Piotr Jedryszek, co-founder of Evolvere Biosciences

Piotr Jedryszek is a co-founder of Evolvere Biosciences and is currently pursuing a PhD in Interdisciplinary Biosciences at the University of Oxford. His interests include science, mountain hiking, chess, and philosophy.

Evolvere Biosciences, the company he co-founded, aims to develop several novel antibiotics. Their platform focuses on developing biological therapeutics to combat the evolution of antibiotic resistance with the goal of saving millions of lives. The long-term vision of Evolvere Biosciences is to create a world where no one is endangered by the threat of antibiotic-resistant bacterial infections.

What is your background? What made you decide to get involved in supporting entrepreneurs?
My background is in Biological Sciences, which I studied at the University of Oxford. I have a history of working on various biotech projects and collaborating with biotech companies during my research.
I decided to become an entrepreneur as it seems to be one of the most effective ways to bring positive change to the world. I sincerely believe that new technologies can alleviate much of human suffering and that the private sector can be highly effective in bringing those innovations to the people.

Bringing innovative ideas to the real world.

How and when did you know your idea was good enough to develop it?
I realised I might be really on to something when several much more experienced and much smarter people expressed excitement for the idea and validated my key assumptions.

What would you say are the top 3 skills that needed to be a successful entrepreneur? Why?
1. Collaboration and Teamwork: Nothing great is formed in a vacuum, the ability to work well with others is paramount.
2. Resilience and Persistence: Things will sometimes look tough and building any company certainly takes lots of time and effort, it’s important to keep fighting and to enjoy the fight itself.
3. Problem-Solving: I was once told that if you have a great idea you will probably have around 10 large problems to overcome. Most issues can be solved but sometimes a bit of creativity is needed.

What is your favourite part of being an entrepreneur?
Working on an important issue and spending time with my amazing co-founders.

What individual, company or organization inspires you most? Why?
My co-founders – they are great and fun people.

If you had 5 minutes with the above individual/ company/organization, what would you want to ask or discuss?
Are we going camping next weekend?

What has been your most satisfying or successful moment in business?
When I saw our first prototype work.

What would you say have been some of your mistakes, failures or lessons learned as an entrepreneur?
1. Character traits tend to be more important than technical skills.
2. Don’t outsource what you can do in-house.
3. Always hedge your bets.

How have you funded your ideas?
Angel investors, winning prizes and friends and family.

Are there any sector-specific awards/grants/competitions that have helped you?
Winning the OUBT Biohakctahon gave us 3 months of free lab space. This allowed us to create our proof of concept experiments and catalysed the company to form.

What is good about being an entrepreneur in Oxfordshire? Bad?
Great ecosystem and amazing people around you.

If a new entrepreneur or startup came to you looking for entrepreneurship resources, where would you send them?
EnSpire Oxford, Said Business School events, and student societies involved in the entrepreneurship field they are interested in.

Any last words of advice?
Take advice from people with a pinch of salt.