Luke Timmerman at Xconomy wrote a provocative piece today entitled The Missing Ingredient in Today’s Biotech: Guts. His thesis is that the industry is so paralyzed by fear and insecurity that it lacks the collective fortitude to take risks, even if they seem delusional. To quote:
If the industry–VCs, scientists, entrepreneurs, everybody—can’t get the mojo back, then we could be sitting around with a lot of scientific insights in the lab that nobody really knows how to turn into products for human health. Everybody will be fixated on the 100 reasons why something won’t work, and failing to see the one reason why it might.
It’s interesting to think about this. Who lacks the guts? Is it the academic scientist who doesn’t want to pursue a potential dead end in the lab, but instead wants to pursue more low-risk projects to get publications and tenure? Is it the VCs, feeling the pressure from the LPs, who want to take fewer scientific and clinical risks? Are the entrepreneurs (especially the ones merely thinking about taking the leap into entrepreneurship) feeling insecure about being paycheck-less for awhile? Is it management, fearing to take risks for fear of losing their jobs or next round of financing?
Is it all of the above?
The answer might lie in Seth Godin’s post today on waiting for fear to subside:
By the time the fear subsides, it will be too late. By the time you’re not afraid of what you were planning to start/say/do, someone else will have already done it, it will already be said or it will be irrelevant. The reason you’re afraid is that there’s leverage here, something might happen. Which is exactly the signal you’re looking for.