🧬 The Rebellious Mindset That Builds Successful Startups | Jimmy Sastra (Part 1/4)
October 27, 2025
"Maybe because of that experience, we still keep in touch. I feel fortunate that my friends and I built something together back then—even if it started with murals and late nights, it taught me about creativity, risk, and teamwork."
In this episode of The Biotech Startups Podcast, Jimmy Sastra, CEO and co-founder of Monomer Bio, unpacks his global journey from The Netherlands and Japan to transforming lab automation in biotech. Shaped by his father’s engineering legacy at Philips and ASML, Jimmy recalls lessons in creativity, rebellion, and resilience that guided his path from the University of Pennsylvania to a PhD in robotics.
His story reveals how curiosity and systems thinking became the foundation for Monomer Bio’s mission to empower scientists through smarter, automated lab solutions.
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"Maybe because of that experience, we still keep in touch. I feel fortunate that my friends and I built something together back then—even if it started with murals and late nights, it taught me about creativity, risk, and teamwork."
In this episode of The Biotech Startups Podcast, Jimmy Sastra, CEO and co-founder of Monomer Bio, unpacks his global journey from The Netherlands and Japan to transforming lab automation in biotech. Shaped by his father’s engineering legacy at Philips and ASML, Jimmy recalls lessons in creativity, rebellion, and resilience that guided his path from the University of Pennsylvania to a PhD in robotics.
His story reveals how curiosity and systems thinking became the foundation for Monomer Bio’s mission to empower scientists through smarter, automated lab solutions.
Key topics covered:
- Early Influences: Growing up in an engineering household sparked Jimmy’s lifelong curiosity and drive to build.
- International Perspective: Moving between The Netherlands, Japan, and the U.S. taught adaptability and openness.
- The Rebellious Years: Graffiti turned creative defiance into problem-solving instincts.
- Academic Foundations: UPenn and his robotics PhD honed discipline and innovation.
- Engineering Meets Biology: The vision to automate labs and empower scientists was born.
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Subscribe to the Podcast:
Find our guest, Jimmy Sastra, at these links:
Website: https://monomerbio.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:
The Innovator’s Dilemma: https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=46
The World Is Flat: https://www.thomaslfriedman.com/the-world-is-flat-3-0/
Emotional Intelligence: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emotional_Intelligence
Mark Yim’s Robotics Lab at UPenn: https://www.grasp.upenn.edu/people/mark-yim/
Companies, Universities, & People mentioned:
HKUST: https://hkust.edu.hk/
TileDB: https://tiledb.com/
MIT: https://www.mit.edu/
Intel: https://www.intel.com/
Boston Dynamics: https://www.bostondynamics.com/
Xerox PARC: https://www.parc.com/
University of Pennsylvania: https://www.upenn.edu/
Robot Operating System: https://www.ros.org/
Strateos: https://strateos.com/
Parul Bordia Doshi: https://www.linkedin.com/in/parul-b-doshi/
Sachin Chitta: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sachinchitta/
Timestamps:
00:00 Intro
04:34 International Upbringing and Three Defining Traits
06:05 Growing Up in Eindhoven: Philips and ASML Stories
07:46 Moving to Japan at 15: A Cultural Reset
08:34 Early Exposure to Business Strategy Books
11:14 Rebellious Phase: Graffiti Crew and Getting Arrested
14:07 High School Years and Academic Interests
15:41 Choosing Bioengineering: An Endless Frontier
17:47 Wet Lab Experience and Manual Labor Reality
19:22 PhD Journey: Robotics and Parameter Optimization
23:04 Simplifying Complex Systems Through Mathematical Models
26:34 Graduate School Mentorship and Peer Support
27:35 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.