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I was recently learning about a biotech company for a possible job opportunity that spun out of a university. The CEO and CSO were recent PhD graduates. Even th

I was recently learning about a biotech company for a possible job opportunity that spun out of a university. The CEO and CSO were recent PhD graduates. Even though both are obviously smart, and they had a large venture fund behind them (I was speaking to the fund about the opportunity) I just couldn't shake the fact that two recent PhD grads were running the company. I was a "recent PhD grad" about a decade ago and I didn't know shit about running a company as a CEO or CSO. Those jobs are so much more about leadership than technical chops. Maybe having the large venture co behind them would help, but the board wasn't made up of a ton of leadership expertise either. I felt bad pointing that out. Like, "yea, the tech is cool but I don't have faith in such inexperienced leadership". So this article I think should have one extra point--you should hire a CEO that you report to as the president or CSO of the company. That CEO doesn't need to be fantastic, they just need to have been in leadership roles for sometime in industry. This way you get the organization and management expertise only gained through years of work, and you as president and scientific expert do the leg work around selling the science to potential investors and pushing the research forward.

nickik 6y ago
Given how many company have been started by people who left university and didn't get a CEO, I'm not sure that advice is all that great, just because those people finished their PhD. I guess one could make the argument that all startups should do that, but it seems the most successful ones usually don't.
- DrAwdeOccarim 6y ago
  I have been thinking about this all morning, and I really can't come up with a single biotech that has been started by people who left university. Do you have any examples? (Not being rude, just ignorant)
  - haihaibye 6y ago
    Theranos
    - DrAwdeOccarim 6y ago
      Not sure if that's a good example...
  - nickik 6y ago
    I was just thinking about companies in general, not specific to biotech. I have zero experience with biotech.
    - DrAwdeOccarim 6y ago
      That's what I thought, but didn't want to assume. I have been part of both software startups and biotech startups and I can tell you the latter is significantly harder than the former for a fresh CEO to do well. The college drop-out CEO of a software company can be the expert in the product and know everything about where they want to take it and how it'll function. In biotech, no one knows biology--we have ideas about how it works, but no one fully understands it the way we understand computer systems because humans didn't build it. There is no instruction manual. The other issue are regulations around protecting human health and manufacturing. I can go on, but I think you get my point.
hergin 6y ago
You look like having the misconception #2. > Misconception 2. You should find a CEO to run the company At early stages, no brilliant CEOs will agree to that and you don't want to do business with mediocre CEOs.
- pcrh 6y ago
  It's possible to have good CEO talent at hand without a full-time CEO. It's one of the better things a VC can help deliver (apart from cash).
- DrAwdeOccarim 6y ago
  No, I am disagreeing with "misconception #2".
hobofan 6y ago
Every CEO was a CEO for the first time at some point. Of course it's better if someone has had the chance to gain leadership experience prior to that, but there are also a big chunk of responsibilities in a CEO role that other mid-level management positions won't prepare you for either. Given that (at least im my field) a PhD graduate usually had leadership over a bunch of Master/Bachelor students for the duration of their PhD, there is usually at least some experience to build on.
- curiousllama 6y ago
  Every engineer printed hello world for the first time at some point, but that point isn’t the time you should put them in charge of a mission-critical codebase. It’s not that they’ll never be good leaders, it’s that it’ll take a while to get there, and that timeframe might be measured in failed startups.
  - hobofan 6y ago
    As someone who was more or less a "Hello World engineer" (at least not far from it) when founding my first startup, I couldn't agree more. The article expands a bit on why it's not a good idea to hire a CEO, and I mostly agree with that part, though not so much with having no business person on the founding team.
    - DrAwdeOccarim 6y ago
      Also, I think most commenters are not weighing how much different running a biotech startup is compared to a software startup.

nickik 6y ago

Given how many company have been started by people who left university and didn't get a CEO, I'm not sure that advice is all that great, just because those people finished their PhD. I guess one could make the argument that all startups should do that, but it seems the most successful ones usually don't.

DrAwdeOccarim 6y ago
I have been thinking about this all morning, and I really can't come up with a single biotech that has been started by people who left university. Do you have any examples? (Not being rude, just ignorant)
- haihaibye 6y ago
  Theranos
  - DrAwdeOccarim 6y ago
    Not sure if that's a good example...
- nickik 6y ago
  I was just thinking about companies in general, not specific to biotech. I have zero experience with biotech.
  - DrAwdeOccarim 6y ago
    That's what I thought, but didn't want to assume. I have been part of both software startups and biotech startups and I can tell you the latter is significantly harder than the former for a fresh CEO to do well. The college drop-out CEO of a software company can be the expert in the product and know everything about where they want to take it and how it'll function. In biotech, no one knows biology--we have ideas about how it works, but no one fully understands it the way we understand computer systems because humans didn't build it. There is no instruction manual. The other issue are regulations around protecting human health and manufacturing. I can go on, but I think you get my point.

hergin 6y ago

You look like having the misconception #2. > Misconception 2. You should find a CEO to run the company At early stages, no brilliant CEOs will agree to that and you don't want to do business with mediocre CEOs.

pcrh 6y ago
It's possible to have good CEO talent at hand without a full-time CEO. It's one of the better things a VC can help deliver (apart from cash).
DrAwdeOccarim 6y ago
No, I am disagreeing with "misconception #2".

hobofan 6y ago

Every CEO was a CEO for the first time at some point. Of course it's better if someone has had the chance to gain leadership experience prior to that, but there are also a big chunk of responsibilities in a CEO role that other mid-level management positions won't prepare you for either. Given that (at least im my field) a PhD graduate usually had leadership over a bunch of Master/Bachelor students for the duration of their PhD, there is usually at least some experience to build on.

curiousllama 6y ago
Every engineer printed hello world for the first time at some point, but that point isn’t the time you should put them in charge of a mission-critical codebase. It’s not that they’ll never be good leaders, it’s that it’ll take a while to get there, and that timeframe might be measured in failed startups.
- hobofan 6y ago
  As someone who was more or less a "Hello World engineer" (at least not far from it) when founding my first startup, I couldn't agree more. The article expands a bit on why it's not a good idea to hire a CEO, and I mostly agree with that part, though not so much with having no business person on the founding team.
  - DrAwdeOccarim 6y ago
    Also, I think most commenters are not weighing how much different running a biotech startup is compared to a software startup.