[jrkelly]

"If you want to start a company working on a better way to build homes, gene editing, artificial general intelligence, a new education system, or carbon sequestration, you may actually be able to get it funded, even if you don’t have a degree or much experience."

I encourage anyone to give hard startups a shot, but there are tons of PhDs/Postdocs out there who would make amazing founders -- they should make the leap! Often feels to me like recent undergraduates get more encouragement to launch startups than recent PhDs/postdocs -- which is a weird miss especially when it comes to hard startups where PhDs have the advantage of deep understanding of a hard field.

[jimkri]

I'm currently in the research phase for an idea using algae/other plants that sequester CO2 rapidly and continue to have questions, which lead to more questions. Thankfully there is a ton of research that has been done, which makes diving into the topic easy. But having someone to work with that has a PhD/postdoc in this area could help build the idea faster.

How can I meet someone with a PhD/postdoc in a specific field? Should I just browse ASU for PhD students or look at specific universities and areas.

[pfdietz]

I suggest you look at algae that live in highly alkaline lakes, like soda lakes in Africa. The high pH means the water scrubs CO2 from the air, which is then available (as carbonate and bicarbonate) for the algae to use.

(Mass transfer is an underappreciated limit on photosynthesis. A corn field in still air becomes CO2 limited pretty quickly in bright sunlight.)

[jrkelly]

Yeah look at research group websites at major research universities that are working in your area of interest. The students are usually listed on the lab website. They’d love to be emailed.

[pinot]

It's a field that has many startups and government basic research for decades. Power plant flue gas seems to be the primary feedstock people are interested today.

[staticautomatic]

Email people who write papers that are useful to you.

[grandridge]

You mean like, photosynthesis?

[JabavuAdams]

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