🧬 He Chose Santa Barbara Over Icebergs | Steve Visco Rerelease (1/3)
October 26, 2026
Steve Visco was an introverted kid with a microscope, pond water, and books on Louis Pasteur and Jonas Salk. School science lagged years behind what he was already doing at home. Literature almost pulled him into writing instead of the lab. He still treats writing as a leadership skill, because too many scientists cannot explain why their work matters. A high-school rock band got him used to being watched. That comfort later showed up in grant pitches.
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“He says, no, I'm serious. Icebergs. I'm going to Santa Barbara.”
Steve Visco was an introverted kid with a microscope, pond water, and books on Louis Pasteur and Jonas Salk. School science lagged years behind what he was already doing at home. Literature almost pulled him into writing instead of the lab. He still treats writing as a leadership skill, because too many scientists cannot explain why their work matters. A high-school rock band got him used to being watched. That comfort later showed up in grant pitches.
His father started as an auto mechanic, then taught at a vocational high school while earning degrees on nights and weekends. The deal at home was two comic books for every classic novel. At UMass, Steve stayed pre-med until a professor pulled him into real chemistry on a valley about to be flooded for a reservoir. He published as an undergrad, then walked away from medicine. Brown taught him electrochemistry on metal carbonyls, not batteries. A postdoc in Newfoundland came with a ferry and a warning about icebergs. He took Santa Barbara instead.
John Kennedy's lab was already poking at solid-state batteries in the early 1980s. Work from 1982 still sits under what PolyPlus Battery Company does now. Lawrence Berkeley National Lab felt like Bell Labs when Steve arrived, until the political question hit: why do taxpayers need these labs? Training scientists was not enough. Labs stood up tech transfer offices. Steve's group became the second company launched out of Berkeley Lab after a Wall Street Journal reporter, who wanted three lines, gave him a quarter page instead.
Key Topics Covered:
- Childhood science, vaccines, and a home microscope
- Literature versus the lab, and why scientists need to write
- Lead guitar and learning an audience
- A father who earned degrees on weekends
- UMass research on a flooded valley
- Walking away from pre-med
- Brown, metal carbonyls, and electrochemistry
- Newfoundland icebergs versus Santa Barbara
- John Kennedy and solid-state batteries before the boom
- Why national labs built tech transfer offices
- The second company out of Berkeley Lab
- A Wall Street Journal call that started a company
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Find our guest, Steve Visco, at these links:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/steven-j-visco-2910b57
Website: https://polyplus.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:
Tech transfer and spinning out
What is technology transfer: https://www.excedr.com/blog/what-is-tech-transfer
How to spin out of academia into a startup: https://www.excedr.com/resources/how-to-spin-out-of-academia-and-into-a-startup
Patent licensing
How patent licensing works: https://www.excedr.com/resources/how-patent-licensing-works
Angel funding
How to raise money from angel investors: https://www.excedr.com/resources/angel-funding-and-angel-investors
Companies, Universities, & People Mentioned:
University of Massachusetts Amherst: https://www.umass.edu/
Brown University: https://www.brown.edu/
UC Santa Barbara: https://www.ucsb.edu/
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory: https://www.lbl.gov/
The Wall Street Journal: https://www.wsj.com/
Timestamps:
00:00 Intro
02:32 Vaccine Pioneers at Age Eight
03:06 Pond Water, Amoebas, and Being Ahead of School
03:55 Literature, Vocabulary, and Scientists Who Can't Write
05:05 Lead Guitar and Getting Used to an Audience
06:14 A Father Who Earned His Degree on Weekends
07:02 Two Comic Books for Every Classic Novel
08:33 UMass Research on a Flooded Valley
09:04 Walking Away from Pre-Med
10:01 Brown, Metal Carbonyls, and Electrochemistry
11:59 Icebergs Versus Santa Barbara
15:20 John Kennedy and Solid-State Batteries
20:59 Why National Labs Built Tech Transfer Offices
27:24 A Wall Street Journal Call That Started a Company
33:36 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.