Alice Schwartz

This woman became a billionaire after starting with just $720 in savings.

In 1952, Alice Schwartz was playing bridge when someone joked about how hard it was to get their hands on tobacco mosaic virus for lab work.

Alice, then a young biochemist, didn’t laugh.

She saw a business idea.

She launched Bio-Rad Laboratories alongside her husband David, whom she met while studying biochemistry at UC Berkeley.

Their startup capital? $720 in savings.

Their first product was TMV, a virus commonly used in plant biology research.

Alice figured if it was hard to source, scientists would line up to buy it.

They didn’t.

Preparing TMV was labor-intensive, and the actual demand was too niche.

It flopped.

So Alice pivoted to a new idea: ion exchange resins.

These tiny beads help separate and purify molecules. Critical for everything from drug development to DNA analysis.

Bio-Rad was one of the first companies to offer analytical-grade resins specifically designed for lab research.

Their resins quickly became staples in pharmaceutical manufacturing, academic labs, and hospitals.

Used to isolate proteins, purify chemicals, and analyze biological samples.

By 1960, Bio-Rad had 11 employees and $150,000 in sales.
Six years later, they hit $1M in revenue and went public, with Alice and David drafting the IPO filing themselves.

Alice remained on Bio-Rad’s board for 70 years, stepping down in 2022 at age 96.

Under her leadership, Bio-Rad launched:
- The first commercial test for thyroid function (1967)
- A breakthrough test kit for mad cow disease (2000)
- HIV and cancer screening tools
- COVID-19 antibody tests used globally during the pandemic

Her son Norman now runs the company as CEO and Chairman.

Today, Bio-Rad offers over 10,000 life sciences and diagnostics products, employs 8,100 people, and generates $2.6B a year.