Biography
I can describe myself as a highly accomplished entrepreneur. I have gained a great deal of experience in business startup, growth, as well as, exit. So far, I have been a Chief Executive Officer in three companies and my role in contributing to their success cannot go unrecognized. I started my career by establishing my biotechnology company, Volentix Pharmaceuticals. Starting this company was stimulating, exciting, and frightening at the same time. Nonetheless, this company did not operate for a long time due to some difficulties and hardships, but I did not lose hope. I learned a lot from this bad experience. After closing Volentix Pharmaceuticals Company, I became a CEO in one of the top companies, Theramyt Novobiologics. I left it after making it successful, and I am currently in my third company, Invictus Oncology Pvt. Ltd. I had a dream since my childhood days, and I worked industriously to make it come true. I had always desired to become one of the leading biotechnology entrepreneurs. I had a few role models who were a great inspiration to me. I endeavored to tackle all the difficulties in my life to attain my goals. I have always worked out my problems and devoted my life to work, and this explains why I am one of the prosperous entrepreneurs in the biotechnology industry.
Without a doubt, I am a true serial entrepreneur. Hyytinen & Ilmakunnas (2007) found out that a serial entrepreneur is characterized by his/her aspirations as well as his/her capability to go forward and live by them. In fact, I possess these qualities. Besides, I am a serial entrepreneur because I fear to regret more than to fail. As a matter of fact, I have never been frightened of failing in my entire life. I did not lose hope after the failure of Volentix Pharmaceuticals Company. I have worked very hard to overcome various challenges in my life and eventually emerged as a winner. Nonetheless, I am scared of regret. I can describe myself as an individual who is not afraid of taking risks. In fact, being a risk taker has helped me a great deal become a strong serial entrepreneur. I am also a serial entrepreneur because I started my biotechnology company at a young age. The challenge of creating wealth has been motivating me since my childhood days. I did not wait to accumulate a lot of money to start this company. What is more, I am a serial entrepreneur since I have steered one company after another. In all the three companies I have been the CEO, I have had an insatiable curiosity. I have had an inherent drive to look for new information, ask questions, and connect ideas. In essence, this has helped me move the three companies to great heights.
Volentix Pharmaceuticals Company
Different things motivated me to venture into the biotechnology industry as a young individual. I started this company to produce revolutionary products, which would positively impact the lives of millions of individuals on earth. As a matter of fact, this motive kept me strong when this company was going through various challenges and hardships. Besides, my desire to take part in solving some of the world’s leading problems inspired me to start this company. I established Volentix Pharmaceuticals to play a part in creating a better, more efficient planet. My yearning for making a positive difference in the lives of people also drove me to start this company. In fact, I wanted to play a part in the industry that develops products that enhance the health and life of millions of people. I also established Volentix Pharmaceuticals because I had a robust vision as well as passion. The various difficulties and hardships inherent in the biotechnology industry did not deter me from establishing this company. I had a strong vision and passion, and nothing could stop me from trying my luck in the risky biotechnology industry. The lucrative nature of this industry also motivated me to establish Volentix Pharmaceuticals. I decided to venture into this highly rewarding, attractive industry after seeing numerous companies thrive. I was aware of the risks that the companies operating in this industry suffer and was very prepared to take them.
As the company’s CEO, I did not have a lot of experience as I possess at the moment. I succeeded in some areas but failed terribly in others, but this did not discourage me from striving to attain my goals. Specifically, I succeeded in overcoming significant hurdles. I was not afraid of failure. In the first place, I succeeded in venturing in an industry that is highly risky. My knowledge of the existence of numerous risks in the biotechnology industry did not discourage me from venturing into it. I clearly understood that things do not always go according to how one had planned when I was starting this company. I welcomed challenges and worked diligently to solve all the problems, which confronted me. I also succeeded in continuously developing new business ideas and enhancing the prevailing processes.
It is important to mention that I learned from the mistakes I made when I was running this company, and this has helped me to reach where I am at the moment. One of the things, which I learned while leading Volentix Pharmaceuticals is that among the nitty-gritties of succeeding in the biotechnology industry is having the right management team. It is disheartening to note that this company failed because I did not have an experienced, robust, and stable management team. The mistake of not having this type of management team significantly contributed to the failure of this company. I learned that having the right management team facilitates the effective running of any company, be it operating in the healthcare industry, finance industry, or biotechnology industry. In point of fact, the visions, values, and culture of any company greatly depend on the kind of management team.
I also learned that apart from possessing leadership skills, the members of the right management team ought to be entrepreneurial, energized, and committed so as to help drive a biotechnology company forward as well as exploit the numerous opportunities present in the highly lucrative biotechnology industry. Next time, I will make sure that I have the right management team in my start-up. Apart from being entrepreneurial, energized, and committed, I will ensure that my team members are also well-connected, are aware of both negative and positive business situations, and are open to new suggestions and ideas.
I also learned that it is essential to have a regulatory strategy early on after venturing into the biotechnology industry. I made a mistake by failing to choose an advisor who was well-informed in the current regulatory requirements. The failure to fully understand some simple regulations significantly contributed to the failure of this company. Next time, I will have a regulatory strategy in place to avoid being on the wrong side of the law. The experience in Volentix Pharmaceuticals also taught me the need to be adaptable. I failed to adapt and instead put too many expectations on few products. In fact, next time, I will try different products and solutions and always be prepared to make changes. I also learned from the mistake of trying to do everything by myself. I contributed to the company’s failure by trying to do almost everything. I did not outsource most of the tasks. Next time, I will outsource the tasks in which I am not an expert.
The financial difficulties were the biggest challenges that I experienced while running Volentix Pharmaceuticals. We faced a lot of financial problems in developing our products. In fact, the development of these products left us with nothing to maintain our everyday operations. We were not able to meet our daily expenses since we had to secure exorbitant capital amounts to develop products. In fact, we regularly experienced cash shortages, and this led to an increase in company’s debts. These financial difficulties significantly contributed to my exit from this company. It had accumulated huge amounts of debts, and the only solution was to stop its operations. It is imperative to mention that this failure did not discourage me from working tirelessly to attain my goals. In fact, I did not lose hope. I joined a second company in which I worked as a CEO.
Theramyt Novobiologics Company
After leaving my first company, I started working at Theramyt Novobiologics Company as its CEO. Specifically, this company was incorporated in the year 2013 in Bangalore. The co-founders of this company are Sohang Chatterjee and Kavitha Iyer Rodrigues. Theramyt Novobiologics is essentially a biotech company that develops new biosimilars, NBEs, and biobetters that enhance the patient’s access to cost-effective therapies (BioSpectrum, 2014). The company addresses the unmet treatment needs in cardiovascular ailments, oncology, metabolic disorders, and rheumatoid arthritis (Theramyt Novobiologics, n.d.). One of the key challenges facing this company was the unclear regulatory environment. The regulatory interpretation was essentially inconsistent, and there were also unclear laws that present a serious business challenge to the company (BioSpectrum, 2014). The other challenge, which the company was facing is the challenge of insufficient capital for investing in research and development. In particular, biotechnology requires huge amounts of capital investment in research and development. The majority of the biotechnology companies, especially the start-ups such as this company continue facing this challenge even today. The longer incubation period is the other problem that this company was facing during the initial years.
I accepted the CEO position for this start-up due to some reasons. One of these reasons was because the company was destined for greater heights. It had a highly qualified team of engineers and scientists. In fact, the majority of them hold doctoral and post-doctoral degrees. My intention was to gain experience from working with them. I longed for working with a team that could challenge me and help me think outside the box. Indeed, I learned a lot by working with this company’s highly qualified team. I also accepted the CEO position for this company because they were compensating handsomely. After suffering financial losses from my company, I needed a company in which I could work and raise a significant amount of capital to try my luck by starting a new company. I also accepted the CEO position for this start-up because I wanted to play a part in developing superior products and enhancing the existing ones for the betterment of the lives of millions of individuals. The company’s goal of addressing the unmet treatment needs in cardiovascular ailments, oncology, metabolic disorders, and rheumatoid arthritis inspired me a great deal.
The experience I had gained from Volentix Pharmaceuticals Company helped me succeed in making Theramyt Novobiologics Company prosperous. As the company’s CEO, I continuously refined the company’s product vision and significantly helped the company move forward. I also steered the company in partnering with leading multinational corporations. It is imperative to note that this helped reduce the cost of taking biobetters to the market. Additionally, my leadership role when the company was going through difficulties cannot go unrecognized. I applied the experience I had gained from my first company to lead this company when it was facing serious financial difficulties. I also worked extremely hard in creating teamwork. I showed my fellow employees the need for working as a team to make the company successful. It is essential to note that the success of this company is essentially attributed to collaboration amongst the workers.
One of the major successes for Theramyt Novobiologics Company is satisfying the treatment needs in metabolic disorders, cardiovascular ailments, and rheumatoid arthritis. In point of fact, the company has succeeded in enhancing the health and life of a significant percentage of the individuals. The company has also succeeded in giving both the leading competitors and start-ups in the biotechnology industry a run for their money. In particular, Theramyt Novobiologics Company has succeeded in positioned itself in this lucrative and risky industry. Nonetheless, there were significant disappointments that we experienced in this company. The major disappointments were inefficient production schedule and having flawed sales. Despite these disappointments, the company performed exceptionally well. As the company’s CEO, I played a significant role in its success. In particular, I entered into different contracts and collaborated with the leading stakeholders to position the company for success. I left the company because I attained my goals. I had endeavored to make the company successful, and when it I achieved this goal, I saw the need to leave the leadership mantle to a fresh mind. Besides, I left the company because I needed a new challenge. I had started with a company that was experiencing numerous challenges and left it still flourishing.
Invictus Oncology Pvt. Ltd.
At the moment I am working at Invictus Oncology Pvt. Ltd. as also a CEO. The company was formed in the year 2012 by Dr. Raghunath Anant Mashelkar and Prof. Shiladitya Sengupta. The two entrepreneurs had a sheer passion as well as determination to fight cancer (BioSpectrum, 2014). The company is based in India and is well-known for discovering as well as developing cancer therapeutics for different tumors (Bloomberg n.d.). Just like the other start-ups, this company was facing some key challenges. One of these challenges was getting approval. According to Prof. Shiladitya, it took time for them to get the approvals (BioSpectrum, 2014). They were even discouraged by numerous key opinion leaders, but they were not discouraged. The owners also faced the challenge of raising the starting capital just the majority of the start-ups face.
There are some reasons why I accepted the CEO position at this startup. First of all, after succeeding at my second company, I wanted a new challenge. Thus, I did not waste the opportunity when it came knocking. The other reason why I accepted the CEO Positon in this company is that my aspiration to fight the cancer menace. The co-founders started this company to eradicate this disease. Consequently, I accepted the CEO position in Oncology Pvt. Ltd. to play my role in stamping out the cancer disease. I also accepted to be the CEO of this company to gain additional working experience in a foreign country. I have a plan to establish a state-of-the-art biotechnology company back in my country. For this reason, I am confident that this working experience will help me make my new start-up successful.
I have steered Invictus Oncology Pvt. Ltd. to greater heights since the time I became the chief executive officer. I have guided the company in building an eco-system in which we lower the obstacles to attaining success and raise the bar for innovation. I have also led the company in entering into different partnerships aimed at fighting cancer. The company has been successful in coming up with drugs for treating cancer. The other success for the company is the reduction in the number of deaths caused by cancer. Nevertheless, we have experienced significant disappoints such as political interference and insufficient capital for research and development investment in our efforts to fight cancer. It is imperative to note that these disappointments have only made us resilient. As the CEO of Invictus Oncology Pvt. Ltd., I have positioned it for success by signing contracts and partnering with different like-minded agencies and corporations. I plan to exit this company after one year to start mine. I believe that I will have attained all my objectives and goals by that time. I failed in my initial start-up because I did not have enough experience. Working in the two foreign companies has equipped me with the necessary skills and sufficient experience to start my biotechnology company and thrive.
Conclusion
In the past, the society did not consider biotechnology entrepreneurship as very important. The state and federal initiatives, as well as regulations, have continued to support the biotechnology companies. Nonetheless, this entrepreneurship has substantially contributed to the improvement in health and life of the members of the society and now it is considered vital. The biotechnology entrepreneurs face more challenges as well as opportunities compared to the other entrepreneurs. In essence, biotechnology entrepreneurship is highly rewarding and at the same time very risky. The biotechnology entrepreneurs are rewarded more than the other entrepreneurs when both exploit the entrepreneurial opportunities. Additionally, the risks inherent in biotechnology industry present additional challenges to the biotechnology entrepreneurs.
References
BioSpectrum (2014, March). 11 Hot Biotech Start-ups. Retrieved from www.biospectrumindia.com/digital_assets/216/Hot-Biotech-Startups---Lowres.pdf
Bloomberg. (n.d.). Invictus Oncology Pvt. Ltd.: Private Company Information - Businessweek. Retrieved from http://www.bloomberg.com/research/stocks/private/snapshot.asp?privcapId=240865853
Hyytinen, A., & Ilmakunnas, P. (2007). What distinguishes a serial entrepreneur? Industrial and corporate change, 16(5), 793-821.
Theramyt Novobiologics. (n.d.). About us. Retrieved from http://theramyt.com/about-theramyt/
