I’m a big fan of The Prof G Podcast. Scott Galloway is a thoughtful guy and I’ve learned a lot from him. One of his common phrases is “It’s hard to read the label from inside the bottle.”
By that, he means, whether looking at ourselves or our business, it’s very helpful to get some outside advice.
This definitely applies to companies pitching to investors. First of all, the story you tell is very important for getting their attention and also for the final valuation. If you think it’s just about science and the data speak for themselves, you’re leaving money on the table.
I talked to Oksana Bovt from Theoria Creative. They help life science companies craft stories for investors. Your science may be exciting and innovative, but that’s not enough. You may have an opportunity to tell a better story that you aren’t even thinking about.
And you don’t have to be first to market to succeed. Oksana shared an example of a company going after the same target as a company that had already been bought. But because the new company approached the problem based on entirely different science, they were able to make the case that they weren’t just a little better, but significantly different.
In terms of the actual presentation, Oksana recommends, never letting the investor fill in the blanks. It’s important to keep their attention and connect all the dots. If they feel like they’ve seen something before, their mind can wander and make assumptions. Don’t let that happen.
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What happens after you successfully raise money? Get ready to start raising again, right away. The fun never stops in biotech. You need to be constantly telling your story, laying out milestones on your website and making noise as you reach them.
Finally, what do you do when things go differently from what you had envisioned for your product or company? First, be assured that you are not the first company nor the hundredth that this has happened to.
When it’s time to pivot, lay out what you’ve learned (both scientifically and commercially) and the vision for what’s next. No investor wants to throw good money after bad. But neither do they want to walk away from a project that still has potential. Finding new opportunities has costs also, so if you can make a case for the pivot, gather your data and tell a new story.
Schedule a 15-minute chat with Chris about turning conversations into content for your life science company.
Intro Music stefsax / CC BY 2.5
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