Description

In this episode of ScaleUp Radio Shorts, Kevin Brent and Granger Forson unpack the remarkable ScaleUp journey of Dr. Mark Kotter, a neurosurgeon, stem cell biologist, and founder of Bit Bio, a deep-tech biotech company that's raised over $200 million and scaled to 200+ people.

It's a story that starts with clinical frustration and leads to a cutting-edge company using AI to literally reprogram cells.

But beyond the science lies a business story that any entrepreneur can learn from, full of lessons on leadership, values, team alignment, and the bumpy road of scale.

💡 Episode Highlights

• From Surgeon to ScaleUp CEO: Mark didn't set out to start a company, he was driven by necessity. After realising he couldn't cure spinal damage with surgery alone, he went searching for answers in research, ultimately spinning out Bit Bio after university support fell short.
• A Painful Co-Founder Conflict: Mark's first attempt at scaling ended in near disaster. Misalignment in values and vision led to a business breakup that forced him to remortgage his house to buy back control.
• Hiring with Intention: After that, Mark built a recruitment process focused on alignment and values, Purposeful, Ambitious, Trustworthy, Empirical, with a "Secret Vote" used to prevent bias and protect culture.
• Recognising the Breaking Points: Mark shares how communication changes at 20, 50, and 100 people, and how he had the humility to step aside and hire experienced operators to build structure when it was time.
• Living Drugs & AI: Bit Bio is on the frontier of medicine, moving from traditional "dead molecules" to "living drugs". They use AI and machine learning to crack complex genetic programming challenges that could change the future of healthcare.

🚀 The One Key Thing

"Don't assume alignment, be explicit about your values from day one."

💬 Standout Quote

"I thought curing disease would be enough to align people, but it wasn't. You have to say the hard stuff upfront." – Mark Kotter

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🎧 Listen & Subscribe

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And if you know a founder with an inspiring story, check the show notes to nominate them!