Building anything worthwhile usually begins before you’re “allowed” to.

Before you’re funded. Before you’re endorsed. Before the people you admire reply to your emails. Before a university lab gives you space. Before a law firm takes your visa case seriously. Before you’re seen as a “real” founder.

And that’s exactly when it matters most.

This isn’t a guide. It’s a timestamp. A record of what it looked like for me — someone building a deeptech company in biosecurity, without a degree, without a co-founder, and without a fixed country to call home.

I didn’t wait.

I built a patent-pending biotech platform while being denied access to labs.

I published research while navigating visa limbo.

I raised support from top scientists before I had a scientific institution backing me.

I pitched at global conferences while still living in a rural town in Illinois.

I was educated at Elms Academy (in one of London’s highest crime neighborhoods), rejected from every school I applied to including Eton College, UK’s ‘top private school’, yet I later got into the world’s top accelerator for youth with a scholarship: The Knowledge Society (TKS), and gained endorsement from Ivy League professors for my gene editing solution — without anything beyond a sophomore school diploma and leaving the traditional education system to build with no safety net. I’m thankful to everyone I knew who thought I was crazy by this point, as it only fuelled my conviction.

No one gave me permission. They still haven’t. That’s why I’m writing this.

Why most people don’t build

Not because they can’t. But because they’re waiting for permission that never comes:

• “Once I graduate…”
• “Once I get funding…”
• “Once I find a team…”
• “Once my visa is approved…”

Those are all convenient reasons to do nothing.

What I’ve learned

• You don’t need a lab to start a biosecurity company. You need a prototype and a reason.
• You don’t need a green card to get credibility. You need original work and proof of execution.
• You don’t need anyone to say yes. You just need to keep going until someone regrets saying no.

Permission is a mirage. Legitimacy is a lagging indicator. Impact comes from action — even if that action is lonely, messy, and mostly invisible at the start.

If you're building early

Ignore the part of your brain that craves validation. It’s a distraction. The moment you need someone to say “go,” you’ve already stalled.

Instead, build something that gives the world no choice but to notice.

Because the best way to get permission is to stop needing it.