The East Midlands Bioscience Business Germinator
The purpose of the East Midlands Germinator is to stimulate the creation and speed the development of new healthcare technology company start ups and to increase their chances of being successful by improving their early stage development.
The East Midlands Germinator addresses two key issues faced by many early stage technology companies.
1. Management
• Is there an entrepreneur? Inventive and entrepreneurial are not the same thing. We need to balance the entrepreneurial management team
• Many start ups languish because they lack the leadership and commitment to make things happen. They need someone to create and sustain momentum!
2. Location
• When a company is virtual, based on a University campus or in somebody’s home it will struggle for credibility when dealing with larger companies and investors
• The new start company’s team will suffer from isolation, lack of networking opportunities and social/cultural workplace interaction
The Germinator also gives the company visibility and provenance
• Link to the BioCity Nottingham name, increasingly recognised in the industry
• Access to experienced venture management
• The opportunity to tap into a readymade network
• Preferential access to the Biotel research hotel and scientific concierge service at BioCity Nottingham, the Biobator in Leicester.
East Midlands Bioscience Business Germinator
Medilink East Midlands Ltd
BioCity Nottingham, Pennyfoot Street, NG1 1GF
Fax. 0115 912 4331,
email: info@medilinkem.com
www.medilink .com
The Germinator II initiative builds on the successful pilot that has been running since 2006 and has so far benefitted ten start-up healthcare technology companies. The Germinator program now extends across the East Midlands in partnership with the region’s outstanding life science research universities and with a satellite centres at the BioBator incubation facility in Leicester and the Loughborough Innovation Centre
The Germinator targets and supports companies, which would otherwise miss out on funding, because they are too risky, too early stage or in some other way; do not meet the criteria for support from existing sources. University spin out companies with exciting new technology, it also includes the creations of inventor medics struggling to combine starting up a company and a full time medical career. And the first time entrepreneur, short on resources and crippled by the apparent enormity of the task of setting up a company. The reality is that the majority of early stage technology companies have a constant struggle for resources.
Pre-Germination
The Germinator process starts right at the inception of a commercial technology. This may well be with the recognition that scientific research has commercial applications. The technology is then nurtured with support from technology transfer professionals advising on crucial decisions such as the timing of patent applications, whether the technology is suitable for licensing or could form the basis of a new start up company, the availability of external support for development and the timing of commercialisation. The Germinator Manager can contribute significantly to this part of the process particularly for those opportunities that do not benefit from internal university or NHS support.
Germination
Germination begins when the decision is taken to go for commercialization.
The first problem is that the inventors/team may not be entrepreneurial enough. They may have excellent technical knowledge and can learn management skills such as finance, strategy and planning. But the entrepreneur is the focus, is the person who creates momentum in the endeavor, marshals resources, identifies and surmounts barriers that keep the business from moving forward, gives confidence to first time start ups and cuts through the cultural differences between universities and business. Without an entrepreneur the opportunity may languish with the team keen, but with no single person taking the lead and pushing hard, the opportunity just doesn’t make progress.
The Germinator solves this problem by identifying a dynamic individual with entrepreneurial flair. The Germinator then supports this person to work in the company one day a week for up to nine months. The key to the success of this placement is that the person works in the company, not as a mentor, advisor or trainer, but as a key part of the team. In fact if the relationship works out well the venture champion may go on to become the company’s CEO. This person is called the venture champion. Their most important task is to provide momentum to the opportunity by setting realistic short term goals and ensuring that they are achieved. The venture champion has a contract with the Germinator. This is important as it ensures that the venture champion remains focused on the task and does not get distracted or sucked in to politics and stakeholder negotiations that can hamper startup company development. The venture champion is also supported by the Germinator Manager who can help them to deal effectively with universities if they are unfamiliar with the academic environment or to understand the requirements of small companies if they have come from a large company background.
Characteristics of potential venture champions:
• Experienced serial entrepreneur with a track record of successful start ups and independent means, the results of those successful start ups. The ideal venture champion but the region’s healthcare sector is not blessed with a surfeit of these (otherwise the Germinator might not be necessary)
• Independent business consultants, probably “one man bands” with a portfolio of part time positions and short term contracts. Self employed due to circumstance rather than a real commitment to a consultancy career. May well have been involved in previous start ups but with less luck than those above.
• Senior managers from larger companies having taken early retirement or been made redundant. Some independence if they have a “package” and time to look around and try out a number of short term positions. This sort of person needs support to transition into the small company environment
The second significant problem of the Germinator company is location. It may still be located on campus, in a hospital or in someone’s own home. This might keep the costs down but raises two significant problems.
• When a company is virtual, based on a university campus or in somebody’s home it will struggle for credibility when dealing with larger companies and investors. It will have nowhere to meet potential customers and partners. Meeting in hotel foyers or motorway services just doesn’t give the right image. An address is important. An address like BioCity is recognized and can give a company added credibility and kudos.
• The new start company’s team will suffer from isolation, lack of networking opportunities and social/cultural workplace interaction. The significance of location can be overlooked but one BioCity tenant explained that their business took off when they re-located to BioCity “because of the business we did with other tenants and because of the boost it gave to our staff to be located in a pleasant and dynamic environment”.
The Germinator Solution is to give the Germinator companies all the benefits of virtual tenancy at BioCity. They have their name on the building and the web-site; they can have their mail delivered and phone answered at this address; they can have an access pass and can sign in guests and use the Bistro and other public areas; they get discounts on meeting rooms and conference facilities and in addition to virtual tenancy they also have access to the Germinator shared office where there are desks and locking filing cabinets. Furthermore the Germinator companies benefit from the close proximity of incubation and laboratory facilities including a readymade network of professional support providers through the BioCity Corporate Partners Program. For those based to the South of the region The Leicester Biobator or Loughborough Innovation Centre provide equivalent alternatives.
Partners are:
BioCity Nottingham
Medilink East Midlands
The University of Nottingham
Loughborough University
Nottingham Trent University
University Of Leicester
For more information contact the Germinator Manager:
Dr. Nick Gostick
BioCity Nottingham Ltd
Pennyfoot Street
Nottingham
Tel. 0115 912 4282
n.gostick@biocity.co.uk
