Planning for the Market

Even after the first round of financing, budding start-up Amyris Biotechnologies didn’t quite realize the potential of its assets or its market possibilities, says company CEO John Melo. The company made a choice. And rather than exploring the limits of the technology simply for technology’s sake, they thought instead about exploring the needs of the marketplace. They first looked at the attributes of existing energy sources, and then investigated molecular alternatives that can mesh with current capabilities.