What it takes to build

From the outside, founding a company can look glamorous. From the inside, it’s sleepless nights, funding that’s never guaranteed (and never quite enough), regulatory timelines you can’t control, and the constant awareness that real patients are waiting on the other end of your decisions.

I’ve built biotech companies from an idea through late-stage development, and it’s never easy. What makes building a biotech company so worthwhile is that it’s not just a business venture — it’s a way to make a difference in people’s lives.

Here are a few things that I’ve learned about leadership over the years:

• Leadership means making difficult decisions that don’t always have a clear answer. When things are black and white, it’s easy to know what to do. But when things are grey, leaders need to make the best decisions that they can with the information available at the time.
• Things don’t always go as planned. Keeping your cool when everyone else is losing theirs differentiates the leaders from the rest of the group.
• Lead by example. Hold yourself accountable for whatever is expected of the rest of the team. No one appreciates a “do as I say, not as I do” approach.

Building is difficult, but important work. Often, leaders decide to create something because they recognize a need and want to make a difference. Creating positive change requires you to open your ideas and capabilities to the world. Stepping out of the woodwork necessitates courage. (It’s a lot easier to destroy things — to find fault with what others built, to criticize; this is what differentiates builders from destroyers.)