LifeSci Continuum with Bill Schick

In this episode of LifeSci Continuum, I sit down with Shreya Divatia. Shreya has spent a decade rescuing med-tech programs from hidden failure points and turning “it works in the lab” into “it works on a 102-year-old patient with spotty Wi-Fi.” 

Learn how I can help you buid a bridge between your business strategy and real growth as a Fractional Chief Marketing Officer.  https://meshagency.com/fcmo-fractional-cmo-fractional-marketing/

Shreya Divatia https://www.linkedin.com/in/shreya-divatia/

Timestamps:
00:00 Intro
01:30 Shreya’s Story & Experience
03:28 Shreya’s Unique Strength
04:13 Founder’s Blindspots
05:14 Wearable Med Device Case Study
08:50 Blindspots
13:17 Analysis of Wearable Med Device Case Study 
15:34 Usablity & Consumer Assumptions
18:14 Case Study Solution
19:43 Learning from Failure
22:25 How to Identify the Right Target Audience
24:10 Voice of the Customer
25:00 The Value of Feedback
29:00 3 Tips for Product Marketing
33:42 Advice for Younger Self

She walks us through an ambitious but bumpy attempt to graft a consumer wearable onto a hospital software backbone—a mash-up that looked perfect on paper until Day 3, when every sensor declared itself “disconnected.” 

Shreya unpacks why regulatory clearance is only the starting line, how to spot workflow landmines before nurses do, and the mind-shift founders need when hardware, software, and human factors collide inside real wards.

Three Overlooked Checks That Decide Whether Your Hospital Pilot Lives or Dies

Many founders race from first prototype to regulatory green light and assume the toughest hurdles are behind them. In reality the true test begins when a night-shift nurse clips your sensor to a patient and expects flawless data while juggling alarms, charting, and a shaky Wi-Fi network. 

The steps that most teams skip are not glamorous pieces of science or elegant code. They are blunt reality checks that expose whether your device can survive the messy, unpredictable world of a hospital ward. Ignoring them does not merely delay a launch. It erodes staff trust, drains investor patience, and risks patient safety.

Running shadow trials on the actual unit rather than only in the engineering lab is your first safeguard. Hospital corridors bounce Bluetooth signals off metal carts, routers drop packets every time someone microwaves lunch, and vitals rounds happen when your entire dev team is asleep. A single overnight trial uncovers battery-drain patterns, latency spikes, and pairing failures that weeks of office testing never reveal. 

The second safeguard is mapping every quiet stakeholder by role and watching how they naturally interact with your prototype. Certified nursing assistants reposition patients and tug on cords you labeled “do-not-pull.” Biomedical engineers dismantle housings for their mandatory weekly cleaning routine and expose boards you never coated for disinfectant. 

Housekeeping staff unplug your access point because they need the outlet for a floor polisher. These improvised work-arounds are early warning signals. What breaks under their normal workflow will become the reason nurses refuse to wear your pager on their belts six months later, even if the chief medical officer loved your demo.

Finally, teams must separate “regulatory safe” from “workflow safe” in their timeline and budget. Passing IEC and FDA tests confirms electrical safety and basic performance, but it says nothing about whether the device keeps streaming when bandwidth drops, whether a clinician mistakes an antenna for a convenient handle, or whether alerts merge seamlessly into the hospital’s existing middleware. 

 #HealthcareInnovation #ProductMarketing #PatientSafety

In this episode of LifeSci Continuum, I sit down with Pete Tortorell, GM/Managing Director of Omni International (now Revvity). 

Timestamps:
00:00 Intro
01:24 Pete’s Story
02:07 COVID19 Case Study
07:20 Good Marketing is Hard to Find
12:00 Working with MESH Interactive
13:32 Lead Generation
14:50 Measuring KPIs
17:20 The Value of a FCMO
24:30 Marketing Education
26:05 Marketing Competition
28:45 Traditional Marketing is Dead
31:15 Founder & CEO Advice

When 2020 erased half of Omni International’s revenue in a single month, Pete didn’t slash headcount—he rebuilt the business. 

Join me as Pete traces Omni’s journey from a stand-alone sample-prep brand to a Revvity business unit that still owns its P&L and customer relationships. He recounts the 2020 free-fall when labs closed worldwide, the rapid collaboration with Georgia Tech that repositioned saliva testing, and the acquisition turbulence that followed. 

Pete explains why he skipped agency “textbook” pitches and chose a fractional CMO who could challenge assumptions, and built a repeatable framework that any mid-market life-science company can copy to generate demand without hiring a dozen specialists.

Do you think your marketing investment is going to waste? Learn why Founders are turning to FCMOs: https://meshagency.com/for-founders/

Three Overlooked Fixes That Turn Marketing Spend Into Pipeline Growth
Most early-stage companies assume a bigger marketing budget will automatically translate into qualified leads, yet the same dollars often vanish into tactics that look busy but move no revenue. The root causes usually hide in three places: unexamined spending, rigid staffing models, and content that talks instead of proves.

First, every life-science or med-device founder needs a single pane of glass for company health, marketing traction, and customer-service pulse. 

First, hook your source-of-truth systems (ERP, CRM, and ticketing) to a lightweight BI tool—don’t custom-code; Zapier or native connectors will do. Second, agree on three to five metrics per area before you design anything; if it doesn’t guide a decision, kill it. Third, set automated alerts at the “uh-oh” thresholds so you react in hours, not quarters—think churn spike, lead-to-SQL drop, or NPS dip. Do that, and you’ve got a living cockpit that keeps the science moving and the money people smiling.

Second, think of senior marketing expertise as cloud infrastructure: rent it when you need it, scale it back when you do not, and keep permanent headcount focused on the science and customer support your brand is known for. Founders who insist on a full-time director before product-market fit end up paying executive salaries for work that could be handled fractionally (and at a fraction of the cost). A flexible model also brings in fresh perspective every quarter and prevents your message from calcifying around last year's tactics.

Finally, replace generic product copy with application stories authored by the scientists who actually use your products. Prospects trust peers who can say, “This homogenizer cut my sample-prep time by forty percent,” far more than they trust brochure language about “innovative design.” When real users explain the before and after of throughput, reproducibility, and budget impact, conversion rates climb and sales conversations start closer to the finish line. Marketing shifts from a push activity to proof that the tool already delivers in labs just like theirs.

Learn how I can help you grow your business as a Fractional Chief Marketing Officer. https://meshagency.com/fcmo-fractional-cmo-fractional-marketing/

In this episode of LifeSci Continuum, I sit down with Laurel Nelson (Founder, InnovexDx), who breaks down how diagnostics and life-science start-ups can actually commercialize when cash is tight and timelines keep slipping. 

Learn how I can help you grow your business as a Fractional Chief Marketing Officer. https://meshagency.com/fcmo-fractional-cmo-fractional-marketing/

Timestamps:
00:00 Intro
01:10 Laurel Nelson’s Career
02:50 Launching a Product with a Limited Budget
06:01 Common Founder Challenges
14:22 Founder Scientists vs Marketing
16:00 How to Build Credibility with Investors
21:15 Preparing a Good Idea for Commercialization
26:01 Phase Gate
28:26 How to Find Market Data
32:14 Market Access
35:25 Being Transparent with Investors
39:50 3 Tips for Founders
41:04 Wisdom for Younger Self

She explains why constant “lab tinkering” kills launch velocity, how a lightweight phase-gate process forces objective kill/keep decisions, and where founders routinely underrate market-access spending. 

We also dig into her favorite “pressure-tests” for product-market fit, why external verification must precede scale, and how to recut the business case at every milestone so investors stay onside.

Three Commercial “Gotchas” That Sink More Lab-Startup Launches Than the Science Itself

Most first-time founders pour their energy into perfecting assay sensitivity or edge-case workflow hacks, yet overlook the far less glamorous forces that actually determine market uptake— reimbursement math, risk-gated execution, and supply-chain resilience. Laurel Nelson’s work with diagnostics start-ups shows the same three blind spots cropping up again and again, each capable of halving a valuation before anyone discovers an analytical bug.

Start with reimbursement, not with the prototype. The CPT or PLA code you intend to bill against—along with its evidence requirements and likely payment rate—quietly dictates half of your design envelope: sample-to-answer time, staff touch points, throughput thresholds, even consumable cost ceilings. Founders who “figure out coding later” end up redesigning hardware to hit margin, or worse, they head to market trapped under a price cap that investors immediately factor into a down-round.

Next, enforce micro phase-gates—even if that’s nothing more than three Google slides and a Slack channel. Moving an idea through quick feasibility, alpha verification, and an external beta test surfaces killer assumptions while the fixes are still cheap. These lightweight gates catch the moment a clinician says, “Great data, but my lab would never change this workflow,” before you’ve ordered production molds or spun up a $200 k validation study. They also give boards the proof points they need to keep financing flowing without funding every shiny R&D tangent.

Finally, lock dual-vendor coverage for every critical consumable as soon as verification passes. A single polymerase lot that fails QC can stall trials for months, derailing a Series A timeline and torching your credibility with early adopters. Qualifying at least two suppliers—complete with incoming QC specs—turns supply hiccups into routine purchase-order swaps and lets you scale when that first major hospital system says yes.

None of these moves are exciting science, and that’s the point. They remove the non-scientific landmines that so often explode after launch, allowing the real innovation to speak for itself—and to get paid.

#Commercialization #MarketAccess #ClinicalUtility #BootstrappedLaunch #InvestorReadiness #ReimbursementStrategy #LifeScienceStartups

In this episode of LifeSci Continuum, I sit down with Bill Kenney, Founder of MEET (My Expo & Event Team), to unpack why most life science and med device trade show strategies fail—and how to fix them. 

Timestamps:
00:00 Intro
01:28 Bill Kenney’s Work in Bio-Tech
02:30 In-Person Inbound Marketing
03:20 How We Met
03:35 How to Get High Quality Leads at Tradeshows and Conferences
07:10 The Best Approach to Messaging at Tradeshow and Conferences
13:36 AIDA Framework
14:35 Communication Anecdote
15:40 Have a Conversation with your Customer
19:27 Identifying Quality Leads
27:26 Customer Density
31:56 Founders are Stretched Thin
35:00 How to Design your Tradeshow Booth
41:26 Positioning & Messaging in Life Science Marketing
44:37 When there is a Lack of Data
47:42 Final Takeaway

Bill works with international life science and medtech companies looking to break into the U.S. market and transform events—both regional and national.

We go deep on:
Why casting a wide net leads to “prospect creep” and diluted messaging
How to design your booth and message to attract only high-value prospects
The importance of problem-first communication (not product features)
Using smaller, local events as strategic proving grounds to test and optimize before big national shows.

How customer density drives repeatable sales models—and why most startups ignore this critical early move.

Bill brings a wealth of insight from years of helping companies sharpen their event strategy, align in-person sales and marketing around a shared goal, and stop wasting time chasing the wrong leads.

Some tips on standing out at your conference or show
For founders and commercial leads looking to stand out on a crowded trade show floor and drive the right traffic to their booth, the winning combo is: interactive engagement, AI-powered tools, and a splash of unexpected delight. Here are a few expert-level ideas that go beyond the usual tchotchkes and posterboards:

1. AI-Powered Persona Match Quiz
Set up a sleek iPad or touchscreen station at your booth where visitors can take a 1-minute interactive quiz:

"What kind of researcher/clinician/investor are you?"
Use AI to match their responses to different solutions you offer—then hand them a personalized takeaway (PDF, print card, link to demo) that speaks directly to their use case or pain point.

2. Live ‘Problem Wall’ with Real-Time AI Ideation
Dedicate part of your booth to a writable wall or digital board where attendees can post their biggest pain points. Behind the scenes, use GPT-based AI to generate potential ideas or reframed problem statements in real time.

3. Augmented Reality (AR) Demos with Immersive Layers
Rather than handing someone a data sheet or trying to explain your tech on a static banner, use AR (through a phone or tablet) to let visitors overlay your product or system into their environment. 

4. Post-Event AI Concierge Follow-Up
Let booth visitors opt into a concierge-style AI follow-up. For example, after a scan or signup, they receive an email: "Hey, I saw you were interested in XYZ. Over the next 3 days, I’ll send you 3 short insights or case studies that might help."

5. Mini “Voice of the Industry” Video Booth
Offer a quick video booth experience where attendees can record their thoughts on a specific industry challenge (30 sec max). Use AI transcription + summarization to compile a post-show “State of the Industry” montage or blog.

For deeper insights on life science and med device growth, check out my linkedin newsletter, Save Yourself. Subscribe on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/build-relation/newsletter-follow?entityUrn=7154518390324281344

For more specialized help with growth, check out my firm, Mesh.
https://meshagency.com/

#LifeSciences #HealthcareInnovation #ProductMarketing

Connect with Dave Iannetta on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dave-iannetta/

Interested in getting 18+ Years of Cheat Codes, Perspective, and Tips for Surviving Marketing in Life Sciences and Medical Devices? 

• Subscribe to Bill Schick’s Newsletter on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/build-relation/newsletter-follow?entityUrn=7154518390324281344

Or Connect with Bill directly on Linkedin https://www.linkedin.com/in/founderandcdo/

Timestamps:
00:00 Intro
00:55 Venture Capital Investors
03:09 Challenges of a Venture Investor Partnership
04:11 Building a Business Network to find Investors
05:00 The Key to Venture Investing: Clinical Validation
06:16 How to Build Credibility
07:45 Voice of the Customer
08:25 Major Risk for Life Science Companies
10:26 The Value of Building an Audience Before You Launch
11:49 Brand Building Case Study
13:54 Marketing Opportunities for Life Science Companies

About this Episode: 

In part two of my conversation with seasoned marketing executive Dave Iannetta, we explore how life science and medtech companies must evolve their marketing strategy during the venture capital stage of funding. Unlike angel investors who often demand scientific granularity, VCs bring both capital and powerful networks—but expect startups to demonstrate growing market readiness, physician validation, and strategic focus.

Dave shares hard-earned lessons from his work in venture-backed firms, emphasizing that your messaging must shift from scientific promise to clinical credibility and commercial potential. We unpack the importance of engaging advisors early, not just as formal board members but as trusted text-message-level sounding boards. We also get into how continuous, informal feedback from KOLs and physician stakeholders strengthens your credibility with investors and sharpens your product roadmap.

Whether you're building your first advisory board or rethinking your investor pitch, this episode offers a blueprint for transforming market conversations into momentum—before your next funding milestone.

Featured Pro Tips: 

One thing I’ve found while working as a Fractional Chief Marketing Officer for life science and medical device manufacturers that doesn’t get talked about enough is just how early you should start building relationships with your future KOLs. And I’m not talking about scheduling six-month advisory board meetings and waiting around for feedback. The smartest companies I’ve worked with treat those advisors more like co-conspirators—looping them in while ideas are still half-baked. Even a casual “Would this even fly in your world?” text can save months of wasted effort. It’s not formal yet, but that low-friction, ongoing cadence is what builds trust.

Another underused tactic? Taking KOLs out of the usual echo chamber. Instead of just showing them a slide deck, have them walk through your onboarding process, or react to messaging in the context of a real clinical workflow. When they experience it in the environment they actually operate in, you get feedback that’s 10x more actionable. And it signals that you care about more than their name—you care about their insight.

And here’s one more that’s deceptively powerful: co-creating early artifacts. Invite your most aligned advisors to help shape a single line of your positioning, a headline, or a product value statement. It doesn’t just make the messaging better—it builds a sense of ownership. When you eventually ask for a quote or support during a launch, they’re already invested. You're not asking them to sign off on your story—you’re asking them to amplify a story they helped shape.

For more specialized help with growth, check out my firm, Mesh.
https://meshagency.com/ 

#MedTechMarketing
#ProductMarketFit
#HealthcareStartups

Follow Bill: https://www.linkedin.com/in/founderandcdo/
Contact Bill: https://meshagency.com/lets-connect/

Video Podcast: https://www.youtube.com/@BillSchickFCMO
Audio Podcast: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2380430

Contact Nara Daubeney: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nara-daubeney/ 
_______________________________
Timestamps:
00:00 Intro
01:31 About Nara Daubeney PhD
04:25 Nara Daubeney’s Motivation
06:35 Demonstrating Value & Phaim Pharma
09:07 Start-up Founders Biggest Mistake
09:44 Nara Daubeney’s Philosophy
09:59 How to Communicate the Value of Your Life Science Company 
12:08 How to Empathize with your Customer & Stakeholders
13:53 Identifying Your Target Audience
14:29 Example of Effective Messaging 
15:45 Why Websites are Valuable for Life Science Companies
22:25 LinkedIn for Life Science Founders
25:58 Common Life Science Company Positioning and Messaging Mistakes
26:45 Leading with Authenticity in Life Sciences
29:23 Lessons for Life Science Marketing
_______________________________

Bringing a brand-new autoimmune therapy to market can feel overwhelmingly complex—especially when you’re juggling scientific rigor, regulatory hurdles, and investor skepticism. Many life science founders struggle to communicate the true value of their innovation, leaving them overlooked in a saturated marketplace.

Imagine finally developing a game-changing treatment only to watch stakeholders shrug because they don’t fully grasp your therapeutic’s transformative potential. Or think about the uphill battle of securing funding when investors can’t see why your product stands out from the rest. Without a clear, compelling brand story and patient-centered messaging, brilliant solutions stay buried.

In this episode of LifeSci Continuum, I speak with Dr. Nara Daubeney—CEO & Co-Founder of Phaim Pharma, surgeon, and biotech executive—about her journey in launching a new autoimmune therapy. She reveals how thoughtful storytelling, audience-focused messaging, and transparent value propositions can attract the right partners and propel clinical success. 

From leveraging LinkedIn as a personal brand amplifier to crafting a website that educates and captivates, Dr. Daubeney shares actionable tips for life science entrepreneurs aiming to transform great ideas into real-world therapies.

For those tackling this on their own, consider these tips: 

1. Many life science founders focus solely on product development during the early stages, neglecting the power of brand co-creation with their earliest customers. Identify a select group of early adopters—clinicians, researchers, or key opinion leaders—who not only test your solution but also help shape your brand’s narrative. By involving them in refining your brand message, you ensure it resonates with the real-world challenges and aspirations of your target audience. Their buy-in becomes a powerful form of social proof, showcasing authentic advocacy that sets you apart in a crowded marketplace.

2. Embed Scientific Rigor into Every Brand Touchpoint
Pro Tip: Consistently Translate Complex Data into Clear, Insightful Narratives.
In a field where trust hinges on evidence, your brand must radiate credibility at every turn—yet many life science teams only emphasize data in white papers or scientific conferences. Instead, weave simplified but accurate data-driven insights into marketing materials, pitch decks, and website copy. 

3. Design Your Brand for Scalability from Day One
Pro Tip: Establish a Modular Framework That Adapts to New Markets and Indications.

For more specialized help with growth, check out my firm, Mesh.
https://meshagency.com/ 

#LifeSciences #HealthcareInnovation #ProductMarketing

Follow Bill: https://www.linkedin.com/in/founderandcdo/
Contact Bill: https://meshagency.com/lets-connect/

Video Podcast: https://www.youtube.com/@BillSchickFCMO
Audio Podcast: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2380430

Follow Dave: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dave-iannetta/
_______________________________
Timestamps:
00:00 Intro
01:37 Telling a Story that Resonates with Angel Investors
03:23 Case Study
05:40 How to Pitch to Angel Investors
07:15 What Angel Investors Actually Care About
09:10 Building Confidence in Angel Investors
_______________________________
In this episode, I sit down again with seasoned marketing executive Dave Iannetta to explore how life science and med device companies can refine their marketing strategy based on where they stand in the fundraising journey. 

We kick off by discussing angel investors—often deeply familiar with niche therapeutic areas—who demand more scientific detail and crave confidence in the path to clinical validation. Dave emphasizes that these early backers aren’t just sources of capital; they frequently bring networks and advisory expertise crucial for guiding pre-clinical or early-phase companies. As startups move toward VC or IPO stages, their narrative must evolve—focusing on broader market appeal, long-term viability, and the step-by-step milestones that validate their technology.

Throughout our conversation, we discuss how winning over different investor audiences hinges on adapting your message, demonstrating credibility through thoughtful planning, and clearly outlining your path to commercialization—even if it’s just a high-level preview in the early rounds.

Protips for our viewers: 

1. Preemptive Future Staging

Pro Tip: Anticipate the Next Investor’s Questions Before You Even Land the Current Round. Seasoned founders don’t just satisfy the immediate audience; they also layer in hints of what VCs or public-market investors will want to see next—like clinical milestones or commercial frameworks. This helps you stay one step ahead, especially when angels (often experts in your space) start quizzing you on longer-term feasibility.

2. Convert Early Investors into Credibility Amplifiers
Pro Tip: Leverage Angel Backers’ Expertise and Networks to Strengthen Your VC or IPO Pitch. The most experienced entrepreneurs recognize that angel investors—many of whom are industry veterans—can serve as potent evangelists to higher-level funders. Make them feel like partners in your success by actively soliciting their input and showcasing how their technical insights informed critical decisions.

3. Craft a Layered Pitch Deck
Pro Tip: Design Multiple Versions of Your Deck, Each Calibrated to a Different Fundraising Stage. While angels crave deep scientific detail, VCs favor a clearer path to market, and IPO investors need a simplified “why invest now” narrative. Instead of one-size-fits-all materials, create layered versions that pivot on the fly. This agility signals to prospective investors that you deeply understand what they need to make a confident bet on your company.

For more specialized help with growth, check out my firm, Mesh.
https://meshagency.com/ 

#LifeSciences #HealthcareInnovation #ProductMarketing

Follow Bill: https://www.linkedin.com/in/founderandcdo/
Contact Bill: https://meshagency.com/lets-connect/

Video Podcast: https://www.youtube.com/@BillSchickFCMO
Audio Podcast: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2380430

How to Tailor Your Messaging to Each Awareness Stage and Accelerate Your Life Science Sales:

“Marketing doesn’t work for us.” Yeah, I hear that all the time. 

Honestly though, half the time you’re delivering the wrong message to your buyer at the wrong time. 

Impossible you say? 

If you’re not delivering the right message at the right stage of your buyers’ awareness, you’re not just missing a sale—you’re actually actively turning prospects off. 

With irrelevant messaging, your once-promising leads disengage, trust erodes, and your marketing dollars go to waste.

Don’t tell me… you’ve been pouring months of effort (and dollars) into campaigns, only to see prospects slip away because they either don’t recognize their own problem yet or feel bombarded with brand pitches before understanding why your solution matters. 

Each misaligned message is a huge missed opportunity and a step closer to losing market share.
In this episode, I break down the five stages of awareness, showing you how to pinpoint exactly where your prospects stand and adjust your messaging so it resonates. 

Backed by real-life examples from the life sciences space, these insights will help you deliver precisely what your audience needs, when they need it—turning cold leads into engaged prospects and ultimately driving more conversions.

3 Buyer Awareness Insights for Life Sciences: 
If you’re serious about growing your company, you really need to be firing on all cylinders (or energy cells?): 

Pro Tip #1: Beyond Prospect Personas, Identify Secondary Influencers.

You probably assume the decision-maker is the person in your marketing database, but in life sciences, there’s often a hidden web of KOLs, purchasing committees, or department heads influencing the sale. 

By mapping these secondary stakeholders and understanding their unique needs and awareness levels, you can create content paths that reach and resonate with all parties involved—well before a formal buying decision is even on the table.

Pro Tip #2: Use Specific Engagement Cues to Pinpoint Awareness Stage.

Instead of categorizing prospects by broad funnel stages, look for granular behavioral signals—like the types of research papers they download, the complexity of webinar content they consume, or the specificity of their search queries on your site. 

These micro-signals can reveal whether they’re just waking up to the problem or already deep in solution exploration. Aligning your messaging based on these nuanced cues helps you deliver precisely the level of technical detail, proof, and urgency they need at that moment. 

Better yet, rather than create any and all types of content, focus your limited content creation resources to developing specific content that maps this journey. 

Pro Tip #3: Educate the Market Months Before They Know They Have a Problem.

Too many companies focus solely on late-stage branding or solution pitches. 

Instead, seed your market months in advance with educational content on emerging challenges and subtle shifts in clinical practice or research methodology. 

By the time your prospects realize they have a problem, they’re more than likely to recall your educational content and brand as the one who first put it on their radar. This “pre-awareness” cultivation strategy dramatically shortens the gap between their initial recognition of a problem and seeing your company as a trusted authority with the solution.

For more information on marketing your life sciences brand, check out this blog post: Life Science Marketing: A Comprehensive

Follow Bill: https://www.linkedin.com/in/founderandcdo/
Contact Bill: https://meshagency.com/lets-connect/

Follow Glenn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/glenn-hanner-632291a/

Video Podcast: https://www.youtube.com/@BillSchickFCMO
Audio Podcast: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2380430

In this episode of LifeSci Continuum, I'm thrilled to reconnect with Glenn Hanner as we dig into a critical challenge that many life science leaders face: the danger of tunnel vision when planning for an exit. Often, the excitement of an exit strategy can overshadow the need to establish a strong foundation and deliver on the promised value to customers. Glenn and I pull from our experiences to discuss how companies can balance long-term strategic goals with immediate customer-centric needs to avoid costly oversights.

Glenn and I explore how companies can get so fixated on the endgame that they neglect the foundational work necessary for sustainable growth, from quality assurance to customer satisfaction. Glenn shares examples from his career, illustrating how failing to invest in fundamentals can derail even the best-laid plans for an IPO or acquisition. This episode is a must-listen for life science professionals aiming to build lasting value, not just chase short-term wins.

For more specialized help with growth, check out my firm, Mesh.
https://meshagency.com/ 

#LifeSciences #HealthcareInnovation #ProductMarketing

00:00 Intro
01:45 Examples of Investors Affecting a Life Science Company’s Exit Strategy
04:40 Mistakes Caused By Rushing an Exit
06:37 Regulatory Oversight in Med Tech
08:25 Example of a Med Tech Product that was Rushed to Market
09:58 Lessons & Regrets from a Med Tech Marketing Associate
12:34 The Most Important Asset for a Med Tech Start Up Company
13:52 Delivering on the Value Proposition
14:14 Life Science Career Mistakes & Regrets
15:20 Examples of a Good Exit Strategy
17:00 The Ins & Outs of Life Science Regulation
18:56 The Value of Good Leadership 
20:35 Why Marketing Function is Different in Every Industry
22:05 Alignment Between Marketing & Business Goals
24:42 A Book that Every Marker Should Read - Positioning by Al Ries & Jack Trout
25:24 Psychology & Bad Landing Pages
26:07 Storytelling
26:55 Your Customer’s Needs

Follow Bill: https://www.linkedin.com/in/founderandcdo/
Contact Bill: https://meshagency.com/lets-connect/

Video Podcast: https://www.youtube.com/@BillSchickFCMO
Audio Podcast: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2380430

Follow Marc: https://www.linkedin.com/in/digitalmktggeek/

This is the chat life science marketing agencies don’t want clients to watch. 

In this episode of LifeSci Continuum, I'm joined again by Marc Frechette. 

In this episode, Marc and I pull back the curtain on life science digital marketing agencies. Both of us have been on both sides: we've hired agencies as clients and worked inside them, so we know the dirt. 

We dig deep into common pitfalls agencies face, and by extension, their clients, like lack of actionable insights in reports, misunderstood keyword strategies that drive clicks but not leads, and vague campaign objectives. We reveal how agencies often focus on vanity metrics instead of meaningful results, and why their hundreds-page reports are often impossible to act on.

Our conversation goes beyond the surface, addressing how agencies miss the mark on critical analysis, how SEO and ads are often poorly executed, and the frustrations clients face with vague, hollow campaign promises. But we don’t just stop there. We also discuss what companies can do to get big wins, what to demand from your agency, and how to actually turn your digital marketing investment into tangible growth.

This is a candid, no-holds-barred conversation about the real issues that plague life sciences marketing, and it’s packed with practical advice you can start using today. If you’ve ever felt like your agency was missing the mark or wondered how to drive real ROI from your marketing campaigns, this episode is for you.

Establishing metrics and KPIs right from the start is critical because they provide a clear framework for measuring success and guiding strategy. For life science startups, these metrics ensure that every decision—whether it’s marketing, product development, or customer engagement—is data-driven, allowing you to assess what’s working and pivot quickly if needed.

For life science founders, the most important awareness metrics should directly impact your company's strategic goals and align with the complexity of the industry. Here’s a deep dive into critical metrics:

1. Number of Cold Prospects Warmed Up for Retargeting: Measure how many cold social media prospects you’ve engaged through educational or entertaining content and can now target with remarketing efforts.
2. Qualified Leads Generated: Track high-quality leads from key life science decision-makers, not just volume.
3. Referral Sources from Scientific Communities: Assess awareness driven by reputable scientific publications and communities.
4. Content Engagement by Key Decision-Makers: Monitor downloads of technical resources by your target audience.
5. Organic Search Traffic from High-Intent Keywords: Ensure you rank for specific, high-intent scientific keywords relevant to your products.
6. Scientific Citations/Backlinks from Reputable Journals: Measure authority-building citations and backlinks from trusted journals.

As a fractional CMO in the life sciences, I can help you establish, track, and optimize the right metrics and KPIs that align with your business objectives. This includes defining what success looks like for your specific stage of growth, whether it's early lead generation, nurturing prospects, or moving toward commercialization. I'll ensure that your marketing efforts are measured using data-driven insights, helping to identify opportunities, optimize campaigns, and make informed decisions to accelerate growth and ROI while minimizing wasteful efforts.

For more specialized help with growth, check out my firm, Mesh.
https://meshagency.com/