The Biotech Startups Podcast
🧬 The "Respiration Model": Balancing Debate & Execution | Jacob Glanville Re-Release (Part 3/4)
December 22, 2025
"If you are capable of acquiring knowledge, of applying the knowledge, and you like it, you can succeed. It doesn't matter what it is." We’re revisiting some of our previous episodes over the holidays this year. Our next re-release is this episode of The Biotech Startups Podcast, in which Jacob Glanville breaks down how he built Distributed Bio from a napkin-stage idea into a full-service antibody discovery platform—without traditional venture capital. He shares how creative partnerships with USF’s biotech master’s program and a scrappy animal facility in Guatemala helped him access labs, talent, and proof-of-concept data, even as early setbacks with SuperHuman 1.0 cost him clients and sleep. The conversation then dives into the realities of scaling: squeezing into half a bench at JLABS before expanding into a 7,500-square-foot facility powered by smart equipment leasing and a growing team. Jacob also introduces his “Respiration Model” of leadership—open debate followed by uncompromising execution—and explains why rising competition and strong universal vaccine data led him to sell Distributed Bio to Charles River Laboratories and spin out Centivax just as the pandemic hit.
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"If you are capable of acquiring knowledge, of applying the knowledge, and you like it, you can succeed. It doesn't matter what it is."

We’re revisiting some of our previous episodes over the holidays this year. Our next re-release is this episode of The Biotech Startups Podcast, in which Jacob Glanville breaks down how he built Distributed Bio from a napkin-stage idea into a full-service antibody discovery platform—without traditional venture capital. He shares how creative partnerships with USF’s biotech master’s program and a scrappy animal facility in Guatemala helped him access labs, talent, and proof-of-concept data, even as early setbacks with SuperHuman 1.0 cost him clients and sleep.

The conversation then dives into the realities of scaling: squeezing into half a bench at JLABS before expanding into a 7,500-square-foot facility powered by smart equipment leasing and a growing team. Jacob also introduces his “Respiration Model” of leadership—open debate followed by uncompromising execution—and explains why rising competition and strong universal vaccine data led him to sell Distributed Bio to Charles River Laboratories and spin out Centivax just as the pandemic hit.

Key topics covered:


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Find our guest, Jacob Glanville, at these links: 
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jacobglanville/
Website: https://www.centivax.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, Owned by Excedr:
Website: https://flow.page/kyojin 

Resources & Articles:
Distributed Bio Acquisition https://www.criver.com/charles-river-acquired-distributed-bio 
Deep Sequencing for Phage Display Library Analysis https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37966608/
PEGS Conferences https://www.pegsummit.com/
Amazon Web Services (AWS) Cloud Computing https://aws.amazon.com/health/life-sciences/
Phage Display Technology https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phage_display
Equipment Leasing for Biotech Startups https://www.excedr.com/resources/equipment-leasing-strategies-for-biotech-startups
Incubator Models (JLABS) https://jnjinnovation.com/jlabs
Companies, Universities, & People mentioned:
Pfizer: https://www.pfizer.com/
JLABS: https://www.jnj.com/tag/jlabs
Charles River Laboratories (CRO): https://www.criver.com/ 
University of San Francisco (USF): https://www.usfca.edu/
Gates Foundation: https://www.gatesfoundation.org/
Illumina: https://www.illumina.com/
Gilead: https://www.gilead.com/
Boehringer Ingelheim: https://www.boehringer-ingelheim.com/
Adimab: https://adimab.com/

Timestamps: 
00:00 Intro
01:09 Finding Co-Founders and the Three-Stage Plan
06:46 Building the SuperHuman Library with USF Graduate Students​
10:22 Starting at JLABS and Scaling Lab Space​
11:19 Equipment Leasing as a Growth Strategy​
14:02 Challenges That Kept Him Up at Night​
18:13 Learning from Academia vs Big Pharma Approaches​
20:27 The Respiration Model: Balancing Innovation and Execution​
23:32 Decision to Pursue Acquisition with Charles River​
27:15 Spinning Out Centivax and Universal Vaccine Technology​
27:43 Pandemic Timing and Gates Foundation Support​
32:19 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.