece of it, which was the way to really give back and do the teaching which is really ultimately what I love.

00:07:23.411 --> 00:07:35.242
So that was missing and when I saw an opportunity, a lot of things obviously had to fall into place, but I was really able to grasp it.

00:07:35.242 --> 00:07:48.572
So this is kind of going to probably be a long story about how it all came together, but ultimately I met my two business partners, dan and Tom, while I had a random email come across my desk.

00:07:49.180 --> 00:07:59.755
So in May of 2021, I saw this email come into my inbox that basically said there's this DoD STEM competition called eCyber Mission.

00:07:59.755 --> 00:08:12.846
I had already heard of it, I didn't really know much about it, but during COVID they were looking for a new way to engage students, and this was utilizing virtual reality and doing a STEM outreach activity.

00:08:12.846 --> 00:08:20.369
They didn't really know what they were gonna do at this point in time, but there was gonna be a Zoom meeting to basically talk this through.

00:08:20.369 --> 00:08:28.845
One thing that's really important to know about me is, if someone has a good idea and they have a meeting, I'm almost always willing to take it.

00:08:28.845 --> 00:08:31.463
I want to kind of see what the new things are.

00:08:31.463 --> 00:08:44.269
If it's about STEM outreach, I'm going to be there even more, and when it's about something that I don't really know about, like virtual reality, that I kind of know is cool and I wasn't yet at that point an adopter of the technology.

00:08:44.269 --> 00:08:47.322
I just wanted to hear what folks had to say.

00:08:47.322 --> 00:08:54.313
So at the end of the day, I met Tom and Dan on this call.

00:08:54.313 --> 00:09:06.113
They were the ones pitching the project to East Cyber Mission and they were looking for a scientist to basically help them develop what was going on in the lab and tell a story.

00:09:06.113 --> 00:09:08.206
So I loved this.

00:09:08.206 --> 00:09:08.620
I was.

00:09:08.620 --> 00:09:20.472
They really wanted to go to middle school students learn how to tell a story about what it was that was going on in the laboratory that was related to something in the real world.

00:09:20.472 --> 00:09:39.164
Luckily, there were some things going on in my research that made a lot of sense to kind of tap in this area, and we were able to basically turn what we do in our lab into a really fun 12 to 15 minute VR experience for students.

00:09:40.066 --> 00:09:59.687
When I got to be involved in the development, understand more about production, understand more about the VR technology in general, I started to see opportunity and it wasn't just in this VR STEM outreach, which I loved.

00:09:59.687 --> 00:10:16.392
It was in some other parts of my career which were related around synthetic biology and biomanufacturing, which was an area I'd entered in about 2017 or so which I had seen there being a real need for workforce development.

00:10:16.392 --> 00:10:30.144
This workforce development piece that was needed was because the demand within this area, this growing sector, was just far outpacing the number of trained folks that were out there.

00:10:30.144 --> 00:10:51.205
There were quite a number of people with PhDs and master's degrees, but ultimately the folks who will be running this sector and in the manufacturing space are going to be technicians and people who really have a vocation and there isn't a good way to train them at this point.

00:10:51.205 --> 00:11:01.822
Schools like community colleges and even four-year institutions have to invest a lot of money into the actual equipment if they want to train the students on these.

00:11:02.423 --> 00:11:11.475
And actually, to go back to your point about your sister's story with being able to see the beating heart where these students were learning at this point in time was just in the books.

00:11:11.495 --> 00:11:24.054
Right, they were getting lectures, they were getting the background, but they weren't getting the hands-on experience they needed because the schools couldn't afford the equipment or the people to maintain them or even have the expertise.

00:11:24.054 --> 00:11:26.903
And ultimately that's where virtual reality can come in.

00:11:26.903 --> 00:11:43.586
It's to meet the theoretical background which we usually read about in books or see in lectures, and have it meet the hands-on experience in a virtual environment and be able to lay those things over one another.

00:11:43.586 --> 00:11:58.706
Ultimately, we saw this as an opportunity and wanted to figure out how could we not only monetize this but really bring this as a need to the community, so it's now something the community needs.

00:11:58.706 --> 00:12:00.309
It was something that I loved.

00:12:00.309 --> 00:12:23.513
It's something I'm pretty good at with with science but we need to figure out how to monetize it, and that may have been one of the biggest hurdles that we had to overcome at the end of the day, but luckily we're there at this point in time and being able to be in the early stages of development and have the development funded for our exciting new endeavor.

00:12:24.340 --> 00:12:32.172
Yeah, jared, I really appreciate that overview in the backstory because it brings to light something that I think we need to talk about more societally.

00:12:32.172 --> 00:12:42.451
I think we do a good job of talking about it within the world of entrepreneurship, but I think as a society, we often underestimate the power of business when it comes to being a change agent.

00:12:42.451 --> 00:12:45.360
Here you are talking about monetization and a lot of people.

00:12:45.360 --> 00:12:45.761
It's funny.

00:12:45.761 --> 00:12:56.065
I think societally we're taught to not talk about monetization, but fortunately we're here on an entrepreneurial podcast and really it's a reminder that revenue profit money.

00:12:56.065 --> 00:12:56.826
What is it?

00:12:56.826 --> 00:13:02.524
It's just a resource that then enables us to go out and reach more people and to better serve more people.

00:13:02.585 --> 00:13:13.711
So the fact that you, as a scientist, jared, I love that you so willingly talk about monetization and you introduce that as an important avenue, because I think we all took academic books for granted.

00:13:13.711 --> 00:13:28.645
We don't know the funding sources, those authors I hope that they were paid along the way, but I know that if we could incentivize more scientists, more business people, more any subject matter expert with money to create more resources, we will inevitably have more resources.

00:13:28.645 --> 00:13:31.511
So, jared, walk us down that monetization path.

00:13:31.511 --> 00:13:36.442
I want to know was it something that was immediately apparent to you and you were like this is how we're going to monetize it.

00:13:36.442 --> 00:13:38.227
Is it something that's changed over time?

00:13:38.227 --> 00:13:39.799
Talk to us about your thoughts there.

00:13:41.182 --> 00:13:42.625
Yeah, it honestly changed over time.

00:13:42.625 --> 00:13:59.410
So I will admit, I'll be the first to admit I'm still the scientist at heart and you know, ultimately you think about the non-for-profit ways to go about it, but I was also, at that time, a US Army scientist.

00:13:59.410 --> 00:14:17.296
What I ultimately wanted and was trying to find was a way to work with my business partners who were already on the outside, help them monetize it and then have it be internally funded for myself as a scientist and still work for the US Army.

00:14:17.296 --> 00:14:33.403
As I started to go down that path and really realize, is this a project I could work on within my career and basically help it work externally from my career and not actually be part of the monetization?

00:14:33.403 --> 00:14:38.494
It was actually really, really difficult to find people that would fund it in that way.

00:14:38.860 --> 00:14:44.549
We talk in the government a lot about colors, of money and lots of times that's a crossover.

00:14:44.549 --> 00:14:46.827
That's almost like a no-no, that's like a roadblock.

00:14:46.827 --> 00:14:49.745
So I started to pitch the idea.

00:14:49.745 --> 00:14:54.308
As my business partners and I started to talk, we built a prototype, a demo that we can bring out.

00:14:54.308 --> 00:14:56.206
Show people the power of virtual reality.

00:14:56.206 --> 00:14:57.200
So we built a prototype, a demo that we can bring out.

00:14:57.200 --> 00:14:58.254
Show people the power of virtual reality.

00:14:58.254 --> 00:14:59.238
So I can tell you right now about how awesome it is.

00:14:59.238 --> 00:15:03.571
It doesn't matter how much I tell you how awesome it is until you see it.

00:15:03.571 --> 00:15:10.913
Once you see what it is that we're building and have that early prototype, that's really one of those first steps.

00:15:10.913 --> 00:15:13.081
I can tell you.

00:15:13.081 --> 00:15:25.913
A lot of people, especially a lot of really smart people in the science world, have amazing ideas, but to actually be able to see that in action and what it could actually turn into is a game changer.

00:15:27.100 --> 00:15:35.586
Once we started to show that to a variety of different people in that space, there was someone who said to me one day and said why are you trying to do this from the government side?

00:15:35.586 --> 00:15:38.389
You have an amazing business idea here.

00:15:38.389 --> 00:15:44.753
You should really consider working from the outside and being and honestly being an entrepreneur.

00:15:44.753 --> 00:15:50.273
And I thought and thought more to myself and I was like I already work like an entrepreneur.

00:15:50.273 --> 00:15:52.927
There are pieces I don't understand yet.

00:15:52.927 --> 00:15:55.427
The business side in particular.

00:15:55.427 --> 00:16:00.431
You know how to keep your books, how to keep the accounting, how to work with lawyers and those things.

00:16:00.993 --> 00:16:06.227
However, you can tap into lots and lots of resources, depending on where you're at within.

00:16:06.227 --> 00:16:08.153
Your state probably has resources.

00:16:08.153 --> 00:16:13.511
In Maryland we have something called the Maryland Tech Council that you can tap into.

00:16:13.511 --> 00:16:18.687
But there are also small business administration things that you can tap into to really help you get those going.

00:16:18.687 --> 00:16:27.114
And one of the early things that got told to me was there's a program called the I-Corps program.

00:16:27.114 --> 00:16:50.690
The I-Corps program is funded by the National Science Foundation and it's really meant to help folks who have a good idea, really meant to help folks who have a good idea and not just an idea from a theoretical perspective but something that they could hopefully get into a prototype and walk through customer discovery and whether it can really be something that can be monetized.

00:16:51.230 --> 00:17:12.215
And I can tell you, most of the people who are in this program with me, myself included, had never really gone through that exercise of talking to potential end users and decision makers about does your product that you're looking at here really have viability within the market?

00:17:12.215 --> 00:17:18.532
Is there an ability to turn a profit on it and what are some of those avenues that are out there.

00:17:18.532 --> 00:17:27.912
And as I went through this six week course, it really allowed me to kind of get out of my comfort zone.

00:17:27.912 --> 00:17:29.545
I'm not a salesman.

00:17:29.545 --> 00:17:50.313
I hate to ever be thought of as a salesman, but I had to kind of put on a hat at some point in time and really start to talk money because, like you talked about before, scientists don't like to talk about money, it's kind of a dirty word and really understand whether our product could actually be monetized.

00:17:51.579 --> 00:18:02.390
What it allowed me to do over the top over that period of time was not only realize that it could be monetized, but it allowed me to build an amazing network and an amazing network of people that want to work with me.

00:18:02.390 --> 00:18:11.088
It wasn't now just a vendor relationship, it was a relationship of collaboration.

00:18:11.088 --> 00:18:19.171
And how do we, how do they help get us to the ultimate best product at the end of the day, which actually helps serve them.

00:18:19.171 --> 00:18:37.501
So, to make a long story short, we were able to find a government adjacent industry or government adjacent industry consortium that was willing to give us the initial money for development, and that's where we are right now.

00:18:37.501 --> 00:18:51.925
We're in our early stages of development, talking with a lot of our potential end customers about how they're going to buy our product on the back end and really working in that full 360 degrees of entrepreneurial space.

00:18:52.528 --> 00:19:01.680
Yeah, jared gosh, I love that scrappiness of finding resources and really assessing all of the different options out there, because, you're right, there are so many different ways you can do it.

00:19:01.680 --> 00:19:06.311
It always reminds me of that commercial from Reese's there's no wrong way to eat a Reese's.

00:19:06.311 --> 00:19:17.300
We hear all of this advice within the world of business content, whether it's podcasts, youtube videos, books, business school and the truth is there's so many different avenues for us to assess.

00:19:17.300 --> 00:19:31.510
So it is fun getting into the mind of a scientist, because I know that you approach problems, you approach opportunities with a hypothesis in mind and then you test the heck out of it to find the right solution, and I think that's important, especially when we talk about.

00:19:31.819 --> 00:19:38.631
I'm very excited to hear the way you personally think about go-to-market, because you've already pointed out, talking about it is one thing.

00:19:38.631 --> 00:19:46.491
When I try to explain to people how crazy the Apple Vision Pro is as a piece of software and hardware, you can't believe it.

00:19:46.491 --> 00:19:52.922
You can't understand it until you actually put that thing on your head and you see why they use the term spatial computing.

00:19:52.922 --> 00:19:55.346
It's something that didn't exist up to this point.

00:19:55.346 --> 00:20:01.200
So, knowing that your product is something that has to be experienced, what's your go-to-market strategy here?

00:20:01.200 --> 00:20:07.280
Because we hear about terms like minimum viable product, but I want to hear the way a scientist approaches go-to-market.

00:20:09.105 --> 00:20:16.410
Well, I think there's obviously a ton of different strategies here, but you have to consider who's your end user For us.

00:20:16.410 --> 00:20:22.569
Ultimately, we're a business-to-business sale, so we have to use our resources.

00:20:22.569 --> 00:20:27.909
For us, we are part of a consortium of industry called Biomade.

00:20:27.909 --> 00:20:30.619
We were actually out at their member meeting all week.

00:20:30.619 --> 00:20:43.292
Last week it was at US Bank Stadium, which is the Minnesota Vikings Stadium, and I had people putting on our headset with a demo in mixed reality with the football field in the background.

00:20:44.140 --> 00:20:48.491
You want to change someone's perspective on what mixed and virtual reality can do.

00:20:48.491 --> 00:20:51.505
Have them do it in very unique spaces.

00:20:51.505 --> 00:20:56.515
It was no longer a question for these people of all right, is this something that we want in our program?

00:20:56.515 --> 00:20:57.336
But it was how quick can you get it to?

00:20:57.336 --> 00:21:00.749
It was no longer a question of for these people of all right, is this something that we want in our program?

00:21:00.749 --> 00:21:02.619
But it was how quick can you get it to us?

00:21:02.619 --> 00:21:06.986
How do we find funding to get there and how do we work with you?

00:21:06.986 --> 00:21:19.554
And at the end of the day I pointed at this before our ultimate success is in making collaborations and not just customers.

00:21:19.554 --> 00:21:37.830
So we look at our end customers as being members of industry as being schools four-year and two-year schools so we have to work with them to figure out how to get ourselves paid.

00:21:37.830 --> 00:21:40.883
And that might seem a little weird.

00:21:40.883 --> 00:21:43.269
Usually you just go and it's very transactional.

00:21:43.269 --> 00:21:46.663
You say I have a product to offer you, it's $500.

00:21:46.663 --> 00:21:49.749
They either say I have $500 to give you or they don't.

00:21:51.132 --> 00:21:59.163
With our end users we take a little bit different approach, which is we want to work with you over the next X number of years.

00:21:59.163 --> 00:22:00.186
Let's say it's five years.

00:22:00.186 --> 00:22:04.804
We know that there are economic development opportunities in your area.

00:22:04.804 --> 00:22:14.769
How do we tap those economic development opportunities in your region to fund a mixed reality training?

00:22:14.769 --> 00:22:26.250
We can help get a certain number of people in your region up to speed and into jobs, which is a huge driver, obviously, for economic development.

00:22:26.250 --> 00:22:35.826
But you know, on the kicker side of that is we're gonna be utilizing some advanced technology and you have to really pitch to them.

00:22:35.826 --> 00:22:50.210
What would it cost you to ultimately train these people by building real facilities and real training, hands-on training facilities, versus developing a virtual reality or mixed reality training scenario?

00:22:50.210 --> 00:22:51.464
And it's much different.

00:22:52.040 --> 00:22:57.384
And that's where we're really excited and what we're doing is it's a new way of thinking about things.

00:22:57.384 --> 00:23:06.287
We don't just have the ability to put a website out there, put it on the Google marketplace, have advertisers do all that for us.

00:23:06.287 --> 00:23:10.765
We have to do what you said before the scrappiness and honestly I love that.

00:23:10.765 --> 00:23:17.730
That's the ability for us to go out there and change people's mindset about what these products can do.

00:23:17.730 --> 00:23:20.909
Like you said, you're an early adopter and have done the Apple Vision Pro.

00:23:20.909 --> 00:23:28.069
I don't know what the number of people are that have done the Apple Vision Pro is, but I'm sure it's less than 5% of the country.

00:23:30.019 --> 00:23:41.301
So not only do we have to show people that we have this product, do we have to show people that we have this product.

00:23:41.301 --> 00:23:53.605
We have to almost be their introduction to this entire industry and be kind of that agent of change and that agent of bringing this to the forefront, which is super cool.

00:23:53.605 --> 00:24:03.249
But ultimately, the other thing that's really fun is a lot of the people who will utilize our training are younger than myself.

00:24:03.249 --> 00:24:22.005
Technically I'm a millennial, I'm a very elder millennial, but elder millennials and down in age, and these are the groups who feel comfortable utilizing these advanced technologies like virtual reality, obviously, cell phones and apps and things along those lines, and we're meeting them where they're at.

00:24:22.005 --> 00:24:27.849
They are the end users and they're the people that are most important in this training avenue.

00:24:27.849 --> 00:24:43.797
So ultimately, you know, it's a much different model in how we get our funding, pay for the long-term viability of this program and, at the end, monetize what we're doing.

00:24:44.461 --> 00:24:45.723
Yeah, jared, I'll tell you what.

00:24:45.723 --> 00:24:53.928
Hearing the way you talk about this stuff, it makes sense why we resonate you and I, as millennials here who love this technology that's changing the world.

00:24:53.928 --> 00:25:02.109
Let's keep rolling with that example of the Apple Vision Pro Typically, when Apple launches a product, we're used to millions of sales in the first 24 hours.

00:25:02.109 --> 00:25:11.806
Last thing I saw was they're talking hundreds of thousands of units rather than millions, and so you talk about being on the forefront, the cutting edge of technology.

00:25:12.180 --> 00:25:22.526
This is part of the change that I so admire the fact that you're doing this work with, and so hearing you talk not only about the short term but about the long term, it really shows not just the scientist in you.

00:25:22.526 --> 00:25:33.240
But I love, with that entrepreneurial hat on as a, as a business owner now hearing your viewpoints on timeline, on growth, on where you are today and where you want to be.

00:25:33.240 --> 00:25:39.230
So, with all of that in mind, I always love asking fellow entrepreneurs what is that timeline that you look at?

00:25:39.230 --> 00:25:42.248
Are you looking at this as a five year thing, a 10 year thing?

00:25:42.248 --> 00:25:54.407
Obviously, the answer is you want to be doing this forever and changing lives, but with your strategic business owner hat on, I'm curious what sort of time horizons you're planning towards, you're taking action towards and how you're navigating that.

00:25:55.950 --> 00:25:59.015
That's a fantastic question because it needs to be to all of them.

00:25:59.015 --> 00:26:06.590
But what do we spend maybe our um largest percentage of our time thinking about um in development.

00:26:06.590 --> 00:26:07.580
We're still in development.

00:26:07.580 --> 00:26:13.507
So lots of times I'm thinking, what are we doing this week, what are we doing this month and what are we doing in the next six months?

00:26:13.507 --> 00:26:14.971
And that's really important.

00:26:15.030 --> 00:26:36.771
But from the business side, um, it's a lot of that three to five year horizon, um, not only what are we going to be doing three to five years out from now, but what can we do to position ourselves today to be successful in that three to five year timeframe.

00:26:36.771 --> 00:26:45.109
So when we're thinking about what do we want to look like in three to five years, we want to have obviously grown beyond where we are now.

00:26:45.109 --> 00:27:00.073
It's not just in money, but it's also in, or it's not just in revenue, but it's also obviously in number of employees, people who are using our product recognition within the field and all of those types of things.

00:27:00.073 --> 00:27:03.010
And they can't happen overnight, as much as we want them to.

00:27:03.010 --> 00:27:06.222
You can get sparks overnight, but you can't make.

00:27:06.222 --> 00:27:11.865
You't make that ground changing ground, swell movement in that period of time.

00:27:11.865 --> 00:27:14.291
But in the science world.

00:27:14.291 --> 00:27:17.382
Things don't typically happen that fast.

00:27:17.382 --> 00:27:26.923
The public might think that they do and they might see them as things that happen really fast, but I can tell you a lot of things that I was working for when I was working for the Army.

00:27:26.923 --> 00:27:38.292
We were developing technologies that we were thinking maybe fielded in the next 15 to 20 years, and that's kind of interesting to have to think in that perspective.

00:27:38.292 --> 00:27:44.636
But you can't have that length of a timeline in anything that you're going to obviously be building business-wise.

00:27:49.880 --> 00:27:51.522
So what we have to think about is all right, what funding do we have now?

00:27:51.522 --> 00:28:04.372
How long can that last us, and at what point do we need to be able to no longer be really finding other non-dilutive sources of funding, which I think are very important.

00:28:04.372 --> 00:28:22.585
When do we think about finding other dilutive sources of funding, which is something that is obviously very exciting but requires us to be thinking more business strategically, which might be beyond some of our expertise at this point.

00:28:22.585 --> 00:28:25.538
So how do we pull in partners to help us with that?

00:28:25.538 --> 00:28:50.613
How do we pull in advisors and advisors and building and I've probably said it way too many times, but I don't think you actually can say it too many times it's all about building your network and it's all about building that community and those people who are willing to collaborate with you and talk to you and pick up that phone anytime that you want to call them right, and that, I think, was really, really important for us.

00:28:50.839 --> 00:28:59.111
So a lot of people who are starting out in an entrepreneurial path might not have that long Rolodex in their industry yet.

00:29:00.101 --> 00:29:01.688
So how do you go out and find that?

00:29:01.960 --> 00:29:16.875
Luckily for me, I was already pretty well established into the biomanufacturing community and had people I could call and talk to and have instant reputability when I picked up the phone with them.

00:29:17.460 --> 00:29:55.502
But if you're starting out on your kind of your entrepreneurial path and it's a new place and maybe it's a place that's a little bit diluted, right, so you have to find it like what that path ultimately is and maybe it's not on a national scale, maybe it starts in a more local or more regional scale and building that up and finding those people who can help build you up, finding those champions for your product that's another thing that's really important for us is finding people who are well respected in the field, who are willing to talk positively about what we do and I'm not talking about hiring someone who's obviously a spokesperson.

00:29:55.502 --> 00:30:12.991
I'm talking about people who really truly like what you're doing and then when they go out to another conference or another meeting or whatever it is, they're talking organically about what it is that you're putting out, and I think that's a really, really important aspect as well.

00:30:14.019 --> 00:30:18.715
Gosh, jared, you are sharing the real stuff here in today's podcast episode.

00:30:18.715 --> 00:30:29.510
I'm so appreciative of how generous you are in sharing these things, because, for me, hearing you talk about the importance of networking, my gut reaction, the question I wanted to ask you, was well, how do we go about doing that, jared?

00:30:29.510 --> 00:30:30.272
But you shared it.

00:30:30.272 --> 00:30:39.112
It really comes from having your finger on the pulse of your industry, and I think what's really revealing to me about the way you talk about your business is your ability to zoom in and out.

00:30:39.112 --> 00:30:42.605
You're talking both micro and macro, and I think that's so important.

00:30:42.605 --> 00:30:53.261
You give us that time horizon from within the world of science, 10 to 15 years out, and having that ability to look at those macro trends and at least know directionally where things are going.

00:30:53.261 --> 00:31:01.027
But then, on a micro level, I love your focusing on even a week, a month, six months out, makes it super actionable.

00:31:01.107 --> 00:31:07.332
So hearing the way that your mind thinks, jared, that's what's behind everything we do here at the Entrepreneur to Entrepreneur podcast.

00:31:07.332 --> 00:31:22.867
It also means, though, with you dropping so many knowledge bombs and advice and strategies on us here today, I have no idea how you're going to answer this last question, which is what's your one actionable takeaway for listeners who are sitting here thinking, gosh, this is a brilliant way to approach business.

00:31:22.867 --> 00:31:25.942
We've talked about funding, we've talked about new technologies.

00:31:25.942 --> 00:31:35.448
We've talked about I think it's really important and I just want to echo it how embedded your ideal customer is in the development, let alone the future sales and all of that.

00:31:35.448 --> 00:31:39.586
So, jared, with all of that in mind, what's the takeaway you want for listeners today?

00:31:41.632 --> 00:31:46.692
Ultimately, the takeaway is you have to find something you're passionate about, what you love.

00:31:46.692 --> 00:32:03.423
Well, that overlaps what you're good with, right and and where that intersection and I think I started early on about talking about ikigai and that that overlap and that need of existence and, um, we all want to start out working in the things that we love.

00:32:03.423 --> 00:32:20.884
No one wants to work in a job that they hate but ultimately, you need to find that overlap of those four things what you love, what you're good at, what the world needs right Just because you can build a product doesn't mean the world needs it and what you can be paid for.

00:32:20.884 --> 00:32:24.605
And when you're missing one of those four pieces, you need to go back and iterate.

00:32:24.605 --> 00:32:29.605
It really is hypothesis driven and I love that you picked up on that, brian.

00:32:30.467 --> 00:32:35.827
The fact that it's hypothesis driven is the fact that you can go in there and ask yourself what am I missing?

00:32:35.827 --> 00:32:43.854
What are the questions that I can ask myself and my business to really be the agent of change for what it is that I'm doing?

00:32:43.854 --> 00:32:58.786
And if you're not constantly asking yourselves those questions, if you're not challenging yourself on a daily basis, you're not going to be able to build ultimately the product you want, the business you want and be as successful as you want.

00:32:58.786 --> 00:33:15.711
But once you do and once you have that passion the the we always talk about you know the job you having, not being work and being a passion and being something you love, that's how you find it and that's going to drive you to build what you're doing.

00:33:15.810 --> 00:33:17.032
Be passionate about it.

00:33:17.032 --> 00:33:29.542
Talk to it about anyone or to anyone say science is really hard because I can't talk to it about.

00:33:29.542 --> 00:33:31.086
Talk to what I do lots of times with my friends or my family.

00:33:31.086 --> 00:33:40.532
But this, now that I have found kind of that thing that I really, really understand and love, it's really easy to dissect and tell others about what you do.

00:33:40.532 --> 00:33:42.261
So actionable item.

00:33:42.261 --> 00:33:47.112
At the end of the day, be a scientist, hypothesize, test it and challenge yourself.

00:33:53.519 --> 00:33:54.082
Yes, I love that, Jared.

00:33:54.082 --> 00:33:58.157
That was not just some strategic insights, entrepreneur to entrepreneur, but that is really a call to action for all of you listeners worldwide.

00:33:58.157 --> 00:34:00.346
I absolutely love that advice and the direction you took that in.

00:34:00.346 --> 00:34:04.201
Jared, I know that I'm personally very excited to follow your journey from here.

00:34:04.201 --> 00:34:12.951
Obviously, I'm a bit of a tech geek, so the technology element of your business is incredible to me and I'm so excited to see all the things that you and your business partners develop from here.

00:34:12.951 --> 00:34:16.811
So for listeners who want to go deeper into this world, drop those links on us.

00:34:16.811 --> 00:34:18.065
Where should they go from here?

00:34:19.440 --> 00:34:21.929
The best place to find what we're doing is usually LinkedIn.

00:34:21.929 --> 00:34:32.548
I love to post on there what we're doing, where we're going you can find, uh, access to our website from there as well how we're developing things that are changing rapidly.

00:34:32.548 --> 00:34:44.721
Um, I don't want to go into it too much, but from the business side and the business aspects, you learn right as you go and and we've had to restructure our company from different aspects that we've learned and things like that.

00:34:44.721 --> 00:34:48.512
Um, so, yeah, follow on LinkedIn experience science.

00:34:48.512 --> 00:34:54.166
We also have Prism Immersive, which is our restructuring, which you can follow that as well.

00:34:54.166 --> 00:35:01.231
But ultimately, I post a lot of things from my own LinkedIn page and that's where you can follow the journey of what we're doing.

00:35:01.920 --> 00:35:03.688
Yes, listeners, you already know the drill.

00:35:03.688 --> 00:35:14.871
We are making it as easy as possible for you to find Jared, as well as his business pages on linkedin, as well as all the links we are dropping down below in the show notes, wherever it is that you're tuning into today's episode, so definitely check those out.

00:35:14.871 --> 00:35:33.067
We personally came across jared on linkedin and he is not kidding when he says that he is active there, sharing so much goodness, not just what he's doing, but I love the fact that jared really shares so many developmental things in the world that he's watching and that are clearly playing a role in the way that he thinks, not only as a scientist, but as an entrepreneur.

00:35:33.067 --> 00:35:38.144
So, jared, on behalf of myself and all the listeners worldwide, thanks so much for coming on the show today.

00:35:38.144 --> 00:35:39.228
Yeah.

00:35:39.268 --> 00:35:40.471
Brian, thanks for having me so much.

00:35:40.471 --> 00:35:41.340
This was fantastic.

00:35:42.382 --> 00:35:47.969
Hey, it's Brian here, and thanks for tuning in to yet another episode of the Wantrepreneur to Entrepreneur podcast.

00:35:47.969 --> 00:35:51.916
If you haven't checked us out online, there's so much good stuff there.

00:35:51.916 --> 00:36:01.152
Check out the show's website and all the show notes that we talked about in today's episode at thewantrepreneurshowcom, and I just want to give a shout out to our amazing guests.

00:36:01.152 --> 00:36:09.945
There's a reason why we are ad-free and have produced so many incredible episodes five days a week for you, and it's because our guests step up to the plate.

00:36:10.005 --> 00:36:11.989
These are not sponsored episodes.

00:36:11.989 --> 00:36:13.581
These are not infomercials.

00:36:13.581 --> 00:36:17.088
Our guests help us cover the costs of our productions.

00:36:17.088 --> 00:36:28.041
They so deeply believe in the power of getting their message out in front of you, awesome entrepreneurs and entrepreneurs, that they contribute to help us make these productions possible.

00:36:28.041 --> 00:36:36.530
So thank you to not only today's guests, but all of our guests in general, and I just want to invite you check out our website because you can send us a voicemail there.

00:36:36.530 --> 00:36:37.860
We also have live chat.

00:36:37.860 --> 00:36:42.490
If you want to interact directly with me, go to thewantrepreneurshowcom.

00:36:42.490 --> 00:36:43.920
Initiate a live chat.

00:36:43.920 --> 00:36:53.315
It's for real me, and I'm excited because I'll see you, as always every monday, wednesday, friday, saturday and sunday here on the entrepreneur to entrepreneur podcast.