I sit down with scientist-turned-investor Jenny Kan, co-founder and general partner at Juniper VC, to talk about why bio-manufacturing is critical to making cleaner chemicals, materials, ingredients, and products—closer to home.

We discuss the shift from making things with petroleum to microbes, why decentralized production is key to national security and resilient supply chains, and the hard-won lessons from the last, “industrial biotech bubble.”

Topics we cover:

• What industrial biotech and synthetic biology actually mean
• How fermentation enables decentralized manufacturing
• Why the “lab-grown meat bubble” burst (and what we learned)
• How AI & robotics let industrial biotech startups earn revenue earlier
• The #1 mistake scientist-founders make
• Why the Pentagon now sees biotech as critical to national security

If you’re interested in synthetic biology, deep tech investing, or the future of decentralized, clean production, this one’s for you.

Recording date: October 26, 2025

Chapters:

00:00 Introduction

01:18 Industrial Biotech Explained

03:53 Explaining Feedstock

05:25 Why We Must Replace Petroleum

06:59 Fermentation And Decentralizing Production

08:38 Explaining The Bio-Industrial Revolution

10:11 Juniper VC And Investing In Bio-Industrial Startups

11:07 Why The Biomanufacturing Bubble Keeps Popping

14:11 AI's Impact on Biology

16:43 Jenny’s Approach To Investing In Bio-manufacturing

19:26 Current, "Fat" In Our Supply Chains

23:12 Juniper’s Ecosystem Building Approach

26:15 Venture Capital Signaling & Flex

28:15 Jenny's Journey: From Scientist to Investor

32:15 Current Fundraising Environment

34:05 "Deep Truth" To Bio-manufacturing

35:11 Explaining The Importance Of A Techno-Economic Analysis

37:28 #1 Mistake Scientist-Founders Make

38:32 Understanding Consumer Behavior

41:27 Consumer Education Around Bio-manufacturing

44:11 Top Geographies For Bio-manufacturing

46:23 How We Accelerate the Bio-Industrial Revolution

53:12 Rapid Fire

Follow Jordan on X: https://x.com/jrwolfe

Links to Jenny's Work:

• Juniper Website – https://www.junipervc.com/
• Contact – [email protected] & [email protected]
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jennifer-kan/

Key Influences and Resources Mentioned:

• Dr. Frances Arnold (Nobel Prize, Chemistry 2018) - https://www.linkedin.com/in/frances-arnold-b4992313/
• One Mighty Mill (Jordan's decentralized flour example) - https://www.onemightymill.com/collections/fresh-milled-bread

Subscribe & Follow:

• Join the Substack – ⁠https://goingdirect.substack.com/subscribe⁠
• Listen on Listen on Apple Podcasts – ⁠https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/going-direct-conversations/id1800505663⁠
• Subscribe to YouTube for more deep dives on decentralization, robots, and the real economy – ⁠⁠⁠https://www.youtube.com/@goingdirect_/videos

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit goingdirect.substack.com