Working with labs, I've found it extremely eye-opening how archaic the supplier relationship is. A big challenge appears to be with the sales model and its reliance on contracts, opaque pricing, and exclusive relationships.

This is, of course, made even more complicated because not all supplies are created equal. Even simple plastics can have slight variations that are invisible without further testing which can impact experiments. You have to be careful, and many of the scientists I work with are superstitious when it comes to buying products, not wanting to risk their experiments.

An alternative I see a ton of labs using these days is Quartzy (YC S11) (https://www.quartzy.com/), which also provides great price alternatives, and also evaluates against other parameters people care about when it comes to their experiments. They have an entire team dedicated to vetting these products so scientists can order with peace of mind. Quartzy also provides some very useful supply ordering and inventory tools that are a huge boon for lab ops.

There's a lot of opportunities for disruption in the lab supply space. It's definitely needed.