In this episode, we explore the challenges faced by scientists like Patrick Torbey, the founder of Neoplants, as they transition from academia to entrepreneurship. Patrick shares his struggles in finding a co-founder with business acumen, emphasizing the rare intersection of academic and business worlds. He discusses how building a startup, like his venture that engineers plants to purify air rapidly, means strong improvements in terms of speed and resources compared to academia. Patrick underscores the importance of scalability and reproducibility in the journey from lab to market, and how the consumer can be a very harsh critic