Background for developing AJB-Consult to target the smaller Life Science Businesses

Types of businesses and sales

When I visit what the EU define as micro or small businesses,  < 10 employees <50, respectively within the Life Science segment I often meet some very busy and skilled people. These are the owners or should I say the entrepreneurs who started their business. They invented a product or service which could be within analytical chemistry, environmental science, a CRO (clinical Research Organization), chemical and biological analyses or something completely different. I truly admire these inventors or entrepreneurs. They did it. From a sales point of view they can then be subdivided into two groups.

Enterprise 1 is relatively easy to understand for everybody from a business perspective. They produce/make a product or service and sell this in the market. Sometimes more complex project sales such as clinical or pre-clinical studies or simply services such as and analysis of a chemical/biological sample, devices. It can be long sales or short sales or combination of both.

Enterprise 2 is a more complex business model. There is probably a patent and some IPR not a tangible product or service yet but the expectation that there will be some day. Moreover, if it is an enterprise that works with a potential pharmaceutical drug and it is not an actual pharma company (defined by actually already having a pharma product in the market) then this enterprise will most likely never produce or sell anything but half finished products into pharma pipeline. So if this type of enterprise can only sell some kind of IPR then values and pricing is probably being based on some kind of NPV (Net Present Value) model. NPV will be calculated based upon DCF (Discounted Cash Flow) of future earnings. In this business classic sales approaches will probably apply, finding the right people who has a need but it is typically on C-level only involving lots of patent agents. Moreover, since the selling process and product/concept/project is so complex classic marketing will probably not come to its rights.

However, as resources are limited with these sorts of companies and the core competencies are science and maybe quality/regulatory/clinical these SME’s will usually not have separate sales and marketing functions. Hence sales, business intelligence, marketing, webpage, online marketing strategy, price optimizations strategies always seems to be put on the afterburner.

As a separate not to Enterprise 2 there is probably a strong tendency that these should we say IPR companies only reach out to potential partners/investors via their already existing network and scientific advisory boards etc. This may lead to a very closed circuit and a very limited exposure to completely new potential investors/partners.