Happy New Year! Hope everyone also had a safe and happy holiday season too! I know it seems late to be saying this but it is the first blog of the year and I need to start the year out right. While we enjoyed a little down time, it wasn’t as much or as long as I would have liked it to be. We give the team time off between Christmas and New Year’s Day, our gift to our amazing team. It’s a time to recharge the batteries prior to everything kicking into high gear. I promised myself that I would try to dissociate from work for the first time since we’ve owned the business. I really started out strong, making sure to keep the business out of sight for the first time. That lasted for a little while until issues started at the space. We decided to give the “old girl” a face lift after 14 years. We had the space painted during Thanksgiving week and had new rugs put in over the holiday break. Unfortunately, issues arose that forced me to spend more time on work than I wanted to. Anyone who runs a small business has lived this type of fire drill a thousand times. It does get kind of frustrating when you cannot leave something behind. I miss the days sometimes when I worked for someone else. While nothing is perfect, it was nice to go home in the evening with not having something lingering in your mind.
In addition to the office update fiasco, we had an order for an important customer in the cell therapy delivery space that we wanted to get started on. I could feel the business pulling me back. I have always been a person that likes to get a jump start on things and this along with the chaos at the office were screaming at me. I am not into making resolutions for the New Year. This way, you don’t have to worry about breaking them. That being said, if I were to make a resolution for this year, it would be to really try to once and a while, disconnect from the business, even for a day. Of course, I am writing this late in the evening since I was swamped with other areas of the business so I guess my resolution will not be starting today. On the opposite side of this desire to disconnect, I do enjoy those quiet moments in the business when I can gather my thoughts and work on something without all of the questions I field in a normal day. It is during some of these times that I can reflect for a moment on what Tina and I have created. Through the tough times and frustrations, which there are many, this sense of accomplishment can get lost. Such conflicting feelings!
Once we squared away the office, we then turned our focus back to business. As you know, cell therapy delivery is one of three key business areas of the company. Along with the recent Gates Foundation program we received, we have two other partners that are evaluating our Bio-Spun™ materials to deliver their specific cells. One group is focused on treating diabetes and the other is focused on liver disease. It is really interesting to see the different applications for our material. We enjoy getting feedback and data from groups outside the company. Nothing is better than outside validation. We are also fortunate that the partners we work with are willing to share their data with us. This type of interaction helps us to learn about the benefits and challenges faced when using our technology. This type of feedback allows us learn about different applications and provide suggestions, if necessary, about alternatives they could evaluate with our materials to help them be successful.
Another core area we are pushing forward is our IVRT products. We continue to see repeat customers, which is exciting. These orders are already starting to pick up. Last week, Cam put together our #Factual Friday post related to how current benchtop and preclinical testing processes are not indicative of developing a successful drug. This post, to our surprise really took off (almost 2,000 views). It also resulted in at least 10 people from around the world reaching out to connect with me on LinkedIn. I am not telling you this as a brag, but rather in amazement that this little company has technology that is gathering interest around the world. That is so cool! I would like to ask the new connections to reach out to let us know what attracted them to the post. We are excited about continuing to grow this business.
Lastly, co-development opportunities allow us to apply our Bio-Spun™ materials to a customer’s or partner’s needs. This line of business allows us to explore a wide range of applications that are either related to devices we have already internally development over the past 21 years or ones that are a new use for our technology. We are able to really help a partner because we understand the end-use and can relate that to our technology to provide the best solution possible. This business takes us back to our R&D roots, which is always exciting. It is enjoyable when customers really lean into our expertise and want to really understand what it will take to develop their vision. This also allows us to try to advance our existing devices through external partnerships.
February is shaping up to bring some new projects as well as announcements (hopefully). Thanks for being part of journey!
Matt
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