
The Consolidation Of Talent, Capital and Returns in Biotech - fern12
https://lifescivc.com/2017/03/inescapable-gravity-biotechs-key-clusters-great-consolidation-talent-capital-returns/?ref=endpts
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Jonanin
A biotech management recruiter commented:

    
    
      MA will pull away with the lead soon from Bay Area
      based on cost of living. I have senior management
      members tell me daily that they'll move anywhere
      BUT Bay Area. You'll pay $3.2m for 3/4 BR in Palo
      Alto. South Bay and North Bay aren't too much better.

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tormeh
Yeah, but SF has the money, so they'll just have to put up with it. I mean, is
there any other reason to be in SF for a biotech startup?

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kgwgk
Boston has no money?

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tormeh
Does anywhere in the world have venture capital the way SF/SV has? No, and
suggesting otherwise is absurd. Boston has the best research institutions, but
cash is king.

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kgwgk
> Does anywhere in the world have venture capital the way SF/SV has?

For biotech deals, Boston does.

[http://www.fiercebiotech.com/venture-
capital/top-15-cities-f...](http://www.fiercebiotech.com/venture-
capital/top-15-cities-for-biotech-venture-funding)

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bhewes
Oklahoma City has a small but strong Biotech and medical device scene ($6.7B
Revenue, $2.2B salaries for a workforce of 51,000). Even then most companies
in OKC raise money in SF & Boston and either have an office there or move back
and forth. Which is pointed out in the section on satellite offices. The
satellite office trend I don't see stopping given how cheap flights are and
how fast communications have become between coasts.

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hyperion2010
Uh, San Diego conspicuously not on the list here?

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kgwgk
What list? San Diego is mentioned in the article and is #5 in the list given
in the first link.

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ISL
> These data are striking.

The use of 'data' to mean 'plural of datum' continues to fall out of favor in
modern usage. Encountering it in a Saturday-morning browse was a note of
angelic harmony to start the day.

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abysmalfitzg
Would you not agree that it might be a bit of a British thing (the author is
Oxford educated)? A reflexive urge to pluralize bands, companies and other
startup-proximate collective nouns.

'"Data are" doesn't roll of their tongues smoothly. But for British readers
the plural is more natural.' [0]

[0]
[https://www.economist.com/blogs/graphicdetail/2012/07/point-...](https://www.economist.com/blogs/graphicdetail/2012/07/point-
information)

BTW I looked you up. Do you know anything about Richard Muller's ideas for
realising table-top detectors of gravitational waves?

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ISL
Whether it's a British thing or not is beyond my knowledge. I just wanted to
celebrate something that made me happy :).

Regarding Richard Muller's proposals: I don't -- confusingly, I _am_ familiar
with Holger Müller's proposals, and it would appear that they are both at
Berkeley.

Experiment is the arbiter of truth; whenever any new instrumentation can
demonstrably reach the relevant sensitivity and systematic-effect rejection
necessary to do a job better than it has been done before, we'll all switch to
it.

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throwingerman
Wow this article is pretty condescending towards the biotech scene in
Europe...

I'm going to go out on a limb here and say, maybe there are fewer biotech
startups in Europe because profiting off of people's illnesses is generally
frowned upon?

My guess is progress in that area falls more into the realm of government
grants, with maybe the exception of classical pharmaceuticals (there are
plenty of old companies like Bayer).

Biotech is not my field so I'd be interested in hearing other people's
opinions.

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jonwachob91
You should go back and reread the entire article. This isn’t a US is better
than the rest of the world post, it’s a Boston/SF are getting really good at
the whole life science startup thing.

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throwingerman
Sure, I'd see no problem highlighting how far they've come. Sharing success
stories is important. Which is why I found it odd that they were making
multiple condescending references to Europe such as (paraphrasing) "if you're
not in Boston or SF you might as well be in Europe" where it's making it sound
like Siberia...

