CEO Series: 23andMe’s Anne Wojcicki on Scientific Breakthroughs and Public Trust

HBR IdeaCast

Harvard Business Review

Teams, Business/management, Marketing, Strategy, Management, Innovation, Finance, Entrepreneurship, Economics, Hbr, Business/entrepreneurship, Harvard, Business, Leadership, Business/marketing, Communication

4.3 • 1.9K Ratings

🗓️ 20 May 2021

⏱️ 24 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Anne Wojcicki, CEO of 23andMe, spent a decade in healthcare and biotechnology before launching the DNA testing and analysis company in 2006. Her goal was twofold: to help individuals learn more about their own genetics, enabling them to pursue more personalized medical care, and to create a database of genetic information for commercial and academic researchers to promote broader improvements to the healthcare system. She speaks with HBR's Editor-in-Chief Adi Ignatius about tackling challenges in an emerging industry.

Transcript

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0:00.0	So you got the job. Now what? Join me, Eleni Mata, on HBR's new original podcast, New
0:08.1	Here, the Young Professionals Guide to Work, and how to make it work for you. Listen for
0:13.8	free wherever you get your podcasts. Just search New Here. See you there!
0:30.0	Welcome to the HBR ID I cast from Harvard Business Review. I'm Allison Beard.
0:42.9	It's hard enough to run a company, but when you add cutting-edge science, rapidly developing
0:53.8	technology, a complicated healthcare system, and shifting public opinion about an emerging
0:58.7	industry, it's even more difficult. Today's guest is navigating all of that. For the third
1:04.5	episode of our special IdeaCase series with current and former CEOs, we'll hear from
1:09.3	Ann Wajiski, CEO of DNA Analysis Startup 23andMe. Before founding the company in 2006, she
1:16.4	studied biology at Yale and spent a decade in healthcare and biotech. And she started
1:21.0	23andMe with a goal of giving consumers more insight on and access to their own genetic
1:25.9	information, to both create paths to more personalized medicine, and to build an anonymized
1:31.4	database for commercial and academic use. Wajiski spoke to HBR Editor-in-Chief Adi Ignatius
1:37.3	during our recent virtual conference. HBR lied leaders who make a difference. Here's their
1:42.3	conversation.
1:43.7	So it's great to have you here. To start off, I'd love to hear you do, it's sort of a
1:58.6	version of an article that you wrote for Harvard Business Review, but really how you develop
2:02.4	the business. Usually the Silicon Valley approach is to move quickly and exploit the gray
2:06.7	areas and find customers, worry about regulation later, but you had fundamental issues with regulators
2:12.9	from the start or almost the start. Talk a little bit about how you had to pivot to handle
2:18.3	that, to grow.
2:20.3	Well, so the company came out of a background that I had, which was on investing in healthcare
	...

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