Join Adam Draper, founder of Boost VC and host of the "Can’t Be Done" Podcast, as he chats with Max Haot, CEO of Vast. Max shares his wild ride from Livestream founder to launching a space startup acquired by Vast. They explore his vision for humanity in space, from private stations to cosmic bathrooms. Expect deep insights, big dreams, and a lot of laughs in this inspiring, future-focused episode on tech, space, and what it all means for us. Max is an aerospace, consumer electronics, and intern...
Jun 17, 2025•44 min•Ep. 137
Join Adam Draper, founder of Boost VC and host of the "Can’t Be Done" Podcast, as he chats with James Sinka, Chief Scientific Officer at BIO Protocol. They dive into sci-fi novels, leadership, and the challenges Sinka faced on his journey. Beyond personal insights, they explore DeSci, the crucial role of scientists, and how researchers can secure financial rewards alongside recognition for groundbreaking work. Don’t miss this inspiring conversation on science, motivation, and innovation! Science...
Apr 03, 2025•44 min•Ep. 136
Adam Draper, Founder of Boost VC and host of the "Can’t Be Done" Podcast, sits down with Andrew Bakst, Co-Founder of HairDAO, to explore how decentralized research is transforming hair loss treatments. They discuss HairDAO’s mission as an open-source R&D network, the role of crypto in reshaping technology, and why DAOs are redefining scientific funding. Plus, they dive into changing perceptions of hair loss and the flaws in traditional testing models. "The answer to life is in your hair foll...
Mar 25, 2025•42 min•Ep. 135
Join Adam Draper, Founder of Boost VC and host of the "Can’t Be Done" Podcast, as he chats with Patrick Joyce, Co-Founder of ResearchHub. They dive into the challenges of modern science, the DeSci movement, and how ResearchHub is transforming funding for researchers. Joyce shares insights on “shorting academia” and reimagining the scientific process. This conversation is a must-watch for anyone passionate about the future of research and innovation. Patrick is a former PhD and medical student wh...
Mar 18, 2025•43 min•Ep. 134
Join Boost VC’s Adam Draper as he chats with Jordan Kutzer, founder of Throwback Studios, about how Jordan correlates the competitive nature of starting a company to baseball, especially regarding his mission to become the biggest VR brand and media company in the world. During this high velocity discussion, Jordan details the overcoming of multiple rejections, "coaching" customers, building visceral relationships in VR, and his inherent instinct to win. Tune in for key insights into the world o...
Dec 10, 2024•49 min•Ep. 133
Join Boost VC’s Adam Draper as he chats with Sampriti Bhattacharyya, founder of Navier. She shares her journey from a small city in India to building a next-gen maritime company in the U.S. From sun-tracking solar panels to dodging marriage and surviving a landslide, Sampriti’s story is one of overcoming challenges. She highlights the value of exceptional people, persistence through failures, and her mission to transform the future of waterways. Tune in for an inspiring episode! Sampriti is a 3x...
Dec 03, 2024•49 min•Ep. 132
Join Boost VC’s Adam Draper as he chats with AJ Forsythe, founder of Coop, about his not-so-illustrious journey as a founder, and the rewarding yet challenging components of building companies. Discover how AJ’s journey evolved from his first steps building iCracked to his ambitious mission of putting chickens on Mars. Adam and AJ reflect on the nature of entrepreneurship and the importance of seizing life's fleeting moments. Tune in for another fun episode filled with shark diving, fossils, and...
Nov 26, 2024•49 min•Ep. 131
Join Boost VC’s Adam Draper as he chats with Collin West, founder of Ensemble VC, about his incredible journey rowing across the Arctic Ocean and how it changed his approach to decision-making and team management. Learn how this experience influences Ensemble’s data-driven approach to assessing startups. Adam and Collin dive into the evolution of venture capital and reflect on their near-death experiences. Tune in for laughs, insights, and a fresh perspective on adventure and opportunity in VC! ...
Nov 12, 2024•47 min•Ep. 130
According to a BCG report, only 19% of VCs have some kind of scientific or technological competence. And that creates a translation problem between deep tech founders and investors. To close that gap, Arkady Kulik and his cofounder, Tamaz Khunjua, built RPV , a venture fund that brings scientific expertise to the market and helps scientists become strong entrepreneurs. On this episode of The Boost VC Podcast, Arkady joins us to explain how the RPV team’s extensive background in science and entre...
Sep 12, 2023•42 min•Ep. 129
If a VC is excited about a deep tech company upfront, what can we do to temper our enthusiasm and make a rational decision on whether to invest? Maryanna Saenko is Cofounder and Partner at Future Ventures , an early-stage VC firm that focuses on mission-driven companies at the cutting edge of disruptive technology. Future Ventures looks to back visionaries who push the boundaries of possibility. Some of their recent investments include Beeflow, Deep Genomics and Earthshot Labs. On this episode o...
Jun 12, 2023•50 min•Ep. 127
Deep tech founders are either technically gifted or great at building a business. But it's seldom both, at least in the beginning. So, what should venture investors pay attention to when we’re choosing founders in these disruptive technologies? Greg Castle is Founder and Managing Director at Anorak Ventures , a firm that invests in early-stage deep tech startups. An entrepreneur and corporate marketer turned VC, Greg has invested in 120 companies, including Oculus, Flexport and Mux. On this epis...
Jun 05, 2023•45 min•Ep. 126
How does a venture firm approach investments in deep technology? Seth Winterroth is Partner at Eclipse Ventures , a VC firm that partners with exceptional entrepreneurs to build companies that redefine physical industries. Seth has nine years of experience in venture capital, serving as Associate at GE Ventures before he joined the team at Eclipse. On this episode of Boost VC, Seth joins us to explore how Eclipse thinks about investing in emerging technologies, explaining how the team engages wi...
May 21, 2023•44 min•Ep. 125
What inspires a venture firm to focus on deep tech? Ian Rountree is Founder and General Partner at Cantos , a venture fund that invests in potentially world-changing deep tech startups. Cantos focuses on hardware and bio investing at the intersection of climate and industrials, life sciences and AI, aerospace and defense, and next-generation computing. On this episode of Boost VC, Ian joins us to share his definition of deep tech and explain why he underwrites technical risk rather than market r...
May 15, 2023•41 min•Ep. 124
Many independently minded, young scientists are too ambitious for academia… But the startup world isn’t quite right for them either. How might decentralized science provide a space for these innovators to do their work? Niklas Rindtorff is the classical scientist behind LabDAO , an online home for inventors that builds open tools for scientific research. Niklas coauthored his first paper before the age of 20, and he has expertise in CRISPR and cancer research. On this episode of Boost VC, Niklas...
Dec 13, 2022•38 min•Ep. 123
In academia, most scientists publish their ideas and stop there. But if we want our breakthroughs to benefit society, we have to take it a step further. So, what does it look like to commercialize scientific research? What mindset do academics need to work at the intersection of science and industry? Ben Lamm has a career of building successful deep tech businesses, and George Church has a career of commercializing academic science. Together, they are the cofounders of Colossal , a breakthrough ...
Nov 29, 2022•57 min•Ep. 121
Why invest in decentralized science? James Sinka is a classically trained chemist and materials engineer and DeSci investor at Orange DAO , a fund for crypto projects supported by an alliance of Y Combinator alumni. On this episode of Boost VC, James joins us to discuss where he sees opportunities in DeSci, describing the benefit of publishing null results and how open science helps us get to the truth more quickly. James explains how the Orange Fund and Orange DAO work together to finance crypt...
Nov 09, 2022•1 hr 8 min•Ep. 122
Under the current centralized system, drug development happens in silos. Pharmaceutical companies don’t share information. Scientists run the same failed experiments over and over again. And the process of bringing a drug to market typically takes ten-plus years. But Paul Kohlhaas and Tyler Golato are building a new way to do drug development. A system that allows for collaboration and dramatically increases the speed of breakthroughs in healthcare. CEO Paul and CSO Tyler are the Cofounders of M...
Sep 08, 2022•55 min•Ep. 120
The internet has given content creators of all kinds a way to monetize their talents. Writers have Medium. Teachers and vloggers have YouTube. But scientists don’t have a platform to earn money for their research. That’s why Dr. Jocelynn Pearl calls scientists the ‘unappreciated creator class.’ And that’s why she’s working to further the DeSci movement, leveraging Web3 technology to enable breakthrough research through better incentives. A molecular and cellular biologist by training, Jocelynn s...
Aug 15, 2022•59 min•Ep. 119
Only 1% of first year PhD students become research professors. This creates a hypercompetitive environment where scientists will do whatever it takes to get funding, even if that means tweaking statistical analyses to make their findings seem more significant. But decentralized science is working to address this egregious misalignment of incentives and reward science done the right way. Patrick Joyce is the Cofounder and COO of ResearchHub , a Reddit-style forum that allows anyone to share, disc...
Aug 04, 2022•59 min•Ep. 118
At Boost VC, we’re known for supporting early-stage blockchain startups. Why is that such an important part of our identity? Because institutional trust is dying. And that trust is being passed down to the individual through peer-to-peer technologies. Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are solving for trust in our financial system. But what other institutions are ripe for this kind of disruption? Where else might we apply decentralization as a way to drive innovation? On this edition of Boost VC...
Jul 27, 2022•4 min•Ep. 116
The system for publishing scientific research is broken. Academic success is measured by citations rather than scientific quality. And publishing companies have a monopoly on the knowledge scientists produce. Can we use blockchain technology to promote the verifiability of scientific findings? And make science accessible to everyone? Dr. Christopher Hill is an interdisciplinary scientist with a background in neuroeconomics and machine learning. Phillip Koellinger is Professor of Social Science G...
Jul 27, 2022•1 hr 4 min•Ep. 117
The media is filled with experts comparing today’s market with the dot-com crash of 2000. But few, if any, of these experts actually lived and worked through the dot-com boom and bust. Marc Andreessen is Founder and General Partner at Andreessen Horowitz , and Tim Draper is Founder and Managing Director at Draper VC . And both Marc and Tim were either running or investing in tech startups at the time. So, what was it like to experience the dot-com crash? What did Marc and Tim learn that might gi...
Jun 28, 2022•1 hr 21 min•Ep. 115
Dr. Edward Lu is an astrophysicist and former NASA astronaut who logged 200-plus days in space between 1995 and 2007. Today, he serves as the Cofounder and Executive Director of the Asteroid Institute at the B612 Foundation , a nonprofit dedicated to protecting Earth from asteroid impacts. On this episode of Boost VC, Ed joins us to discuss what makes space fun, describing what daily life is like in zero gravity and why he thinks we’ll colonize space within the next few decades. Ed shares his ex...
Jun 30, 2021•41 min•Ep. 114
A total of $2T in apparel is sold online each year. But 30% to 40% of that apparel is returned. So, what if consumers could snap a couple of photos with their smartphone camera and get clothes that are the right fit for their body? Vadim Rogovskiy is the Cofounder and CEO of 3DLOOK , a deep tech startup solving the problem of apparel returns for retail. Vadim is an experienced entrepreneur, building and selling two companies in the adtech space before creating 3DLOOK. He also serves as an angel ...
Mar 25, 2021•31 min•Ep. 113
Design is about much more than just making things look good. Design is valuable because it translates the complexities of technology to us mere mortals. It serves as a way to educate the market and make tech easy for everyday people to use. But what is the design process that gets us to that end? Daniel Scrivner is the CEO & Chief Design Officer at Flow , the project management software used by teams at Apple, Shopify and TED. A leader in the fields of design and investing, he has been invit...
Feb 18, 2021•40 min•Ep. 112
Orla Harris is the Cofounder and COO of SideQuest VR , an early-access testing platform for virtual reality with headquarters in Northern Ireland. Orla and her team provide tools that enable developers to grow a community around their app and solicit feedback from users in the early stages of development. Prior to SideQuest, Orla spent eight years working as a project manager in the construction industry and dabbling in virtual reality as a hobby. On this episode of Boost VC, Orla joins us to sh...
Jan 28, 2021•35 min•Ep. 111
When serial entrepreneurs Thibauld Favre and Joris Delanoue joined forces to build the future of fundraising, the Frenchmen chose San Francisco as their home base in large part because of its investor mindset. So, how do Silicon Valley VCs think differently from other investors around the globe? Thibauld and Joris are the Cofounders of Fairmint , a continuous financing instrument that allows startups to raise money WHILE they build—rather than taking time away from business to pitch investors. T...
Jan 21, 2021•46 min•Ep. 110
More and more people understand that crypto is going to be big. But they don’t really know why. And they don’t want to be forced to turn all of their money into cryptocurrency right off the bat. So, what if there was a way to demonstrate the benefits of the technology with US dollars and then migrate users to digital currency over time? Andy Bromberg is the new CEO of Eco , a wallet designed to simplify everyday finances and maximize earning power. Andy began his career in startups as the CEO of...
Jan 14, 2021•37 min•Ep. 108
Most founders avoid dealing with Uncle Sam unless absolutely necessary. But what if you could engage the government as an investor in your startup? Sedale Turbovsky is the Cofounder and CEO of OpenGrants , the most powerful grant search tool in the US. The OpenGrants team is on a mission to unlock billions of dollars in grant funding for the best startups in the world, providing entrepreneurs with a single platform where they can find, apply for and manage grants. Sedale is a three-time founder ...
Jan 07, 2021•39 min•Ep. 107
Here at Boost VC, we define a startup as an organism in which the founders work to attract the smartest, most dynamic people to solve the problem they believe is most important. Yes, their ultimate goal is to build a product. But more importantly, they are building a talented team that will actualize that product together. CEO Sam Cole and CPO Sameer Baroova are the Cofounders of FitXR , a startup that is putting the fun back into fitness by way of award-winning virtual reality fitness experienc...
Dec 17, 2020•41 min•Ep. 106
