22 :: Sciencepreneurship with Nina Patrick

🔎 The question: Should science and entrepreneurship join forces?

🦸 The Expert: Nina Patrick

Nina Patrick, Ph.D., is the Head of Innovation at the Warehouse by Champalimaud where she is spearheading the creation of the world’s first Digital Therapeutics Centre. She’s an ex-founder & CEO with more than 10 years of experience in biotech startups and holds a PhD in Pharmaceutical Sciences. She writes a weekly newsletter, Nina’s Notes, on longevity, psychedelics, and digital health.

💡 The learnings:

Entrepreneurship is the road less traveled by scientists. There are a few more travelers these days, but still not enough. Not when compared to its value creation potential for the world, anyway. I had many questions on the why, the obstacles, and the opportunities, but could have not found a better sciencepreneur to discuss those with.

Sara: Why should entrepreneurship become an interesting avenue for scientists and what is preventing it from happening more?

Nina: I believe all scientists should consider entrepreneurship as an avenue for their career path after their Masters or PhD. Scientists are working at the forefront of research and innovation, taking the leap into entrepreneurship will allow them to apply these findings into practical applications, products or services that can have a direct impact on society. This can be incredibly fulfilling and was something that drove me away from the lab bench and into more applied research. Furthermore, nowadays there are so few academic jobs that a career in research is very unlikely. Even worse, many inventions get stuck at the lab bench and never reach the market or a patient. Sciencepreneurs can solve both of those problems, they can create jobs for themselves and their peers, and bring their research out of the lab.

The most common answer for why scientists aren’t becoming entrepreneurs is lack of business expertise. I agree with this, but I also think there is a bigger barrier and that is the flaws in the “publish or perish” system.

A scientist’s career is determined by the quality and quantity of their publications and the impact of the journals they publish in. Further, many scientists believe (or are led to believe) that if they publish their work, then it will have an impact on the world. Voila! In fact, this is not so often the case. Publishing can actually do the opposite and become an obstacle for getting a discovery into the development phase and actually reaching patients and/or society. When results are published, this puts the results in the public domain, which means that the discovery or invention is no longer patentable. This makes the findings much less desirable as an investment from VCs or Corporates who may have previously been interested in bringing the discovery to the next stage of development.

If you believe that you have something truly groundbreaking - make sure you get proper advice on the value of that discovery before you publish. 

Sara: Why does the world need more sciencepreneurs?

Nina: There are so many products in the world with absolutely no science behind them. These are great products, don’t get me wrong. But, a lot of the big problems today, such as disease, antibiotic resistance, climate change, sustainable energy, and food security, require solutions rooted in scientific research. Sciencepreneurs have an advantage in that they deeply understand the science in specific areas, this way they can start to tackle these problems and really make an impact.

Sara: Which skills should scientists develop further if they would like to become entrepreneurs? Which steps should they take to kick off that journey?

Nina: The biggest skill to improve is communication. The way that we were trained to communicate as scientists is all wrong. Scientists should frequently communicate and present their ideas to colleagues from entirely different fields - business, law, literally any other field that isn’t science. We may think that if we don’t use jargon or talk about all the details that we aren’t giving the most accurate description of our discoveries. This is not true. You can make your key points without all the details. Learn how to communicate to the layperson. I tell many of my mentees, “being understood never backfires.” If you are able to do this, you will excel far faster than your peers.

As for steps to kick off that journey - present as much as possible in venues with lay audiences. Write as much as possible. Practice, Practice, Practice. Specifically, I have a few tips:

• Always make your point first. THEN, back it up with data and evidence. We are trained in science to make our conclusions last, and let me tell you - no one in your audience is listening anymore if you finally make your point 20 minutes into your presentation.

• Practice “elevator pitches” about your research. Can you describe it in one sentence? One breath? 10 seconds? 30 seconds? Because that’s how much time you have to grab someone’s attention. Once you have their attention, you can elaborate for 3 minutes, 5 minutes, 10 minutes, or maybe longer.

• Learn how to use good analogies. Most people don’t know what a protein binding pocket is, but they do know what a lock and key is.

Sara: As a sciencepreneur yourself, what advice would you give to all scientists out there considering joining the innovation world outside Academia?

Nina: Do it.

If you’re not ready to start a company yourself right now, join someone as a cofounder, work in an early-stage startup, or work in a for-profit company. The learnings you will have in that environment are invaluable and will translate to any job you want in the future. Also don’t forget to leverage your network, connect with mentors, advisors, and peers who have experience in the innovation ecosystem. This will give you a better picture of what steps to take next and your network can offer support as you navigate this new path. LinkedIn is great for this, drop someone a short message - and I really mean short, just 1 line or 2, to ask them to get on a 10-minute call to share their experience in their job. You’ll be surprised by how many people are willing to give you 10 minutes of their time.

Curious to learn more from Nina? Where’s where to find her:

Subscribe to her newsletter: www.notes.ninapatrick.xyz
Check out her LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ninapatrick/
Visit her website: ninapatrick.xyz

See you next Tuesday! 👋

(If you have someone in mind that I should interview as an expert or any question you’d like to have an expert answer, let me know in the form.)