Knowledge Is Now a Commodity | Scott Chetham (2/4)

Excedr provides research labs with equipment leases on founder-friendly terms to support paths to exceptional outcomes. Learn more at https://www.excedr.com/partners. “Knowledge is now a commodity, and it's your ability to ask the right question and the right next question that is really where the value is.” Scott Chetham explains why he left academia, how applied physics and industry-sponsored research prepared him for commercial healthcare, and what he learned leading technology and commercialization at ImpediMed. He discusses lymphedema detection, body composition monitoring, early GLP-1 research, and the long path from clinical measurement to drug development. The conversation then turns to scaling teams through uncertainty. Scott shares how company growth creates organizational whiplash, why founders often underestimate the need for change management, and how leaders can stay close to what employees and customers are actually experiencing. Scott also describes the shift from software and AI as coding problems to problems of product judgment, prioritization, alignment, and quality assurance. He outlines how better automation could cut roughly half the internal work involved in clinical development, while explaining why rigorous verification and human decision-making remain essential. Key Topics Covered: Leaving academia for direct impact in healthcare Applied physics, biomedical engineering, and industry-sponsored research How asking the right scientific question shapes clinical development ImpedMed's lymphedema detection technology Body composition monitoring in obesity and drug research Early GLP-1 clinical research and pharmaceutical partnerships The progression from diagnostic devices to clinical development software Change management inside fast-growing healthcare companies Founder comfort with uncertainty, pivots, and execution Keeping leadership connected to employees as teams scale AI-driven shifts in product development and engineering bottlenecks Front-loading quality assurance for regulated workflows Reducing clinical development time, labor, and cost If you enjoy The Biotech Startups Podcast, please consider subscribing, leaving a review, or sharing it with your friends. Thanks for listening. Listen and subscribe to The Biotech Startups Podcast:Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-biotech-startups-podcast/id1679591994Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2PSL162R2s0zOwU5913Zv4TBSP YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@thebiotechstartupspodcastTBSP website: https://www.thebiotechstartupspodcast.com/?utm_source=podcast&utm_medium=show-notes&utm_campaign=the-biotech-startups-podcast-ep285 Find our guest, Scott Chetham, at these links:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/scott-chetham-2949001Website: https://farohealth.com/ Find our host, Jon Chee, at these links:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonchee/ Learn more about Excedr:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/excedr/Website: https://www.excedr.com Intro & Outro Songs Created by OkKyojin:https://flow.page/kyojin Resources & Articles:ImpediMed: https://impedimed.com/Novo Nordisk: https://www.novonordisk.com/ClinicalTrials.gov: https://clinicaltrials.gov/Google X: https://x.company/Verily: https://verily.com/ Companies, Universities, & People Mentioned:ImpediMed: https://impedimed.com/Novo Nordisk: https://www.novonordisk.com/Novartis: https://www.novartis.com/Versant Ventures: https://www.versantventures.com/Google: https://www.google.com/Google X: https://x.company/Verily: https://verily.com/DeepMind: https://deepmind.google/Meta: https://about.meta.com/ Timestamps:00:00 Intro01:36 Why Scott Left Academia03:42 Applied Physics in Clinical Research04:52 The Value of Asking Better Questions04:56 From Research to Industry07:17 Scaling Through Change Management09:30 The Whiplash of Company Growth13:20 Staying Close to the Front Line15:46 ImpedMed's Clinical Applications19:14 Following the Clinical Research Thread20:25 How Google Changed the Thesis24:00 The New Prioritization Problem27:24 Why QA Must Come First30:46 The Economics of Faster Development32:46 Outro The Biotech Startups Podcast gives you a front-row seat to the business and science of building a biotech. Hosted by Jon Chee, CEO of Excedr, the show features honest conversations with founders, execs, and investors about their work, their companies, and how they got there. From scientific breakthroughs to startup lessons, each episode explores what it really takes to grow a life science company—from pre-seed to IPO.