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In today's episode of the Scientist to CEO podcast, Marco Lobba, Ph.D. shares with us the highly effective outreach strategy he used to secure his first major partner - and all the steps he took to get there. You'll also hear Marco's inspirational journey going from Matt Francis and Jennifer Doudna's lab (the Nobel Prize-winning scientist and CRISPR pioneer) to co-founding and leading CatenaBio as CEO.
---- Learn more about us at lifesciencegrowth.com or scientisttoceo.com
Learn more about us at lifesciencegrowth.com or scientisttoceo.com
Jennifer Andrews, M.Sc., MBA
Follow & Connect With Jen on LinkedIn
FreshLeaf Marketing
Book: Scientist to CEO: The Marketing Handbook to Help STEM Professionals Grow a Thriving Business
Erica Sosnowski, B.Sc., MBA
Follow & Connect With Erica on LinkedIn
Sosna + Co
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Learn more about us at lifesciencegrowth.com or scientisttoceo.com
Jennifer Andrews, M.Sc., MBA
Follow & Connect With Jen on LinkedIn
FreshLeaf Marketing
Book: Scientist to CEO: The Marketing Handbook to Help STEM Professionals Grow a Thriving Business
Erica Sosnowski, B.Sc., MBA
Follow & Connect With Erica on LinkedIn
Sosna + Co
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Full Transcript Below:
Jennifer Andrews: Hi everyone and welcome to the very first episode of the Scientist to CEO podcast, co-hosted by me, Jennifer Andrews, and Erica Sosnowski. In this short trailer, we’ll share a quick intro on what you can expect from each episode, the topics we’ll cover and the kinds of things you’ll learn. We’ll also share some of our own journeys so you understand how we came to be doing the work we’re doing today.
Erica Sosnowski: On this podcast, we’ll bring you interviews with life science leaders who have made the leap from science to business and are navigating all the challenges that come with growing their companies. Each guest’s appearance will take the format of a mini case study. It won’t be a science deep dive, but more so a conversation around the exact marketing and BD strategies they used to achieve a specific outcome. Sometimes this will be a win or achievement and how they did it (with tips you can use). Other times it will be a lesson learned or a story about something that didn’t go so well but taught some valuable lessons that we think you should know.
Jennifer Andrews: We’ll also do the occasional solo episode, just Erica and I, where we share a hot topic and what leaders should know right now. For example, tips and tricks for getting the most out of LinkedIn, AI tools that will save you time and money, and our tactical tips for business growth that we’ve used to help our clients. No matter who the guest is or what the topic, we’re committed to giving you tactical advice you can actually implement – all with a focus on marketing and BD. These are two areas that scientific entrepreneurs tend to be under-educated in but which hold so much potential for growth. In fact, I wrote an entire book about marketing in the sciences, published in 2023. It’s called Scientist to CEO – yes, this podcast was named after the book and is sort of an extension of it – plus so much more. You can grab your copy on Amazon worldwide. That’s my shameless plug.
Erica Sosnowski: Now for more context, we’ll share a bit about ourselves and how we got into the life sciences sector in the first place. Jen and I have parallel career journeys. We both have degrees in biology and MBAs and bring 30 years of combined industry experience. And for both of us, our interest in science goes all the way back to our childhoods.
Jennifer Andrews: For as long as she could remember, Erica wanted to become a dentist. Having grown up around science her whole life, she knew she would be involved in health and helping people in some way. This path changed a bit when, while working at a restaurant during university, Erica was helping solve an issue for a customer, and the person said, “You really have a natural talent for being persuasive. That’s not easy to find.” Clearly she made an impact, because that customer went on to become Erica’s boss, overseeing her in a new management position which set the stage for a different career. Before long, Erica was traveling the globe working in business development for some of the biggest pharma and contract manufacturing companies in the world. Then, in 2018, Erica launched Sosna, a boutique life science business development organization which she has been running ever since. To date, Sosna has closed more than $250 million in deals and boasts a network of more than 80K connections that they leverage to help their clients achieve their growth goals.
Erica Sosnowski: As for Jen, she grew up around nature and was fascinated by everything from insects to fungi. She loved to draw animals and plants and was a major bookworm. Her plan was to become a marine biologist, but through her undergrad she discovered a passion for food science and nutrition which led her down a different path. After her master’s in human health and nutritional science, she spent the first part of her career in regulatory affairs and technical writing at a CRO. Before long, she had switched to a marketing role and went on to build an entire department from scratch. It was the perfect fit, bringing together her creative and scientific sides to communicate the company’s value in a compelling way. Just a year after I launched Sosna, Jen had similar plans to launch her own business based around her marketing skills (though we still didn’t know each other yet). So she left her full-time director role to launch her marketing consulting company, FreshLeaf Marketing, in 2019. To date, she has served over 100 start-ups and small businesses across STEM fields through her digital marketing and branding work.
Jennifer Andrews: Erica and I ended up meeting a few years back through a mutual connection and bonded over our shared backgrounds, work ethic, and the clients we were serving. It didn’t take long for us to realize that 99% of the clients we work with tend to struggle with the same things: how to simplify their science, how to communicate about it in a compelling way, how to get more eyes on their companies. So we collaborated on projects together, created our online course and coaching platform, and started hosting events and webinars to help technical leaders create and implement strategic marketing and BD approaches. Today we bring all of this together under our brand and community, called—you guessed it—Scientist to CEO. In addition to providing consulting services through our companies Sosna and FreshLeaf, the Scientist to CEO platform allows us to help even more companies – especially start-ups and small businesses that don’t have the budget to hire or outsource the services we provide. In our experience, technical founders are underserved and often misunderstood – accelerators, incubators and other traditional sources of help often give generic advice and strategies that don’t work for life science companies. This podcast is our way to bring more of our ideas and insights to you and scientific entrepreneurs around the world – all while hearing from other “scientist to CEOs” like you.
Erica Sosnowski: We’re excited about this next phase and having you along for the ride. Whether you are a scientist looking to transition to a business role, an entrepreneur in the life sciences industry, or just someone interested in the intersection of science and business, this podcast is for you. We can’t wait to share our thoughts and those of our incredible guests with you.
Jennifer Andrews: So, make sure to subscribe to the Scientist to CEO podcast on your favorite podcast platform, and follow us on LinkedIn for updates, other helpful content, and the occasional “hot take.” To learn more about the Scientist to CEO course and coaching community, or request 1:1 services, go to scientisttoceo.com. We look forward to having you with us.
Erica Sosnowski: Thanks for tuning in, and we’ll see you in the next episode!
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