Solve Problems: Interview with Dr. Joan Fallon, Founder and CEO of Curemark
I recently went one on one with Dr. Joan Fallon, the founder and CEO of Curemark, a biopharmaceutical company focused on the development of novel therapies to treat serious diseases for which there are limited treatment options. The company’s pipeline includes a phase III clinical-stage research program for Autism, as well as programs focused on Parkinson’s Disease, schizophrenia, and addiction. Joan holds over 300 patents worldwide, has written numerous scholarly articles, and lectured extensively across the globe on pediatric developmental problems.
Adam: How did you get here? What experiences, failures, setbacks or challenges have been most instrumental to your growth?
Joan: Entrepreneurship is a journey and necessitates patience with one’s self and others. Growth takes time, especially in biotech where there are the usual risks of any new company or product, but the added layer of regulatory scrutiny often makes the journey longer, and more capital intensive. Having discovered something that could potentially benefit children with autism, while in practice, I needed to leave practice to form a company to formulate a drug and then take it through clinical trials. I learned much about running trials, running a company and raising money.
Growth in your business or company is best accomplished when there is accompanied personal growth. The company can not grow if the leader does not grow as well.
Adam: How did you come up with your business idea? What advice do you have for others on how to come up with great ideas?
Joan: I was in clinical practice for 25 years, during which I paid close attention to the rise in autism in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s. No one had a treatment or really understood the condition. Even today, we neither understand autism’s causative roots nor have effective treatments for its core symptoms. The diversity of symptoms from one child to the next is striking, since the past thinking has been “once you’ve seen one child with autism, you’ve seen every child with autism.”
I do some of my best thinking on planes. On one trip, I was thinking about why all of the kids with autism present slightly differently. Most conditions, syndromes and diseases have very similar presentations and trajectories. Autism does not. I decided not to dwell on why there are differences, but focus on commonalities and patterns.
I found that the majority of the kids I saw ate the same basic diet. Parents call it the “white” or “tan” diet. It’s filled with neutral-colored foods and is very self-selective. It is a diet of high carbohydrates. This line of thinking led me to look for a physiological reason for this finding, which formed the basis of starting Curemark.
Adam: How did you know your business idea was worth pursuing? What advice do you have on how to best test a business idea?
Joan: Once I made my discovery around autism I knew I needed to start Curemark. The struggles of the children with autism and their families compelled me to step away from a private practice that I loved to begin Curemark. I did not know if my idea would work but I had sufficient objective evidence to believe that it would.
Leaving practice and starting Curemark required taking a huge risk in leaving everything I had built with it behind. I also took a huge financial risk, especially since I made this move at the age of 50.
Adam: What are the key steps you have taken to grow your business? What advice do you have for others on how to take their businesses to the next level?
Joan: All along the way, we have raised money on key milestones: the beginning and end of a clinical trial, new intellectual property, and other milestones that bring value to the organization we were building. Showing progress and accomplishment is a great way to begin to take a company to the next level.
Adam: What are your best sales and marketing tips?
Joan: We’re a pre-revenue company so we don’t have sales and marketing, but I believe that as a brand you must be authentic and true to what you are representing.
Adam: In your experience, what are the defining qualities of an effective leader? How can leaders and aspiring leaders take their leadership skills to the next level?
Joan: It’s all about grit, determination, patience, and empathy, but most importantly AUTHENTICITY. As a founder and leader, it requires that you constantly look around and understand the landscape of what you are building. It most often requires innovative thinking and finding new ways to execute that are novel and effective. Not every idea, not every thought can or should be acted upon. Knowing which ones are important and which ones need action is a big part of being the CEO and a leader.
Leadership is about solving problems and solving the right problem.
Adam: What is your best advice on building, leading and managing teams?
Joan: BE a leader. Solve problems. Be empathetic in understanding your teams and their needs. Make sure that you have diverse teams. It makes your job easier because the breadth of thought and ideas is greater on diverse teams. You must also make sure that your teams are inclusive. Demographics are one thing, but you can have all the diversity in the world, but if there is no inclusivity your diversity is flat and can stifle creativity.
Adam: What are your three best tips applicable to entrepreneurs, executives and civic leaders?
Joan:
There is a ton of “noise” in the world you inhabit. People are making demands, telling you what to do, giving advice and asking for things. You MUST tune out the noise.
Entrepreneurship is a personal journey. You must grow and be willing to change as your journey takes you.
Never ever let anyone mistake your kindness for weakness.
Adam: What is the single best piece of advice you have ever received?
Joan: Again: Don’t let anyone mistake your kindness for weakness, not on the playing field, not in the boardroom, not anywhere.
Adam Mendler is the CEO of The Veloz Group, where he co-founded and oversees ventures across a wide variety of industries. Adam is also the creator and host of the business and leadership podcast Thirty Minute Mentors, where he goes one on one with America's most successful people - Fortune 500 CEOs, founders of household name companies, Hall of Fame and Olympic gold medal winning athletes, political and military leaders - for intimate half-hour conversations each week. Adam has written extensively on leadership, management, entrepreneurship, marketing and sales, having authored over 70 articles published in major media outlets including Forbes, Inc. and HuffPost, and has conducted more than 500 one on one interviews with America’s top leaders through his collective media projects. A top leadership speaker, Adam draws upon his insights building and leading businesses and interviewing hundreds of America's top leaders as a top keynote speaker to businesses, universities and non-profit organizations.
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