The dual PhD problem of today?s startups

In fact, there are so many open vistas that it surprises me that every entrepreneur and investor isn’t running to claim these new territories ripe for creativity and ultimately, profit.It’s a quandary at least until you begin to understand the entrance requirements for these frontier fields.We’ve gone through the generation of startups you can do as a dropout from high school or college, hacking a social network out of PHP scripts or assembling a computer out of parts at a local homebrew club. We’ve also gone through the startups that required a PhD in electrical engineering, or biology, or any of the other science and engineering fields that are the wellspring for innovation.Now, we are approaching a new barrier — ideas that require not just extreme depth in one field, but depth in two or sometimes even more fields simultaneously.Take synethtic biology and the future of pharmaceuticals. These aren’t “solved” fields by any stretch of the imagination, and it isn’t uncommon to quickly reach a “No one really knows” answer to a question.It’s what you might call the dual PhD problem of today’s startups.