The Life Sciences in New York State

Coming to a virtual bookstore near you...

Best Practices in Biotechnology Business Development, edited by Yali Friedman, is a collection of essays on a wide range of topics related to business development. I will have a chapter in the book tentatively entitled "Top Five Mistakes." In this chapter, I  discuss just some of the common mistakes made by entrepreneurs when seeking external financing. I believe these lessons also apply to internal corporate executives seeking funding for their projects as well. The book will be published in early 2008.

New Relationship with European PE Shop

Today I officially joined ARW Business House as an "Ambassador," which is a much fancier title that Associate. It's not a full time job. I'm not giving up my consulting and other initiatives. But, the relationship with ARW allows me to bring a whole suite of transactional capabilities to my life science clients.

The ARW private equity practice is focused on investing in revenue-generating "anchor" companies who seek to grow via merger and acquisition. This growth may be through the acquisition of suppliers, customers, and/or competitors. The practice is global in scope. Transactions of any substantial size (preferably >EURO 50 million) would be considered.

So, if you think you would like to grow via M&A, I might be able to help you. MBOs, MBIs, and LBOs are also actively sought. Feel free to send me a note or call on Skype.

Report from The Summit

I attended the Summit in Tech Valley today. A few quick comments:

1. The three finalists in the business plan competition were all excellent. BullEx won, but the consensus around our table at lunch was that Celery was the winner. It was a tough call.

2. The entire program was quite interesting. All the speakers were very good. It's rare to attend a conference where every single speaker is interesting, but that was the case here.

3. I thought Walt Robb was going to cry during his acceptance speech.

4. I think the Summit has 2 flaws:

a. The term "tech" conjures up images of the internet, computers, etc. I saw very little on nanotech, and nothing on biotech. Their own copy says "Our economy is strong and thriving and our momentum in high tech fields – such as nanotechnology, semiconductor and biotech – is pushing it even further." The most interesting technologies being developed in Tech Valley, in my view, are in nanotech and biotech. I think the organizers need to think more broadly, and organize their summit accordingly.

b. "Tech Valley" is supposed to encompass 18 counties from Rockland County all the way up to the Canadian border. Yet there is a definite Albany-centric focus at the Summit. I think the Summit should rotate to different locations every year. Yes, the Desmond is a nice hotel, and the attendance may be lower if this were held in Poughkeepsie, for instance. Regardless, there has to be more outreach, in my view. Maybe the organizers can have mini-conferences throughout the region.

Overall, I think it was a good conference. I'm glad I went.

Summit in Tech Valley

I'll be at the annual Tech Valley Summit in Albany tomorrow. If you're there, please track me down and say hello.

Summit in Tech Valley

The Personal MBA

I think this is very good list, whether you want an MBA or not. If Finance and self-study is your forte, I would look into the CFA designation as well.

The Personal MBA

The Personal MBA (PMBA) is an experiment in educational entrepreneurism. This manifesto will show you how to substantially increase your knowledge of business on your own time and with little cost, all without setting foot inside a classroom. The PMBA is more flexible than a traditional MBA program, doesn’t involve going into massive debt, and won’t interrupt your income stream for two years. Just set aside some dedicated reading time, pick up a good book, learn as much as you can, and go out and make great things happen.

Interesting autism research...

...being performed at Binghamton University. Having a child with ASD, this really hits close to home.


ScienceDaily: Innovative Approach Affords Researchers Clearer View Of Autism

Using a combination of a state-of-the-art eye tracking system, miniaturized psychophysiological monitoring and multiple computers for high-speed processing, Romancyzk and his team are able to ask questions that could help answer how individuals with autism process information and stimuli from the world around them.

Australian market entry support available

I have developed a series of excellent contacts in Australia. If anyone needs Australian market entry advice, financing in Australia, or even Australian vacation and wine tips, please drop me a note.

"Top Five Mistakes..." published

My article, "Top Five Mistakes Entrepreneurs Make When Seeking Funding" has been published in Lab To Wall Street (registration required).

I'm in the process of expanding the list to 10. Ideas or comments welcome!

Search is primitive

Fred's correct. Search is definitely primitive. One feature I would like to see is better handling of results sorted by date. Many sites have today's date and time on them, but the content may be from 2002. Sorting results chronologically brings those pages to the top, which is useless. The latest information should be on the top of the list.

One thing I don't do is try different engines for different types of searches. I default to Google purely out of habit. Perhaps I should revisit that habit.

A VC: In Search of a Better Algorithm

Because as great an experience as searching the Internet is on Yahoo!, Google, Microsoft, or Ask, Internet search is still a very primitive technology. Rarely is the first result of a search the best result for my needs, regardless of what engine I use.

More Mistakes

In November, I posted excerpts from an article I wrote describing the Top 5 Mistakes Made by Entrepreneurs. That article will be published very soon. In the meantime, I've started working on mistakes 6-10. If any one has any suggestions, send them my way. If it's original and makes sense to me, I'll add it and give you credit.