Avsnitt
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On this episode, we have the pleasure of speaking with prolific research scientist, Dr. Sarah Andres. Dr. Andres shares her origin story and points out key take aways from her journey. She then highlights how EQ is a key ingredient in that journey, as well as in team management, recruitment, and how it acts as a catalyst for problem solving in science. You don’t want to miss this one!
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Interviews can be stressful, there is a lot at stake - your future, your career, your happiness. But with a little reframing, you begin to think of an interview, as more of a recruitement. Are THEY the right fit? Join us as Nick & Damien discuss some tips & tricks for navigating your next venture and empowering yourself to find the right work alignment.
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Saknas det avsnitt?
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Join us as our producer Pablo Signori digs deep with EDC Founders/hosts Nick & Damien on their origin story. In this episode they discuss the paths that led to starting their biotech lab management company, Experimental Designs Consulting, and what skills were key in forging their successful business.
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Forget the noise; find the signal.
Biotech entrepreneurs and academic researchers often encounter situations that were never addressed in their technical training. These knowledge gaps can create anxiety in response to challenges such as media predictions of funding scarcity, but it’s never too late to learn new ways of thinking that will help you ride out the ups and downs in the choppy waters at the convergence of science and finances.
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Don’t be a bad influence on yourself.
The most important influencer in your life is… you. But you might also be your own worst critic. If you don’t have a strong sense of what your recurring thought patterns are and where they come from, they can sometimes hold you back from making positive changes in your life. Learning how to archive your thoughts can help you plot your path forward.
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You need to know your destination before you can plan your route.
Where do you see yourself in ten years? You’re most likely to have heard this question in a job interview, a situation in which other people will use your response to help them shape their initial opinion of you. As a young leader, learning how to ask yourself the same question will help you shape your strategies, whether they’re for your next networking event or your entire life’s work.
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Downtime is not lost time.
When you love your work and are passionate about your long-term goals, time off can seem like a loss of momentum. However, just as athletes can’t improve their performance without giving their bodies time to recuperate, researchers and entrepreneurs can sometimes make faster progress by hitting the pause button.
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Don’t just go through it—grow through it. When we think about concepts such as productivity, bandwidth, and return on investment, we often revert to traditional metrics based on time and money. However, learning to reframe these concepts around energy will help you make better decisions about how you invest your time and effort.
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Don’t put limitations on your dreams.
Growing a company or research program can be a stressful and risky endeavor. Anchoring your long-term scientific vision with a positive emotion will keep you motivated as you work towards your goals, and will help you craft a compelling story that will inspire others to support you on your journey.
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In this episode, Damien and Nick discuss recruiting through what has been deemed "The Great Resignation."
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"Strategy" is often times an amorphic word. To start season 2, we explore how "strategy" can take on different meanings, and how through thoughtful action, we can use those meanings to create a real plan for success.
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EQ IQ Podcast with Nick & Damien
Experimental Designs Consulting is launching a new Podcast exploring the ins-and-outs of starting a new lab. Join Nick and Damien as they share over 30 years of experience on everything there is to know about putting together a new lab, leading the development of your team, and bringing your scientific vision to reality. Whether you’re kicking off your own startup biotech company or starting as new biomedical research faculty, these two lab startup gurus have the tips-and-tricks to guide both you and your team towards success.
Feedback? Questions? Ideas for new episodes? Let us know!
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You need square pegs for square holes.
Mismatches between people and the jobs they’re hired to do can cost your team money, morale, and momentum. Putting in some groundwork before you post your next job ad will help ensure that your next hire is the right fit for your team’s needs.
00:34 Introduction
In this episode, your hosts Nick and Damien from Experimental Designs Consulting discuss how to improve your job descriptions and hiring processes to make sure you find the right people to drive your research forward.
EDC website
03:41 Errors and trials
Mis-hires happen, but you can minimize their impact by learning to spot them sooner. In this section, your hosts discuss how to recognize those early red flags, and how to improve your hiring processes to make sure you’re recruiting the right people.
15:53 Seeking Dr. Right
We all have biases. Some biases can lead you to make a mis-hire by drawing your focus to the wrong metrics; however, working to understand what you’re biased towards can help you define a candidate skill and attitude profile that’s a perfect match for the role you need to fill.
Feedback? Questions? Ideas for new episodes? Let us know!
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Your science is unique. Your budget should be, too.
Developing your first long-term research budget can seem like a daunting task. However, if you start from the familiar ground of your own research hypotheses, the numbers—and, more importantly, the rationale behind them—will quickly follow.
00:35 Introduction
The previous episode introduced the idea of negotiation as a collaboration centered around a shared scientific vision. In this episode, your hosts Damien and Nick from Experimental Designs Consulting build on that topic by explaining how to develop a personalized budget that will help you make your vision a reality.
EDC website
02:28 Personalize, prioritize
Like negotiation, budget development should start with the science and finish with the numbers. In this segment your hosts describe their five-step process, using your personal research hypotheses as the starting point to map out and then prioritize all your expenses, from personnel to PCR machines to pipette tips.
15:21 Justified confidence
It’s tempting to take a shortcut by basing your first budget on another lab or company’s operating expenses, but it’s well worth doing the extra work to reverse engineer your own budget from your unique research goals. Nick and Damien explain how following a personalized approach will allow you to go into your budget negotiations fully confident that you can explain the rationale for every single item.
Feedback? Questions? Ideas for new episodes? Let us know!
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It took more than money to land us on the moon.
Innovation consumes resources in the form of money, time, materials, and energy. How you think about the resources you have available to you right now can affect your progress towards your research vision.
00:32 Introduction
Things don’t always go according to plan in research. Nick and Damien from Experimental Designs Consulting use an example of a recent unexpected change of direction to introduce the concept of the abundance mindset.
EDC website
02:14 Break some eggs and make that omelet!
A scarcity mindset, in which you prioritize protecting what you already have, is a deeply rooted human instinct, but it can create self-doubt and hold you back from accomplishing your goals. Nick and Damien discuss how adopting an abundance mindset can help you reframe short-term resource use as an investment that will yield returns in the future.
15:46 An abundance of self-awareness
Your emotions can act as a compass, pointing you in the right direction. For example, if you’re procrastinating on something it might be a sign that you’re not feeling a connection between your short-term tasks and your long-term goals. In this segment, your hosts talk about how to recognize and correct the first few steps of any unwanted diversions down the scarcity mindset path.
Feedback? Questions? Ideas for new episodes? Let us know!
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Embrace what works.
Does your new team really need complicated software to manage your research, or would a simpler solution be more efficient? Experimental Design Consulting’s process is based on the principle of building a prototype around what’s already working for you and then iterating on it as your needs evolve.
00:33 Introduction
Your hosts Nick and Damien from Experimental Designs Consulting just got back from holding in-person sessions with research teams for the first time in far too long. Reflecting on the work impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic provided the inspiration for this week’s theme: how to make the best of what you have.
EDC website
02:29 Is the struggle real?
We’re wired to believe that struggling or even suffering through a task is a sign that it’s something worth doing, but it doesn’t have to be that way. In this segment, Damien and Nick discuss how the path of least resistance—starting with a process that’s already working for you, and applying it consistently—is a better route to success.
13:41 Reduce, reuse, recycle
Because the EDC team was already holding internal meetings remotely before the pandemic, they were able to quickly iterate on that existing process when they had to shift to working remotely with clients. Learn how to apply the same principle to any other challenge by taking a solution that works for one problem and building it into processes to solve others.
Feedback? Questions? Ideas for new episodes? Let us know!
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Don’t reinvent the wheel.
First-time PIs and entrepreneurs face a lot of pressure to succeed quickly. There’s a steep learning curve, and a lot of the necessary skills can only be learned on the job. The private sector has invested heavily in developing models and processes to help new ventures and their CEOs succeed; tapping into these proven resources can also help academic researchers to reach their goals sooner.
00:34 Introduction
In this episode, your hosts Damien and Nick from Experimental Designs Consulting are joined by special guest Dr. Jonathan Thon, founder and CEO of STRM.BIO and co-founder and former CEO of PlateletBio.
EDC website
01:58 That’s me in the spotlight
Jonathan describes how his journey from Argentina to Canada to the United States, and from academia to the private sector, has provided him with valuable insight about the importance of surrounding yourself with the right team and culture.
16:50 A culture of coaching
In this segment, Jonathan talks about how working with an executive coach while forming his second biotech company provided helpful context and perspective to support his decision-making.
30:02 Don’t stress for success
Jonathan, Damien, and Nick conclude their conversation by discussing how entrepreneurial ways of thinking are trickling into academic research, and how these culture changes are benefitting the next generation of academic researchers.
For more information about our guest Dr. Jonathan Thon and to contact him, please visit his website http://www.drthon.com/ where you can contact him directly using the contact link via email at [email protected]. If you're interested in hearing more about what Jonathan has to say, you can also go read more of his work in The Black Hole, an article series he co-authors for the University Affairs Magazine.
Feedback? Questions? Ideas for new episodes? Let us know!
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Sometimes the cheapest way to pay for something is with money.
If you’ve ever tried to take on a complicated household repair project yourself, you probably know that it’s always faster and often cheaper to just call in a plumber or electrician. The same principle applies to your research, too: learning how to make strategic use of outsourcing and consulting options can save you time and money in the long run, and help you reach your research milestones faster.
00:33 Introduction
When we’re in the middle of working on something, we sometimes lose sight of alternative approaches that might be more efficient. In this episode, your hosts Damien and Nick from Experimental Designs Consulting discuss how to advance your team’s long-term goals by determining which short-term tasks you can take off their hands.
EDC website
02:01 Time is data
Time is one of the most valuable assets in research, especially for small teams with no economy of scale. If your instinct is to stretch your supplies budget by asking your technician to rack tips and your postdoc to create a brand-new mouse model, consider sitting back and thinking about how outsourcing those tasks might improve your overall efficiency.
8:46 You don’t need to master every trade
“Consultant” is almost a dirty word in science. However, if you’re facing a complicated or high-stakes task that you only need to do once during your career, it can make a lot of sense to bring in an expert who has deep, recent experience with that task. In this segment, Nick and Damien discuss the value of overcoming the consultant taboo.
Feedback? Questions? Ideas for new episodes? Let us know!
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It’s about allies, not adversaries.
Negotiation doesn’t have to be a competitive, zero-sum game with a winner and a loser. If you center the process around your passion for your scientific vision, negotiation can become a collaboration towards the shared goal of making that vision a reality.
00:34 Introduction
At Experimental Designs Consulting we get a lot of questions from clients who need to negotiate new faculty positions, term sheets, or other contracts. In this episode—the first of a planned series on budget negotiation—your hosts Damien and Nick talk about how approaching this process with a collaborative mindset can set you up for long-term success.
EDC website
02:17 Help them help you
Remember that whether you’re negotiating with an academic institution or potential investors in your new company, your scientific vision has value to the other party. What’s more, they already understand that they’ll need to support and invest in you to help you succeed.
It can be intimidating to put yourself out there and have someone else put a dollar value on your ideas. That’s why it’s important to start by sharing your passion for your science. You’re the expert in your own research, and your contagious enthusiasm for your ideas will help to bring the other parties into alignment.
10:08 It’s about the journey
Once you and your negotiation partners have agreed on the destination, the details of how you’ll get there together will start to naturally fall into place. In this segment, Damien and Nick explain how to start figuring out what tangible resources you’ll need to create your scientific vision; the numbers will follow.
Feedback? Questions? Ideas for new episodes? Let us know!
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What can modern scientists learn from the Wright brothers?
Whether you’re an academic researcher or an entrepreneur, you’ll often need to balance the financial and creative sides of science. With the right approach to managing your research, you can learn to harness your scientific passion to drive innovative discovery—and when that research takes off, the money will follow.
00:44 Introductions
Meet your hosts, Nick and Damien from Experimental Designs Consulting.
EDC website
01:30 Does profit really trump passion in scientific entrepreneurship?
Are we approaching the end of the technical founder era? Nick and Damien discuss a recent article that describes a new model of biotech product development, controlled more by venture capital interests than by the passion of individual founding scientists. How can entrepreneurs balance these two aspects of the biotech business to reduce financial risk without stifling scientific innovation?
Article: The Founder is dead. Long live The Founding Investor, by Isaac Stoner
13:50 Beyond the budget in academic research
In this segment, your hosts explore an example of a major equipment purchase decision in which the immediate financial costs had to be weighed against the value and risk of a long-term investment in the lab’s research productivity. Reframing the dollars and cents of a research budget in ways that relate directly to advancing your overall research vision can help you make the right decisions about how to spend your hard-earned funds.
The story of Samuel Langley: 5 Lessons From the Wright Brothers and the Power of Purpose, by Aly Juma
Feedback? Questions? Ideas for new episodes? Let us know!
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