Creative Strategic and Financing Solutions for Life Sciences Companies
For Life Sciences companies, from early-stage diagnostics to digital health, pre-revenue medtechs to biotechs, tight capital markets in 2024 continue to make financing a tough road for many. Learn from four FLG partners Life Science CFOs how CEOs and boards, in partnership with their CFOs, can leverage new strategies which extend cash runways, identify creative sources of new financing for growth and make pivotal decisions about when to exit via M&A or stay the course on the road to clinical success.
CFO Insights: Monica Stevenson
Learn about the background and career insights of Monica Stevenson, an FLG partner and consumer-centric CFO with deep experience with public and private consumer sector luxury goods companies, domestic and international. Her tenures include over a decade of specialized expertise in consumer & luxury goods, apparel, beauty, retail, wholesale and e-commerce. She has led a diverse set of functional areas including finance, operations, treasury, real estate, legal, risk management, business strategy, merchandising, supply chain, human resources, IT and Investor Relations for the North American operations of global brands such as Tourneau, Versace, Yves Saint Laurent and Dolce & Gabbana. She describes her insights about raising capital in tight market conditions, working with P/E firms and CEOs, lessons learned from integrating acquisitions and the key success factors for CFOs managing global enterprises.
CFO Insights: William Atkins
FLG partner William Atkins has had a 30+ year career as both CFO of and advisor to public and private technology companies and at both large companies ($1B+ revenues) and high growth VC and PE backed companies. He has had CFO roles at Calix (NYSE: CALX), a leading, publicly listed, global provider of broadband telecommunications access systems, services and software, at Mobileum, a private equity-backed provider of telecom analytics software and services, at One Concern, a venture capital-backed start-up using artificial intelligence to build a platform that will predict and quantify the impact of natural disasters, at Clarify Health Solutions, an AI-enabled, VC-backed digital healthcare company developing real-time analytics and care guidance solutions, and at Airobotics, a VC backed enterprise-focused robotic drone start-up. In a fireside chat with Managing Partner Laureen DeBuono, William points to the many valuable lessons learned over the course of his career in the technology sector.
CFO Insights: Anne Samak de la Cerda
Learn about the unique complexities of a CFO operating on the international stage across geographies, sectors and companies as consumer and healthcare technology CFO Anne Samak de la Cerda is interviewed by Managing Partner Laureen DeBuono at FLG Partners. Anne has spent her 20+ year career working as a strategy and finance executive at numerous consumer and health technology companies (LeGuide.com, Withings among others), with a focus on scaling operations and successful exits on the international stage and has assisted companies navigate the challenges of high growth including access to capital in both Europe and in the US, as well as M&A, restructuring and exits. Anne joined FLG in 2020. Prior to FLG, she started her career in the UK at PwC, primarily focused on strategic transactions and M&A in the telecommunications industry. She then took on several roles, mostly in strategy, at Vivendi, a media conglomerate in France.
Managing Challenging Board Behavior
Tune in as our panel of four seasoned FLG partners (both CFOs and board members) explore the specific types and challenges posed by problematic BOD behavior, share interesting real-life stories about managing through these situations, describe when to “call out” this behavior and provide best practices in remedying and mitigating such situations.
Hacking SaaS: Author Eric Mersch Interviewed by Dave Arnold Founder of Arnold Partners
Dave Arnold, founder of Arnold Partners, interviews SaaS CFO, author, and FLG partner, Eric Mersch about his recently published book “Hacking SaaS: An Insider’s Guide to Managing Software Business Success”. This book can be used both as a training manual and as a desk reference for both startup SaaS CFOs to seasoned veterans of the industry and covers the various SaaS business models, key metrics and tips for making strategic decisions for SaaS businesses. The book has already garnered positive reviews within the SaaS industry.
Pamela Rucker at Harvard University Interviews Greg Curhan
In a new series “Leading with Passion” sponsored by Trinet, Pamela Rucker, Instructor at Harvard’s Division of Continuing Education, interviews FLG partner and Life Sciences CFO Greg Curhan about his career trajectory and pivot points as he consults with companies seeking to create breakout new life-saving therapies.
CFO Insights: Lessons Learned by a Life Sciences CFO (Sandy Gardiner)
Learn about the background and professional experience of FLG Partner Sandy Gardiner including 30+ years of experience as an EVP and CFO at private and public companies in the Life Sciences sector, both domestic and global. Sandy’s tenures include leadership positions at development-stage, pre-commercial to enterprise, commercial $350M+ biotech and medtech companies where she has helped lead numerous financial transactions, including IPOs, secondary offerings, private placements, reverse mergers, rights offerings, ATMs and debt facilities. She has raised over $1Bn in capital and completed many M&A transactions. Prior to joining FLG, Sandy was CFO and EVP at Pulse Biosciences, Inc. and at Cutera, both publicly traded medtech companies. Earlier CFO roles included those at Tria Beauty, Aptus Endosystems, Ventus Medical, Vermillion and Lipid Sciences.
Fireside Chat: Laureen DeBuono & Eddie Lopez (Hercules Capital)
Listen to a 30 minute deep dive with Eddie Lopez, Senior Associate at Hercules Capital into Laureen DeBuono’s diverse experience as a CEO, COO, CFO, General Counsel, board member and Managing Partner at FLG including lessons learned over the course of her 35+ year career .
CFO Insights: Lessons Learned by a Life Sciences and Consumer CFO (Nancy Hargreaves)
Learn about the professional background of FLG Partner Nancy Hargreaves, including 20+ years working as a Chief Financial Officer in early-stage commercialization life sciences and high-growth CPG companies following her extensive leveraged and acquisition-finance experience from her early days as an investment banker and as a hedge fund portfolio manager in London. Nancy’s roles include tenures as a CFO at both Recros Medica a clinical stage medical device company and at Ionetix a radiopharmaceutical provider. She was also VP, Business Intelligence at Invuity, a public medical technology company. Nancy has also been CFO at consumer companies, most recently at Trove Recommerce, earlier at Hint Inc. and prior at Dove SPA, a UK, venture-backed salon and spa company backed by Unilever.
Code Red in Retail: Consumer CFO Strategies for Success in 2023
Learn from panelists H. Bob Heller, former Governor at the Fed and FLG partners and consumer CFOs Jennifer Cho, Monica Stevenson and Heather Ogan how CPG, retail and other DTC consumer businesses can weather the recessionary winds as we enter 2023.
Excellence in Board Leadership: Navigating Complex Challenges
Listen to 4 FLG experts describe their experiences as board members and Committee chairs on private and public board directors, essential best practices for directors, key traits of high performing board members and “need-to-knows” for aspiring and current board members at private, public and non-profit boards. Find out how to get on a public or private company corporate board and how to position yourself optimally for board membership.
CFO Roundtable: “Consumer CFOs Building Brands”
Learn from four experienced consumer CFOs at FLG Partners about lessons learned by finance leaders about driving brand success across startups to enterprise companies. Listen to their advice about the keys to managing growth successfully, how to evaluate investments from marketing to IT and the issues all CFOs need to be on top of when building a brand whether in e-commerce or classic brick and mortar retail.
Financing Roundtable: “What Do Investors Want?” – Setting Your Next Round Up for Success
Listen to four financing experts and experienced IPO and M&A CFOs from FLG Partners describe their advice for setting your next funding round up for success. They dive into how to dissect the investor landscape, honing your pitch to investors, how the financing process unfolds, issues typically encountered in financing transactions and how to select the right partners for your deal.
Maximizing Performance of the Audit Committee
Learn from four CFO experts at FLG Partners about the key responsibilities of the Audit Chair and CFO in optimizing performance of the Audit Committee. Diving into a discussion about how to choose the right committee chair, setting the committee’s charter, identifying the scope of issues addressed by the committee and how the committee can add value before and during a crisis at the company.
SaaS Pivots: Best Practices, Case Examples, Lessons Learned
Eric Mersch at FLG Partners hosts an experienced panel of experts from JMP Securities (Erik Suppiger), OPEXEngine (Lauren Kelley), with case studies from Callidus (Ron Fior), Nominum (Ken Chow) and Datrium/VMWare (Mike Park) who discuss business model pivots to SaaS across different types of technology businesses, from software to hardware to cybersecurity. Learn about best practices, lessons learned and the key decisionmaking, operational planning priorities and customer and investor reactions in both successful (and failed) transitions into SaaS models.
The Road to an IPO
Learn about essential elements for an effective IPO launch from FLG Partner and CFO, Greg Curhan at an event hosted by Carta and Trinet with financial industry experts at Moss Adams in November 2020.
Ensuring SPAC Success
Listen to an experienced panel of financing experts at FLG Partners including Greg Curhan and Eric Hall and Molly Hemmeter, Board member at 2 SPACs, discuss the key decisionmaking, planning and executional considerations companies and boards should address before choosing this direction when seeking access to the public markets for capital.
Going Public via a SPAC (Eric Hall)
Join a fireside chat with Managing Partner Laureen DeBuono and partner Eric Hall as he describes the key considerations for CFOs & CEOs when considering going public via a SPAC (a reverse merger with a public special purpose acquisition company) versus through a traditional, direct-listing IPO.
Banking During COVID-19: Panel Discussion – June 17, 2020
Join FLG partner, Chris Cook, moderate a panel of experts from the Bay Area banking community provide their valuable insights into how the current climate in the banking industry will change bank behavior and practices as a result of COVID-19. Panelists include Robert Coleman, Regional Accountant, FDIC, Mark Cadieux, Chief Credit Officer, Silicon Valley Bank, Dan Myers, CEO, Bridge Bank, Jeff Wishner, Managing Director, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods and Derek Criswell, Partner, Moss Adams.
Consumer Company CFOs: Learning From Digitally Native Leaders
Learn from FLG partner & CFO Stephanie Roberts why the e-commerce and retail brands which are most successful today are pioneering through data analysis and one-to-one customer-brand relationships new territory and models which legacy consumer brands can learn a lot from.
How Should Your Company Be Preparing for Blockchain?
What should CEOs and CFOs be concerned with in terms of preparing for blockchain’s evolution which will impact supply chain relationships and transactional execution for many businesses in the future. Get the facts from FLG partner and former Coinbase CFO, Tim Laehy.
Mergers & Acquisitions: What CEOs and CFOs Need to Know
FLG Partner, Bill Leetham describes the key elements that any CEO or Board needs to know when preparing for an acquisition, either buy-side or sell-side. Learn the essential factors which can make the difference for the success of your acquisition strategy.
Life Science & Healthcare CFOs: How FLG Partners Can Help
Learn the specific CFO skills and experience necessary to support the needs of startup and emerging life science companies who require a constant stream of fundraising as well as deep understanding of the different types of financing available to support a long product life cycle.
Hiring A CFO at a High Growth Startup or Company: FLG Partners
Learn why you should hire a CFO from FLG Partners to help your startup or high-growth emerging-to-enterprise company solve your issues around restructuring, hiring the best talent, leveraging your business model and scaling systems for growth.
