Book Review: Founders at Work

Founders at Work provides a rare glimpse into the early thinking that spawned many of today’s most prominent start-ups. Going beyond the glam articles found in many other sources, Founders profiles founders who have achieved sufficient success that little time needs to be spend justifying their inclusion. Rather, the focus is on how they conceived of their ideas and how they were able to implement them.

Author Jessica Livingston is a founder at Y-combinator, which helps explain how she was able to obtain access to so many accomplished founders. An interesting feature of this book is that she spends little time trying to identify themes or best practices between the individual profiles. As a reader I enjoyed this exclusion, as it enabled me (and forced me) to draw my own conclusions.

The depth of the investigation is what truly sets this books apart. For example, in profiling Steve Wozniak’s role in founding Apple, the reader learns that young Wozniak was a relentless optimizer, continuously striving to find ways to eliminate costly chips and circuits from early computers. His contributions were driven by a desire to own a then-unaffordable computer, and eventually gave rise to the personal computer industry. In another example, one learns that the founders of PayPal started with the goal of developing high speed encryption-decryption technology, not on developing an e-commerce platform as might be fairly (but incorrectly) assumed. It was only after refining the technology that the founders began to seek out applications and found themselves in the payment business.

This focus on developing core technologies, and only then searching for market opportunities, is a central theme in the book and seems well suited to biotechnology companies. The strong technology-development component of biotechnology business necessitates a business model that accommodates a technology push while still enabling market demands to help refine development paths and enable profitable sales.

I really enjoyed this book, and would encourage it for anyone seeking to ‘take a step back’ and look at the underpinnings of successful companies — many of the founders acknowledged that strategic positioning, excellent execution, and a measure of good fortune were key to their success.

Building the Case for Biotechnology: Management Case Studies in Science, Laws, Regulations, Politics, and Business

Now available, a new textbook from Logos Press:

Building the Case for Biotechnology: Management Case Studies in Science, Laws, Regulations, Politics, and Business

Available from Amazon.com and bookstores everywhere.

Mark J. Ahn, Michael A. Alvarez, Arlen D. Meyers, Anne S. York, editors
Foreword by G. Steven Burrill
First Edition, July 2010
Perfect Bound, 416 pages, US$79.95
ISBN: 978-1-934899-15-1

This volume helps to fill the void in life science entrepreneurship and management case books and provides faculty and students with not only the charts, but the simulated experience of sailing the turbulent and exciting oceans of the biomedical industry toward creating significant value for patients and society.

Building the Case for Biotechnology features:

• Foreword by G. Steven Burrill
• Introductory chapter on how to teach bioscience using the case method
• 22 case studies in science; laws, regulations, politics; and business
• Ample figures, graphs, and tables to complement the text
• Resources for further reading

Contents

Foreword
G. Steven Burrill
Burrill & Company

Preface
Mark J. Ahn, Michael A. Alvarez, Arlen D. Meyers, Anne S. York
Introduction
Yali Friedman
thinkBiotech LLC

How to Teach Bioscience Using the Case Discussion Method
Trent Wachner and Anne S. York
College of Business, Creighton University

Part I: Science

Medarex, Inc.: Realizing its Potential?
Mark J. Ahn, Alan Leong, Wei Wu1, and Masum Rahman
Atkinson Graduate School of Management, Willamette University; University of Washington, Bothell

FoxHollow Technologies: The SilverHawk® Cuts Open a New Market
Erik Miller, Dina Finan, and Michael Alvarez
Stanford University

OraPharma, Inc: Reformulation of an Existing Product
Payam Benyamini and Mark J. Ahn
University of California, Los Angeles; Atkinson Graduate School of Management, Willamette University

DesignMedix, Inc.: Maintain Product Focus or Leverage Technology Platform?
Elizabeth R. Bivins-Smith , Bettina M. Frana , and W. Kellogg Thorsel
School of Business Administration, Portland State University

Oxigene, Inc.: Realizing Value from Multiple Technology Platforms
Mark J. Ahn, Anne S. York, David Ackerley and Rebecca Bednarek
Atkinson Graduate School of Management, Willamette University; College of Business, Creighton University; and Victoria University of Wellington

Part II: Laws, Regulations, Politics

Tysabri Re-launch Decision: Promise and Perils of Addressing Unmet Needs
Mark J. Ahn & Laura Ueki
Atkinson Graduate School of Management, Willamette University

XDx: Navigating Regulatory & Reimbursement Challenges
Laura Elias and Michael Alvarez
Stanford University

Dyadic International, Inc.: From Doom to Dawn—What’s Next?
Polly S. Rizova, Adelaida Patrasc Lungu, and Mark J. Ahn
Atkinson Graduate School of Management, Willamette University

The Prince Edward Island Bioscience Cluster: Creating a Knowledge-Based Economy
Steven Casper, Juergen Krause, and Adelee MacNevin
Keck Graduate Institute and University of Prince Edward Island

The Founding and Growth of On-Q-ity: Developing Advances in Personalized Medicine
Daniel Dornbusch and Mark J. Ahn
Novartis International AG; Atkinson Graduate School of Management, Willamette University

Airway Tools Company Inc.: Changing Medical Device Standards of Care
Andrew Maxwell, Bahram Behnam, Michael Alvarez
University of Toronto; Stanford University

Part III: Business

Genentech Acquisition by Roche: Will Innovation Wither?
Mark J. Ahn, Anne S. York, David Ackerley and David Lee
Atkinson Graduate School of Management, Willamette University; College of Business, Creighton University; and School of Biological Sciences, Victoria University of Wellington

Myogen, Inc.: Are We There Yet?
Mark J. Ahn and Travis Cook
Atkinson Graduate School of Management, Willamette University

Compression Dynamics: In Search of Sales
Anne S. York and Martin Winkler
College of Business, Creighton University and University of Nebraska Medical Center, Creighton University Medical Center

iKaryos Diagnostics: The Rocky Road from Concept to Startup
Anne S. York
College of Business, Creighton University

Biocon: From Local to Global
Ashish Hajela, Shad Shahid, & Mohammad Akbar
Indian Institute of Management, Lucknow, India

Adnexus: Strategic and Resource Considerations When Developing Novel Biotechnology Medicines
Susan Sieloff, Tucker Marion, John Friar, and Raymond Kinnunen
College of Business Administration, Northeastern University

Gardasil: From University Discovery to Global Blockbuster Drug
Alan Collier, Mark J. Ahn and Brendan Gray
University of Otago; Atkinson Graduate School of Management, Willamette University

Guru Instruments: Bootstrapping a Bioscience Device Startup
Anne S. York
College of Business, Creighton University

Growing Pains at Camelot Biopharmaceuticals
Lynn Johnson Langer
Johns Hopkins University

Sandhill Scientific: Where to Manufacture?
Staci D. Sanford and Arlen Meyers
University of Colorado Denver

Lumina Life Sciences: The Challenges of Raising Capital to take to Market a Promising Technology Innovation
Magda Choruzy, Andrew Maxwell, Michael Alvarez
University of Toronto; Stanford University

Resources

Get to Market Now! Turn FDA Compliance into a Competitive Edge in the Era of Personalized Medicine

Now available: a book by frequent BiotechBlog contributor, John Avellanet. In this new book — Get to Market Now! Turn FDA Compliance into a Competitive Edge in the Era of Personalized Medicine — John teaches you how to take advantage of evolving FDA compliance requirements and cutting-edge new product development techniques to bring your new medicine to market faster, easier, for less cost and less risk.

Full details on the book are available on Logos Press’ website, and the book is available for order at Amazon. You can read more about John at his homepage and blog.