Well one of the biggest challenges I see individuals facing and even small companies first hand in trying to commercialize their idea is access to affordable lab space and shared equipment. I love looking through iGEM team websites because it is really inspiring work and seems do-able in terms of protocol difficulty, meaning many times it is pretty standard stuff. Then I realize...these kids have access to some of the best labs in the world not to mention most are generally sponsored by private companies as well, with donations of services and or equipment.
If someone has a book filled with ideas, but can't get some bench time to validate what ones are worth pursuing, those ideas are (for the most part) worthless.
I work for a company at a biotech incubator outside Boston and it's really inspiring to see a lot of different people from different areas trying to make it. 90% of the companies in the incubator are 1-2 people, and how they get funding, I have no idea, but it seems many are funded out of their own wallets since most look like they are in their 40's-50's and have been in industry jobs for quite a while and were able to save up some money. Lab space is still expensive I believe, but affordable (if you have 10-20k per year).
The point being I think the world needs a lot more science incubators, and I'm looking forward to seeing how Jacob's place in TX works out. Community labs are great because sharing scientific knowledge is fantastic, but there needs to be another class of lab-spaces more geared to people who already know what they are doing and are looking to actually make something out of their research.
It is so torturous to just need "one more piece of equipment" to be able to run the experiments you want to, but that one piece of equipment costs $2,000 and that's a months wages for what I'm making.
I had written and re-written a few paragraphs trying to express some frustration in regards to observing the pattern of selectivity in terms of who is allowed into the incubators but Josiah worded what I was trying to say much better and in a lot fewer words.
How many investments would you venture to say were given to kids almost solely just because they came from say MIT? These things exist. They suck sometimes if you are on the other side but they do exist.
I am betting >90% of huge biotech companies started from somewhere within academia, someone with a Ph.D. or using a technology that required huge start-up funds
However, 99% of people don't have access to that kind of equipment and skilled teachers until University. (or even at university for that matter sometimes)
I'm having a hard time thinking of a conclusion to the ramblings I just wrote but I'll give it a shot.
I think many people on this list are on this list because they haven't taken the normal career path to get to where they are, and most are still young enough that they aren't where they are trying to get just yet anyway. I think, as Josiah mentioned, some people on this list hope to be the Gates, Jobs, Zuckerberg of the bio-tech world. It might happen, it might not. One of the reasons I don't think we've heard of a "young" millionaire biotech entrepreneur is because, unlike many software company success stories we've come to hear about that just require a computer and someone to code, a science lab requires tens of thousands to millions of dollars to be properly outfitted.
The only consumables Zuckerberg went through at Harvard when coding facebook were probably doritos, mountain dew, and electricity. He was able to build a working prototype of his product with a computer and a lot of hard work. It just simply isn't the same in the sciences.
Nevertheless, with the odds stacked against us, I still hope the people on this list that strive to do great things will do them. I firmly believe the desire to succeed and the will to win is greater than any material disadvantage, except on the days I realize I don't have that piece of lab equipment I need, and then it isn't.
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