🧬 How Open-Source Programming Teaches Company Building Skills | Sujal Patel (Part 1/4)

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In this episode of The Biotech Startups Podcast, Sujal Patel — co-founder and CEO of Nautilus Biotechnology and former founder and CEO of Isilon Systems — takes us back to his upbringing in suburban New Jersey, where his engineer father and an older brother's love of computers set him on a path toward a life in tech. From self-teaching programming on a budget Apple II clone to building operating systems from scratch at the University of Maryland and contributing to the FreeBSD open-source project, Sujal's early career was defined by curiosity and bold moves — none bolder than demanding his boss's job just three months out of college at RealNetworks, a decision that nearly turned out very differently thanks to one unanswered phone call.

Key Topics Covered:

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Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-biotech-startups-podcast/id1679591994

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2PSL162R2s0zOwU5913Zv4

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@thebiotechstartupspodcast 

Website: https://www.thebiotechstartupspodcast.com/ 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/patelsujal/

Website: https://www.nautilus.bio/

 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonchee

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/excedr/ 

Website: https://www.excedr.com

Website: https://flow.page/kyojin 

How Open Source Contributions Can Launch Your Career: https://opensource.net/freebsd-steady-shifting-open-source-world/

Hypergrowth: Strategies for Scaling a Startup: https://ekoicentre.com/articles/hypergrowth-hacking-strategies-to-scale-your-startup-rapidly-2/​

The Dot-Com Boom and the Rise of Streaming Media: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dot-com_bubble

Proteomics and Single-Molecule Analysis: https://www.nature.com/subjects/proteomics

​Nautilus Biotechnology Unveils Voyager Platform https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2026/02/24/3243473/0/en/Nautilus-Biotechnology-Unveils-Voyager-Platform-Enabling-Single-Molecule-Iterative-Mapping-at-US-HUPO-2026.html 

RealNetworks: https://www.realnetworks.com

Microsoft: https://www.microsoft.com

Isilon Systems: https://www.dell.com/en-us/dt/storage/isilon.htm

Ericsson: https://www.ericsson.com

Bill Pugh: https://www.linkedin.com/in/billpugh

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Timestamps: 

00:00 Intro

04:15 Growing Up as the Son of Indian Immigrants in New Jersey

07:12 How a Brother's Love for Computers Sparked a Lifelong Passion

09:52 Learning to Code: Books, BASIC, and the Franklin Ace 1000

11:26 Choosing University of Maryland for Computer Science

13:54 Early College Life and the Arrival of High-Speed Internet

15:15 Building Operating Systems and Compilers from Scratch

18:05 Contributing to the FreeBSD Project

20:46 Landing the First Job: How FreeBSD Led to RealNetworks

24:10 Early Days at RealNetworks and Moving to Seattle

27:56 Demanding His Boss's Job at Age 22

32:05 Managing 40-Year-Olds Three Months Out of College

34:56 Lessons from Scaling RealNetworks from 100 to 1,000 People

37:40 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.