For emerging biotechs · Partnering, collaborations & investors
The right partners and investors for your lead compound.
For biotechs without a BD team. I run your partnering and investor pipeline the way discovery runs a screen: map the whole field, qualify on fit, and put a data package in front of each target that answers their first diligence questions before they ask.
Where biotech deals stall
Most partnering processes stall before the first CDA
Good science doesn't sell itself. Partners and investors see far more programs than they can diligence, so the first screen is fast and it runs on fit, timing and evidence.
Outreach without a screen
A list of every pharma company with a BD inbox isn't a target list. Partners buy against their own therapeutic focus, modality bets and pipeline gaps. Investors fund against a thesis, a stage and a check size. Miss on fit and strong data still gets a polite no.
A story with no milestone
Partners and investors price the next value-inflection point, not the science in general. If the deck can't say what the deal or the round buys, in which studies and by when, the conversation stays exploratory.
Diligence finds the gaps first
Exposure that isn't linked to efficacy. A result in one model. Non-GLP data presented as definitive. A test article nobody characterized. Diligence teams find these in week one. Better that you find them first and have the answer ready.
What I do
Four pieces of work, each with a written result
Partnering and licensing
Target mapping across pharma, biotech and platform companies, screened on therapeutic focus, modality, stage appetite and recent deals. Then the non-confidential teaser, the outreach, and follow-up through CDA, data room and term sheet, alongside your counsel.
You getA ranked target list, a teaser and deck, and a tracked outreach pipeline.
Investor readiness
Your raise tied to milestones: what the round funds, which studies, and the readout it buys. Your deck read the way a diligence team will read it, a data room built before anyone asks for it, and a target list of investors who back your stage and modality.
You getA milestone-based financing plan, deck markup, data room index and investor list.
Research collaborations
Collaborations that extend what a small team can do: academic labs with the right model or assay, sponsored research, and CRO and CDMO partners coordinated as one program instead of five separate vendors.
You getA partner shortlist, a collaboration outline and term points for your counsel.
The data package behind it
The studies partners and investors will ask about, scoped and quoted so they read out before the conversations you need them for. This is the work I do every day on the CRO side.
You getA study plan sequenced against your partnering and financing calendar. How scoping works
How I run a partnering process
Screen wide. Advance the ones that fit.
The same discipline that finds a lead compound finds the right partner: a broad library, a hard screen, and a short list worth the follow-up.
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Step 1
Map
Every company and investor plausibly interested in your target, modality or indication.
OutputA long list built from pipelines, deal history and portfolios.
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Step 2
Screen
Score each one on strategic fit, stage appetite, recent activity and capacity to do a deal now.
OutputA ranked short list, with the reason each one fits.
The step most teams skip -
Step 3
Qualify
Find the right person: the search and evaluation lead, the therapeutic-area head, or the partner who led a similar deal.
OutputNamed contacts and the angle for each.
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Step 4
Engage
Non-confidential outreach, first meetings, and follow-up that brings something new each time.
OutputCDAs signed with the targets that lean in.
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Step 5
Advance
Data room, diligence questions answered fast, and term sheet support alongside your counsel.
OutputTerm sheets you can compare, or a clear no and the reason.
Timing
Partner and raise on data, not on plans
Valuation steps up when data reads out. Set the partnering and financing calendar from the study calendar, and start conversations before the readout so it lands with people already paying attention.
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Stage 1
Lead selection
In vitro potency, early ADME and first rodent PK.
Deal & capital windowFounders, angels, seed funds and grants. Academic and foundation collaborations.
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Stage 2
In vivo proof of concept
Efficacy that reproduces in a relevant model, with exposure linked to effect.
Deal & capital windowSeed extension or Series A. Research collaborations and early option conversations open up.
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Stage 3
IND-enabling
GLP toxicology, safety pharmacology, validated bioanalysis and GMP material.
Deal & capital windowRounds sized to reach IND and first clinical data. Option-to-license and co-development talks get concrete.
Plan both here -
Stage 4
IND and first-in-human
IND cleared, first safety and exposure data in people.
Deal & capital windowLarger rounds and licensing on clinical data, including regional deals.
Windows vary by modality, indication and market. What holds across all of them: the study plan sets the calendar for partners and investors, so build them together.
Readiness check
Are you partner-ready? Ten questions, two minutes.
These are the questions partners and investors work through in the first weeks of diligence. Tick what's true today. Your answers stay in your browser.
0 / 10
Tick what's true today
Your score and the first gaps to close update as you go.
Ways to work together
Start small. Scale when it's working.
Every engagement has a written scope and a fee agreed up front.
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2 weeks · fixed fee
Readiness diagnostic
- Review of your deck, data package and IP summary
- Gaps ranked by what diligence will find first
- A recommendation: partner now, raise now, or generate data first
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8–12 weeks · fixed fee
Partnering or financing sprint
- Target map and ranked short list
- Teaser, deck and data room index
- Outreach, meeting prep and follow-up through CDA
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Monthly · ongoing
Fractional head of BD
- Owns your partnering and investor pipeline
- Runs diligence and coordinates counsel and advisors
- Reports pipeline status to your CEO and board
The Partner-Ready Checklist
40 things partners and investors check in a preclinical program, plus six investor-specific checks. Work through it before outreach and you'll know what diligence will ask first.
- A
- The asset story: TPP, unmet need, mechanism, competition
- B–D
- Efficacy, safety, DMPK, CMC and test article
- E
- IP, chain of title and encumbrances
- F–G
- Milestones and the materials to show them
- H–I
- Targets, outreach process and data room
- Bonus
- Six checks before an investor meeting
Investor work is advisory: readiness, materials, targeting and process. I'm not a broker-dealer or placement agent, and I'm never paid a percentage of capital raised. Deal terms are negotiated with your counsel. I also provide contract BD to Noble Life Sciences and Accelevir Diagnostics. If that touches your program, you'll hear it from me at the start.
Questions
Before you book a call
Do you introduce us to partners and investors?
I build the target list with you and show you who fits and why. Where I have a real connection, I'll make the introduction; for the rest, I write and run the outreach with you. Founders lead the pitch. I prepare it and run the process around it.
We're still in IND-enabling studies. Is it too early?
Often it's the right time to start. Partners and investors tend to follow a program for months before they act. Starting while GLP studies run means the readout lands with people already watching, rather than kicking off a cold process after it.
Which programs are a fit?
Preclinical through early clinical, across small molecules, biologics, gene therapy and vaccines. If your program needs a specialist I'm not, I'll say so on the first call and suggest who to talk to.
How is confidentiality handled?
Outreach starts with non-confidential materials only. Confidential data moves under a CDA you approve, and I sign one with you before you share anything with me.
How is it priced?
A fixed fee for the diagnostic and for sprints, or a monthly retainer for ongoing work, agreed in writing after the intro call. Never a percentage of a financing.
Can you also get our studies scoped and placed?
Yes. That's where I started, and it's often where a partnering plan finds its gaps. See study scoping and CRO sourcing.
Next step
Start with a 30-minute partnering call.
Bring your deck or a one-paragraph summary. Non-confidential is fine. You'll leave with the three things I'd fix first, whether or not we work together.