Dan Stewart: How a PhD-Supervisor partnership is powering a spinout success story

In this episode, we meet Dr Dan Stewart, co-founder and CEO of ViridiCO2, a Southampton University spinout that turns waste carbon dioxide into the high-value chemicals found in the products we use every day.

In this episode, Dan shares:

• How the discovery of lab "goop" became the moment their research crossed from academic to commercial.

• Why the most technically brilliant person in the room isn't automatically the right person to be CEO.

• How keeping his supervisor and academic co-founder on as chief scientific advisor while he became the full-time CEO has been a valuable asset for the venture.

• Why bringing experienced business brains into the spin-out negotiation early helps set the company up for long-term success.

• How solving one customer's single most pressing problem first beats trying to move an entire slow-moving industry all at once.

• Why he takes an almost dispassionate view of failure, treating resilience as something built through repeated rejection rather than raw talent.

Dan's enthusiasm and ambition for delivering impact is infectious. But what's most impressive is the clarity of thinking around the how. He has a plan.

This episode is a must listen for anyone taking on a BIG challenge and thinking about how to break it down into practical, manageable steps.