Samuel is building something that has been overlooked for decades. A natural, vegan, plant-based contraceptive gel that works with the body rather than against it. And he is doing it from a lab he built in his shed.
C Silk is a femtech start-up at the frontier of reproductive health, and this conversation covers everything from the science behind it to the brutal reality of building a MedTech company from scratch with no institutional backing and no rich family behind you.
In this episode, we cover:
Why Samuel, a biochemical engineer and former biopharma professional, became a male founder in women’s health
The personal experiences that revealed just how broken the reproductive healthcare system really is
Why prescriptions for the contraceptive pill have halved in the last decade and what that means for the market
The rise of fertility awareness methods and why women are increasingly giving up on hormonal contraception altogether
Why women were excluded from clinical trials until the late 1990s and the enormous gap that has left in female healthcare
The science behind C Silk and how the female body naturally creates an inhospitable environment for sperm
How Samuel studied a US FDA-approved competitor, identified its flaws, and built a better product
What spermicides from the 1970s got catastrophically wrong and why nothing significant changed for fifty years
The moment under a microscope that proved the product actually works
How to bootstrap a MedTech prototype with a few hundred pounds and a shed
Navigating UK, EU, and US regulatory frameworks as a post-Brexit medical device start-up
Why smart money matters more than any money in MedTech
The NHS grant rejection letter Samuel framed on his wall as motivation
What building a team in deep tech actually looks like when resources are limited
Practical advice for anyone who wants to build a start-up from zero
This is one of the most important problems being worked on right now, and one of the most honest conversations we have had on the show.
▶️ Watch on YouTube: [link]
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