$2.5B Exit Entrepreneur, Sujal Patel, is Creating a Proteomics Startup to Upgrade Human Health

In one sentence...

Human health upgrades may be unlocked by a data storage expert focused on probing the proteome.
 

It’s not everyday that one hears about the crucial relationship between digital data storage and biology, yet this is core to Sujal Patel’s work leading Nautilus Biotechnology. By any measure already an accomplished tech entrepreneur, Sujal’s experience building Isilon Systems (acquired by EMC for $2.5 billion) became a perfect, if non-obvious, ingredient for disentangling the complexities of proteins.

If successful in analyzing the proteins within thousands of cells, Patel, his co-founder Parag Mallick, and their team may discover new drugs for present and emerging diseases. Pioneering the birth of this new proteome sequencer instrument involves deep and broad interdisciplinary collaboration. Patel says, “On our staff are mechanical engineers, software engineers, electrical engineers, and biophysicists working side-by-side with biochemists, organic chemists, bioengineering majors – all these disciplines come together to build a complete solution.” 

[00:00] Episode preview
[00:59] Nautilus Biotechnology and why the need to understand what’s going on at the protein level
[05:03] Isilon to Nautilus
[11:23] Early stages of Nautilus
[14:13] Tough stuff at Nautilus
[19:13] Goal of Nautilus
[21:14] How Sujal went about learning a completely new field 
[24:17] What exactly is Nautilus building
[26:54] Broader landscape of proteomic analysis companies
[32:17] What is unique about Nautilus Bio
[35:53] Nautilus Bio’s relationship with customers
[38:22] Nautilus and COVID-19 / other pandemics
[41:37] Going faster at Nautilus due to high demand
[43:51] Adjusting to life with COVID-19 at Nautilus
[48:02] Priorities for Nautilus in the near-term
[50:58] What’s been the most fun for Sujal in building Nautilus?
[53:36] Shameless plugs