Re:YC Bio
by danieltillett on Saturday January 13, 2018 @12:17AM
(#16138366)
Is there are reason you only accept university email addresses? Seems strange if you are targeting biotech companies.
Buying datacenter bandwidth is that way. 3-5x variance and sometimes 10x between the first quote and what you pay.
Interestingly, servers seem to be only 1.5x, and if you buy your servers in parts, the variance is even smaller.
Re:YC Bio
by unknownkadath on Thursday January 11, 2018 @05:39PM
(#16128746)
Don't forget eBay! If you're willing to do some simple repairs, you can save a ton of money when revving up a new lab.
eBay is decent for used equipment some glassware, but would not recommend it for chemicals.
There's a huge problem in non-transparent pricing for products. For those outside the industry it's like buying used cars, dealing with sales reps and everything is a quote. Researchers are at a huge informational disadvantage when it comes pricing.
Example, acetone which is a commonly used solvent:
https://i.imgur.com/QyJ1Tj5.png
https://i.imgur.com/mJyfFfX.png
$900 vs. $300
Another example, IPTG:
https://i.imgur.com/tvnVAqO.png
We commonly see 3-5x differences and up to 10x for the exact same item. This makes a huge difference when you're in the range of 500k to 1 mil from YC Bio.