Frank Eeckman, cofounder and chief scientific officer of Centient Consulting, a San Diego firm that advises biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies, once heard a venture capitalist describe a biotech startup company as a "boat on fire," meaning that everyone on the boat needs to paddle as hard as they can lest all be lost.
While less bureaucracy, the freedom to try different jobs, intellectual satisfaction, and potentially lucrative stock options lure many scientists into small biotech companies, leaving a solid position in industry or academia can be a relatively risky move. A sizeable proportion of biopharmaceutical startups close up shop every year (see bar chart).
"Only a subset of people really fit into (the startup) environment," says Eeckman. Scientists should be prepared to work long hours, explain and promote their research to investors or other nonscientists, and have a teamwork-oriented mindset that keeps the group rowing the boat towards shore. However, ...
