When starting a life science company, entrepreneurs have two unique challenges: bringing the science to life and building a business. These two aspects of starting a life science company require two different skill sets. Many companies have their hands full with developing a new product or service, and figuring out how to start a life science company can be overwhelming.
Since the Innovation Quarter was founded, the city of Winston-Salem has been carving out a distinct identity in the life science space. These days, the iQ is a bustling innovation district, home to groundbreaking work in regenerative medicine, clinical services, medical research, information technology, and so much more. The amount of cutting-edge developments and numbers of innovative scientists and researchers calling the iQ home is ever-growing.
These life science startups are often drawn to Winston-Salem–with its growing reputation as a location for innovative companies in the industry–due to the strong support system the iQ offers them–the resources, expertise, and collaborations that help their businesses succeed.
And yet, a couple of years ago, Isaac Perry, the head of biotech and life science ecosystem development for the iQ, noticed there was a missing piece to the iQ puzzle, the less scientific part of how to start a life science company: the business part. And then he realized that another Winston-Salem organization was holding the very piece the iQ needed to help life science startups succeed.
A Good Place to Start a Life Science Startup
A big part of Perry’s job is to make sure the iQ is on the radar of companies looking for a home. Once here, Perry also helps biotech and life science entrepreneurs get the tools they need to learn how to start a life science company, while also working with established businesses to ensure they have the resources they need to stay in the community as they continue to grow.
Proximity is a key part of the iQ’s approach to helping startups succeed. Since connections fuel startup ideas, growth and inspiration, the fact that entrepreneurs in the iQ organically cross paths with each other constantly means they always have access to those helpful relationships. The iQ was intentionally designed to make those not-at-all-chance meetings possible, promoting collaboration that produces stronger results. One way that the iQ fuels collaboration and startup success is by providing affordable, scalable lab space through Sparq Labs and other research amenities.
And yet, despite this established research ecosystem within the iQ, Perry saw there was another opportunity to support life science startups located there.
The goal for startups is to commercialize discoveries, products, and services, but many times the innovator does not have a background in foundational business administration and must learn on the fly, while also undertaking complicated scientific research.
“And quite frankly, they shouldn’t be business experts, because they’re brilliant at their respective fields,” Perry says. “They can’t be expected to know how to do everything. Few people in the population are that gifted. We realized we could provide somewhat of a safety net to this community of scientific entrepreneurs.”
Creating that safety net wasn’t something the iQ could do alone. It was going to take a partner.
A Safety Net For Life Science Startups
The key to helping life science innovators develop a business-minded skillset didn’t involve building a wholly new resource—it was collaboration. Another local organization already had infrastructure that the iQ needed to expand the safety net Perry envisioned.
Winston Starts, a non-profit startup accelerator program located in the 500 W 5th building, has been helping entrepreneurs scale their businesses for the past eight years through meet-you-where-you-are programming and mentorship. Led by Stan Parker, president of Winston Starts, the program accepts companies from a variety of industries and from idea stage to product validation stage.
”We help entrepreneurs validate their ideas, achieve product/market fit, and scale up their businesses,” Parker says. “We make sure people understand the stages in the new business development lifecycle, and what they need to do at each step in their journey.”
Winston Starts’ resources have always been available to scientists interested in learning how to start and scale their company, but not many of those scientists were taking advantage of the resource. It wasn’t for lack of interest, but rather aspiring entrepreneurs or early-stage businesses in the iQ didn’t tend to have Winston Starts on their radar.
When Perry became aware of Winston Starts and the way it helped entrepreneurs in a variety of industries, he started introducing the startups from the iQ ecosystem to the program.
“As I met aspiring entrepreneurs or early-stage businesses that were based in the iQ, I would always ask if they had ever been to Winston Starts, and the answer was almost unanimously, ‘No,’” Perry says. “So I started introducing them to Stan at Winston Starts to learn more. Inevitably, the entrepreneurs would have a great experience and tell me, ‘I can’t believe we have this resource right here!’”
The idea for a formalized partnership between the iQ and Winston Starts quickly became a no-brainer for both Perry and Parker. By tapping into this entrepreneurial resource right in the iQ’s backyard, the iQ’s researchers and scientists could start expanding their knowledge early on to also include the crucial business know-how they’d need to bring their ideas to market.
Through this new partnership, life science startups get access to state-of-the-art office space, mentorship, personalized coaching, educational programming and networking events at Winston Starts, and they don’t have to pay for it–the iQ covers the required fee as part of the cooperative arrangement. This underscores the commitment the iQ has to its community members’ success, and takes one element off of entrepreneurs’ plates as they navigate how to start or grow a life science company.
“We were definitely siloed, and now it’s a much more intentional effort to build a bridge so that people realize what’s available to them,” Parker says. “We are now able to make resources available to entrepreneurs every step of the way.”
Winston Starts’ Entrepreneurial Chops—Through A Life Science Startup Lens
For nearly a decade, Winston Starts has helped dozens of entrepreneurs successfully scale their businesses, through coaching, mentorship, access to speakers, and connection to investors and the broader Winston-Salem entrepreneurial ecosystem.
To date, Winston Starts has supported 98 companies, and 35 of those companies are currently in residence. Collectively, companies in the program have raised $134.7 million in total capital, underscoring the non-profit’s ability to help startups get access to capital they need to grow.
Parker has relished the opportunity to broaden Winston Starts’ offerings through the new iQ partnership, allowing Winston Starts to lean more heavily into the life science industry. The partnership is much more than just a bridge between the two entities. They’ve also created programming and offerings specifically geared toward how to start a life science company.
Though Winston Starts has helped other life science startups in the past, the bulk of their entrepreneurial support has gone to non-science based businesses through the years. While a lot of the components to starting a business are the same regardless of industry, there’s nuance involved in getting a life science startup off the ground.
“When you’re dealing with companies in the science space who have to go through regulatory approval, the timeline for getting a company to market can be much longer,” Parks says. “What we can do during this regulatory approval time is begin to introduce them to the business aspect and provide education from that perspective.”
By putting this business lens in place in the early stages of a life science startup, the entrepreneur is at a major advantage.
Getting Ahead in the Life Science Startup Game
With the business help of the Winston Starts program, participants can get a jump on gaining skills, gathering information, and making critical decisions that will help the business succeed. Some of the crucial questions they will be asked are:
- Do I want to be the CEO of my company, or would I rather assume the role of Chief Scientific Officer? And if I don’t want to be the CEO, how can I start the process of finding a like-minded business partner to fill that position?
- Will I need to raise funding in addition to grants? If I do, where might some of that investment come from, and can I start developing relationships now with potential investors?
- Who are my customers?
- How can I start thinking about building a team?
- How can I communicate my product or service to non-science or non-medical audiences?
“Winston Starts can really help them think through those things, because for most of them, these are different lanes they’re playing in now than they’ve ever played in before,” Parker says.
Life Science Startups Living the Partnership
There are already a handful of life science startups taking advantage of this partnership and seeing wins for their early-stage companies as a result.
One example of those companies is PepGel, a 3D cell culture company that is the next iteration of growing and manufacturing cells, which ultimately can be used to grow and manufacture organs. PepGel is part of the NSF Regenerative Medicine Engine in North Carolina and actually moved to Winston-Salem from Kansas to take advantage of the life science resources Winston-Salem offers.
Thanks to their involvement with the iQ/Winston Starts partnership, the PepGel team has been able to develop some strong distribution channels and key partners alongside their ongoing research and regulatory work.
“PepGel has greatly benefited from the region’s vibrant networking environment for small business development—an essential factor for startups like us,” says Dr. Xiuzhi Susan Sun, a professor at Wake Forest Institute of Regenerative Medicine and the founder and chief technology officer of PepGel.
“As a founder with an academic background, I have received tremendous support and guidance from both organizations, particularly in successfully recruiting a CEO for PepGel,” Sun says.
A Smaller City That Really Knows How to Startup a Life Science Company
Though it’s been working hard for years to earn its stripes as a life science destination, Winston-Salem is still somewhat of an underdog, simply given the city’s size. But that’s something that can actually work in its favor and be a leg up for the entrepreneurs who make the city their home base.
“We hear ourselves being compared to Raleigh and Charlotte frequently, but I think Winston brings a different sort of value to the table,” Perry says. “I think we’ve got a lot of fight in us as a community, and we all really do care about the future of the city, otherwise we wouldn’t be fighting so hard for it.”
That “together, we’ve got this” attitude helps fuel the partnership, and it helps to generate a bright future not only for life science startups who take advantage of what the program has to offer, but also for the life science ecosystem that could drive the future of this region.
To learn more about Winston Starts, its entrepreneurial offerings, and how to get plugged in, visit their website. For researchers interested in learning how to start a life science company via the iQ’s partnership with Winston Starts, reach out to Isaac Perry at ilperry@wakehealth.edu.
