Greg Kubin

I sat down with Rick Perry, former Governor of Texas, at this year’s Real Summit in NYC. He's become a leading advocate for ibogaine and 5-MeO-DMT for mental and brain health. We discuss his personal experiences and his vision for legal plant medicine in the U.S. Final Business Trip episode of the year. Link in the comments.

Mental health support is one of the top use cases for LLMs — so how can startups build AI that’s ethical, accessible, and scalable? In this epi of Business Trip, we chat with Luis Voloch, co-founder/ceo of Jimini Health, a PsyMed portco building an AI platform that supports both therapists and patients with a behavioral health assistant that provides continuous care between sessions. This conversation goes deep into what it really takes to building patient-facing AI in mental health. Link in the comments.

Calling all entrepreneurial scientists! @PsymedVentures & @KdT_Ventures are co-hosting the 2nd annual Future Neuro Founders Program in October. If you're interested in building a neuro startup, sign up here: luma.com/qnc9pdaa Speakers will be announced soon.

lol i'm in a zoom breakout room with 2 AI notetakers

Skin2Neuron is pioneering a new approach to Alzheimer’s: taking cells from a patient’s hair follicles, turning them into neurons, and transplanting them into the brain. Instead of managing symptoms, the goal is to replace damaged neural networks and rewire the brain from within. In our new Business Trip episode, founder Brendon Boot describes the science, biz model, and regulatory path for this treatment. It's also a great primer on how cell therapies work. PsyMed is proud to have recently invested in Skin2Neuron. Episode link in comments.

Mitochondria are in the spotlight as keys to energy production and a bunch of cellular functions deeply linked to aging, brain, and mental health. It’s also magical how they evolved from bacteria to an essential part of human cells. We chatted with Natalie of Minovia about these topics and transplanting healthy mitochondria into patients even as a longevity intervention. I’m intrigued by mitochondria and cell therapies because these treatments acknowledge complexity. Small molecules are mostly engineered to slot into one receptor. Cell/mito therapies remind us how little we understand about biology. Episode link in comments.

Fun fact: Some people have a rare genetic mutation that lets them thrive on just 4–6 hours of sleep a night - and tend to live long, healthy lives with lower rates of diseases including Alzheimer’s. UCSF’s Dr. Ying-Hui Fu studies these natural short sleepers. In our new Business Trip episode, she shares what makes them different, and whether the rest of us might one day tap into their superpower. businesstrip.fm/podcast/episod…

@DrMakaryFDA bravo!

Today, I’m proud to introduce a revolutionary pathway to drug approvals that will significantly accelerate the delivery of crucial treatments to the American public. I'm committed to fostering innovation that saves lives. The National Priority Voucher program brings the agility of frontline medical decision-making to our regulatory processes.

@britton amazing concept and team working on this! congrats @britton and @ztsekouras

I’m excited to announce the launch of my new company Conscious Talent. The vision is simple. Let’s turn work into a vehicle for consciousness evolution. Three years before we sold my last company to Salesforce, I had a spiritual awakening that cracked my life open. For a while, I thought I might need to become a monk and leave business behind. But I eventually realized something surprising. Being a startup founder and facing the demands of modern life was actually the most fertile ground for self-awareness and transformation. My work wasn’t a distraction from my consciousness journey… it was the path. I wondered why there was such a disconnect between the place we spend the most time and the self awareness journey. It became obvious to me that life is much more fulfilling when personal and professional growth are integrated. And I wasn’t alone. I started sharing my journey and met other leaders on similar paths, and began to notice a pattern. These leaders weren’t just looking for fat paychecks. They longed for something more…but finding it wasn’t easy. They wanted teammates who would excel at their jobs AND were equally committed to their own inner development. They wanted to work at companies that would support the full spectrum of growth. And they wanted to work with people who could get shit done, from a place of wisdom. These types of people and opportunities exist, but they're hard to find. That’s why my wife @ztsekouras and I created Conscious Talent. Conscious Talent connects high-performing, self-aware leaders with companies who value both professional excellence and personal evolution. We help leaders find opportunities that align with their values, their gifts, and their growth paths. We partner with companies to help them find exceptional talent who also embody the emotional intelligence, depth, and self-awareness required to lead in today’s world. For too long, we've separated personal evolution from our professional lives. It’s time we collectively learn how to weave our inner and outer worlds together, as we build our careers and companies. If you’re a leader looking for aligned opportunities, join our talent network. (link in next thread) If you’re looking to hire conscious talent, reach out. (link in next thread) And if this vision resonates with you, we’d love your support in getting the word out. Tag someone who should know about us. 🙏 There’s a new way to work that’s emerging and we’re building bridges for those who are ready to walk this path. Thanks to everyone who has inspired and supported us in bringing this vision to life!

@nikillinit @infinitacity has lab space for biohacking & longevity acceleration co's. part of @ProsperaGlobal so people can do build weirder stuff.

are there like…medical device hacking spaces/labs? feel like all of this happens in isolated research labs but there’s no hacker spaces for medical devices that I know of Bonus points if it’s a place for young adults to learn/experiment- feel like I only had wet labs as options growing up

New epi: What's wrong with US healthcare and how startups can fix it - w/ @jwmares A while back @daisydwolf wrote that the biggest company in the world will be a consumer health tech company. I agree, Justin agrees. But it hasn't happened yet. Why? Among other things, the incentives and regulatory framework are flawed. We discussed how to tackle the food system, environmental toxins, and pharma incentives. We also think through startup opportunities in mental, brain, and physical health. Some of them are pretty out there! Link to episode in comments!

@rod_mallo fun has moved IRL

I believe that VCs who founded their own firm are founders. This creates a special bond between the founders we invest in. We both have to fundraise, hire, and put out fires. We’re both riding the same rollercoaster, just in different cars.

(for 20 min!)

@su_dreams there will always be a gap between my experience and how others experience me.

There's a strange freedom in accepting that some parts of your journey won't make sense to anyone else - and don't need to. How some callings speak in a language only your soul understands. The peace that comes with stopping the constant translation of your path into terms others can validate, and simply walking it with the quiet confidence of inner knowing.

Sharing my notes from Don’t Die Summit in NYC a few weeks ago... Main takeaway: Longevity medicine and brain/mental health will converge. Foundational preventive medicine (aka Medicine 3.0) —nutrition, exercise, and sleep—establish the baseline for longevity and mental health, while emerging therapies (peptides, gene, and cell treatments) promote new avenues for flourishing. 2k attendees at the Javits Center on a Saturday afternoon. More than I expected! 85% male, lots of 35-45 y/o techies in patagonia jackets, some older men with dyed black hair, and a couple guys wearing future goth clothes like Bryan. @bryan_johnson is tapping into a growing trend among people in their 40s who are prioritizing their health and appearance for the first time—with the help of wearables to measure their progress and an openness to try new things. He’s big on inclusivity within the community, often acknowledging the people in the back row who couldn’t ask questions like the front row. Lots of people came alone (like me). Bryan and Don't Die's chief medical officer Mike Mallin share longevity protocols and best practices for 4 hours (2 hours + 2 hours). Topics range from sleep to blood biomarkers. Basically, you’re getting a high density information overview from a longevity doc and full-time biohacker. They had a special talk on women’s health, an AMA, and the event ended with a sing-a-long and dance party. The ticket includes a "biological age test," which I assumed was a blood test based on the $349 ticket price—but it's actually a physical test. You enter your scores into the app to get your biological age. I had to skip it because my knee has been bothering me (side note: just did PRP with good results so far). The trade show aka “Longevity Park” had ~30 company booths. Red light panels, $300 peptide nasal sprays, $1k stem cell banking (@AcornBiolabs ), $16k stem cell therapy (Cell Colabs in Bahamas), microbiome testing (@biohmhealth), vagus nerve stimulation (@ParasymHealth), $120k hyperbaric chamber (@hpotech_medical). Bryan's co Blueprint is now selling products (EVOO, macadamia nuts aka “the new avocado”) and tests (BioAge speed of aging, Microplastics). I think they will become a horizontal platform with more and more tests (and community to share learnings). Note: for the microplastics test, you have to cut your finger with a razor to draw blood bc syringes have plastics. Lunch: “eat what Bryan eats for lunch every day!” Mushrooms, broccoli, cauliflower, lentils. Bryan asked us to pledge Citizenship. I appreciated the touch of whismy, and it's a good idea to get everyone on a platform to build profiles and collect/share stats. However, I already have two citizenships so I declined. Shortly after, I left during the singalong. Final thought: This is a movement is built on health optimization and a willingness to take risks. Some of these interventions will prove transformative; others will quietly fade into the graveyard of overhyped science (or maybe even be dangerous). Right now, the field is mostly a playground for the experimental and wealthy; real breakthroughs will need more than enthusiasm—they’ll need proof. My hope is that early learnings will enable safe, evidence-backed, accessible protocols for the future.