It all started with a 15 year old visiting in a biotech lab. Bam, the next generation of innovator was shaped and not so long down the track, Alinta Furnell, would become the CEO and co-founder of Synbiote, a company focusing on creating high-grade industrial bioplastics.

Alinta's journey, from an unexpected email halting can production for their non-alcoholic beer to transforming waste into innovative bioplastics.

Alinta shares her unique perspective on biotech, viewing it as harmonizing natural processes with modern applications, contrary to the common belief of its synthetic nature. The episode also covers the team's rapid achievement of taking a non-alcoholic beer from concept to market in 150 days, highlighting the efficient process and unexpected challenges faced, such as nearly exploding a brewery.

And if you like diversification in early career, you're in for a treat, with Alinta's numerous roles and experiences that contributed to her holistic understanding of biotech commercialization, and her success in various accelerator and fellowship programs, emphasizing the importance of community and personal branding in her career.

00:00 The Unexpected Trademark Hurdle

00:37 Welcome to Multiple Hats

01:05 Meet Alinta Furno: CEO of Symbiote

01:22 From Non-Alcoholic Beer to Bioplastics

01:50 Understanding Biotech and Sustainability

03:03 Challenges and Misconceptions in Biotech

04:37 Symbiote's Innovative Bioplastics

07:13 The Journey from Beer to Bioplastics

14:44 Alinta's Early Career and Inspirations

33:03 Starting the Brewing Journey

34:00 Sales Strategy and Rapid Innovation

38:29 Overcoming Trademark Challenges

41:09 Scaling Up Production

48:02 Community and Support Systems

54:53 Navigating PR and Personal Branding

59:52 Reflecting on Privileges and Barriers

01:01:31 Conclusion and Key Takeaways

You can learn more at https://www.synbiote.com/

And for more info on bioplastic in general you can read these two papers https://www.nature.com/articles/s41578-021-00407-8

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10905720/

You can visit my website - angeliquegreco.com.au

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