Since the BioEscalator opened in 2018, twelve companies have moved to grow-on space and continued to flourish. At the BioEscalator, we know how vital business support and peer mentoring is for early-stage companies and it has been a privilege to witness the growing body of knowledge amassed by our tenant community during their time at the BioEscalator and beyond. We were therefore delighted to invite alum companies to participate in our first alumni event and panel discussion, ‘Scaling up your biotech business’. The panel, adeptly chaired by Professor Thomas Hellmann, World Professor of Entrepreneurship and Innovation at the University of Oxford’s Saïd Business School, included Chris Paluch, Senior Director at MiroBio, David Watson, COO at Enara Bio and Magdalena Jonikas, NED at OMass Therapeutics and Lead Partner at Syncona.
The discussion covered a broad range of topics relating to growing a business and it was interesting to hear the panellists speak about the benefits of having a broad skill set and ability to work in an agile way combined with the importance of creating a team with the right mix of knowledge and experience in different areas critical to the business. Different approaches to exits were also discussed, as well as the positive and negative impact this phase of growth can have on the founders and management teams, particularly on the company culture they work hard to build.
The panel discussion was followed by networking drinks enabling current and former tenants to delve more deeply into areas of common interest. We are immensely grateful to our alum companies for their continued willingness to be part of our ever-growing BioEscalator community and the invaluable contributions they make.