Insights
Strategic notes on biotech fundraising, venture design, and life sciences market entry.
Equity story and fundraising
How to fund a biotech startup in Europe: the guide
Grants, venture capital, and pharma deals: the three sources of capital for European biotech startups, how they interact, and how to sequence them correctly.
14 min readThe equity story is not a pitch. It is a thesis.
A pitch deck is the last 10% of the work. The 90% underneath it — exit scenario, milestone map, capital logic — is what most founders skip.
7 min readfundraisingThe ask is not a budget. It is a value proposition.
Every euro in the raise must trace to a specific probability shift. Capital buys de-risking, not activity.
7 min readMore in this cluster →
The investor-ready mindset: de-risking your venture before you pitch
6 min readcapitalBeyond burn rate: burn quality (BQ) for smarter capital allocation
6 min readinvestorsWhy VCs keep passing on your biotech startup (and it is not the science)
8 min readpitch deckThe biotech deck audit: why deals die on structure, not science
7 min readfinancing riskMind the middle
6 min readdeal structureBeyond market standard: how biotech term sheets diverge from the rest of venture
11 min readVenture building and de-risking
Is AI changing drug discovery? What the evidence says, beyond the hype
AI is producing tangible results in a narrow set of applications. The companies that succeed share identifiable structural characteristics, and the lessons for venture building are the opposite of what most founders assume.
12 min readvaluationHow to value a life sciences patent before you start a company
A patent in isolation is worth very little. What has value is the commercial potential of the product it protects.
15 min readtech transferYou have a patent. Now what?
Most patented inventions are never commercialised. The patent is the beginning of the journey. Here is what the rest of it looks like.
8 min readMore in this cluster →
From discovery to product: the road that works
6 min readinvestor readinessHow do I choose a fundraising advisor or consultant for my biotech startup?
7 min readinvestor readinessWho should you talk to about preparing your biotech startup for European investors?
6 min readriskThe uncertainty map: how to find the one risk holding your asset's value hostage
7 min readexecutionWhat kills biotech deals (and how to stop it)
6 min readtech transferHow much equity do universities take in biotech spinouts? Benchmarks from eight countries
12 min readIPWhat is freedom to operate in biotech and why investors ask about it first
12 min readde-riskingHow to translate preclinical data into investor language
12 min readLike what you're reading?
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Italy Gateway
CE-IVDR: what it means for your diagnostics market entry strategy
CE-IVDR changed European diagnostics market access in 2022. For US and Asian companies planning EU entry, it is a commercial planning variable, not just a compliance step.
6 min readmarket entryFor oncology diagnostics, Italy is the logical first market in Europe
CE-IVDR changed the rules. Italy's IRCCS network, ageing demographics, and single-payer structure make it the most direct route to European market leadership for cancer diagnostic companies.
12 min readmarket analysisSelling diagnostics as Research Use Only (RUO) in Europe: a go-to-market strategy that works, if you respect its boundaries
Research Use Only is a legitimate go-to-market lane for diagnostics waiting on CE-IVDR, but it has hard regulatory boundaries. The strategy and the limits.
12 min readmarket entryOpening a life sciences subsidiary in Italy: three mistakes that international companies keep making
Italy is not one healthcare market. It is twenty-one. Most international companies discover this too late.
10 min readPharma and exit strategy
The soft no dictionary: what VCs and pharma BD actually mean
A translation guide to the phrases VCs and pharma BD teams use instead of saying no, and which ones a better equity story could have prevented.
8 min readpharma strategyFive conditions a pharma company needs before it buys
Pharma BD teams are not VCs. They evaluate assets against a completely different set of criteria, and most biotech founders have never been told what those criteria are.
10 min readcommercialVCs aren't your buyer. Pharma is.
In European biotech, the most probable exit is not an IPO. It is a pharma acquisition or licensing deal. That fact should shape every slide in your deck.
9 min readBD&LWhen is the right time to out-license your biotech asset?
Out-licensing too early destroys value. Too late, and the window closes. The framework for knowing when your asset is ready for a pharma conversation.
7 min readexitLicense or launch: the game theory behind the choice
The decision is not about preference or ambition. It is about which path creates more value per euro of risk retired, and for whom.
6 min readbusiness developmentBiotech business development: how licensing deals actually get done
Most biotech licensing conversations fail before the term sheet. Not because the science is weak, but because founders do not understand how pharma BD actually works from the inside.
7 min readMore in this cluster →
Theory requires execution.
Reading the map is not driving the road.
If you need strategic support to implement these frameworks in your venture:
Worth reading. Worth keeping.
Strategic notes on biotech fundraising and venture design. When there is something worth saying. Unsubscribe anytime.