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“We don’t want a company to just hobble along: we’ll make our mark or die trying”

Oscar Flores

Co-founder and CEO of Made of Genes

Oscar Flores has a degree in Computer Engineering from the UPC and did his PhD in Biomedicine at the Institute for Research in Biomedicine Barcelona (IRB Barcelona) and the Barcelona Supercomputing Center (BSC) before doing an Executive MBA at ESADE. While he was studying at this business school, he co-founded Made of Genes with Miquel Bru and is now CEO of the company. “I’ve always liked computers and I think it’s great to be able to use them to make people’s lives better,” he highlights

Made of Genes focuses on transactional genomics, helping individuals and companies obtain, store, move, manage and analyze genetic and biomedical data safely and legally. Their goal: “For everyone to have their gene sequence in their back pocket and be able to use it every time they go to the doctor,” sums up Oscar Flores, co-founder and CEO of the company. In 2016 the MIT Tech review called him one of the best innovators under 35.

Why did you want to be an entrepreneur?

I’d never considered it before! Made of Genes started off as a final project at the business school where I was doing an Executive MBA and we realized that it was too good to just leave at that. The forced professional break after doing a PhD also played a role, and the fact that we were a group of extraordinary people who were very excited about the project. All of this motivated us to take the leap.

What is the most important strategic decision you’ve made so far?

From the beginning, one thing has been clear: we wanted Made of Genes to either succeed or to fail, nothing in between. I mean we don’t want a company to just hobble along: we want to have a real impact on society as quickly as possible or for the company to die trying. We went all in and, so far, it seems to have been well worth it.

What is the best advice you’ve ever been given?

“Under-promise, over-deliver”, meaning results should exceed expectations. It might not be so important in the short term but, long term, the trust and professionalism you show with clients, employees and others involved is key for any company.

And now what? What milestones do you want to achieve in the short term?

We have really exciting projects on the table. I can’t go into some of them yet but I think we’ll be hearing a lot about them. Others have already been in the media, like the project we’re working on to set up a national genome bank in Dubai. I think the golden age is just beginning for genomics, personalized medicine and the new challenges they entail.

 

 

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