Many business owners believe that deep expertise alone will carry them through entrepreneurship. For many, that belief becomes a blind spot once they step outside the structure of a large organization.

In this episode of Self-Made Is a Myth, Coach Tim Campsall sits down with Phil Hipskind, founder and CEO of Lgenia, to explore the transition from a successful 30+ year career at Eli Lilly into building a mission-driven biotech company from the ground up. Phil shares the realities of earning credibility, navigating funding, recruiting rare talent, and learning business skills in real time.

If you are carrying the weight of responsibility, operating in a complex or specialized industry, and feeling the pressure of growth without clear systems or support, this conversation will challenge how you think about leadership, learning, and building a business that makes an impact without burning you out.

What You’ll Learn in This Episode:

• Why strong foundations matter more than speed in both science and business

• How asking questions and seeking mentors accelerates growth

• The hidden challenge of recruiting highly specialized talent

• How to lead calmly when pressure, uncertainty, and chaos show up

• Why purpose-driven companies attract better people and better outcomes

Looking To Scale Your Business:

Did you know that only 9% of businesses make it to $1,000,000 in revenue and less than 1% get to $5,000,000. The reason is that the hustle and grind that got you to $1,000,000 needs to shift to scaling strategies to go beyond. Book a Discovery Call now to learn how our ActionCOACH Business Operating System (ABoS) and coaching helps you to get unstuck and thrive to realize your personal and dreams and business goals. https://tbcactioncoach.com/discovery-...

Philip A Hipskind, Ph.D. earned his BS degree from Indiana University and his doctorate in organic chemistry (completing the total synthesis of sterepolide & merulidial) with Professor Barry M. Trost at Stanford University in 1991 where he was both a Tamaki Foundation and an American Chemical Society Fellow.

Dr. Hipskind directly joined Lilly Research Laboratories as a medicinal chemist that same year. While at Lilly, he created a robust discovery and development portfolio from biological target to clinical proof of concept spanning Oncology, Endocrinology, Neuroscience, Immunology, and Infectious Disease across small molecule, therapeutic protein, and antibody modalities. In addition to 14 first human dose milestones (including seven new chemical entities lanepitant, tradipitant, tasisulam, tildacerfont, taladegib, adomeglivant, and crenigacestat), he contributed significantly to R&D effectiveness through gene family lead generation and therapeutic area platform leadership. He holds 44 issued US patents and has authored over 50 peer-reviewed publications. While at Lilly, he was also a founding member of the TB Drug Accelerator of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and a member of the Scientific Advisory Committee for the TB Alliance. Dr. Hipskind was also a long-time member of the Eli Lilly Portfolio Management Team overseeing all pre-clinical and clinical phase assets for Lilly Research Laboratories.

In 2017 Dr. Hipskind founded Lgenia Inc. to focus on lead generation for neglected diseases that disproportionately affect people living in poverty. Currently his company is a full collaborating member organization of the TB Drug Accelerator, the Malaria Drug Accelerator, and the Contraceptive Drug Accelerator sponsored by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. He is a Visiting Scholar at Texas A&M University, a Distinguished Visiting Scholar at Purdue University, and recently became an Associate Professor of Medicine at Indiana University School of Medicine. He is a member of the portfolio management team for the TB Drug Accelerator and is the chair of the TB Alliance scientific advisory committee and member of the board of directors, science committee. Dr. Hipskind currently serves as CEO, CSO of Lgenia – a boutique contract research organization and biotech company focused on tuberculosis, malaria, Alzheimer’s disease, and non-hormonal contraceptives.