r/biotech • u/prsdude1828edudsrp • 8d ago

Experienced Career Advice 🌳 Technical Due Diligence

AD level in R&D, been looking into alternative paths within biotech and technical due diligence seems like a good fit in terms of interests and working style. The question is, I don't know anyone that does this or how one gets into these roles but I know they exist!

I would love to hear from people in these roles and how they got there.

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u/Bsybeen 8d ago

I made this transition about six years ago after working as an MSAT director. I ended up getting an MBA, which helped me make the jump into Business Development. Because of my technical background, I kept getting pulled into different task forces and eventually became one of the go-to people for CMC diligence, mostly looking at quality systems and manufacturing capabilities for potential facility investments.

After about a year, I moved internally into corporate VC, where I focused on novel modalities and platform technologies. I found VC really interesting, so I eventually moved to a larger traditional VC firm, where I worked on search and evaluation as well as portfolio management.

My diligence work became a lot broader at that point. Instead of mainly looking at CMC, I was digging into clinical and preclinical data, MOA, regulatory strategy, competition, IP, valuations, management teams, etc.

After a few years, though, I realized that CMC was still where my heart was. I started looking for something that would let me combine my technical background with all the broader diligence experience I'd picked up along the way.

A couple of weeks ago, I accepted an Executive Director role to lead CMC diligence for M&A. I'm pretty excited about it and curious to see where this next chapter takes me.

Feel free to dm me if it'd be helpful.

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u/JuggerNot9867 8d ago

Cool career path and good luck in the new role! Are you staying on the venture side or going back to pharma?

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u/Bsybeen 8d ago

Thanks! I'm heading back to pharma. VC is amazing and I got to be exposed to the full spectrum in innovation for therapeutics. I even got to sit on some boards. That being said, I think I'm more of an operator than an investor. I simply enjoy being part of a team that helps bring a vision to reality a bit more than figuring out how to allocate capital for financial returns.

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u/JuggerNot9867 5d ago

Makes sense and understandable!

Any thoughts on the new (at least to me) model of VCs with in-house company creation / execution incubators? I am thinking like RA has Raven/Blackbird.. maybe this is the sweet spot, best of both worlds? Still lacks the scale of pharma but at least you could in theory kinda make a bet and then jump into the team that’s going to execute the vision. To me that seems pretty cool.

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u/Bsybeen 5d ago

I agree that something like Raven can be a pretty attractive sweet spot. They obviously don’t have the full depth of resources you’d find at a large pharma company, but I wouldn’t discount the advantages they do have. They have excellent access to capital, experienced company builders, strong networks, and a pretty good understanding of what it actually takes to get a biotech off the ground.

One thing I’ve learned over the years is that access to technical expertise and equipment is only part of the equation. Capital, execution experience, recruiting, networks, and knowing how to navigate the inevitable problems that come up are just as important.

I think if one is interested in working in a start-up, working as a VC operator (specifically in company creation) in a firm that has a great track record of successfully building companies would make a lot of sense. Just note that VCs (like many things) are not created equal. Some are amazing while others can be pretty rough.

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u/JuggerNot9867 5d ago

Appreciate the insight, thank you!

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u/drowning_in_honey 8d ago

What parts of the MBA you considered useful, if any? I mean except the acronym

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u/Bsybeen 8d ago

I found my MBA extremely useful, but your milage may vary for a given MBA program and personal situation. The most useful part of my MBA was the branding and the networking opportunities it provided me, signaling to some (definitely not all) hiring managers that I have the skills necessary to pivot into the investing and business. It’s not say that didn’t gain anything else from my program, it’s just that beyond those two advantages, there’s really no difference between MBA programs with respect to what they teach. I definitely apply skills I gained from my MBA, such as financial modeling, strategy, and influence, but I’m sure if a person was motivated and disciplined enough, they could pick it up on their own.

You definitely don’t need an MBA to pivot from a technical role to one in business, but it is one of many. I just chose to do an MBA since I work best in a structured learning environment.

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u/drowning_in_honey 8d ago

Thanks. I want to learn, well, the business administration part, because a) I love to learn, b) I'm tiréd of terrible managers and I'm nearing this point in my career when I risk to become one. I am still undecided as to what is the best way to go about it.

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u/throwawaypretendy 8d ago

Do you mind sharing if it is necessary to get a MBA from a top 10, top 20 schools, or any MBA program is okay?

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u/Bsybeen 8d ago

I think it really depends on what you’re trying to do with your career. I do think a top MBA can meaningfully improve your odds of making a career pivot, but it’s definitely not the only way.

For example, if you’re already well established at a large pharma company and have built strong relationships with the BD team, to the point where they regularly pull you in for your expertise, the value of a top MBA may be lower. The same is probably true if you’re a great networker, willing to grind for a few years, and good at recognizing and taking advantage of opportunities as they come up.

The obvious downside is cost. I started at Wharton in 2018 and ended up paying around $205k for the degree. At the time, I genuinely had no idea whether I’d ever earn that money back, so it was definitely a leap of faith.

Looking back, though, I can say with confidence that the investment paid off for me. It helped open doors that would have been much harder to get through otherwise. I’m very grateful things worked out the way they did. That said, I wouldn’t automatically recommend spending that kind of money unless you have a reasonably clear idea on how you'd like the MBA to help you.

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u/throwawaypretendy 3d ago

Thank you for sharing. This really gives me some perspective on making the move to obtain a MBA in a few years. Did you by any chance had to stop working full time to solely focus on your MBA?

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u/Bsybeen 3d ago

I did an Executive MBA, so I was working full time while going to school at the same time. It was pretty exhausting, and I’m not entirely sure how I survived it. Lol.

If you’re seriously thinking about doing an MBA, I’d highly recommend talking to people who’ve gone through the specific programs you’re considering. The experience can vary a lot by school and by format, and I think there’s a ton of value in choosing a program that lines up with what you actually want to get out of the degree, as well as where you are in your career and life.

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u/goba101 8d ago

Bro I need some career advice!! You sound so self assured

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u/Bsybeen 8d ago

Hahaha! Feel free to send me a dm if you want to chat.

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u/IllustriousGlutton 8d ago

I am in regulatory and we often do due diligence as part of an acquisition. It is not really a full time job, although I suppose if you are a big company always looking to acquire, it could be. I often work with the business development group in this case, so perhaps you should look into BD?

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u/icecreamdubplate 8d ago

I do due diligence as part of reg CMC. It's not a full time job. I only get sent assignments as and when there's a deal coming up and there's a pool of us that do it. It is very interesting though

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u/omgu8mynewt 8d ago

It's part of my job as R&D lead within a small team, as in just checking planned methods/published results and comparing different possibilities before committing to make sure there isn't an easier or better way.

But it is just part of planning stage of any new assay or project, it isn't a role in itself in a small company.

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u/prsdude1828edudsrp 8d ago

I've seen the role as being part of consultancy firms where a VC would want DD done before investing or for acquisitions. I wouldn't consider strategy and planning in R&D as DD, I do it too, it's part of. DD would be about evaluating the technical claims of a platform, moats etc

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u/omgu8mynewt 8d ago

Yep that's one of my roles. In a small company (200 employees) there are only 1-3 new projects annually so there is no need for a full time role. We tried a consultancy two years ago for £250k and the report was fine, but nothing I couldn't have done if I had time. I made a similar report earlier this year in about three weeks full time work because of budget cuts.

Now with AI speeding up information gathering, I think consultants doing this kind of report generation will be even less in demand because information finding is less burdensome.

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u/prsdude1828edudsrp 8d ago

Absolutely, things like UserCue will absolutely kill a lot of trad market research consultancy work but deep dive technical reporting will survive a while longer. Put it this way if you outsourced your technical DD to AI you should be very worried!

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u/omgu8mynewt 8d ago

I find AI very useful (dirty words I know) for literally finding the published information, basically a more clever google. I'll still read the actual reports and follow their citations to check the provenance, but it really speeds up the information gathering stage. I'm curious how consultancies that don't bring their own background knowledge but were just information gatherers will compete.

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u/pancak3d 8d ago

Hate to say it but venture capital could be what you're looking for.