"Chronic disease and cancer are not bad luck. They're simply a system of biochemistry reactions that we don't yet understand." – Momo

In this week's episode, the host of Compound Wisdom sits down with the co-founder of Viome — PhD chemist, Los Alamos National Laboratory scientist turned entrepreneur — to explore one of the most ambitious missions in modern healthcare: predicting and preventing chronic disease and cancer before symptoms ever appear. He shares how he walked away from one of the cushiest jobs in science to spend six years building technology the world didn't yet believe was possible, and how a Shark Tank-style pitch to investor Naveen Jain turned that research into a company generating revenue in just five months.

The guest explains why your body is really 100,000 moving pieces — half human, half microbial — and why measuring RNA instead of DNA is the difference between knowing a yeast exists and knowing whether it's actually making beer. He breaks down why 95% of biotech companies fail, how concierge clinics are already integrating Viome into their standard offerings, and why the single biggest question you should ask any AI health company is: what was your training set? The episode closes with his core belief: start with the problem you want to solve, not the tools available to you today — and then spend whatever it takes to get there.

Takeaways

Preventive medicine for the human body works the same way preventive maintenance transformed the airline industry — fix the failures before the plane takes off.
Chronic diseases and cancers begin decades before symptoms appear; the goal is to detect and reverse imbalances years in advance.
Half of your health is controlled by your own genes, and half is controlled by your microbiome — neglect either at your peril.
RNA sequencing tells you what your biology is actually doing right now, not just what organisms are present.
95% of biotech companies fail because they keep doing R&D instead of building toward revenue.
A great investor pitch isn't about scientific complexity — it's about the problem, the solution, and the road to revenue.
When it comes to AI in healthcare, always ask: is the training data large, homogeneous, and relevant? Without all three, the AI is useless.
Viome can currently interpret only 40% of the biological data it generates — the remaining 60% of the human body is still dark matter.
Generative AI and foundation models are the next frontier for truly understanding human biology.
Start with the problem you want to solve — not the tools that exist today — and then build whatever it takes to get there.

Chapters

00:53 Intro: Bringing preventive maintenance from airplanes to the human body

01:14 Why chronic disease and cancer are not bad luck — they're biochemistry we don't yet understand

02:40 The science fiction that became science: what changed between 2004 and 2010

04:20 The proof of concept: people in their 80s and 90s living fully healthy lives without drugs or interventions

05:18 Six years at Los Alamos National Lab — building the foundational technology behind Viome

06:19 Why leaving a cushy government job took relentless belief, not just ambition

07:17 The pitch that made scientists think he was crazy — and why he pushed forward anyway

08:26 Finding co-founder Naveen Jain and the Shark Tank moment that started the company

10:44 Why the best pitch isn't the smartest one — it's the clearest one

11:53 Revenue in five months: how preparation made the difference

12:18 The single biggest reason 95% of biotech companies die

13:14 Explaining Viome like you're five: the jet airliner analogy

15:13 The human body is 100,000 moving pieces — 50,000 human, 50,000 microbial

16:43 DNA sequencing vs. RNA sequencing — and why it matters for your health

18:31 Butyrate, breast milk, and why the microbiome starts at birth

20:11 The business model: direct to consumer, concierge clinics, and the road to healthcare providers

20:58 The long-term vision: Viome for every person on earth, from birth to death, for free

22:57 Why healthcare resists nutrition — and how that's starting to change

24:31 How 80% of concierge clinics are already integrating Viome into their standard offerings

26:22 The truth about AI in healthcare: hype vs. real data

27:13 How Viome's co-founder Guru, former Chief Science Officer of IBM Watson, built AI into the platform from day one

28:22 The three things every AI health company must have: large, homogeneous, and relevant data

29:31 The 60% problem: most of human biology is still dark matter — and generative AI is the key to unlocking it

31:29 The next big move: building a foundation model of human biology

31:50 One piece of advice for anyone entering preventive healthcare: start with the problem, not the tools