BIO International Convention was a huge opportunity and learning experience. My key takeaways from attending for the first time last week:
🍻 Satellite events are where the real value is. We spent time on the exhibition floor and at satellite events, and hands down, made more meaningful connections at satellite events. This was because most people on the conference floor were salespeople, and we were more focused on having conversations about the science and business problems. At events run by Bullpen and several other organizations we were able to meet with decision makers, founders, and investors that gave great insights we'll be taking home with us, and will ideally lead to partnerships and deals in the coming weeks.
💰 Commercialization is king. The founders and CXOs we met all had amazing scientific and technological innovations at the core of their companies, but the problems everyone was looking to solve were around money and market. How do you fund the science? How do you get it in the hands and bodies of users? How can we make the business growth align with the mission? When you're learning to be a scientist most of the emphasis is on the hard scientific problems, but once you step into the business of science, it's all about engineering human systems.
🤝 The best way to form relationships is in person. Ontologic was founded post-pandemic, and as a software company, most of our work can be done remotely. But when you're limited to a 1h virtual panel or a 30m zoom meeting you don't make the same personal connection that you do in person. I was so happy to run into friends coincidentally on the conference floor and have conversations I likely wouldn't have purposely sought out with people I just happened to meet at satellite events. It strengthens relationships in a very human way that isn't captured in a virtual setting, and I plan to make time for in-person social events as much as possible moving forward.
Would love to hear others' takeaways!
Our leadership team had such an amazing time at #BIO2024! We can't wait to share updates about the exciting #networking connections and #partnerships we made in San Diego last week - and are excited to do it all again Wednesday and Thursday at #FOGBoston 🤩 See you there!