#StartupsEverywhere Profile: Ed Rudberg, CEO, Nucleic Sensing Systems
This profile is part of #StartupsEverywhere, an ongoing series highlighting startup leaders in ecosystems across the country. This interview has been edited for length, content, and clarity.
Innovating Solutions and Providing Insight on Critical Biological Activities
Nucleic Sensing Systems (NS²) is an environmentally-focused company that employs biological sensing technology to monitor the presence of species in aquatic ecosystems. CEO Ed Rudberg spoke with us about his company, his experience with Small Business and Innovation Research (SBIR) funding, and policy areas of concern for startups and startup founders such as access to talent and affordable healthcare.
Tell us about your background. What led you to NS²?
I am the CEO of both Nucleic Sensing Systems (NS2) and CD³, General Benefit Corporation, our parent company. CD³ is an infrastructure company that manufactures cleaning equipment for boat ramps. Because of the work we’re doing with CD³, we wanted to show the efficacy of decontamination, which got us interested in the technology that led us to NS². That technology is essentially a quantitative genetic smoke alarm that monitors the presence of the genetic material for biological species of concern in aquaculture, wastewater, or surface water. That could be diseases in aquaculture, COVID in the wastewater, or the bacteria that they actually want in the wastewater to break it down. Our interest in that type of technology eventually led us to one of our co-founders, Dr. Cody Youngbull. Together, we hit it off and won a couple of Small Business Innovation Research grants. Based on the success of those grants, we started this new company.
How does the technology at NS² work?
It all starts with environmental DNA (eDNA). If you're not familiar with eDNA, you can think of it like this: a fish swims in the water and as it's swimming it’s sloughing off cells. One way that happens is through excretion. In that excretion, and in any other materials the fish has shed, is genetic DNA. Every cell of an organism has DNA in it. What we do at NS² is take what is essentially a straw and we suck out a sample. Then, we make that sample into 20,000 microsamples. Within each one of those microsamples there is either the DNA of the species we're concerned about or there isn't. From the microsamples we can convert that information into 1s and 0s and quantify how much genetic material was actually in that sample. That kind of data is important for, for example, aquaculture producers that are interested in how many parasites are present or how much of a disease is present. NS² can give them that information and they can use it to aid actions necessary to mitigate the spread of the disease.
Can you describe your experience with the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant process? Are there any ways the Small Business Administration (SBA) could tailor the process to make it easier or more accessible to startups?
The SBIR grant was a huge help for us. The money got us off the ground and greatly reduced our risk. Without the funding, we would have needed to find a way to pull together $600,000 or $700,000 on our own. I don't come from wealth, so that would have been impossible. In that way, I think SBIR funding works as an equalizer. It allows startup founders who don’t have a friends and family network that are able to bring together that kind of money, gain access to the funds necessary to catalyze their business plans.
That being said, we're very lucky that NS²’s team includes several PhDs, but most startups don't have that. I think one of the difficulties with SBIRs is that businesses are often judged by academic standards rather than typical business standards. The SBA asks for applicants to provide publications and other materials that are more aligned with an academic background; there's no real way to show your business acumen. If we didn't have PhDs on our team, getting the funding would have been a lot more difficult. So, that's one way I would improve the SBIR grant process: finding ways that the SBA can give founders credit for their business successes in addition to their successes in academia.
Are there any local, state, or federal startup issues that you think should receive more attention from policymakers?
Lack of affordable healthcare is a huge barrier for many entrepreneurs in the startup community. I’m not 22 and straight out of undergrad, which means I can’t just get on my parents healthcare. Luckily, my wife works for the federal government, so we have healthcare that we can tap into for our family, but a lot of founders don't have a spouse or a partner that can connect them to healthcare benefits. Policymakers should, therefore, focus on ways they can support affordable healthcare and childcare. The cost of living is extremely high these days, so if you're not living in an affordable community, those additional costs can be a really large barrier to success.
Do you have any thoughts on access to talent in the startup ecosystem? Are you able to access the talent that you need, given that you work in a highly technical field?
Looking at the university-level, in the U.S. we train a lot of foreign nationals in highly technical spaces. If these international students end up going back to where they're originally from after graduation, we lose that talent that we've educated through federal and state dollars at the university level. Although we do have many international students who go through graduate school that end up staying in the U.S., we are still seeing a brain drain of many highly skilled graduates. Ultimately, the issue may boil down to the fact that international students are applying to highly technical programs in greater volume than domestic students. It's an unfortunate occurrence and I'm agnostic as far as the solution goes. I just want more educated people here in the U.S. that I can hire.
What local, state, or other federal programs have helped you at NS²?
In Minnesota, the state’s Department of Economic Development provides grants to startups through a program called Launch MN, which is a huge help. We also have a SBIR / STTR (Small Business Technology Transfer) liaison that helps founders apply to the grants. In addition to using those resources, I also took part in a business writing program through the University of Wisconsin-River Falls. Any programs where entrepreneurs can get trained on topics like writing a business plan or working on grants are hugely helpful to the startup world.
Also, we are able to utilize research and development (R&D) tax credits. R&D tax credits are a huge help for startups and small businesses like us needing to maximize the value of every dollar we have. It is important to work closely with an accounting firm who is familiar with these tax credits so that your startup can optimize this opportunity.
What are your goals for NS² moving forward?
Growth. We are currently seeking investment to take our company to the next level. We want to continue to get bigger and continue to have a positive impact upon the planet and people’s quality of life. We believe that the data our technology can collect will provide critical information to many sectors.
All of the information in this profile was accurate at the date and time of publication.
Engine works to ensure that policymakers look for insight from the startup ecosystem when they are considering programs and legislation that affect entrepreneurs. Together, our voice is louder and more effective. Many of our lawmakers do not have first-hand experience with the country's thriving startup ecosystem, so it’s our job to amplify that perspective. To nominate a person, company, or organization to be featured in our #StartupsEverywhere series, email advocacy@engine.is.
