The Future of Healthcare is not just dedicated to established businesses in the healthcare industry; it also cares a lot about start-ups and the visibility they get, so we do what we can to give them a chance to publicize and explain their business and technology. No one also cares about start-ups as much as Maurits Huigen, the founder of a consultancy firm for start-ups in the healthcare industry, where he helps them grow and turn them into successful businesses. That is why we decided to interview him, so he could share his experience and perhaps also share his secrets with us.
Maurits is not just the owner of a consultancy firm; he has a background in mathematics, informatics, and business administration. He worked at 3M (a big multinational company);there he gained a lot of experience in the pharmaceutical industry. He then went on to build a 20-year career in the pharmaceutical industry taking up national, pan-European leadership roles in large, midsize, and small pharmaceutical companies. Most of the companies where he functioned focused strongly on the development and commercialization of respiratory drugs. He now runs his consultancy firm where he advices and supports either foreign or local companies in the med-tech and pharmaceutical industry. Next to that Maurits has gone on to take up important positions in reputable companies like start-up Gilbert Technologies.
The current COVID 19 crisis has made things a lot harder for startups to grow, as even many big pharmaceutical companies have stopped their projects and frozen budgets, so we asked Maurits how he thinks health start-ups can grow in this period of crisis. He believes that it depends on the start-up and the innovations they are working on. Crises are never easy and things will be tough but there are also opportunities to be found but startups will have to be patient, especially with investors. Investors will need a bit more time to make up their minds about investing in new projects or if they would rather continue to take care of their current investments. He also believes that the crisis will not last long, 6 to 12 months maximum; he urges startups to take a holistic look at the situation and remain focused on their goal, doing well to avoid distractions and making use of the opportunities that show up while also reaching out for governmental support.
There are a lot of health innovative startups right now in the medical field and it is not easy to stand out these days, to survive among the 1000 startups out there and be the best. To stand out, startups will have to do something different that will have greater value to the society in general. He believes that startups should try to partake in collaborations to increase their overall and maximum value, while also staying focused on their goal. That is how they will thrive and be the best.
He also went on to give three key advice to future health entrepreneurs:
- Focus on real value generation, independent of a crisis or not. That is the key to success for a status. Maximize your shared value generation, reconnecting company and investor success with social progress.
- Stay focused on your goals and objectives despite the COVID 19 virus.
- Learn to collaborate with other companies. Work together with others because we all face the same problem and it’s easier to achieve results and solutions together.
Maurits believes that there is strong synergetic potential and relevant relationship between med-tech innovations and biotech innovations. By working more together, greater results can be achieved that will be beneficial to mankind at large.
