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Question - How much do you charge for your management or Board membership
services?
Answer - Our fees are dependent upon the magnitude of effort required for each specific
assignment, and will be set forth in a proposal before we begin our work. Payments for defined projects (such as
startups) typically involve an up-front retainer, a mid term progress payment, and a final payment upon completion of
specific deliverables from our work (e.g., a detailed business plan). For interim executive assignments,
we charge periodic fees (e.g., daily, weekly, or monthly). For Board seats, we charge per-meeting fees, sometimes
subject to a periodic minimum. For turnaround or workout assignments, fee structures can vary widely, and will be tailored
to fit the specific situation. In all cases, our travel and other reasonable out-of-pocket expenses are billed
and fully reimbursable separately from our professional fees.
Question - Our venture capital partnership has some underperforming bioscience companies in our portfolio,
and supporting all of them in the present economic environment is a real challenge. Can you help us?
Answer - We're hearing this a lot lately! We can help in several ways. For
those companies that you just don't want to bet on any longer, we can quickly parachute in, coordinate with your syndicate
investor partners, and help you move those companies out of your portfolio. That typically involves immediate cost
reductions, preparation of an offering memorandum, and the sale of the entity ASAP. For companies with no real assets
of any value to sell, we can manage rapid, efficient, and orderly shut-downs and liquidations for you. On the other
hand, for those portfolio companies that you are convinced have a great future in the long run, we can help you buy more survival
time for them by substituting on-demand, part time professionals for your present full time management team, thus facilitating
a far more virtual organization. Cash burn savings can be substantial.
Question - Will you consider
taking your fees entirely in the company's equity, rather than in cash?
Answer -
We provide a professional service, somewhat akin to a
law firm or an accounting firm. Like those firms, our expenses are comprised mostly of personnel salaries, which must
be paid in real time in cash. Thus, while in certain cases we may be interested in reducing
our service fees somewhat in exchange for some equity participation, we are unfortunately unable to provide our management
services for straight equity.
Question - I can understand using part time executives below the CEO level, but you mention that
you can provide a part time CEO. Isn't that almost an oxymoron? Will prospective investors, partners, licensors,
and employees really take you and your CEO role seriously?
Answer - Good question! While we can provide a full time CEO if that's what you want (and
what you may actually need in a critical situation . . . as in a turnaround), you may be able to obtain the same results
from a far less costly part time person. Why? Well, a "development stage" bioscience CEO performs
tasks and oversees events which typically occur in spurts, with considerable
down time in between. Day-to-day tasks are typically managed by a full time chief technology officer.
In today's tight economic environment, company owners and investors are scratching in every nook and cranny in search
of maximum capital efficiency. Our model . . . long overdue we think . . . provides a way for founders
and owners to engage (and pay for) top CEO talent when . . . and only when . . . actually needed.
Question - Do you have any geographic restrictions?
Answer - We will consider assignments anywhere in the world, but our strength and most
of our experience is in North America and in the UK.
Question - Our company has a very good management team already, but our team has insufficient
staff support. Can you help us with this?
Answer - Yes, absolutely! In such a case, we would be working closely with your designated
executive(s) in whatever role your parties deem appropriate. We could simply provide consulting support,
we could perform hands-on duties such as Gantt chart or budget spreadsheet preparations, vendor management, corporate
collaborator solitation/negotiation, or we could provide closer oversight and some shared responsibility as, say, a Board
member or an Executive Chairperson of your Board. Your CEO could also bring us in on short notice to manage
one or more vertical functions within the company at a time, relieving him/her for more urgent tasks.
Question - Will you just raise money for us . . . preferably for a contingent success fee?
Answer - Our most common assignments involve helping client companies raise capital.
We can help you prepare a very professional business plan, including all appropriate investor due diligence
materials (e.g., a detailed R&D plan, a budget, a project Gantt chart, IP summary, subcontracting vendor proposals, etc.).
We can introduce you to prospective venture investors and/or corporate partners, and we can even help you with the deal negotiations.
However, please note that we
are a professional management services provider, and NOT an investment bank or a broker dealer. We have no such qualifications
or licenses. We would be helping you only in our role as members of management, or as consultants to your
management team, and NOT as a broker, investment banker, or any other form of securities or investment professional.
As for fees, venture and corporate investors will generally not allow their
newly invested funds to be used for paying finder's fees or any other such contingency fees. Moreover, they often demand
that accrued obligations for such work be waived or converted to equity as a condition to their investments. We therefore
cannot rely on such eventual payments, and thus are forced to require that our professional services are paid as incurred.
Question - You say you want to be paid when services are rendered, but my startup has no money
yet. How can I pay you, then?
Answer - This certainly sounds like a classic "chicken and egg" problem, doesn't it? Without
a solid business plan or an experienced management team, you find it very difficult to raise significant money,
yet we would need to be paid to help you put together your plan and to help attract funding to your company!
We understand. Still, we unfortunately cannot work for free, or for straight equity, as explained above. The good
news is that worthy technologies are usually able to attract sufficient sums of "angel" money to get them going
as startups, to cover their patent prosecution costs, and to retain us to handle the emerging firm's business and equity fundraising
matters. Typical angel sources are friends and family, university and local governmental seed funds, and acquaintances
introduced through your university licensing office and governing board members. Please feel free to call us if you'd
like to explore this further. There is no charge for an initial discussion!
Question - We have a fairly mature publicly held biotech (or medtech, or IVD) company that is
in severe financial distress. Can you help us avoid bankruptcy?
Answer - Our founder has done this before. We have a great deal of experience managing
financially distressed bioscience companies, both public and private. Working with your attorneys, we can rapidly
examine possible alternatives to bankruptcy. These may exist, but you'll need to act quickly. Please
feel free to call us at any hour on any day, but don't delay. In these situations time is incredibly precious!
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