In the thick

I have four interviews scheduled for the next 7 days. Two are confirmed on-site, with a potential third on the horizon and a phone interview in the process of being scheduled.

The past two days have been about preparing, learning details about technologies and systems, digging up research papers to understand the chemistry and statistics of applications. Learning the whole time about new products and ventures. All while revamping my presentations and interview approaches.

All of it exhausting. All of it insanely cool.

Last Tuesday, I braved the rain to attend a talk about the emerging Foodtech industry, where I learned about a new product that was overcoming many of the challenges of dairy-free milk. One major downside of most of the previous dairy-free plant-based milks (almond, soy, coconut, etc) are actually not as nutritious as animal milk, specifically regarding a lack of protein. Enter pea-milk, with Ripple Foods leading the charge, with subsequent companies developing competing products and other ventures (vegan eggs) developing similar products.

In addition, through a conversation with a contact, I learned about the development of vegan leather and clothes made from spider silks, with companies racing to get first generation products onto the market.

The beauty industry has also been an area for massive development, from skincare to perfume.

And then there are microbes. Don't get me started on microbes.

So I'm haunting coffee shops, lurking on social media with the hopes of learning more about the people I will be meeting over the next few days and cramming as much information into my head as possible to make these interviews and meetings productive. All while trying to remember which is my left hand from my right while in the thick of it all.