Mar 24, 2025 · 20m · tbpn
Jake Adler on Raising $3M to "Make Soldiers Heal Faster and Think Smarter".
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Biotech founder Jake Adler discusses raising $3.25 million to transform military medicine through rapid wound-healing nanocomposites, brain-computer sleep interfaces, biodefense surveillance, and an agile commercialization model disrupting legacy defense procurement.
How this conversation actually went
Every chapter scored 0–10 on four independent dynamics. Hover any point for the reasoning behind the score. How this is scored →
The hosts as informed peer 3.8 Guest teaching 5.6 Guest disagreement 2.2 The hosts pushing back 1.2
speaking balance: gold is the hosts, purple is the guest (3 minute bins)
Sharpest disagreement ▶ 7:45 Condemnation of academic bureaucracy in defense
Jake forcefully dismisses academic military medicine, stating they do a terrible job translating benchtop science to combat.
Hardest push from the hosts ▶ 13:31 Questioning biotech credibility post-TheranosThe host directly confronts the guest with the Theranos precedent and the challenge of verifying bio claims compared to software.
Biggest teaching moment ▶ 1:43 The technical evolution of battlefield hemostaticsJake educates the host on how early zeolite-based QuikClot caused severe burns and why military doctrine had to redefine casualty care.
The host holds their own ▶ 2:56 Demonstrating knowledge of military pharmacological useThe host displays detailed domain context, citing long-haul F-35 deployment routes and specific military stimulant classes like Modafinil.
the scores for every segment, with the reasoning behind each
| Chapter | Topic | The hosts as informed peer | Guest teaching | Guest disagreement | The hosts pushing back | Why |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Evolution of Battlefield Wound Care and Rapid Healing | 4 | 6 | 1 | 1 | The host displays familiar context regarding military stimulant use and long-haul fighter pilot deployments. The guest extensively educates on the technical history of QuikClot zeolite burns, evolving prolonged-casualty doctrine, and non-pharmacological sleep modulation. | |
| Dual-Use Potential of Defense Biotechnology for Civilians | 4 | 5 | 3 | 1 | The host asks nuanced procurement questions about continuing resolutions and defense programs of record. The guest aggressively critiques the academic establishment for failing to translate benchtop research to the battlefield. | |
| Drawing from Sci-Fi and Converging Academic Research | 4 | 6 | 2 | 1 | The host brings up the biological weapons convention framework and potential adversary non-compliance. The guest breaks down the DoD's bias toward kinetic threats, pandemic vulnerabilities, and the asymmetrical threat of biological weapons. | |
| Theranos' Legacy, Rigorous Validation, and Self-Testing | 4 | 5 | 3 | 2 | The host presses on Theranos skepticism and the difficulty of verifying biotech compared to consumer software. The guest agrees and forcefully calls out current neuromodulation startups exploiting FDA wellness loopholes. | |
| Recruiting Pathfinders and Battling Entrenched Defense Interests | 3 | 6 | 2 | 1 | The host cites an eccentric Ethereum on-chain conspiracy regarding Chinese BCI soldier control. The guest grounds the topic in real geopolitical reality, explaining China's neural interface patent lead and technical spatial-temporal EEG limits. |
Statements from this episode (17)
Adler: Biotech Startup Raised $3.25M Led by Peter Thiel, Cantos, and Refactor
“We just announced a three and a quarter million dollar round led by Peter Thiel, Cantos, and Refactor Capital to transform really the battlefield with advanced biotechnology.”
Adler: Military Medicine Has Not Changed Much Since Vietnam
“Military medicine hasn't really changed much since Vietnam.”
Adler: Early QuikClot Formulations Caused Severe Burns on Warfighters
“The challenge with Quick Claw, at least its initial formulation, was that it used to burn warfighters. So it actually would cause like second or third degree burns. So it would effectively stop the hemorrhage, but it would also burn them in the process of doin…”
Adler: Future Military Deployments Won't Medevac Troops for Up to Two Weeks
“Military is heading towards like the military doctrine is heading towards this environment where, you know, troops are going to be deployed in combat for an extended period of time and military medics, we won't even be able to retract them for maybe upwards of…”
Adler: Military Is Trying to Move Away From Benzodiazepines
“Obviously your benzodiazepine class is, is pretty big as well although the military is trying to move away from those.”
Adler Explored a Brain-Computer Interface That Shocks Users to Sleep
“One of the early technologies we were exploring was a device called NewSleep which was a closed loop brain computer interface that would effectively shock you to sleep.”
Adler: Military Seeks Neuromodulation To Compress Five Hours Sleep Into Three
“And this has been a really big point of interest for the military is can we build neuromodulation or brain stimulation devices that can control sleep architecture and make it so when war fighters sleep three hours, they really feel like they're sleeping five h…”
Adler: DoD Contracts De-Risk Biotech Startups Before Civilian Market Launch
“Really in many ways, I see the that DOD and our work with federal partners as a launch pad, right? We kind of get the to offload of all a lot of this initial experimental and financial risk kind of deployed into this first customer market and, and be able to e…”
Adler: Academia does a horrible job translating military medicine to the battlefield
“Sort of the chasm we're trying to cross here is that if you look at the state of things today, you know, academia rules, military medicine, and they do a Horrible, like totally shitty job of taking technology from the bench top to the battlefield.”
Adler: QuikClot cleared regulatory approval in nine months without human trials
“So quick clot, which is an example you brought up, got cleared in nine months with no human trials, right?”
Adler: Partnering with DoD enables faster clearance than FDA breakthrough pathways
“And notably, like big companies right now with big startups like Neuralink and Synchron, like these big brain computer interface companies, you know, which have breakthrough designation, which was, you know, prized as like the fastest, most expedited pathway i…”
Adler: COVID-19 Cost US $16T and Caused Pacific Fleet Gap
“You look at COVID-nineteen spread across the globe in nine months. Killed like 1.2 million Americans and wiped out 16 trillion in our GDP. It also took, took off like a, for 10 weeks, we had an operational gap in the Pacific due to the USS Theodore Roosevelt.”
Adler: US Has No Bioweapon Defense and Is Vulnerable
“The U S has a somewhat of a grandstanding policy around this, which is that we will not build bioweapons and the best offense is really stronger defense. The problem is that we have no defense. You know, so, so we're kind of in this really precarious position …”
Adler: Most US Adversaries Are Building Biological Weapons
“The reality is that, you know, most of our foreign adversaries are building out these laboratories. They're building out these weapons.”
Adler: Dozens of BCI Startups Bypass FDA Using General Wellness Loophole
“A lot of the companies in the space are building brain computer interfaces and trying to circumvent the food and drug administration by trying to fall into this general wellness category. I've seen like dozens of companies do this.”