While we are interested in the work life-science companies do and their contribution to making the world better, the truth is we need to go deeper than products or the latest series funding.

So, clearly, you are all aware that I’m on an obsessive crusade to help scientist-entrepreneurs tell great biotech and synbio stories, convince investors to back you, build great companies, disrupt the way things have been done, and make the world a better place.

“To live well is to see wisely, and to see wisely is to tell stories.” - Padraing O. Tuama (quoted in Jerry Colona’s Reboot)

A question I’ve been asking myself lately is: Who am I talking to? Right now?

In the past three days, I’ve spoken with:

If you're a scientist-turned-entrepreneur, then your storytelling chops better be damned good.

Storytelling is key to selling your ideas to investors, customers, the press, the public.

It all comes down to how well you tell your own story.

Given the amount of information we process everyday, telling your story, sharing your vision of the future, is more important than ever. It is how you stand out.

I just got back from this year’s SynBioBeta conference in San Francisco. It was the most well-attended, most exciting SBBSF so far. I ran two well-attended panels:

For Medikly, a marketing automation platform designed to help brands better engage physicians, Messaginglab developed investment, sales, and media strategies designed to attract investors, engage brands, and drive media coverage.

When I started Messaginglab in 2001, I had an idea to become a branding shop that would help companies at the very beginning of their lives. I, and my partner at the time, knew (and continue to know) that building a killer brand was difficult.