Entrepreneurs are not like other businesspeople.
Where others see obstacles (for example, a drug has a serious side effect), they see opportunities (like, maybe I can make a better drug).
Where others hire employees when they need work done, entrepreneurs hire superstars anytime they meet them – whether their skills are needed right then or not.
The best thing that could happen to you in your career? An entrepreneur might say it’s getting fired.
How do actual entrepreneurs boil it down?
“It’s all about finding opportunities in the marketplace,” said Dan Ben-Amoz ’81 (pictured above, center).
“It’s not knowing all the answers, it’s being willing to grow,” said Dan Bosley ’93 (above, right).
“At the end of the day, it’s almost a way of life,” said Dave Stack ’76 (above, left).
The three ACPHS alumni returned to campus on Sept. 30 for a panel discussion about entrepreneurship at the Life Sciences Innovation Building. They brought with them decades of experience creating and running their own innovative companies.
Stack is chairman and CEO of Pacira Biosciences, Inc., a specialty pharmaceutical company focused on non-opioid medication products for pain management. He has shepherded several therapeutics through clinical development and approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, including the successful commercial launch of the pain control product Exparel.
Ben-Amoz holds the patent for the transdermal application of steroids with ultrasound, widely used in orthopedics and sports medicine, and in 1998 founded Pharmacy Development Services (PDS), providing training and services to independent pharmacies. His $1 million gift to the College will support the study of entrepreneurship within the pharmacy curriculum.
Bosley owns Keesville Pharmacy in northern New York and has spearheaded the Farmacy, a collaborative project with a local non-profit organization that improves residents’ access to fresh produce.
Some shared patterns of thinking emerged from their conversation. None were comfortable with the status quo, and all were willing to embrace the new, including technology. In what is likely the polar opposite of what students have heard from some professors, for example, Ben-Amoz advised students in the audience to use artificial intelligence like ChatGPT as an aid to academic work.
They expressed a willingness to take risks – especially on their own ideas – and to back those risks up with relentless work and significant investments. Ben-Amoz joked that his family sometimes did not understand why his profits were often sunk back into the business. Stack spoke about the millions his company spent fighting the FDA when it blocked entry of Exparel into the market.
“You have to be willing to push yourself into places you thought you’d never be in and in many cases wish you weren’t,” Stack said.
They were not always the best students. Bosley and Stack both conceded that outright. But they all stressed the importance of acquiring mentors – people they could look up to and go to for advice, including each other. Bosley remarked that he had long admired Ben-Amoz and sought his advice. Ben-Amoz said the same of Stack, for whom he worked at a pharmacy in Rensselaer in the earliest part of his career.
In they same way, they stressed the importance of hiring others who exhibit excellence in areas where their own skill sets are lacking.
“It’s that relentless belief, perseverance, but understanding you can’t do everything yourself,” Ben-Amoz said.
Isabella Mancini, an ACPHS pharmacy doctoral in the Class of 2027, was in the audience. She learned something different from them than she has from other professionals on campus.
“They had a different drive that you don’t see in a lot of people,” Mancini said. “Entrepreneurs embrace an opportunity and run with it.”