This year’s pre-conference survey revealed a less-than-shocking result before the Mid-Atlantic Bio event opened on Thursday.
Companies are most concerned about capital.
Clovis Oncology’s Patrick Mahaffy had just spoken about the “selective” IPO market and careful investors. What’s an early-stage company looking for development funding to do?
At Mid-Atlantic Bio, attendees with this question crowded the room for the panel “Novel Funding Sources for Bioscience Companies.” From government organizations to patient advocacy groups, the panelists had one main theme.
Get to know us.
Funding is becoming more common from patient advocacy groups, and more competitive from federal programs. Panelists had a some specific tips to remember when going after funding.
Margaret Anderson, FasterCures: Remember venture funders are busy too. The perfectly worded e-mail may have been deleted. Be persistent and get to know the organizations making the funding.
John Hollway, Pragmatos Consulting: Nobody tells your story better than you. It’s your responsibility to make sure that story gets heard, before the funding decision is under consideration.
David Sandak, Accelerate Brain Cancer Cure (ABC2): The organization funds projects, not companies. Look for the overlap between what you’re doing and what the funding agency is trying to accomplish. This may mean an additional project.
Freeman White, Launcht: Crowdfunding will be an interesting model for bioscience companies in the near future. As many of the regulations aren’t worked out yet, beware of any proposals beforoe August 2013.
This panel was moderated by Peter Ginsberg, vice president for business and technology development at NCBiotech.
(C) NC Biotech Center
