If It's Getting More Complex, You're Going the Wrong Way | Scott Chetham (4/4)

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.

“If things are getting more complex, you're going in the wrong direction.”

Scott Chetham explains why he left Google and Verily to tackle the unglamorous planning work that slows clinical development. He recounts sketching the company in Costa Rica, raising a pre-napkin-stage round with Polaris, finding an early customer, and adapting when COVID-19 disrupted pharma economics.

He also traces Faro's evolution from a scenario-planning calculator into a broader platform for protocol review, data transformation, automation, and research support. The conversation covers regulated AI, the limits of historical data and trial simulation, customer trust, founder stamina, enterprise transformation, and the shift from pushing a market to being pulled by it. Scott closes with the advice that has stayed with him: fight complexity everywhere.

Key Topics Covered:

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Find our guest, Scott Chetham, at these links:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/scott-chetham-2949001

Website: 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:

Faro Health: https://farohealth.com/

Polaris: https://www.polaris.vc/

Verily: https://verily.com/

Anthropic: https://www.anthropic.com/

ClinicalTrials.gov: https://clinicaltrials.gov/

Companies, Universities, & People Mentioned:

Google: https://www.google.com/

Verily: https://verily.com/

Polaris: https://www.polaris.vc/

Anthropic: https://www.anthropic.com/

Merck: https://www.merck.com/

Meta: https://about.meta.com/

00:00 Intro

01:44 Leaving Google and Verily

02:50 A Company Sketched in Costa Rica

03:28 COVID Disrupts the Early Market

04:39 The Older Founder Advantage

05:44 Trust, Referrals, and Scaling

10:21 From Fancy Calculator to Platform

12:52 Regulated AI Needs Guardrails

14:45 Why the Ecosystem Must Work Together

17:29 When More Data Makes Things Worse

18:44 The Limits of Trial Simulation

24:40 Transforming Pharma Before Costs Break It

27:30 From Pushing to Being Pulled

37:20 Fight Complexity Everywhere

39:16 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.