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"If you want to start a company working on a better way to build homes, gene editing, artificial general intelligence, a new education system, or carbon sequest
by jrkelly 7y ago
"If you want to start a company working on a better way to build homes, gene editing, artificial general intelligence, a new education system, or carbon sequestration, you may actually be able to get it funded, even if you don’t have a degree or much experience."
I encourage anyone to give hard startups a shot, but there are tons of PhDs/Postdocs out there who would make amazing founders -- they should make the leap! Often feels to me like recent undergraduates get more encouragement to launch startups than recent PhDs/postdocs -- which is a weird miss especially when it comes to hard startups where PhDs have the advantage of deep understanding of a hard field.
- jimkri 7y agoI'm currently in the research phase for an idea using algae/other plants that sequester CO2 rapidly and continue to have questions, which lead to more questions. Thankfully there is a ton of research that has been done, which makes diving into the topic easy. But having someone to work with that has a PhD/postdoc in this area could help build the idea faster. How can I meet someone with a PhD/postdoc in a specific field? Should I just browse ASU for PhD students or look at specific universities and areas.
- jrkelly 7y agoYeah look at research group websites at major research universities that are working in your area of interest. The students are usually listed on the lab website. They’d love to be emailed.
- grandridge 7y agoYou mean like, photosynthesis?
- pfdietz 7y agoI suggest you look at algae that live in highly alkaline lakes, like soda lakes in Africa. The high pH means the water scrubs CO2 from the air, which is then available (as carbonate and bicarbonate) for the algae to use. (Mass transfer is an underappreciated limit on photosynthesis. A corn field in still air becomes CO2 limited pretty quickly in bright sunlight.)
- JabavuAdams 7y agoScience Twitter
- staticautomatic 7y agoEmail people who write papers that are useful to you.
- pinot 7y agoIt's a field that has many startups and government basic research for decades. Power plant flue gas seems to be the primary feedstock people are interested today.