Startups are hard, do something that matters | Armand Cognetta, CEO & Founder General Proximity

Summary

When you’re early in your career, people often tell you to work on something “important.” But what does that actually mean? How do you decide what’s worth devoting your life to?

In this episode of the Nucleate Podcast, Armand Cognetta, founder and CEO of General Proximity, shares his journey from struggling college student to biotech entrepreneur. Armand discusses how his passion for chemical biology led him to create a groundbreaking proximity therapeutics platform, candidly exploring the challenges of startup life including fundraising difficulties, imposter syndrome, and the critical importance of persistence. He emphasizes working on ambitious, world-changing ideas and offers practical insights on recruiting talent, building advisory boards, and staying mission-driven through adversity.

Key Takeaways

• Follow your curiosity: Armand’s path shows how an internship and a love for chemical biology can ignite a career. Early struggles don’t doom you – they can guide you to a passion that’s worth pursuing.
• Pick hard problems to work on: General Proximity’s “proximity therapeutics” platform exemplifies tackling “undruggable” targets by forcing new protein interactions. This kind of ambitious idea can reshape how drugs are discovered.
• Embrace the hard road: Startup life in biotech means rejection, long fundraises, and constant obstacles. Being honest about imposter syndrome and relying on grit are essential. As Armand says, you must be “really good at staying positive and not quitting” when others hit roadblocks.
• Maintain high standards: Hiring the right people is critical. As Armand learned, “A players attract A players… It’s far better to leave a role open and wait for a rockstar candidate”. Never lower your bar for talent or vision.
• Stay mission-driven: Finally, ensure why you’re doing this is huge. Don’t build a startup for its own sake. Instead, pick a cause you care about deeply. If you do the hard work for something meaningful, you’ll find the energy to persevere.

Purpose, Persistence, Proximity

Armand grew up in northern Florida with no clear roadmap for his future. After flunking classes, he spent a year off from college, wrestling with self-doubt. During that time he landed an internship at Alnylam – an experience that ignited his fascination with science and biotech.  He later pursued a PhD in chemical biology at Scripps Research, co-authoring breakthrough papers in Cell, Nature, and Science, and developing novel drug discovery tools. This deep dive into molecular biology convinced him that it was time to take a risk: he would turn his curiosity into a company.

By 2020, Armand had gone through Y Combinator as a solo founder and launched General Proximity, a biotech startup focused on what he calls “proximity therapeutics.” In simple terms, his platform designs small-molecule drugs that force two proteins to come together, revealing new ways to treat disease. As Armand puts it, his platform “takes an ‘undruggable’ protein or enzyme and force[s] it in proximity with a drug target,” effectively engineering new chemical reactions inside cells .  This approach is currently being applied to tough problems like cancer and neurodegeneration, with the goal of guiding the development of precision medicines .

⁉️ What is “proximity therapeutics”? It’s a method for discovering hidden biological interactions by physically linking proteins. Imagine cells as containers where bringing the right molecules together drives important chemistry. General Proximity’s technology systematically finds which “proximity events” yield therapeutic benefits. Once those beneficial interactions are known, the company designs drugs that reproduce them. This visionary platform earned the company $8M in seed funding led by notable VCs (including Felicis and Y Combinator).

Startup Realities: Grit vs. Imposter Syndrome

Building a biotech startup came with brutal challenges. Armand candidly describes early fundraising as “the hardest fundraise of [his] life.” General Proximity pitched investors without a team, patents, or extensive data, and the market had even taken a downturn. He recalls once raising only $25K instead of the $2M he sought for a demo day (In fact, the company “almost ran out of money a few times” before finally securing the seed round). This grind-tested period taught him that biotech investors often need convincing. As VC Aydin Senkut put it, “in biotech…early on, they don’t get the benefit of the doubt and you really have to grind”.

At the same time, imposter syndrome was a real battle. Armand admits that walking into pitches and meetings, he often felt like he didn’t belong. He had no prior startup experience, just a big idea and a PhD. Yet over time he learned to trust himself and act with confidence before feeling it, reminding himself that a strong vision can win out over polish. In our conversation he emphasizes that staying resilient and positive through rejection is what separates founders who succeed. As he notes, building a startup means signing up for “the hardest problems” while everyone else deals with the easy stuff – so learning “to be really good at staying positive and not quitting” becomes a founder’s superpower.

Throughout the episode, Armand underscores that persistence and grit are critical. He weathered mistake-filled experiments, rejections from VCs, and the occasional “low point” of almost giving up. Each failure taught him something – for instance, his rocky first funding round made him refine the pitch and narrow focus.  Looking back, he sees how those tough times built confidence:

“People often wait to feel ready, but sometimes you just need to act as the person you want to become, even if you haven’t fully become it yet.“

Why Great Founders Don’t Settle for “Good Enough”

Another major theme is building the right team. Armand stresses that early hires define a startup’s future. He quotes Steve Jobs’ mantra: “A players attract A players,” and warns that settling for “B players” creates a downward spiral. As he advises, never drop your hiring bar – it’s “far better to leave a role open and wait for a rockstar candidate than to fill it immediately with someone who is just good enough”. In practice, General Proximity has taken a rigorous approach: reportedly saying “no” to thousands of candidates to find the few who truly fit their high standards.

Recruiting in biotech is especially hard, since the work demands niche expertise. Armand contrasts this with tech startups where you might hire many juniors. In biotech, hiring errors are costly. He invested effort in setting up strong incentives and culture to retain talent, and he even leveraged advisory boards to give the team guidance and credibility. (Building an advisory board was a key section of our talk).

Ultimately, he believes that people are as crucial as the science. The startup’s momentum depends on its team. As he learned over 4+ years founding General Proximity, "your company will become an exact reflection of who you are as you are building it.” Therefore, personal growth as a leader goes hand-in-hand with recruiting great people.

"your company will become an exact reflection of who you are as you are building it.”

Advice: Think Big and Stay Mission-Driven

Above all, Armand’s message is to pursue big, meaningful ideas. He repeatedly cautions against chasing “easy wins” or trivial projects. In his words, “Start-ups are so hard… you’re going to fail at some point. But if you’re working on something you really care about, you’ll avoid burnout.” He echoes what he’s written publicly: “Start-ups are extremely hard. Don’t waste your life on something trivial.” In other words, pick an ambitious problem you’re passionate about – something world-changing – because the grind will be worth it if the mission matters.

“Start-ups are so hard… you’re going to fail at some point. But if you’re working on something you really care about, you’ll avoid burnout.”

This principle ran through our conversation. In the podcast, Armand reminds listeners that the biotech industry “loves bold, mission-driven ideas”. He encourages young scientists and founders to keep their focus on the impact they want to make. Persistence and optimism flourish when the goal is deeply personal and significant.

Ultimately, Armand’s story – from a floundering student to a biotech CEO – is a reminder that failure and doubt are part of the journey. What matters is the unwavering commitment to something important. By sharing the ups and downs of his journey, Armand gives aspiring scientists and entrepreneurs a roadmap: embrace big ideas, expect challenges, and trust that persistence will pay off.

“Which way you run is often the key differentiator between effective and ineffective CEOs”. Start running toward the fear, not away from it, and focus on the world-changing science that drives you.

Show Notes

00:00 – Intro

03:12 – Armand discusses his childhood growing up in northern Florida

06:44 – Taking a year off college due to poor grades

07:05 – He explains his transformative internship experience

08:33 – Discussion on Paul Graham's blog & early obsession with tech

11:25 – Learning persistence through failure

20:06 – How to generate and evaluate startup ideas

36:02 – What is General Proximity?

53:15 – Armand discusses his impostor syndrome & early founder struggles

1:02:00 – Explains how past failures prepared him

1:05:53 – Recruiting and retaining talent in startups

1:09:57 – Biotech vs. tech: hiring challenges

1:16:28 – Building an effective advisory board

1:19:46 – Armand’s advice for aspiring founder-scientists

1:22:00 – Final thoughts on entrepreneurship & ambition

Links

Armand's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/armandcognetta/

General Proximity: https://www.linkedin.com/company/generalproximity/