Graduate makes it into Canadian Top 10
Paul Chipperton is enjoying an exciting career that has seen him go from a graduate in Applied Chemistry to an internationally successful marketer and business man. In January, Paul took time out of his busy schedule to have a chat with CNN and tell us about his journey from Northumbria University to CEO. |
On graduation Paul didn’t have a strict plan career wise and he certainly hadn’t imagined that work and private life would lead him to Canada, but he did have one clear idea, Paul knew what he didn’t want to pursue and that was to work exclusively as a bench chemist. Paul spent the industrial placement year of his degree as a Medicinal Research Chemist at the Pharmaceutical giant Roche in Welwyn Garden City. While the project was actually very important, Paul found the work didn’t stimulate him and the production of results was too slow moving.
Having eliminated one possible avenue of employment, Paul took a structured approach to building a career plan, “I asked myself the following three questions; 1. What am I good at? 2. What do I like doing? And 3. Is there a convergence or divergence between the two and what on earth am I going to do about it?”. Asking himself these questions seemed to really pay off and Paul set about on the road that would lead him to the success he enjoys today.
Paul’s first job was part of a fast track graduate management trainee programme within a speciality polymers company and at this point Paul furthered his studies through an Open University business course which looked at accounting and finance, marketing, and business strategy. This combination of science and business was the start of a very successful path. “I got my first job in Canada, my career defining role, due exactly to this combination of skills”. The company, Advanced Bioconcept, were selling a product which was technically complex and only a chemist could speak knowledgably to researchers and professors, but you also needed to be able to convey the value proposition so you could sell it. It was here that Paul discovered his niche.
From that point every subsequent career move has been related to sales and marketing, which eventually led him to set up his own company. With the idea of job security, regardless of the size of a company, being a thing of the past, Paul decided to go it alone, which is a very brave step, “The good/bad news is it’s ultimately your responsibility if it goes right…or wrong. That has some level of stress associated with it, but so does any job these days.” Paul explains.
For his business idea, Paul looked at a number of basic sciences that may have commercialisation potential, and started working more closely with two that he thought had real potential. He then helped write or re-write their business plans, established formal company foundations, and sought financial backing for them. Two companies which have received funding are ‘InDanio Bioscience Inc’ for tens of thousands of dollars, and ‘Profound Medical’ for several million. “At InDanio I work on the Board of Directors, at Profound I was offered the COO/CEO job, which I very happily accepted.”
‘Profound Medical’ is making a medical device to treat Prostate Cancer in a novel way. Typically, the treatment for Prostate Cancer involves lengthy, substantive, surgery and long post-operative care, but Paul tells us how Profound Medical plan to change this “Our technique is minimally-invasive, is projected to take just 30 minutes versus the usual 3 hour operation, and will be an out-patient procedure. With over 30,000 new cases each year in the UK, and over 300,000 in North America, there is a dire need for improved healthcare and treatment options.”
This revolutionary product is a new process which combines two important techniques. It uses MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) for imaging the prostate, and ultrasound for treating the tissue. Part of this technology is something that even held Paul’s interest during his time at Northumbria, “I happened to be particularly interested in Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR), fast forward 15 years and the basic understanding of NMR has been combined with more powerful magnets and improved software to deliver MRI, the core platform for our company’s technological development.”
This is a processes which no-one has been able to do before and clinical trials are planned for the near future, after that, Paul tells us it’s a matter of establishing a streamline operation, and moving the technology and research into development and securing more funding to continue the work. All in a days work for Paul.
When I asked Paul what his secret formula for success was his answer was very simple, “Networking and persistence”. So it looks like despite all the scientific knowledge, hard work, is still the only answer, and it certainly seems to be working for Paul as not only is his company award winning, he has just been nominated for the “Top 40 Under 40” awards in Canada, for which we wish him the best of luck.
Date posted: February 12, 2009
