First Kalamazoo BioTuesday Draws Enthusiastic Crowd 

Nearly 90 people attended the kick-off session of Kalamazoo BioTuesday, a new quarterly networking and educational forum for life sciences companies and service providers in southwestern Michigan.  The program is sponsored by the Southwest Michigan Innovation Center and MichBio.

Opening the January 15 meeting was Dale Johnson, President and CEO of Emiliem, Inc., an oncology drug development company that has relocated its R&D Center from Emeryville, CA to the Innovation Center.  Emiliem is a privately-held biotechnology company whose objective is to establish a pipeline of effective drug products.  Johnson’s presentation was followed by a panel discussion of life outside the incubator with three Innovation Center “graduates”: Ake Elhammer, Ph.D., CEO of AureoGen Biosciences; Chris Schauer, C.P.A., CEO of PharmOptima: and Bob Gadwood, Ph.D., President and Chief Scientific Officer of Kalexsyn.  Their comments included the following:

What advantage do you miss about the Incubator? 

·     The consulting services that help companies learn how to build successful businesses, such as how to present a business plan to potential investors who do not have a scientific background.

·     General services that allow incubator residents to focus on their business; from security systems, to administrative support, to taking out the garbage!

·     What are some of the challenges of starting a stand-alone company?

·     Going through the process of planning a functioning lab, sourcing equipment and keeping in constant contact with architects and construction companies while actually running a business.

·     Remembering that your customers are number one and your employees are vital to the process and doing as much advance planning as possible to make the transition seamless.

·     Cash management is a top priority: expect Murphy’s law.

·     How does managing a start-up company differ from running it on a long-term basis?

·     As a start-up you really have to have the mind-set that you want to be in business and you must be able to survive on personal financial basis.

·     Cash is the life blood of the organization.  You need it start up and you need it to keep going.  It has to be preserved and well managed.

·     On a long-term basis operational tasks like insurance and tax have to be handled in a timely way while never forgetting to nurture relationships with customers and employees.

·     How do you price your services?

·     One way is to be the low cost provider. 

·     Another way is to be the high quality provider

·     You need to choose one of the above as everyone else is confused.

The Steering Committee for Kalamazoo BioTuesday includes: John Balbach, Small Business & Technology Development Center; Sandra Cochrane, Southwest Michigan Innovation Center; George Gross, Proteos; Kathy Johnson, M-TEC; Jack Luderer, Biosciences Research and Commercialization Center; Bob Miller, Western Michigan University SmartZone; Doug Morton, PharmMor Consulting; Stephen Rapundalo, MichBio; and David Shields, Western Michigan University Haworth College of Business.