Medschool good training for biopharma startup/VC?

[ys1228]

I'm interested in biotech (therapeutics) startups and venture capital. Is medical school good training for biopharma entrepreneurship and investing?

I'm about to forego a PhD, partially for this purpose.

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[Sol Rosenberg]

This must be a troll.

No.

 

[januarylily]

i currently work at a small biotech firm (founded in '02) and the answer to your question, is med school good TRAINING for biotech startup/VC, is no.

there are loads of routes you can take but the key to getting into VC would be connections. i have heard my CEO and my boss (VP of corporate/commercial development) talk about this career path many times and it's really about who you know in VC. this component will be critical no matter where you're coming from.

that said, if you had asked, is pursuing an MD degree USEFUL for pursuing a career in biotech/VC, then i would say yes. i'm not sure if it's better or easier than pursuing a PhD (definitely not easier, from the number of PhD people i've talked to in my company), but it's certainly a good path. our VP of product development came straight out of med school (UTSW) as one of the first employees (#3 i think). but then again, our VP of research was a founder and he's a PhD.

i also think it depends on what you want to do in a biotech firm. if you want to be involved in the financial aspect, then i would say an MD or PhD is not as useful. you need to have that business experience in addition to your scientific knowledge. this said, if you majored in a science during college, i would say this could potentially fulfill your science-knowledgebase requirement and i would suggest simply pursuing an investment-banking or consulting route and go to a top business school where you could acutally connect with VC/biotech people.

my boss (who graduated wharton) said that only 2/3 people actually get into VC from any of the top business schools (say, 2 or 3 of the 400 people at wharton who want to go into VC) so it's clearly very competitive. perhaps getting an MD and going directly into business and then getting an MBA on the side where you can make those VC connections would help you stand apart. or, you could try to join any of the large pharma companies and simply work your way up for a bit and then try to join a start up. many of our directors and VPs are from large pharma.

if you have any questions about what it's like in a startup, feel free to PM me.

 

[polishtexan]

I would figure out what you want to do in the long run. Or "longer" run (20-30 yrs or so...).

If you want to be directly involved in the business side of things/management/financings/etc., then med school is not the quickest path.

From conversations with Associates and VP's at my former investment banking health care group, you can achieve the same level of success in a shorter amount of time within the health care business world without going through med school.

The MD degree all said was a round-about way of getting to where they wanted to get to and that the majority of their co-workers/bosses got to their positions and pay without med school. Also, possessing relevant work experience was more attractive to recruiters than an MD. Note, this was for the i-banking/PE landscape as of late '07.

However, top consulting firms look very positively on advanced degrees (according to close friends currently recruiting).

Just passing along what I learned along the way.

 

[DrYoda]

PhD, Masters, MBA are probably all more useful for the purpose of biotech venture capital than an MD would be. a PhD or masters in the sciences you can tailor more to your particular interests. An MD you have a set curriculum much of which will probably not be relavent to your aspirations. I also agree with the above poster that relevent work experience is looked on more favorably than having an MD.


You might be interested in something along the lines of these programs.
http://step.case.edu/programs/eb/eb_index.shtml

 

[Pghboy18]

Having worked in healthcare VC, I'd say that it probably doesn't hurt, but it's not going to get you hired at a PE shop or funded as an entrepreneur in and of itself.

You need to have a viable, defendable (with IP protection) concept, really know a market, surround yourself with good people, and have connections to get any V.C. attention as an entrepreneur. You don't get any of these things in med school alone.

The successful M.D. entrepreneurs that I ran across had all been in practice or big pharma for years and had by and large risen to the top of their fields. Their names had some cache in the medical world and they were heavily involved in basic or clinical research. They were not people who went to medical school with the idea of starting a company.

As for working in V.C., scan the websites of some big healthcare V.C. firms (Polaris Ventures, Domain Associates, NEA...etc on the East Coast) and look at the section describing their partners. There are M.D.s here and there, but the majority are Ph.D.s or people with straight business backgrounds.

 

[Law2Doc]

I'm interested in biotech (therapeutics) startups and venture capital. Is medical school good training for biopharma entrepreneurship and investing?

I'm about to forego a PhD, partially for this purpose.

Having represented biotech startups, the answer, as most have said, is no. Having an MD might give you some more credibility in terms of marketing, but it provides you NONE of the useful information you need to start-up or run a business. An MBA can be helpful. in terms of writing up business plans, crunching numbers, and knowing the lingo. A law degree would be extremely helpful in terms of complying in offering requirements, and not getting taken totally advantage of by the "angels" who may help finance you. Having worked in finance, accounting, or another business field can also be helpful, as well as give you some potential investor connections.

But MD? Not so much. You learn NOTHING about business in medicine. You don't come out of med school knowing how to run a medical practice, let alone a different kind of venture. You don't really come out knowing how to practice medicine (you learn most of that in residency). So if this is really your goal, don't waste your time with med school. I probably wouldn't waste my time with any advanced degree if you already have an idea -- just get some business experience, learn how to write up a business plan, hire good lawyers and accountants to help you cross all the t's and dot the i's, and run with it. This isn't something you need to learn in a school, and for sure not in a school not well targeted towards this goal. This is something you accomplish by having a good idea, surrounding yourself with good people, and timing it right. People are going to invest in the idea, not the degrees. If it's a good idea, there will be no problem finding a physician to give a nice sound byte for your marketing materials for a few shares of equity.

 

[nontrdgsbuiucmd]

I'm interested in biotech (therapeutics) startups and venture capital. Is medical school good training for biopharma entrepreneurship and investing?

I'm about to forego a PhD, partially for this purpose.

Couple suggestions as to the "ideal route" to move into these areas.

First, get into the market. Maybe try to obtain a position at Merck, Pfizer, or one of the big guys to gain some experience in this field, in any role.

Second, move to the area where the startup firms are -- I'd think NJ (research triangle?) or Silicon Valley area would be key -- this would be to start meeting the real players in the industry. Possibly between #1 and #2, save a bunch of money for future living expenses, if possible have your employer pay for that MBA, part-time while you're working at the big Pharma company. A bunch of MBA programs have part-time options where you'd fly in for Saturday classes, or fri/sat classes once a month.

The reason for saving a bunch of money, and I say this as a person who has started a firm and whose best friend has started companies for many years, is that often a new company has very limited funds -- you may be able to gain great experience at a startup in exchange for stock, rather than any salary, for a year or two. If you're a decent fit with the startup due to a pharma background and MBA, and are willing to work for stock, and know people who want to start a company and have the skills (or some funding) that you lack, you'd be in a great position to enter this world.

 

[Upgrayedd]

1) Locations for biotech: San Francisco, San Diego, and the Boston Triangle

2) Pharma companies arn't hiring right now (or anytime in the foreseeable future, yes, it is THAT bad)

3) Saying you want to go into VC at any level beyond anylst is like saying you want to be a rock star, a astronaught, or a fire hydrant. It just isn't going to happen.

4) Are you REALLY sure you want to work in a start-up?

edit: unlike the i-banking/consulting world, analyst in VC is not a position with upward mobility. They hire people into two different classes of workers, execs and grunts. Good luck with the former. There is very little turnover in the upper echelons as well, since it is a pretty cozy job, albiet with long hours when they are raising a fund or their portolio is underperforming.

 

[WRL]

This thread is old, but I figure I'd have a hack at it..
I worked at a medical startup which had a physician as founder and CEO. I'm curious how a PhD graduate would be able to generate potentially successful idea to start a pharma/medical tech company without the exposure to the medical field that a doctor would have. I figure there has to be a doctor at some point in the process to determine the exact clinical need being addressed.