Wonderful writeup! Strong upvote for the structure, use of tables, and analysis of future possibilities.
You may want to define, or link to definitions of, terms like “scaffolding” and “extrusion” that may not be familiar to most readers in this context.
Also, despite not having a technical co-founder on the team, did you still feel like you were able to conduct effective research on alternative-meat engineering? It seems like you have a pretty thorough understanding of technology in the space, and what products might be useful to develop, but I can imagine that taking a long time or being really difficult without a technical background. Do you have any advice to share on learning to understand a field’s engineering, product development, etc., without a strong background in those subjects?
Good question! And thanks for your point, we should have linked to definitions of terms.
I think that we were able to conduct effective technical research in this space largely because we spoke to a ton of founders of companies and thoroughly read the published scientific literature. Additionally, we split up tasks to maximize specialization/expertise within each domain that we cared about. Those would be my two primary pieces of advice. We did not have a strong background in these subjects before beginning, so I would not let that deter you from diving in.
Companies obviously don’t want to share their trade secrets, so you can’t expect to learn everything about the field but a dedicated EA, especially with a strong science background, can develop a strong enough understanding to make a career-relevant decision about the state of the field.
I’d also love to hear Scott’s perspective on this, but in the meantime, I wanted to point out that this is one of the ways The Good Food Institute aims to help potential founders. For starters, I’d recommend these essential resources.
Wonderful writeup! Strong upvote for the structure, use of tables, and analysis of future possibilities.
You may want to define, or link to definitions of, terms like “scaffolding” and “extrusion” that may not be familiar to most readers in this context.
Also, despite not having a technical co-founder on the team, did you still feel like you were able to conduct effective research on alternative-meat engineering? It seems like you have a pretty thorough understanding of technology in the space, and what products might be useful to develop, but I can imagine that taking a long time or being really difficult without a technical background. Do you have any advice to share on learning to understand a field’s engineering, product development, etc., without a strong background in those subjects?
Good question! And thanks for your point, we should have linked to definitions of terms.
I think that we were able to conduct effective technical research in this space largely because we spoke to a ton of founders of companies and thoroughly read the published scientific literature. Additionally, we split up tasks to maximize specialization/expertise within each domain that we cared about. Those would be my two primary pieces of advice. We did not have a strong background in these subjects before beginning, so I would not let that deter you from diving in.
Companies obviously don’t want to share their trade secrets, so you can’t expect to learn everything about the field but a dedicated EA, especially with a strong science background, can develop a strong enough understanding to make a career-relevant decision about the state of the field.
I’d also love to hear Scott’s perspective on this, but in the meantime, I wanted to point out that this is one of the ways The Good Food Institute aims to help potential founders. For starters, I’d recommend these essential resources.