Adviser and Business Mentor to Bioscience SMEs and Startups
At long last, I have now started serious work on my new book for startups: The Bioscience Startup Journey. Two chapters are already written. And I’m now recruiting beta readers who’ll help me write the book in an agile development way.
Continue reading “Announcing My New Book for Startups”
Many new biotechs start off as virtual companies. But at each stage of development, you always end up asking whether you should stay virtual or build your own in-house wet labs. What are the pros and cons of being virtual? And is there a more pragmatic “semi-virtual” approach?
Continue reading “Should your Biotech be Virtual?”
Many research-stage biotechs and other small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) prioritize partnerships with Big Partners or in Big Disease Indications without sufficient consideration of other options. But SMEs need to consider other factors when deciding who to partner their assets with and how. As do large pharmas partnering with SMEs
Continue reading “Is Big Always Best?”
As the 2015–16 English Premier League football season ends, I reflect on the lessons that smaller/medium sized enterprises (SMEs) can learn from Leicester City’s unlikely victory. In addition, to the usual lessons on how an underdog can triumph over much bigger competitors, I explore three other important lessons that are less obvious.
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Partnering assets with large pharmaceutical, diagnostic or medical device multinationals is a critical part of the business model for many small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the life sciences. But does it make sense for an SME to have a clearly defined partnering strategy or should it be opportunistic?
Continue reading “Strategic Asset Partnering for Bioscience SMEs—Planned or Opportunistic?”
In this final instalment of our 3-part series, we look at bioscience platform companies as they mature into focused product businesses. What drives this transition? What are the key success factors as a focused product business? This article covers in more detail Stage 4 of the lifecycle of bioscience platform companies depicted below:
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In this second instalment of our 3-part series, we look at the adolescent and early adulthood stages of bioscience platform companies. What drives the transition to these stages? What are the key success factors during these stages? This article discusses in more detail Stages 2 and 3 of the lifecycle of bioscience platform companies depicted below:
Continue reading “Bioscience Platform Companies as Technology/Service Providers and Hybrid Businesses”
What are bioscience platform companies? And how do they eventually develop into fully-fledged product businesses? Most industry participants, commentators and investors recognize and understand start-up biotech companies at one extreme, and fully-fledged pharmaceutical and medical device product companies at the other. However bioscience platform companies are neither. They can be very healthy businesses, yet bereft of product revenues or even profits for many years. And for much of their lifecycle, they can be very difficult for investors to pin a precise valuation on.
Continue reading “Bioscience Platform Companies and their Lifecycle”
Managers at all levels are increasingly involved in strategy development and execution. With this audience in mind, this article aims to demystify a few common misconceptions and clarify some essential truths about Strategy.
Continue reading “Five Things Managers Need to Know about Strategy”
Initiatives to cultivate innovation are rapidly proliferating. From my regular dialogue with Marketing and R&D executives of science/technology-based organizations, I notice many initiatives are built on at least one of these underlying assumptions:
Per se, these assumptions are perfectly good starting points – the mistake is to believe that’s all you have to focus on.
Continue reading “Common Misconceptions in Strategic Innovation Initiatives”
Robert Thong 