Leadership, Culture, and the Art of Building a Life Sciences Startup

I spoke with Brian Thomson, HR consultant and leadership coach, about leadership, hiring, retention, and culture in early-stage life science companies. Brian’s practical insights offer a roadmap for building and sustaining a thriving company from the ground up.

The Importance of Modeling the Right Behaviors

From the beginning, Brian emphasized a key concept: intentionality. In his view, leadership is not just about making the right decisions; it's about being intentional in how you model behaviors and build culture within your organization. This is particularly crucial in the fluid environments of startups, where the pace is fast, and the stakes are high.

He pointed out that it’s not about whether a particular culture is right or wrong—what matters is that it’s intentional and authentic. This intentionality shapes hiring, retention, and performance management, all of which are crucial for the long-term success of a company. He argued that strategic planning should not just be a buzzword but a disciplined practice that informs every decision, from the type of culture you want to build to the kind of people you need to hire.

The Rule of Threes: Core Competencies in Startups

Brain has a rule of threes when it comes to what founders of early-stage life science companies need to focus on: disruptive science, a strong core team, and a high degree of intentionality around culture. While it’s easy for founders to get fixated on the science—because it’s their passion and it’s measurable—the other two elements are just as critical.

This resonated with me, especially considering how often we see startups with groundbreaking science but no clear direction on how to build a team or a culture that can sustain the business. The science might make headlines, but it’s the culture and the team that will drive the long-term success of the company.

Strategic Planning: More Than Just a Process

Brian’s sees strategic planning as more than just a process; it’s a foundational practice that lends clarity, focus, and discipline to an organization. He mentioned that in his role as a coach, he often works with early-stage organizations to develop a strategic plan that is as concrete as possible. The goal? To ensure that at any given moment, everyone in the organization knows the top priorities.

Be very disciplined. Be very focused. Make your plan. Make it as concrete as possible. At any given time, if I go and ask two of your employees, anywhere in the organization, “What are the number one and what's the number one and what's the number two topmost priority that the company has at that moment?”

If they can't answer that, it indicates to me that you haven't done a good enough job of being very clear and being very focused.

This approach to strategic planning directly feeds into the hiring process. By being clear on the values and culture you want to create, you can ensure that the people you bring into the organization are aligned with those goals. Hiring isn’t just about finding people with the right skills; it’s about finding people who will thrive in the specific culture and environment of your company.

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Hiring: An Internal Competency, Not a Task to Outsource

Many startups make a mistake by outsourcing their hiring processes. Hiring is too critical to be left to an external agency, especially in the early stages of a company’s development. The first 10 to 15 hires set the tone for the entire organization, and if those hires don’t align with the company’s culture and values, it will create long-term issues.

Brian argued that hiring should be an internal competency, with the leadership team taking an active role in the process. This ensures that everyone who joins the company is fully aware of the environment they’re stepping into, whether it’s a messy startup with lots of ambiguity