 Goeddel became legendary in the biotechnology and molecular biology fields by cloning virtually all of Genentech's early products and/or processes, including synthetic insulin, growth hormone, and tPA, often beating out bigger and more established laboratories in the process.Besides being perhaps the single most important contributor to Genentech's rise to one of the nation's premier biotech companies, his extraordinary drive and competitive work ethic embodied Genentech's early "Clone or Die" culture 

Together with Steve McKnight and Robert Tjian, he founded Tularik in 1991, and was their president and CEO until Tularik was acquired by Amgen for $1.3 billion in 2004.Goeddel earned his bachelor's degree in chemistry from the University of California, San Diego, and his PhD in biochemistry from the University of Colorado, Boulder.