Today at the VISCONTI Talks microphone, Erfane Arwani, co-founder and CEO of Biomemory, a French deeptech at the crossroads of biotechnology and computer science, specializing in the storage of molecular data.

A few words about Erfane Arwani

Erfane Arwani is a computer engineer whose main activity is to create new products, focusing on those that are disruptive or useful for his customers.

What is Biomemory?

Biomemory is a spin-off company from CNRS Sorbonne University. The research, which began in 2018, focused on the storage of computer data on synthetic DNA strings.

This research was conclusive, after a first result, Erfane and the other co-founders (Stéphane Lemaire and Pierre Crozet) decided to create a company. In July 2021, Biomemory was created and since then the project has continued to grow.

A few explanations on the DNA storage business

Why do we need to store on DNA? For decades, huge data centers have preserved our computer data.

Today, there is a strong growth in these data centers and the giants of the sector, private and public, are struggling to continue to store. They are therefore looking for alternative, complementary solutions to electronics (hard disk, flash memory, etc.).

One solution is the ideal candidate: the DNA molecule. It offers a lot of density, much stronger than that of electronic media, and great durability. DNA was naturally invented to store, transmit, and express itself. Here, the aim is to reappropriate only its storage function.

What is Erfane's vision and Biomemory's ambitions?

The aim is to offer additional capabilities without disrupting anything for data centers.

The ambition is simple: 80% of the world's data can be stored on this type of medium, the objective is to get the market to adopt this type of medium and for Biomemory to be one of the key players in this subject.

What is the main challenge for a manager who is facing such an ambitious project?

Each manager experiences the job in his own way. As far as he is concerned, Erfane's biggest difficulty is his impatience. He must find the right balance between not rushing his teams but at the same time taking them out of their comfort zone and managing phase changes.

A company changes between its creation, its first fundraising, the second and a possible listing on the stock market or an acquisition.

Teams are evolving. Erfane practices the 15% rule. After a change of phase, he noticed that 15% of employees were no longer suitable, so solutions must be found.

The subject of talents to be integrated throughout the evolution of society is critical both in recruiting and in working together.

What is Erfane's secret for getting all these people to work together over the long term while regularly integrating new talent?

Erfane makes it a point of honor to never work with people who are not in a position to project themselves.

When they meet, Erfane asks the future collaborator what he thinks he will achieve in ten years.

The answer is not obvious but very important. Without a goal, it cannot help the collaborator.

If the relationship is one-sided, if the person only comes to help the business, they will end up lacking resilience and leave.

Erfane calls these the ten life goals, it comes down to two questions: “Are you able to write down the ten things you would like to have achieved in your life? What if you were another person and had to talk about yourself, what would you say? ”.

A concrete example?

One of Erfane's ten life goals is to write a book or something similar.

So today, he is in the process of creating a comic about molecular computing.

Here, it links the professional and the personal to achieve a life goal.

Another objective of Erfane is to participate in the creation of a sector that could bring together a lot of people and with different skills.

These are goals that link personal desires and professional life, which he tries to carry out in parallel with his activities.

Biomemory is part of a French science. Does Erfane see this continuity with the transition from one science to another while using the same medium?

Erfane wants to use what he has seen in molecular biology and synthetic biology to apply it in his universe, which is a world of IT, data centers, infrastructures. Until now, IT has come to help other sectors.

For Erfane, the time has come for IT to be helped in turn by a complementary sector.

Any point to add about Erfane's organization as a manager?

If you want to organize yourself as a leader it's a bit like back pain.

To treat it, you buy a good mattress, you eat better, you work on your posture, you do sports.

To be a good leader, it's a bit the same approach. There is both the strategic aspect, but also the organizational aspect of its agenda.

What message would Erfane send to his fellow leaders?

Today, it is quite complicated to start a business in Europe.

There is a loss of vision, but all is not lost, you have to hang on because great things are still to be done.

There are great profiles in Europe, it's about giving them hope, you need to have positive messages to motivate people to do incredible things.

In conclusion, Biomemory is a future global leader in biodata storage from France, but whose playing field is global, which has been able to attract exceptional human talent.