Jake Adler, the 21-year-old founder of the biotech and defense startup Pilgrim, literally put his own sweat and blood into developing the business, cutting his thighs to demonstrate the new technology. Surprisingly, this bloody effort paid off and he received $4.3 million from investors.

Pilgrim creates biotechnology for use on the battlefield, with plans to sell to the military and eventually civilians. Their flagship product is the Kingsfoil hemostatic bandage, which startup CEO Jake Adler cut both of his legs on camera to demonstrate.

We won’t publish the video and will avoid giving details. In short: Adler anesthetized his legs with lidocaine and used a biopsy tool to make two precise cuts. One of them was covered with Kingsfoil to stop the bleeding, and the other was used for a control comparison.