Launching a new biotechnology company calls for a number of key ingredients, as any wide-eyed scientist who has tested the entrepreneurial waters will attest. You need your enlightened concept, of course, and the enduring visionary force that eventually is to hammer your concept into shape as a viable product.
You also need the right people—and the proper blend of them—to keep the startup's scientific and business plan exquisitely balanced, on track, and on schedule.
However, those who have succeeded and those who have failed will agree that no great idea—no matter how many inspired and capable people are behind it—will succeed without adequate financial cushioning from the outset.
Today, venture capitalists, while more selective than in the past, are generally willing, sometimes eager, to provide that cushion. But for some scientist-entrepreneurs—those who have nurtured their firms to the point at which they are listed on a stock exchange or are ...
