By Juliana Corrêa-Velloso
Across the world, the creation of start-ups has become more common. More specifically, within Universities, the Biotech innovation field has been stimulated by the presence of early-stage business development facilitators, like tech-transfer offices and start-up incubators. Although more STEM PhD students and postdocs have been pursuing an entrepreneurial career path, the transition from the bench to the boardroom of a company is still unclear to many. For example, what is the skill set necessary for such a transition? On November 10th, iJOBS hosted a workshop led by Dr. Garry Cooper, CEO and co-founder of Rheaply. Dr. Cooper shared his experiences in the process of starting his own company and enthusiastically encouraged PhD students and postdocs to explore the entrepreneurial side of business. By giving valuable advice and sharing his first-hand experience, he shed some light into the world of the entrepreneur.
Dr. Garry Cooper, CEO and co-founder of Rheaply (Image credit: https://www.uschamberfoundation.org/bio/garry-cooper)
In general, business ideas aim to fulfill a specific need. That said, Rheaply’s concept is simple and, most important, necessary. As Dr. Copper explained at the event, Rheaply started as virtual market of physical assets and laboratory research materials which stemmed from his observation of a problem. Dr. Cooper’s initial observation dates back to when he was a PhD student at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine. While he was working on Parkinson’s disease drug discovery, he noticed a pattern within his department regarding the availability of physical laboratory assets. Some departments had a surplus of under-utilized materials, whereas other departments routinely purchased new materials without any knowledge of the available surplus. Motivated by helping his peers, Dr. Cooper started placing the excess items in a cart and pushing it around the floor. With a simple and smart solution, he redistributed unused spare materials to other laboratories. The success of “the cart” was so significant in Northwestern’s community that even years after his departure, Dr. Cooper kept receiving emails asking, “Where is the cart?”
After his postdoctoral training, Dr. Cooper worked as a life science consultant, where he gained practical experience in the business side of Biotech companies and the Healthcare market. With this broadened view of the market, Dr. Cooper and two co-founders fundraised for their new idea: Rheaply, which is a combination of the words “research” and “cheaply.” Within just 4 years, the company had facilitated the management of internal assets by intermediating the exchange of unneeded resources among and between several world-leading organizations. Imagine Google having a surplus of office supplies that would be a perfect fit for a small local company or a university? How many laboratories around the country have underused or outdated equipment that would be more useful for other laboratories or departments? Rheaply is the bridge between those two ends. Using an award-winning resource platform, Rheaply helps organizations in technology, government, retail, healthcare, and higher education to buy, sell, trade, donate, and rent resources within and between one another. By harvesting their internal and external resources before making any purchasing decisions, organizations can save money, improve efficiency, increase sustainability, and boost their collaborations and network.
As we can see from Dr. Cooper’s experience, the entrepreneur ideation process is quite similar to the well-known scientific method: observing a problem, setting a hypothesis, and testing the solution. But what about the additional hurdles of actually starting and running a company? Can a PhD prepare you to have a corporate level position in a company? The short answer is yes. Scientists can and should run companies. That said, there are of course, some trainings and adjustments that can maximize your chances of success. According to Dr. Cooper, you need to know how to leverage your transferable skills, tailor your journey, and be intentional about what you are doing. Most importantly, he emphasized the necessity of refraining from the temptation of comparing your path and achievements to someone else’s. Instead, he stated that you should focus on defining and accomplishing your own goals.
“…you are in your own journey. Be intentional about your journey and do not compare yourself with others.”
(Dr. Garry Cooper, CEO, and co-founder of Rheaply)
Through years of gathered experience, PhD professionals likely already have the necessary transferable skills to sit in a company’s boardroom. This includes: 1) Problem-solving abilities and critical thinking which can lead to executive decisions and strategic planning, 2) Hypothesis-driven questioning and experimentation which can result in well-executed business concepts, 3) Data collection and interpretation which are necessary for understanding the company’s progress and which can inform well-grounded decisions, and 4) Written and oral communication which are essential to conveying a message with clarity and objectivity.
Although these skills may already be familiar to those who have an academic background, Dr. Cooper acknowledged that showcasing them in the corporate environment is a frequent struggle. You will face several opportunities to apply your knowledge and PhD training, therefore, do not hesitate to show them. “If you don’t tell the world how great you are, no one will notice the value that you were building up for all this period.”
One necessary adjustment that can help PhDs build their confidence is changing the way that they approach problems. Instead of finding answers only in papers, Dr. Cooper highlighted the importance of reaching out to others and actually asking for help. “For academics that are starting a company, the crucial thing is not trying to do it all by yourself,” he stated. The research method is similar, but instead of looking into a paper, you are going to reach out to someone directly. Moreover, it is important to be specific about what the problem is that needs to be solved and to carefully choose who you consult for help. By connecting with others, you become more conscious of your business needs and realize the effectiveness of openly communicating those needs. From his experience as a consultant, Dr. Cooper learned another important lesson that he shared with attendees: do not reinvent the wheel. Identify the problem, find someone that went through a similar situation, and ask for help.
Reaching out to others will help you with the gold-standard action for transitioning from academia to the corporate set up: networking. In addition to all its well-known benefits, networking can help you to deal with the unique struggles of entrepreneurship. “No one will actually know what you are going through unless they have your exact perspective.” By building a network of business-savvy scientists, you maximize your chances of both getting and offering help. Besides, it can potentially increase the opportunities for funding your idea. Most of the time, the initial funding-raising process starts with an expanded network of family and friends. Other good supportive resources are Techstar, Y Combinator, a16z, Sequoia, First Round Capital, and all of Paul Graham’s materials.
Beyond showcasing your transferrable skills, communicating your ideas and expanding your network, considering an internship or shadowing experience is also good place to start. By experiencing the routine of a start-up or other corporate environment, you can diversify your resume and have a taste of the real job experience. For that purpose, iJOBS Phase 2 is a perfect fit. In this phase of the program, trainees can shadow a professional in their area of interest as part of an externship organized by iJOBS. In addition to learning about the field, shadowing professionals could help you to identify areas of your resume which can be improved to make you a more qualified job candidate. The idea is not to mimic someone else’s experience, but to let their experiences serve as an inspiration and guide to your own journey. Dr. Cooper explained that, from the perspective of a capital investor or consulting firm, funding or hiring a professional with a PhD has two sides. On one hand, you will be seen as smart, a fast-learner and an independent professional. On the other hand, regarding the business and market literacy, you will be seen as naïve. If you have any knowledge or activity that can lessen this gap, Dr. Cooper recommended highlighting them. Rather than focusing on papers or any deep knowledge in one specific topic, emphasize alternative activities that will make you stand out.
Thankfully, transforming sound business ideas into fruitful companies has become more common. Moreover, in the biotech innovation field, all available business development assets, like start-up incubators, accelerators, and tech-transfer offices, are powerful tools for that purpose. As we progress through the COVID-19 pandemic, the importance of science and applicable biotechnology is unquestionable. That said, in the same way that a new idea or technology needs to be prepared to be marketable, it is important that as scientists, we learn how to make our transferrable skills marketable, a feat that will help us break into an array of blooming fields, including business/biotech and entrepreneurialism. This workshop was a great introduction to how STEM PhDs can prepare to go beyond the bench and join the C-suite executives!
This article was edited by Junior Editor Zachary Fritz and Senior Editor Brianna Alexander.