Frequently Asked Questions
Our clients range in scope from small biotech startups with new technologies, business concepts or market opportunities to strategy groups, marketing departments and R&D project heads in international operating companies in "big pharma."top
It’s true our range of services covers exploratory assessment all the way through life cycle planning and corporate development. The common thread is the skill set we bring — our ability to understand technical "features" and turn them into commercial benefits/positioning that drives a company’s competitive position.Whether this competitive configuring occurs at conception or later in the lifecycle is not the main point. It’s the commercial strategic analysis and action planning that BioPharma Consultants excels at.
The problem that many companies face, even well financed ones, is that they attain short-term success, but fail over the long term. We measure both long- and short-term results. It is critical to not only do the right things, but to do the right things right. It takes a long-term yet flexible vision to build a sustainable brand or business with enduring value.
We take an outside/inside view. While we are focused on helping you develop a marketing plan or business development strategy that maximizes your market share (or revenues or profits, whichever is your corporate goal), we know from experience that enduring success is based on a profound understanding of how your customers think.
We start by interrogating goals, assumptions and "facts" to uncover new approaches, new relationships, emerging trends and unexplored opportunities. Then, we build on that perspective by helping our clients ask the right questions of their customers and their own company in order to clearly dissect the best strategy. But even the best strategies may still fail if they are not coupled with a keen insight into what it takes on the inside to make the planned strategies a reality.
All planned actions must be appropriate to your organizational dynamics and capabilities. If warranted, we partner with organizational development experts to take the necessary steps(e.g., executive coaching, leadership training, team-building, etc.) to ensure that your business strategies align with your organization’s human resources and "way of doing things."
Nearly all companies we have worked with over the years have used us in one capacity or another to jump-start or maximize a new business or product. We have started up companies and/or developed new markets for a number of different businesses. Most have been successfully acquired and achieved their financial goals.
We’ve had the pleasure of clients say they can "sleep at night" after they realize we are capable of "just getting on with it" quickly and efficiently while they stay fully informed and in control. (e-biz case study)top
We strive to be open, honest, intellectually challenging, creative, and willing to push the envelope.At the same time, our clients tell us we interact in a non-challenging way that keeps them fully informed and involved to the degree they prefer and respects their ultimate role as the decision maker. Our goal is always the same — to maintain a long-standing and mutually respectful rapport with our clients.
Of course! A key strength of BioPharma Consultants is our ability to very quickly provide insights — often in our first meeting or, if it is in a subject where we have a learning curve, in days. If you simply need strategic counsel or some prescribed development of plans and recommendations, we are pleased to do that.Still, our philosophy is to think and act as if we were a stakeholder in the organization and be passionate about your business.
We’re different because we’re more than consultants. We have the depth and breath of pharma/biotech industry-specific expertise that is rare to find in the consulting world. We’ve been where you are — in the trenches of competitive markets where the landscape is changing on almost a daily basis. We have had direct responsibilities for successfully implementing business, product and corporate development strategies that we helped design and articulate. And we’re ready to do the same for you.
Companies with unproven opportunities typically are not in a position to attract the kind of long-term executive team who can take them to the top. By outsourcing some business development functions at key times during a company or a product’s life cycle, we help them establish early successes to verify the opportunity for investors and attract key employees. By establishing a competitive edge early and by identifying and securing early customers and partners, we are able to help both multi-billion dollar "pharma" and young biotechs attract the proper long-term executive team. In addition, even a company rich in cash can put itself in a more attractive position to recruit a higher class of senior executives by first proving the opportunity. That saves expensive salaries and stock options for the team that can take the business over the top.
The problem all young companies face is cash flow and building shareholder value as quickly as possible. Solutions can come in many forms, but evolving companies must avoid fixes that help in the short term but destroy them in the long term. Many companies fall into the trap of not understanding the critical nature of these early decisions. Typically they don't have a well-defined purpose and/or they don't communicate effectively with their investors, customers or even amongst the important functions of their own companies. This can lead to companies getting mired into either no action or the wrong action.
Huge companies can get blindsided just like small companies, but the price they pay can be even more extensive in terms of public visibility and dramatic falls in market position and shareholder value. Most large corporations have silos of expertise and pre-existing biases about what products will or won’t be successful. Just as in small companies, they require fresh, insightful, and accurate perspectives on the market, competing for product initiatives, and customers. They also need consultants who can bridge the silos to foster effective cross-functional input.We easily blend in with many groups from marketing, sales, R&D, team members and executive staff to encourage the team dynamics needed in today’s matrix environment.
