It’s a Challenging Learning Curve: From Inventor to CEO

From Inventor to CEO_ It's a Challenging Learning Curve

Medical Patents Broker Inc.
By Kenneth Pearce, President

For most medical inventions, the inventors are usually engineers, medical doctors, dentists, PhDs, or professors. Although possible, the garage inventor who has never been a patient needing some unavailable medical invention is a statistical outlier for generating a medical patent.

Some engineers, medical doctors, dentists, PhDs, or professors desire to start a company so they can control the flow of the medical invention to the patient. To a person who is used to controlling his or her professional niche, this can sound like the best of both worlds. "I’ll work on weekends and cut an hour out of sleep time. I can do this."

The “Do It Yourself” transition requires a high degree of mastering real-world operational strategies of logistics, business-speak, and since it's business, “money, money, money!” Not thousands or just a few million. Depending on the medical invention, it takes millions and millions (if not billions) of dollars, to move the technology to the patient. Just like the US treasury, the money presses never stop.

1. From Micro-Detail to Macro-Strategy

Inventors usually focus on the science or the “common sense” behind the invention. When I was a hospital pharmacist, my ultimate boss was the MD who ordered the meds, and his boss was the hospital administrator. Back in the day, my function was just to get the meds to the patient ASAP. There was some control to that, but then there were the codes and special orders at 3:00 AM that messed up my plans.

A CEO, however, has to look at the entire horizon and navigate through the deep waters of messed-up plans for different groups of people associated with the invention through the pipeline to the patient. You'll need a large bottle of FDA approved acetaminophen for all the headaches.

2. Speaking the Language of Money, AKA Economics

The financiers funding the latest, greatest medical invention need to be convinced that the officers can manage their capital investment. The business model that was the centerpiece of the incoming flood of money is old news. Now it’s the day-to-day real deal. The CEO needs to justify spreadsheets, burn rates, return on investment (ROI), and addressable market sizes.

Like it or not, you’re the head of a for-profit business. Degrees don’t matter. Results do. Business always boils down to the money. It is irrelevant if the company created a pill that could cure blindness—where are the sales?

3. Managing the Chaos of People and Regulations

Chaos can be real, especially near the Christmas-New Year break. It was a first for me this year—in early April, I was in a retail store, and it already had some Christmas merchandise for sale.

Department heads need frequent meetings that require a yes, no, or wait. Then there are the meetings with the suppliers, the FDA, CMS, occasionally the CDC, potential acquirers, lawyers and more lawyers, accounting, the private banks, the public banks, sometimes there is an SEC issue, the directors, sometimes shareholders need special attention, the hospital associations and companies, and the CROs, just to name a few.

And then there is a family wedding, graduation, death, or vacation (this must be an illusion). The last time I went on vacation, I told them not to call me, but they just kept calling.