Fellow Climate Warriors,

Join Andras and I as we sit down for his first on the record conversation after closing a $130MM Series C and passing on the CEO baton at Modern Meadow.  We enjoy Hendricks & tonics while discussing his journey of co-founding not one, not two, but THREE companies with his father, the world of bio-fabricated materials, and his future plans.  

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Please see below about the newest podcast episode and 🥃 upcoming CTC happy hour👉 in NYC this Friday in NYC!. Thank you for your continued support, and keep up the good fight with a cool beverage in hand.

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📝  Show Notes Below👇

🎧 New podcast episode:

Andras Forgacs, Co-founder and Director, Modern Meadow 

“My hope is that bio-fabricated materials are not just going to be the province of luxury handbags years from now, but they’ll also be materials for our every day.  They’ll be in our footwear, our apparel, and our furniture.” -Andras Forgacs, Co-founder and Director, Modern Meadow.

Andras Forgacs is the Co-founder of Modern Meadow, a company working to transform the world of materials by unlocking the power of nature for a healthier planet.  Modern Meadow’s (@ModernMeadow) BioAlloy biomaterials are inspired by leather and made from plant-derived protein but not from animals. 

🍹 What we drank during the episode:Hendrick’s & Tonic

Enjoy the show!

Listen to the episode on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and Substack.

Interested in sponsoring? 

Please reach out to m@climatetechcocktails.com

🥃 July NYC happy hour:

Friday, July 23rd. 5:30-7:30pm in Soho. New Energy Nexus and VOZ are co-hosting to celebrate the release ofAndras Forgacs, Co-founder and Director, Modern Meadow’s CTC session. RSVP here!

🥃 August Bay Area happy hour:

Thursday, August 12th, 5:30-7:30 at New Energy Risk’s HQ in Oakland!  Details coming soon. Please mark your calendars and hope to see you there!

Companies/Startups mentioned during the show:

🐣 Zymergen

🐣Gingko Bioworks

🐣Full Harvest

🐣Just Foods

🐣Perfect Day

🐣Beyond Meat

🐣Impossible Foods

🐣New Harvest

🐣Clara Foods

People/places/things mentioned during the episode

🧠Social Mobility in Hungary

🧠Gabor Forgacs (Andras’ Father)

🧠Salomon Smith Barney

🧠Harvard National Model UN

🧠World Economic Forum

🧠Intrapreneurship

🧠Organovo

🧠Organovo Patents for 3D Bioprinting

🧠Translational Science

🧠Sanlitun in Beijing

🧠Beijing CBD

🧠China’s Booming Consumer Economy

🧠Dupont

🧠DSM

🧠BASF

🧠Collagen

🧠Bio-Based Polymers

-TIMESTAMPS-

[0:00] Intro

[1:45] Drink of the show

[2:13] Closing Series C and passing of baton to new CEO

[3:33] Hungary origins and hopping around the world growing up

[4:55] Time at Harvard and Wharton

[5:40] Work @ Salomon Smith Barney during Dot-com bubble

[6:53] Model UN @ Harvard being “nerd mong nerds”

[10:33] Approaching business from an international perspective

[12:33] Launched “nerd squad” of the investment bank (Citigroup)

[14:00] Intrapreneurship vs entrepreneurship

[14:48] Genesis of Organovo

[17:30] Developing commercial model around bioprinting

[19:01] Experience of starting companies with his father

[22:00] Our time in China

[24:00] Genesis of Modern Meadow

[25:40] China’s obsession with high fashion

[27:51] Wearing a “sombrero” around biofabrication

[30:00] Looking back at 10 years at Modern Meadow

[32:30] Being focused on the “why” and not the “how”

[33:50] Bioalloys + Modern Meadow technology for dummies

[42:46] Andras’ future

[49:13] 3 companies/startups Andras loves

[53:30] Deparing thoughts