Marketing/PR Subject Matter Expert Interview
Madeline Gregory
Transcribed interview
Roy Stimits, MBA
“Entrepreneurial Pharma Exec”
August 9, 2013
Tell me a bit about how you got started in your career: Well, I ended up in the defense industry out of undergrad. As an engineer, it was great fun, but peace was breaking out all over, so I wasn’t sure how stable life would be for my young family.
So, what did you do? I bit the bullet and went back to school… ended up with an MBA in finance. Business wasn’t my forte, but numbers were!
How did the MBA change your career? I ended up running a pharmaceutical manufacturing facility to start. It was a lot of fun, kind of using my engineering and finance background. As the company grew, I ended up more in business development, and eventually got into building new pharma companies.
How did you end up building new companies? I was on the management team of the group that actually worked on transforming the pharma service company where I worked into a full-fledged pharma company…
Can you explain that a bit? My company at that time basically did outsourced work for pharmaceutical companies, everything from early formulation development through manufacturing, clinical trials and regulatory filings. Over the years the company got quite good so the founder decided something like, “hey, why work for others when you can be that ‘other’!” We basically created an entirely new company using parts of the parent company, making a, a small, new pharma company. That was my first involvement in building newco’s…. turning a $100 MM service company into a $400 MM specialty pharma company.
What did you learn there? Lordy, I suppose I learned that the entrepreneurial side is fun, but a lot of work. Perhaps the most important thing, and what I tell my daughter, who’s in grad school now, is to learn from your mistakes! We made a lot of them early on. Heck, we didn’t always know what we were doing so we just plodding along and made it happen! Ensured, sometimes learning the hard way, that we got the right folks, employees, consultants, advisors… That company became a great success and that kind of success can help lead to more.
How did that learning help you in the future? One of my best friends I’d worked with bolted and recruited me and a small team to Wall Street. Wasn’t sure we weren’t going straight to the devil, but couldn’t pass up an opportunity to work with a great team at what was billed as a leading biopharmaceutical funding and start-up group. I was used to travelling throughout the US, with a bit of travel to the UK and Germany, and now I found myself bouncing all over the world. When in China, don’t ask the guy who meets you at the airport to carry your bags ’cause he might be the CEO. Yeah, the ugly American has landed. We ended up starting quite a few “newco’s” – from China, Japan, Germany and Canada. I thought I knew a ton going up there, but I learned even more there!
For example? Well, I suppose I learned who and how to trust… maybe to trust my instincts, or those of my team. Business is so different throughout the world. We closed a huge deal in China, so they rolled out the press and brought in the big wigs from Beijing. It was cool, particularly the celebratory McDonalds flown in for signing day. Yep, we felt at home, but we also felt we could trust these people and to this day we can. I learned to trust my colleagues, too, but to be wary of those who promise too much. I could babble about “trust” all day long… in the US we define “trust” through lawyers, tons of agreements. The rest of the world doesn’t work that way. Handshakes, doing what you say, saying what you mean, building rapport, looking someone in the eyes… hey, that still works in much of the world. At the same, someone can trust me, my team, what I say, but I’ve also got to trust my company, my US company, to back up what I say and do, to what I commit to.
Can you explain how you start new companies? Gee, I’m afraid you and Snowden are going to sell all my secrets to the enemy! First, you find the right technology. I guess, for us, even before that is having the right team, the right folks, people you trust, people you know who know what they’re doing. Hey, even all of us have to continually remind ourselves that we don’t know “jack,” so maybe instead of “what you know, it’s who you know.” Contacts, people you can call who will give you the straight scoop. So, for us, it’s a team of start up experts – finance, business development, market research, pharmacology, clinical trials, medical, regulatory affairs, marketing… pretty much the whole nine yards. We’ve a core team of key people filling these rolls, with even more expertise hopefully, readily available from our contacts. I may not know manufacturing, but I know who does! So any potential new project runs through all these filters and a few pop up great. If so, we go to the next level and perhaps look at the market in detail, get a legal freedom to operate search to let us know if the patents are good… can we develop this thing… and if so, for how much, but the real bugger is coming up with the confidence to say, yep, we can sink $x MM into this thing and in x years it might be worth $x. If it looks good we can build a good business plan, secure the right folks and go on the road show!
What kind of successes have your companies enjoyed? Well… we’ve done some pretty cool deals, some of which have become solid products in great companies. Right now, as I believe I mentioned on the phone, we’ve three active companies and we’re closing on another. We try to keep two pharma companies up and running at any one time, companies that we’re personally involved in. As they grow we kind of take a back seat, maybe a board seat, and watch ’em, maybe even closely, but let ’em live or die on their own. The cardiovascular company, well that’s been one we’ve been working on for years. Awesome promise tailor made for Obamacare, so a marketeers dream. We’ve had some ups and downs, but right now seems it’s all up. We’ve a little oncology company as everyone wants to take their crack at ridding the world of cancer. Well, that one’s a bit slower, but, hey, still going strong. We’ve got a backbone pharma consulting company that brings a lot to the table, too. We’re really excited about a new technology coming out of Europe, another one of those with extreme promise.
Can you tell me more about that? Right place, right time and who you know. Somewhere along the line we’d impressed this small, XUS company… years ago. Kept in touch with those folks, so, several years later they’re back and with the right introductions, we’re looking at a superlative technology. Kind of comes back to reputation and trust… and, of course, competence!
This is another that kind of goes with the philosophy of our core group… we want to develop and bring to market products that make a difference. So much of pharma is “me too drugs,” same drug, slightly different, but doesn’t advance things much. Or generics… hard to make a living on that despite the shortages we’re always hearing about. Gee, no profit and shortages, wonder how that can get fixed? Perhaps the government needs some marketing gurus.
Each of the projects we take on promises to make a difference. A cost-effective, simple cardiovascular drug’s one of our babies now… low cost to the patient, the insurer, heck, whoever’s paying these days, but it looks to cut down on cardiovascular disease, what will kill many of us, by huge percentages, and most of that by simply making the drug simpler, easier to take, more convenient. Rocket science, no, but brilliant, heck yeah. Our oncology project had some great results in pancreatic cancer… bad one there, and the clinical work that was done abroad showed efficacy in other cancers, too. Neat stuff, but high cost to develop, and that’s been a problem. This new technology we’re working on is awesome for us as it has both cardiovascular and oncologic uses – great for us, great for the market.
I know you wanted to know about marketing, too; kind of a broad term here. When we package up our new co proposal and put all of our plans together, then we shop it, we look for funding, really we market it to the street, trying to find funding. That means a great business plan, good market research, and we’ve got to get the word out. While a lot of this stage is based on history… trust… reputation… kind of knowing the right folks, gotta have the right folks on the team, too. For instance, we’ll get the new management team involved, doing interviews, writing papers, getting introduced to not only the scientific community, but to the business community which might be a whole new thing for them. I’ve gone out and hired PR coaches for new CEO’s more than once. Every step of the way is a different level of marketing, rather never ends, just transforms from one thing to the next…. kind of starts with due diligence, through market research, through launching and relaunching products… that’s a huge piece in and of itself. In my side of marketing I work closely with market research and commercial product marketing, as each has its own nuance. We’ve successfully launched quite a few new products to the US marketplace over the years, like real world marketing… heck, we could talk about that for hours… days. We generally outsource a lot of that but keep the key, at least senior, marketeers in house, though we’ve added a load of new employees at this step, too…even earlier than launch, as so much of the marketing plan has to come into focus a year or more prior to when we best guestimate we’ll see an FDA approval.
Scientifically, much of what we do, in terms of getting the word out, is done through professional associations, like group meetings. The experts will present papers, or research findings… poster sessions where what’s going on in the company, from development through new product launches, at least what can be said publically, is promulgated. At those meetings, like AHA [American Heart Association], there’ll be opportunities for press statements, for talking about what we’re doing with in industry-specific publications. That kind of stuff is picked up on the financial press, so word rather gets around. Depends on who’s working on the project, too… big names naturally get more respect, or at least have more attention paid to them. They’ve got credibility, so when they’re involved, as an officer or advisor, that can be quite helpful. Employees run the company, but the consultants and advisors and boards can be critical to success…
How do you find new employees? The senior people we bring aboard we generally know… and, you know it, trust. We’ve worked with many of these folks for years. Heck, sometimes we yank ’em out of semi-retirement, but, hey, you keep up with ’em and realize they’re likely bored silly. Yep, that cabin in the mountains seems great, and I’m sure it is, but getting out of the game… nah, a lot of these folks want back in. Really, it’s who you know, as well, of course, at least talking to a grad student, what you know – yep, that’s important, too. The senior people often know who they want to bring in, whether consultants or even other new hires.
For new, say junior people, we often vet folks like that through internships. See what they can do for a few months… some work out, others, well, maybe not. First intern I got from the local university, some years ago… I called over there and asked for a sharp MBA student to help me with some market research. Heck, they sent over a retiree so bored he was finishing his MBA. Heck, that was 10 years ago and he’s not retired yet, he loves pharma and he won’t be out of the game ’til they plow him under. Internships, I suppose, are how I, personally, like to add folks. I can think of quite a few sharp ones I still keep up with, all still in pharma. You know, I’m sure we still get tons of in-the-blind resumes… likely some sharp people, but that’d have to be a one-in-a-million chance that we’d need that person, that day. At least interns can build up some rapport, some credibility… give an idea of how they’d work in the real world. They don’t, mind you, have to be perfect, but I’d rather know up front about their idiosyncrasies, what makes ’em tick, what motivates ’em…
How do your companies reward employees? Time off for good behavior is the standard response. My colleague has a sign on his wall that says, “Everyday’s a Holiday, Every Meal’s a Feast.” I suppose I negotiate, if I can, an appropriate salary, a respectable bonus and stock options. Are employees coming to work for a pay check or are they coming to bring an exciting new product – products which promise to change the world – to market? If they’re not fired up to do just that, don’t want ’em! Maybe I’ve got some leverage over a semi-retiree I’m springing from retirement, but if they know what I need, well, maybe not. A younger person, well, that can be fun. Over lunch I can bring up something like, “hey, we’re interested, what do you want? A $150k salary or $75 and a decent options package?” I won’t do that until they know what they’re getting into, but it’s sure an interesting way to separate the wheat from the chaff! I’ve done the day care thing, company cars, parking spaces. Right now all of us are in the same boat, same benefits, not bad, getting too expensive, but no longer playing with all the fluff. Wanna work here in the thick of things, in the excitement, great! This isn’t big pharma, the corporate jet says “US Airways” on the tail, and if you want a new car, there’s a honda dealer down the street. Personally, I want people here who want to be here, who share the same enthusiasm, excitement, creativity that we all do. If they’re willing to jump in and help make the company successful, chances are, they’ll be more successful than they initially thought of, but that’s not all money, might be a brand new Patent Plaque, some cool travel, and learning a lot! I’ve told interns that for years – bust your tail here, learn all you can, and let’s see where you are in the end. Can’t think of a single successful intern who isn’t a fairly senior pharma exec today.
Do you ever work a typical day? What is a typical day? Hmmm… you’re gonna make me feel guilty. Summertime, so I try to make a good impression and get to the office by 10, but, ultimately, all of us just work to accomplish the mission. Some weeks are crazy, so periods are slack. Seems like its been all busy lately. With email, I’m pretty much answering those as quick as I can, particularly since they come with me. Phone rings constantly so I turn off the ringer when I sleep, but generally, on the phone heading in and out of the office. All of us are pretty much constantly available. Our regulatory team member always vacations where t here aren’t phone or email. Personally, I can’t do that, though sometimes I think the price is a bit steep as it’s constantly ringing with some minor emergency. Maybe we should kind of think of entrepreneurialism as being atypical, so no typical days at all. A typical day doesn’t really matter where, or how long, it’s more just like how much gets accomplished, from wherever. Lots of time I can get more done at home than I’d ever get with interruptions in the office. Fairly often I end up staying waaaay too late in the office, but gotta do what needs to be done. Travel used to be a whole lot worse. I’m not a big Skype fan like some of our foreign partners, but that can replace some travel… and we do a whole lot of conference calls. Two today already. The cool part is, even though we have some hectic, like super busy times, we’ll also go through spells where it’s nice and quiet. Nice to work from the dock with a fishing pole, just gotta make sure the seagulls don’t interrupt any important conference calls.
This has been absolutely fascinating and I really, really appreciate all of your time and candor. This has been great. As I write this up, would it be okay if I contacted you if I need any clarification? Not a problem. I hope this helps you a bit. Let me know how I can help! You’re a great interviewer, so sorry if I babbled too much!
