Innovation within the healthcare ecosystem is booming, but one particular healthcare technology has begun to emerge as a bona fide game-changer: pharmacogenomics. Pharmacogenomics, or PGx, centers on the science of how a person’s genes impact his or her response to medication; however the real potential lies in how new PGx technologies now go beyond DNA testing to assess how an individual will respond to drugs based on genetics, lifestyle factors (e.g. age, medical conditions, food/drink consumption), and traditional medication risk management considerations — and make that information easy to understand.

Why is the potential for PGx so enormous?

For hundreds of medications, successful treatment is directly related to an individual’s DNA as natural variation in our genetic code can cause the same drug to produce different effects on different people. These drug-gene interactions affect a medication’s efficacy, often spur adverse drug events, and can be dangerous for many. In fact, adverse drug events are the fourth leading cause of death in the U.S., and the cost of medication-associated errors exceeds $40 billion.

PGx is driving forward a new, more efficient standard of care by:

Eliminating unnecessary healthcare costs for providers, patients and payers

According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, adverse drug events in outpatient settings account for 3.5 million physician office visits, 1 million ER visits, and 125,000 outpatient hospital admissions annually. In fact, treating adverse drug events in the U.S. may cost up to $30.1 billion every year. It’s easy to see how the cost of getting medications wrong reverberates through the healthcare service model and echoes back as wasted resources, time, and poor health.

Turning trial-and-error prescribing on its head

With a clear view of which medications are safe and effective for an individual, and those that are not, doctors and pharmacists are empowered to personalize patient treatment plans. This precision medicine approach streamlines the course of care, reducing the risk and inefficiencies inherent in trial-and-error prescribing.

Providing faster pathways to better health

Rather than spending critical time going through multiple rounds of medication adjustments to get drugs and dosage just right, PGx helps ensure people are taking the right medications for them, right away. Whether the insights inform the selection of a newly prescribed drug or flag an adjustment to an existing medication regimen, this personalized knowledge enables patients to fast-forward to better health.

Empowering providers with real-time clinical decision support

New tools are bridging the gap between genetic knowledge and clinical application, which is critical for making PGx insights actionable for healthcare providers. For example, Coriell Life Sciences’ GeneDose LIVE is a real-time medication decision support tool that provides risk information for patient medication regimens and offers alternatives for safer therapy, all in real time.

Amid the growing use of prescription drugs, it’s clear why PGx is poised to become the next big thing in health and elevate the standard of care.

Scott Megill is President and Chief Executive Officer of Coriell Life Sciences (CLS). With a vision to translate decades of cutting-edge genetic research into insights that empower the most precise medical care, Scott launched Coriell Life Sciences out of the renowned Coriell Institute for Medical Research in 2013. Under his leadership, CLS earned recognition as IBM’s Global Entrepreneur of the Year and has grown to become an internationally trusted provider of comprehensive medication risk management solutions, bioinformatics, and genetic interpretation and reporting services. Pioneering innovation in precision medicine, Scott is a driving force in setting the industry standard for pharmacogenomics and advancing a healthier world.

Forget Trial-and-Error Prescribing, Pharmacogenomics is Driving a New Standard of Personalized Care was originally published in IntuitiveX on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Recent advances in personalized medicine have paved the path for newer cell and gene therapies and a wave of next-generation technologies. Even though cell and gene therapies have been regarded as the future of medicine, very few people understand them and even less people know the history behind how such therapeutics have come into prominence.

To share the history of how researchers have pioneered treatments to reduce defects in the human body, IntuitiveX collaborated with Dr. Chris Xu, CEO of ThermoGenesis, to explore the advent of gene therapy and cell therapy as effective approaches.

Understanding Cells and Genes

In the field of molecular biology, life is explored and studied at the level of atoms and molecules. Central to molecular biology is the discovery that a more basic understanding of any organism could be obtained by studying the cells of which that organism is made. This foundational knowledge lead to the following principles that still dominate molecular biology today:

1. Key to the way any cell operates are proteins, they are the building blocks cell structures are made; proteins make muscles, bones, and blood, which in turn, support most of our body’s functions such as digestion, making energy, and growing.
2. Proteins are constructed within cells based on deoxyribonucleic acids (DNA) present in the nuclei of cells.

In short, cells are the basic building block of all living things; the human body is composed of trillions of them. Within these cells, thousands of genes provide the instructions and information for the production of proteins that play a role in determining what an organism is like, its appearance, how it survives, and how it behaves in its environment. These genes are made up of DNA, which contains all of the information necessary to build and maintain an organism.

As a result, genes in your body’s cells play an integral part in your health — a defective gene or genes can make you sick. Recognizing this, scientists have been working for decades on ways to modify genes or replace faulty genes with healthy ones to treat, cure or prevent a disease or medical condition.

Read Dr. Chris Xu, CEO of ThermoGenesis thoughts below:

Gene and cell therapies are overlapping fields of research and treatments. While both aim to treat and potentially cure diseases, they have slightly differing approaches and historical backgrounds. Due to growing interest surrounding this field, the general public still has much to learn and understand about each of these potentially life-saving therapies.

Below, we provide a general overview and brief historical context for each type of therapy.

The History of Cell Therapy

Cell therapy is the process of replacing damaged or dysfunctional cells with new, healthy ones by transferring live cells into a patient. These can be autologous (also known as self-to-self, using cells from the patient receiving the treatment) or allogeneic (using cells from a donor for the treatment). While this field of treatment has recently begun to expand, some forms of cell therapy like the cancer-treating hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) have been in practice for decades.

While many people have heard of bone marrow transplants, few realize that this procedure is a stem cell therapy. While stem cells can be derived from many sources, such as umbilical cord blood and mobilized peripheral blood, bone marrow derived stem cell therapy is the most commonly used today and has been for more than 50 years.

The first transfusion of human bone marrow was given to a patient with aplastic anemia in 1939. After World War II researchers diligently worked to restore bone marrow function in aplasia patients caused by exposure to radiation produced by the atomic bomb. After a decade of work they were able to show, in a mouse model, that aplasia could be overcome by bone marrow treatment.

The first allogeneic HSCT, which led the way to current protocols, was pioneered by E. Donnall Thomas and his team at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and reported in the New England Journal of Medicine in 1957. In this study six patients were treated with radiation and chemotherapy and then received intravenous infusion of bone marrow rich stem cells from a normal donor to reestablish the damaged or defective cells. Since then the field has evolved and expanded worldwide. While almost half of HSCT are allogeneic, the majority of HSCT are autologous, the patient’s own stem cells are used for treatment, which carries less risk to the patient.

In 1988, scientists discovered that they could derive stem cells from human embryos and grow the cells in a laboratory. These newly derived stem cells, referred to as embryonic stem cells (hESCs), were found to be pluripotent, meaning they can give rise to virtually any other type of cell in the body. This versatility allows hESCs cells to potentially regenerate or repair diseased tissue and organs. Two decades after they were discovered, treatments based on hESCs have been slow in coming because of controversy over their source and concerns that they could turn into tumors once implanted. Only recently, testing has begun as a treatment for two major diseases: heart failure and type 1 diabetes.

A Cell Therapy Industry Breakthrough

In 2006, researchers made a groundbreaking discovery by identifying conditions that would allow some cells to be “reprogrammed” genetically. This new type of stem cell became known as induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs). Since this discovery, the field has expanded tremendously in the past two decades. Stem cell therapies have expanded in use and have been used to treat diseases such as type 1 diabetes, Parkinson’s and even spinal cord injuries.

There has also been a growing focus on using other immune cells to treat cancer. Therapies such as CAR T-cell are dependent upon a patient’s T-cells, which play a critical role in managing the immune response and killing cells affected by harmful pathogens. These cells are then reengineered to target and kill certain cancerous cells. Several CAR T-cell therapies have been FDA approved, with the first approval being given in 2017 for Yescarta and Kymriah, to be used for the treatment of B-cell leukemia in children and young adults.

The History of Gene Therapy

Gene therapy is a process that modifies the expression of a gene or alters the biological process of living cells for therapeutic use. This process can take the form of replacing a disease-causing gene with a new, healthy one, inactivating the mutated gene, or introducing a new gene to help the patient’s body fight a disease.

While the use of gene therapy to treat humans is fairly new, the science behind it has been used in science for decades. Farmers and geneticists have collaborated for years on crop improvement using cross pollination, genetic engineering and microinjection techniques to create stronger, more resilient crops.

Industry Advancements

The first human patient to be treated with gene therapy was a four-year old girl suffering from severe combined immunodeficiency in 1990. She received treatment for a congenital disease called adenosine deaminase (ADA). Since then, gene therapies have been used to treat diseases such as cancer, cystic fibrosis and hemophilia. In 2017, the FDA gave its first approval of a gene therapy called Luxturna, which is used to treat patients with established genetic vision loss that may result in blindness. Gene therapies are still being studied and developed, with over 1,000 clinical trials currently underway.

A Pioneer in Medtech and Life Sciences Innovation

IntuitiveX is a life sciences catalyst and innovation partner that specializes in intellectual property and growing life sciences companies no matter what stage they are in across medical devices, biotech, pharma, and digital health. With a team of IP experts, physicians, scientists, technologists, engineers, designers, and investors, we bring a combined 100+ years of experience supporting companies from ideation to commercialization. As IP & commercialization experts, we discover and unlock the potential of breakthrough ideas by applying our extensive network and resources to make them possible.

A Pioneer in the Cell and Gene Therapy Market

ThermoGenesis Holdings Inc., is a pioneer and market leader in the development and commercialization of automated cell processing technologies for the cell and gene therapy fields. We market a full suite of solutions for automated clinical biobanking, point-of-care applications and large-scale cell processing and manufacturing with a special emphasis on the emerging CAR-T immunotherapy market. We are committed to making the world a healthier place by creating innovative solutions for those in need.

Automated Cell Processing Systems - ThermoGenesis Holdings, Inc.

Interested in collaborating or working with IntuitiveX?

Contact: Emeka | ealozie@intuitive-x.com

The Exciting History of Cell and Gene Therapy was originally published in IntuitiveX on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

The agreement with CTL Amedica will allow left-handed surgical instruments to continue expansion into broader orthopedic markets.

SEATTLE, Washington — Sept 4, 2019 — Chiral Surgical, an IntuitiveX portfolio company that offers surgical solutions to empower left-handed surgeons in the OR, announced a formal acquisition agreement with CTL Amedica, a leading medical device development and manufacturing company. Terms of the transaction have not been disclosed.

Historically, left-handed (LH) surgeons experienced challenges as they were forced to use instruments and implants designed specifically for right-handed surgeons, especially in the case of spine and orthopedic procedures. With approximately 10% of the population being left-handed, the apparent handicap is significant, and can even affect operating room efficiency and outcomes. In fact, studies have demonstrated that a significant number of left-handed surgeons do not even trust other left-handed surgeons to operate on them.

The innovative solution that Chiral Surgical has developed, which was granted FDA approval for their pedicle screw system in 2018, is simple: offer the only left-handed spine and orthopedic implant system in the market, addressing every step in the surgery and providing LH-specific experiences throughout the procedure.

The addition of Chiral Surgical to CTL Amedica’s portfolio will benefit the surgical field by providing left-handed options for orthopedic surgeons, improving efficiencies and outcomes in operating rooms.

About Chiral Surgical

Chiral Surgical is an IntuitiveX portfolio company that has developed the first commercially-available spine and orthopedic system for left-handed surgeons. Through an innovative and scalable development process under IntuitiveX, Chiral Surgical was able to rapidly design and develop a first-in-class surgical system to address the inefficiencies that left-handed surgeons faced on a daily basis.

About CTL Amedica

CTL Medical Corporation is a forward thinking medical device design, development, and manufacturing company aiming to become the leader in the medical device industry. With a combination of in-house manufacturing facility and R&D Center of Excellence, it further advances ahead of the competition. Their team works closely with end users to imagine and construct multifaceted implants and instruments that become works of art.

About IntuitiveX

IntuitiveX is a Seattle-based life science consulting firm created to help entrepreneurs and startups transform their ideas from concept to commercialization. Their goal is to bring real change to real life. They see the potential in ideas, and apply their resources to make them possible. They represent people with a passion for change, the drive to innovate, and the desire to make a positive impact on the world around them. By working together, they can deliver smarter solutions and improve the lives of people, every day.

Puget Sound Business Journal Leadership Trust is an Invitation-Only Community for Top Business Decision Makers in the Puget Sound Region

Seattle, WA Aug 7, 2019 — Dr. Jeffrey Roh, CEO of IntuitiveX, has been invited to join Puget Sound Business Journal Leadership Trust, an exclusive community of influential business leaders, executives and entrepreneurs in the Puget Sound area.

He was chosen for membership by the Puget Sound Business Journal Leadership Trust Selection Committee due to his experience, leadership and influence in the local business landscape and beyond. Dr. Roh leads the IntuitiveX team by consulting with entrepreneurs in the life science space to capture value from their ideas and concepts. As a spine surgeon, angel investor, inventor, and serial entrepreneur, his 15 years of experience make him well-positioned to tackle the obstacles and difficult barriers-to-entry facing healthcare startups.

“Seattle’s thriving business community is powered by leaders like Dr. Roh,” said Emily Parkhurst, president and publisher of Puget Sound Business Journal. “We’re honored to be creating a space where the region’s business influencers come together to increase their impact on the community, build their businesses and connect with and strengthen one another.”

As an invited member, he will contribute articles to the Puget Sound Business Journal website and participate alongside fellow members in Expert Panels. He will connect and collaborate with a vetted network of local leaders in a members-only directory and a private forum on the group’s mobile app. He will also benefit from leadership and business coaching, an Executive Profile on the Puget Sound Business Journal website, select partner discounts and services and ongoing support from the community’s concierge team.

About Business Journals Leadership Trust
Puget Sound Business Journal Leadership Trust is a part of Business Journals Leadership Trust — a collective of invitation-only networks of influential business leaders, executives and entrepreneurs in your community. To learn more and find out if you qualify, visit trust.bizjournals.com.

About IntuitiveX
IntuitiveX is a Seattle-based life science incubator. Our mission is to bring real change to real life. We see the potential in ideas, and apply our resources to make them possible. Our collective expertise is our most powerful asset, and our aim is to serve people with a passion for change, the drive to innovate, and the desire to make a positive impact on the world around us. By working together, we can deliver smarter solutions and improve the lives of people, every day. From initial concept to final commercialization, we have the in-house knowledge and network of resources to meet your unique needs.
Incubation
Our closed loop incubation model allows for unparalleled collaboration through all stages of development, including product development, prototyping, FDA, FTC, legal compliance, and more.
Consultation
As subject-matter experts in the life sciences domain, our team provides data-driven insights and guidance where needed, from IP prototyping to capital fundraising, and beyond.
Investment
With a portfolio spanning from spinal implant devices to AI/ML, Investors will have the opportunity to diversity investment and exclusive access to our portfolio companies.

Learn more at Intuitive-X.com

At IntuitiveX, we believe that defining values is just as important as defining project goals. It guides the posture in which we approach every aspect of our company. As our initials are IX, we thought it appropriate to share our top nine values that affect our approach.

I. Trust is equally, if not more, important than efficiency.

Your team members need to trust you have their best interest in mind and that what comes from you is good for them. Let’s be honest. You can’t make everyone happy all the time. There will be times you need to pick progress over peace, but you need a team that trusts each other in order to do that well.

II. Sit around a round table.

Ok, so we don’t always literally sit around a round table, but the point is that there is no elevated team member. We are equally valued and one team. We remind each other that we either all win together or lose together.

III. No idea is the only bad idea.

There are good ideas and, let’s be honest, there are bad ideas, but the worst idea is the one never spoken. Perhaps a wacky idea will spark another person’s brilliant idea and a beautiful product emerges. When team members hesitate in sharing their thoughts, anxiety and/or lack of trust within that team is usually the root cause. This can suffocate the innovation process and lead to even greater issues down the road.

IV. Love challenge.

We lean into challenge because it implies diversity of thought. When we challenge each other, it shows that enough trust has been built to create a safe space for varied opinions and perspectives. We believe that when this is done on the foundation of respect and trust, you will find your team more confident, creative, and efficient.

V. Progress not perfection.

In startups, there can often be a constant reprioritization of goals and resources available to achieve them. Know when it is time to hold to perfect execution and when “good enough” is truly enough. This will also increase your team’s ability to evolve and adapt to project shifts, which will most certainly occur.

VI. Write it down and write it down early.

This means your goals, values, and meeting notes. Everything. There is power is writing down your team’s thoughts that will lead to increased motivation, efficiency and team communication. This is even more powerful when done at the roundtable and each person on the team feels a sense of ownership.

VII. Show up and be present.

Sometimes the hardest part of a meeting is being truly present. Be fully present and engaged. Don’t be distracted, come prepared, and don’t hide behind your computer or phone.

VIII. Listen.

There is a difference between active, engaged listening and simply waiting for your turn to speak.

IX. Value the story.

You and your team are making hundreds of different decisions each day. These all add up to the story that you will tell about your team, your product, and your company. Make sure it is one that you are proud of.

-IntuitiveX Team

The interest of physicians to perform minimally invasive procedures and “look into the internal organs” has existed for quite some time.

The first successful minimally invasive surgery was performed by a young French Surgeon, Jean Civiale (1792–1867) who performed the first successful trans-urethral lithotripsy. He was able to remove bladder stones without any incision using a triable he created. Civiale’ s approach however much successful was an excruciating painful procedure for undergoing patients, with recovery time varying from several weeks to months. And of course, the strong possibility of death from such procedures was always a high risk.

Logically, a need for better surgical procedures caused many surgeons to continue the hunt for discovering ways to better perform surgeries in a less painful and invasive manner.

In the early 1900’s, surgery continued to evolve when Hans Christian Jacobeus, a Swedish surgeon, successfully completed surgery with the keyhole method, which is the process of requiring only several small holes to insert surgical instruments and a light source inside the body. This surgery was coined as Laparoscopic also known today as Minimally Invasive Surgery (MIS).

Minimally Invasive Surgery became more popular among surgeons and the necessity to utilize Endoscopic procedures (A procedure which allows a doctor to look inside your body) arose, especially as it pertained to life threatening or large organ procedures. In the 1950s that need was met when Harold Hopkins designed a “fiberscope” consisting of a bundle of flexible glass fibers that were able to coherently transmit an image of a patient’s organs.

Today, Minimally Invasive Surgery techniques including the use of Endoscopy, has become the industry standard for most surgeries.

However, the lack of enabling technologies in the orthopedic industry, especially as it pertains to spinal fusion, has kept the procedure more invasive than other commonly performed surgeries. Innovasive’ s patent technology results in a much safer orthopedic spinal surgery and a quicker recovery time for patients.

- Writer @ Innovasive, Inc. (incubated by IntuitiveX)

References:

1. Pande, Rupaly & Adedeji, Olufunso. (2014). Minimally Invasive Surgery: Historical Perspective on Laparoscopic Abdominal Surgery.. 41–57. 10.13140/RG.2.1.2974.9925.

For those not familiar with the term, a business incubator is a larger company dedicated to the development of startups in their respective sector. They provide an environment where companies are given access to high-level resources they might not otherwise have access to. Incubators are comprised of business executives and seasoned entrepreneurs who recognize that they are not simply providing resources for quality project development, but also passing along the culture and collaboration in which success is achieved. They often provide mentorship and a more supportive environment for a team who, more than likely, is working together for the first time and tackling not only the issues related to the product or service, but also the unique social dynamics of a newly developing team. Typical incubator resources attributing to that success may include access to vetted experts in research & development, legal, intellectual property, finance and accounting, marketing, manufacturing, sales, and a larger professional network, which often comes with both access to and higher favorability amongst potential investors. Each of these pieces are absolutely crucial.

There is so much to be considered when starting a business venture. Incubators provide a unique, competitive advantage through tools, resources and stability in an ever-changing and complex world of business. This partnership provides the necessary expertise and momentum for successful business development. Not only do we see increased rates of success and higher quality products and services, but also the market advantage of speed and efficiency. This is what incubators are doing about the 90% startup failure statistic.

Writer @ IntuitiveX

Spinal surgery is one of the most common procedures in the United States, and spinal fusion is considered the gold standard for treating spinal instabilities and degenerative conditions. There are over 935,000 annual spinal fusion cases a year, and that number is expected to grow to 1.2M cases by the year 2020. However, the lack of enabling technologies has kept the procedure more invasive than other commonly performed surgeries, leading to higher blood loss, pain, complications and longer recovery period for patients. A minimally invasive spinal procedure would be less painful and have a quicker recovery time, which would allow patients to return to a normal lifestyle much faster than they would with traditional open spine surgery.

Enter Innovasive, a progressive medical technology company specializing in spinal orthopedics based out of Mission Viejo, California. Innovasive’s prime focus is improving the lives of patients by creating enabling technologies that standardize outpatient spine surgery with minimally invasive and endoscopic surgical solutions.

“We have developed a proprietary solution that includes a pioneering spinal surgical technique and the necessary devices that will enable endoscopic spinal fusion to be simple and repeatable. It is the only complete non-invasive spinal procedural solution and we are proud to have the opportunity to bring it to market soon.” -Andy Choi, CEO

Writer @ Innovasive

(Incubated by IntuitiveX)

For more information on Innovasive, visit our website at www.innovasiveinc.com

Have you thought about the implications if the answer to the question above is yes? Those who are left-handed are often associated with certain advantages such as greater creative capacity, however, they are constantly met with challenges in a world created for the efficiency and comfort of the right-handed. With only 1 in 10 of the population being left-handed, they are underrepresented in every professional field, including healthcare. Clearly, this is a pressing issue as quality of care affects each and every one of us.

Starting in medical school, left-handed healthcare professionals are put at a significant disadvantage, as they are forced to utilize standard implants and tools and only 3% claim to receive laterality-related mentorship. Let’s take surgeons as an example case. Surgical preparation and procedure require the usage of a variety of tools and techniques. However, for those surgeons who are left-handed, or sinistral, it is considerably more dangerous to handle tools in the operating room that are not fit for the surgeons hand preference. Sinistral surgeons are more prone to needle-stick injuries and research has shown that they are highly unlikely to trust another left-handed surgeon to operate on them. What do we do with the fact that 1 in 10 highly trained professionals would not trust a fellow left-handed surgeon?

There is a solution to this. It is to cost-effectively address the practical needs of left-handed practitioners in healthcare. We need to be constructing implants, tools and techniques that accommodate for their hand preference and incentivizing healthcare institutions to make them a priority. Being a sinistral professional should no longer serve as a disadvantage, especially in professions that impact the wellbeing of others. The struggle of being left-handed is a prominent professional issue and needs to be addressed with modern solutions and accommodations for this albeit small, but important portion of the population.

-The Writing Team @ IntuitiveX

The most obvious — as well as typically the most effective — motivators are financial incentives (i.e., extrinsic motivating factor). The use of money to motivate employees with financial incentives by way of increased salaries, bonuses, equity in the company, and/or commissions has historically been a very effective strategy to drive the performance of startup teams. While the act of rewarding good behavior of high-performing individuals and teams in and of itself can be an effective short-term strategy, unless they are undergirded with intrinsic motivating factors, the chances of long term success are less likely.

“Human beings have an innate inner drive to be autonomous, self-determined, and connected to one another. And when that drive is liberated, people achieve more and live richer lives.”

– Daniel H. Pink

A type of intrinsic motivating factor that can help improve the performance of startup teams is private/public recognition. Human nature usually confirms that people inherently like being told that they are doing a good job. Regardless of whether the recognition is provided by way of a supervisor telling his/her team that they are doing a great job, a thoughtful note from a boss to his/her employee, or public recognition in the form of a formal performance award, giving recognition to individuals and teams for a job well done can be quite effective in reinforcing good behavior.

Another type of intrinsic motivating factor is giving startup teams an opportunity to do good. Most people inherently want to do things that add value to society and humanity. If given the opportunity to do good, most people will choose to help out their fellow man/woman. Here at IntuitiveX, we wholeheartedly believe in our vision and mission statement of helping to improve the health and well-being of every life we touch. These motivating tenets have proven to be very effective motivators for every member of our team.

Building Successful Startup Teams

The first, and perhaps most important, step in building a successful startup team starts with the acquisition of talented employees. Having an HR department that has access to, and can source from, a large pool of talented individuals is critical. Next, the vetting process must include methods that allow for the best and the brightest applicants to be filtered through the list of qualified applicants. Finally, both the position, as well as the job offer, must be attractive enough to draw only the best applicants to accept the offer to join the startup team. Only by establishing these high standards early in the development of high performance teams, can a startup organization attract the best and the brightest team members.

A critically important point to consider during the hiring process is to determine whether or not the applicant is a good fit for the organization. Just as people have unique, and highly variable personalities, so do organizations have unique and highly variable cultures. In essence, the culture is a reflection of the overall and collective personalities of the members who make up the organization, and oftentimes reflect the personalities of the leadership team itself.

Therefore, even if a candidate appears to a great fit for the organization, a careful assessment during the interview process may reveal that the fit may not be quite right. And although an applicant may look absolutely stellar on paper (e.g., résumé, CV, and LinkedIn), the job interview itself can often reveal that he/she wasn’t exactly what was advertised prior to the critically-important face-to-face interview.

Maintaining Successful Startup Teams

While building a successful startup team is only the first step in process of creating a great organization, the actual maintenance of successful teams is equally as important. The bottom line is, that unless the individual members of the team function well together and are satisfied with the work that they are provided (i.e., intrinsic motivating factors), the goal of maintaining successful startup teams will likely be fraught with difficulty.

In 1965, educational psychologist, Bruce Tuckman described four distinct stages that most teams typically go through in order to become high performance teams. Coined the Forming-Storming-Norming-Performing model of group development, it outlined the various stages that small teams go through in order to reach peak performance. Unless teams get past the Storming stage of development, they will be unable to reach their true potential as a high performance, cohesive collective of many individual parts.

“Human accomplishments result from the reciprocal influence of external circumstances, a host of personal determinants, and a high level of self initiative.”

– Bruce Tuckman

Although individuals who look, act, and sound the same tend to congregate together, having homogenous teams devoid of diverse talents and points of view — too many chefs in the kitchen, for instance — can actually be detrimental to the optimal performance of startup teams. Therefore, teams with individual members of different talents and personalities may not only be beneficial from a diversity perspective, but also from a complementary talent perspective.

Proven Methodologies for High Performance

Early and thoughtful implementation of these proven methodologies into the fabric and structure of any startup organization can help lay the building blocks of highly effective startup teams. Unless individuals and teams are incentivized to perform at the highest levels, their true potential may never be realized. Motivating factors such as financial rewards, private/public recognition, and opportunities to do good can also act as powerful levers to drive human behavior toward optimal performance.

Although the formation, building, and maintenance of high performance startup teams may sometimes seem more like an art, than science, there are proven methods — when implemented with care and thoughtfulness — that can increase the chances of developing viable, and thriving startup ventures.

Jeffrey Roh, MD, MBA

Chief Medical Officer & Co-Founder

References:

1. Pink, Dan H (2009). “Drive: The surprising truth about what motivates us.” Riverhead Books. New York, NY.

2. Tuckman, Bruce W (1965). “Developmental sequence in small groups”. Psychological Bulletin. 63 (6): 384–399.