Modern Synthesis
ROLE
Head of Growth / commercial strategy + market development
ORGANIZATION
Modern Synthesis
IMPACT
Built focus across product, customers + manufacturing around the first commercial pathway
Selected Proof
Priority global brand pipeline / global manufacturing pathways / commercial conversion framework
YearS
2025 - 2026
01 / FROM PLATFORM TO PATHWAY
I joined Modern Synthesis to help turn a broad biomaterials platform into a focused commercial pathway.
I stepped into the Head of Growth role as the company was moving from technology development toward commercial validation. The opportunity was enormous, but so was the possibility space. My job became creating focus across product, market, manufacturing and story so we could answer a harder question: not only what could the technology do, but what should we prove and scale first?
THE QUESTION
How do you create commercial focus when the technology can do many things, but the business cannot pursue all of them at once?
IN PRACTICE
COMPLEXITY → CLARITY
IDEAS → ADOPTION
SYSTEMS → EXPERIENCE
01 / FOCUSING THE OPPORTUNITY
The first commercial decision was what not to pursue.
Modern Synthesis had strong technology, ambitious possibilities and interest across different markets and applications. But possibility is not the same as a commercial proposition. I led work to narrow where we could create the strongest combination of customer value, technical readiness and credible scale.
PRODUCT / MARKET
Turning technical possibility into a proposition.
I worked across technical, operational and commercial teams to connect material performance with real applications, customer requirements, pricing and manufacturing constraints. The goal was to make the first product pathway specific enough that everyone around it could make better decisions.
PIPELINE / PRIORITIZATION
Replacing interest with decisions.
I restructured the commercial pipeline around a smaller set of priority accounts and clearer stages of progress, separating general interest from the evidence required to move toward validation, conversion and ultimately scale.
Focus is not narrowing the ambition. It is giving the ambition somewhere to land.
01 / FROM PLATFORM TO PATHWAY
I joined Modern Synthesis to help turn a broad biomaterials platform into a focused commercial pathway.
I stepped into the Head of Growth role as the company was moving from technology development toward commercial validation. The opportunity was enormous, but so was the possibility space. My job became creating focus across product, market, manufacturing and story so we could answer a harder question: not only what could the technology do, but what should we prove and scale first?
THE QUESTION
How do you create commercial focus when the technology can do many things, but the business cannot pursue all of them at once?
IN PRACTICE
COMPLEXITY → CLARITY
IDEAS → ADOPTION
SYSTEMS → EXPERIENCE
01 / FOCUSING THE OPPORTUNITY
The first commercial decision was what not to pursue.
Modern Synthesis had strong technology, ambitious possibilities and interest across different markets and applications. But possibility is not the same as a commercial proposition. I led work to narrow where we could create the strongest combination of customer value, technical readiness and credible scale.
PRODUCT / MARKET
Turning technical possibility into a proposition.
I worked across technical, operational and commercial teams to connect material performance with real applications, customer requirements, pricing and manufacturing constraints. The goal was to make the first product pathway specific enough that everyone around it could make better decisions.
PIPELINE / PRIORITIZATION
Replacing interest with decisions.
I restructured the commercial pipeline around a smaller set of priority accounts and clearer stages of progress, separating general interest from the evidence required to move toward validation, conversion and ultimately scale.
Focus is not narrowing the ambition. It is giving the ambition somewhere to land.
02 / BUILDING THE PATH TO ADOPTION
A product is not commercial because a customer wants it. The system has to be able to make it.
Customer demand was only one piece of the commercialization problem. A credible pathway also required manufacturers who could reproduce the material, technical specifications that could survive scale-up, realistic economics and a clear sequence from sampling to production.
MANUFACTURING / PATHWAYS
Building through the industry that already exists.
Rather than treating manufacturing as something that comes after product development, I helped bring manufacturing partners into the commercial pathway early. Working alongside technical and operations teams, I built relationships and development routes to test how the technology could move through existing industrial infrastructure.
CUSTOMERS / CONVERSION
Turning interest into a path someone can act on.
With brands, the work became translating curiosity into increasingly concrete decisions: the right application, the right sample, the performance requirements that mattered, who needed to approve it and what would have to be true for a programme to move forward.
That meant working across design, innovation, sourcing, sustainability and leadership teams, often while the technical and manufacturing pathway was evolving in parallel.
COMMERCIAL SYSTEM / GATES
Making progress measurable.
I introduced clearer commercial stages and decision points so the team could distinguish activity from progress: what had been qualified, what needed validation, what evidence would unlock conversion and where we should stop investing time.
The goal was not more activity. It was a clearer path to the next consequential decision.
02 / BUILDING THE PATH TO ADOPTION
A product is not commercial because a customer wants it. The system has to be able to make it.
Customer demand was only one piece of the commercialization problem. A credible pathway also required manufacturers who could reproduce the material, technical specifications that could survive scale-up, realistic economics and a clear sequence from sampling to production.
MANUFACTURING / PATHWAYS
Building through the industry that already exists.
Rather than treating manufacturing as something that comes after product development, I helped bring manufacturing partners into the commercial pathway early. Working alongside technical and operations teams, I built relationships and development routes to test how the technology could move through existing industrial infrastructure.
CUSTOMERS / CONVERSION
Turning interest into a path someone can act on.
With brands, the work became translating curiosity into increasingly concrete decisions: the right application, the right sample, the performance requirements that mattered, who needed to approve it and what would have to be true for a programme to move forward.
That meant working across design, innovation, sourcing, sustainability and leadership teams, often while the technical and manufacturing pathway was evolving in parallel.
COMMERCIAL SYSTEM / GATES
Making progress measurable.
I introduced clearer commercial stages and decision points so the team could distinguish activity from progress: what had been qualified, what needed validation, what evidence would unlock conversion and where we should stop investing time.
The goal was not more activity. It was a clearer path to the next consequential decision.
03 / MAKING THE WHOLE LEGIBLE
Commercialization also depends on whether the organization can see the same path.
As the commercial strategy became more focused, the work extended into how the company positioned the product, communicated progress and aligned technical, operational and market decisions around the same priorities.
POSITIONING / PRODUCT STORY
Giving the commercial proposition a clear identity.
I helped shape how the first commercial offer was positioned, from the customer proposition and market language to the claims, tools and brand architecture required to make a highly technical material easier to evaluate and buy.
ORGANIZATION / ALIGNMENT
Connecting decisions that would otherwise happen separately.
Much of my role has sat between teams: translating customer needs into technical priorities, manufacturing constraints into commercial decisions and company goals into clear work for the Growth team. I have led across partnerships, commercial strategy and marketing while building the tools and rhythms needed to keep those pieces connected.
CAPITAL / COMPANY STORY
Making progress credible beyond the customer pipeline.
I have also supported fundraising and investor materials, helping translate technical progress, market demand and the commercialization plan into a coherent story of what the company needs to prove next and why it matters.
WHAT IT IS TEACHING ME
Not every possibility deserves to become a priority.
Modern Synthesis is teaching me a different side of building. When the technology has many possible futures, the work is not simply to create more opportunity. It is to choose where evidence is strongest, understand what is still missing and make the next decision clearer.
Focus does not mean reducing the potential of an idea. Done well, it creates the conditions for that potential to become real.
The work is not to reduce possibility. It is to create a path through it.
03 / MAKING THE WHOLE LEGIBLE
Commercialization also depends on whether the organization can see the same path.
As the commercial strategy became more focused, the work extended into how the company positioned the product, communicated progress and aligned technical, operational and market decisions around the same priorities.
POSITIONING / PRODUCT STORY
Giving the commercial proposition a clear identity.
I helped shape how the first commercial offer was positioned, from the customer proposition and market language to the claims, tools and brand architecture required to make a highly technical material easier to evaluate and buy.
ORGANIZATION / ALIGNMENT
Connecting decisions that would otherwise happen separately.
Much of my role has sat between teams: translating customer needs into technical priorities, manufacturing constraints into commercial decisions and company goals into clear work for the Growth team. I have led across partnerships, commercial strategy and marketing while building the tools and rhythms needed to keep those pieces connected.
CAPITAL / COMPANY STORY
Making progress credible beyond the customer pipeline.
I have also supported fundraising and investor materials, helping translate technical progress, market demand and the commercialization plan into a coherent story of what the company needs to prove next and why it matters.
WHAT IT IS TEACHING ME
Not every possibility deserves to become a priority.
Modern Synthesis is teaching me a different side of building. When the technology has many possible futures, the work is not simply to create more opportunity. It is to choose where evidence is strongest, understand what is still missing and make the next decision clearer.
Focus does not mean reducing the potential of an idea. Done well, it creates the conditions for that potential to become real.
The work is not to reduce possibility. It is to create a path through it.
