Nick Edwards
CEO and Founder of Potato, an AI company focused on 'AI agents for closed-loop, autonomous science'; Creator, Host, and Producer of the 'Once a Scientist...' podcast; Entrepreneur in Residence at UC San Diego (role active until March 2025)
About
I'm Nick Edwards, the CEO and Founder of Potato, an AI company building agents for closed-loop, autonomous science. My career has taken me from neuroscience research at NIH and UC San Diego to management consulting at BCG, venture capital at Alloy Therapeutics, and now entrepreneurship. I'm passionate about helping science improve our world through new tools and community, which is why I also host the 'Once a Scientist...' podcast and co-organize the Bio x AI x SD community. I believe we're at a pivotal moment where AI will massively amplify scientific progress, and I'm focused on connecting with engineers and scientists who want to build the future of autonomous science together.
Networking
What I can offer
- ›Thought leadership on the future of AI in science
- ›A platform via his podcast to share scientist career stories
- ›Community building through Bio x AI x SD
- ›Startup mentorship
- ›Opportunities to join his high-growth company (Potato)
Looking for
- ›expanding my professional network
- ›exploring mutual opportunities in AI and autonomous science
Best fit for
Current Interests
Background
Career
Started as Gearhead at Backcountry, pursued PhD in Neuroscience at NIH, became Postdoctoral Researcher at UC San Diego, worked as Consultant at BCG, held roles at Illumina and Resilience, served as Venture Partner at Alloy Therapeutics, worked part-time at Science Exchange, and now leads his own AI company while hosting a long-running podcast
Education
Ph.D. in Neuroscience from Brown University; BS in Neuroscience from Brigham Young University
Achievements
- ›Published first-author findings in Nature Neuroscience and discovered a mechanism of action for a drug (baclofen) in treating addiction as a PhD student
- ›Published findings in PNAS and developed a statistical analysis pipeline in Matlab as a Postdoctoral Researcher
- ›Created cost-savings strategies, developed international trade strategies, facilitated healthcare mergers, and implemented vendor evaluation systems as a Consultant at BCG
- ›Helped build a drug discovery platform and co-founded a therapeutics company (Restoration Biosciences) as a Venture Partner
- ›Founded and leads Potato, a company in the autonomous science space
- ›Created, hosts, and produces the 'Once a Scientist...' podcast for over six years
- ›Co-founded/organizes the Bio x AI x SD community in San Diego
Opinions
- "science progresses mainly through new tools and more collaboration - and we’re at a pivotal moment for both"
- "people with deep technical knowledge will have more leverage than ever to make real-world discoveries" with AI
- Worries that the gap between AI-generated hypotheses and lab-validated results could become an insurmountable bottleneck, stressing that "we need to accelerate experimental execution now more than ever"