The Borrowed Computer That Built Oculus - An Unlikely Biotech Journey | Michael Antonov (Part 1/4)

In this episode of The Biotech Startups Podcast by Excedr, host Jon Chee interviews Michael Antonov, founder and CEO of Deep Origin, about his journey from growing up in post-Soviet Russia to becoming a pioneering tech entrepreneur. Michael shares how scarcity and resourcefulness in his early life shaped his mindset, how discovering computers led him from a family of biologists into programming, and how this passion evolved into co-founding Scaleform and later Oculus. He discusses building game engines in college, turning Scaleform into an industry-standard UI tool adopted by major studios like BioWare and Crytek, and eventually navigating its acquisition by Autodesk. Throughout, Michael reflects on the creative power of software, lessons from startup scaling, and the experiences that now drive his mission at Deep Origin to accelerate scientific discovery through computational biology.