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ERRATUM!! WORLDWIDE B SCHOOL RANKINGS: Barcelona's IESE No 9; Oxford University's Said B School No 20; Cambridge University's Judge B School No 26; Barcelona's ESADE B School No 33. Previous posting confounded EC and World rankings. My apologies. View in LinkedIn

CAPITAL FOR BIOPHARMA SMEs may be better sourced from PARTNERS than from VCs in todays world, if you have developed your technology to beyond POC. Partners will not care where in the world you are located, how fancy your board is, whether your capital structure is correct, and will not dilute your stock (usually). You will also be talking to an expert group, who will understand your innovation (assuming you have done your homework in choosing the partner). Partnering is a painfully slow and frustrating process, just like the VC route. Be prepared for this. View in LinkedIn

A GIANT CANCER STUDY PROVES POWER OF NUMBERS, with 150,000 patients and an unprecedented international scientific consortium, resulting in the discovery of 80 new SNPs marking human cancers. The value of this work is related both to diagnosis and to a greater understanding of the genetic aberrations in cancer; inevitably, subtypes of each cancer will continue to emerge that have preferential responsiveness or resistance to drugs. This is a Milestone study of great importance. http://lnkd.in/ZwXunt View in LinkedIn

SUCCESSFUL ENTREPRENEURS NEED TO BE INCREDIBLY PERSUASIVE. Blunt fact. 'Getting To Yes' by a Harvard team is an old favorite of mine, and I have given away uncounted of copies of this book. If you are an entrepreneur you need to think about and study this topic, just as seriously as your business strategy: how to be a good communicator, and how to be a persuasive person. You will be spending your life pitching in one way or another. Do your homework and get smart. Above all, watch and learn from the TED speakers. http://lnkd.in/mWV6DD View in LinkedIn

INCREASING M&A IN SME BIOPHARMAS IS INEVITABLE in the face of scarce resources and a high failure rate. In many cases, the core technology of a struggling company has valuable uses, but in the struggle for capital, with an oversupply of young preclinical companies, the entire portfolio can easily be lost. A better strategy is to consider merging with a competitor so that the technology can retain value. View in LinkedIn

FIGURING OUT HOW TO WORK WITH TODAYS YOUNGER WORKFORCE is not a trivial challenge, and so far we have done a poor job of it, and the dialogue is modest. The pointy edge is the innovative online universities that are adapting to the next generation's needs with interactive and less didactic methods. Perhaps by default they are doing the hard work for the rest of us as they develop a dialogue that brings out the best in this young group. http://lnkd.in/Qvh52p View in LinkedIn

BIOPHARMA COMPANIES TYPICALLY TARGET BIG PHARMA AS PARTNERS, but this is not the only strategy worth considering. There are mid-sized, and even small, well-capitalized partners that should be evaluated, who are more likely to focus on your technology, and be more stable partners for the process. Getting attention of Big Pharma is very slow, and if your Champion cycles out, you may have to start all over. Make sure you give the less newsworthy partner careful consideration as you seek funding. View in LinkedIn

IN REAL ESTATE IT IS LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION. In startups it's FOCUS, FOCUS, FOCUS. Read this charming and brutally honest article by a serial entrepreneur. http://lnkd.in/nxvkEA View in LinkedIn

"MIND THE GAP" is the London underground logo to describe that dangerous gap that presents itself as you mount some trains, which doubtless has swallowed countless innocents. The same applies to funding of Spanish biopharma: add up the amount needed for clinical trials in coming years, and the amount available from the Usual Suspects, and the Gap is large. This means these companies have to seek capital outside of Spain to survive. In today's world, that is most likely through partnerships and alliances. View in LinkedIn

REPROGRAMMED STEM CELLS ARE BECOMING ROUTINE: in this study, patient skin samples are turned into beating heart cells in a dish to investigate a familial heart defect. This powerful technology will be invaluable to uncover disease causes. http://lnkd.in/DxQHZt View in LinkedIn