Conversation
Highlights

Building the Security Layer for Synthetic Biology: How Aclid is Defining a New Category

The parallels between the early days of the internet and synthetic biology are striking. Both represent transformative technologies that began with minimal security guardrails. But while the internet’s security infrastructure evolved reactively, often in response to breaches and attacks, synthetic biology presents an opportunity to build security from the ground up.

In a recent episode of Category Visionaries, Kevin Flyangolts shared how Aclid is working to become the security layer for synthetic biology—an industry where a single breach could have catastrophic consequences.

Finding Product-Market Fit in a Nascent Market

When Kevin and his co-founder Professor Harris Wong started Aclid, they spent their first three months doing what many founders neglect: talking to potential customers. “We spent probably the first three months talking to 40 to 60 different manufacturers and just learning, figuring out what it is that they do day to day. Where are the biggest pain points? Is it in the screening? Is it in the vetting of the customer? Is it somewhere totally else?”

This deep customer discovery process revealed a counterintuitive insight. While large manufacturers had already built internal systems for biosecurity compliance, early-stage manufacturers were struggling with manual processes and limited resources. Instead of targeting the biggest players, Aclid found its initial foothold with smaller companies where the pain point was most acute.

“When you’re an early stage company, you are dealing with a lot of problems,” Kevin explains. “If you’re starting a company that requires facilities, 50 people, just to get started, just to build your first product and sell it to a customer, there’s just that much more. And dealing with compliance burdens along that way makes it that much harder.”

Building Trust Through Technical Authority

For any security-focused startup, establishing trust is paramount. Aclid’s approach to building credibility mirrors successful strategies from the cybersecurity industry. “I personally really like what the cybersecurity space has done in marketing, where they offer you technical resources on SoC two compliance, ISO compliance, on x vulnerability or y exploit, and those technical resource end up helping you build trust with that company.”

This content-driven approach positions Aclid as a thought leader while creating a natural path to customer conversations. Rather than pushing sales messages, they focus on building resources that help manufacturers navigate complex compliance requirements.

Shaping Regulation as a Competitive Moat

While many startups view regulation as an obstacle, Aclid is actively helping shape the regulatory landscape. “We’re working with both policymakers and industry, academia as well as politicians directly to make sure that our voice is heard and the right technical implementation is made,” Kevin notes.

This proactive engagement with policy puts Aclid in a unique position as new regulations emerge. Two bills are currently moving through Congress, and an executive order on AI has expanded to include biosecurity concerns. By participating in these discussions, Aclid ensures that upcoming regulations are both effective and implementable.

The Evolution of Go-to-Market Strategy

As Aclid has grown, their go-to-market strategy has evolved from focusing solely on early adopters to working with some of the industry’s largest manufacturers. This expansion required careful positioning of their value proposition. Instead of competing with existing in-house systems, they focus on automation and efficiency: “making them more automated, and giving them their ability to focus back on the chemistry and the manufacturing, rather than on the administrative burden of compliance.”

Building Infrastructure for the Future

Kevin’s vision extends beyond immediate compliance needs. “What I really want to see in the next five to ten years is us be the security and safety layer for this industry. Helping build the infrastructure that helps scientists get access to the tools and the products that they need with as little as possible hurdles.”

This infrastructure-first mindset draws parallels to the financial industry: “Like what you have in finance, there’s a whole bunch of things that happen every time a transaction goes through, every time you swipe a credit card, every time you send a wire a whole bunch of checks to make sure that there’s no fraud. We want to help build that for synthetic biology.”

This approach of building foundational infrastructure rather than just point solutions positions Aclid to become an essential player as synthetic biology matures. By focusing on automation and scalability from the start, they’re creating systems that can grow with the industry while maintaining the security guardrails necessary for responsible innovation.

The synthetic biology industry stands at a crucial junction. As capabilities expand and access becomes more democratized, the need for robust security infrastructure becomes increasingly critical. Aclid’s journey offers valuable lessons for founders building in regulated markets: focus on acute pain points, build trust through expertise, and don’t shy away from helping shape the regulatory landscape.