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  • January 2021 (Revised December 2021)
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Biobot Analytics

By: Raymond Kluender, Joshua Krieger and Mitchell Weiss
  • Format:Print
  • | Language:English
  • | Pages:28
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Abstract

In 2017, Newsha Ghaeli and Mariana Matus were deciding whether to leave their labs at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, put other job opportunities aside, and dive full-time into founding a wastewater analysis start-up, Biobot. Ghaeli, an architect, and Matus, a computational biologist, had been turning sewage into information about “population health" and now had dreams of turning the data encoded in urine and stool into a viable and impactful business. In plainer terms, they planned to “tap into what you flush down the toilet every day." They’d been told not to. They’d been told their idea was too broad and their skills too narrow. They’d been told they had no defensible intellectual property and limited scalability. They’d been advised to choose other startups instead, and knew, as immigrants on temporary visas, if they failed at this venture, they might even have to leave the country. Despite the many hurdles and objections, Ghaeli and Matus felt mostly at ease about moving ahead. Were they missing something? Or was everyone else?

Keywords

Entrepreneurship; Information Technology; City; Analytics and Data Science; Personal Development and Career; Technology Industry; Utilities Industry; Health Industry; Information Technology Industry; Information Industry; Biotechnology Industry; United States; Kuwait; Korean Peninsula

Citation

Kluender, Raymond, Joshua Krieger, and Mitchell Weiss. "Biobot Analytics." Harvard Business School Case 821-045, January 2021. (Revised December 2021.)
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About The Authors

Raymond P. Kluender

Entrepreneurial Management
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Joshua Lev Krieger

Entrepreneurial Management
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Mitchell B. Weiss

Entrepreneurial Management
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Related Work

    • March 2022
    • Faculty Research

    Biobot Analytics

    By: Ray Kluender, Joshua Krieger and Mitch Weiss
    • January 2021 (Revised December 2021)
    • Faculty Research

    Biobot Analytics

    By: Raymond Kluender, Joshua Krieger and Mitchell Weiss
Related Work
  • Biobot Analytics By: Ray Kluender, Joshua Krieger and Mitch Weiss
  • Biobot Analytics By: Raymond Kluender, Joshua Krieger and Mitchell Weiss
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