Dr Sam Whitehouse has a background in chemistry and molecular biology, and is experienced in bringing research to commercial realisation. He leads Newcastle-based LightOx, which is developing oral cancer treatment with the backing of Northstar Ventures.
What was your first job (and how much did it pay)? When I was 11, I set up a business washing cars in South London. It was really just something to pass the time and to get some more pocket money, but it ended up running for four years. Every weekend, with little cartoon adverts on flyers I was lucky enough to secure a number of regular customers. And I absolutely loved it!
Then there were retail jobs in shops, pubs, and bars and generally anything that would keep me busy on a weekend and make a little money. At the time I saw making a little bit of cash a way of gaining freedom to do all the other things I was interested in as a teenager.
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What is the best advice or support you’ve been given in business? There's a lot of people who want to give you advice in business, but often you have to be good at filtering out all of the noise and making your own decisions based on what you feel is the best way of achieving success for your own business journey.
That's not to say you don’t listen. I have a number of people who I lean on for advice and support. I often feel the ones that are nothing to do with my business give me a much better viewpoint, as it’s not tainted by the day-to-day issues or external factors in your industry.
I think a lot of people look for mentors. I personally look for friends with experience, but don’t confuse that with their age. Because I feel you can learn more by listening to a broad range of people with different ideas and methods, whatever their background might be. Travelling can help with this too in providing different cultural perspectives. It also helps to open new doors and show new opportunities in new markets. Sometimes being open, sharing your worries with others or asking for advice can also be a great way of troubleshooting and helping you to move things forward in your business.
What are the main changes you’ve seen in your business/sector, and what are the challenges you’re facing? I think we have lived in a world where we expect diseases and illnesses to be something that can always be fixed. Take a pill, we’ll just cut that out, or operate…. etc. But that simply is not true, even though our society has grown through the developments of science and technologies brought to market over the past 50 years.
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Overall, I think investment in the area does not match the benefits that we have brought collectively. Last year our Government’s flagship innovation funding scheme went from £30m to £100m investment with over 2,000 companies with projects applying for it. The need for such committed long-term investment is well overdue. I feel what we also lack is more scientifically minded MPs, so until that changes, we will continue under investing in our own society’s health.
The main change I have seen in my own businesses, is the investment cycles. We are good at funding very early-stage companies and also later stage companies who are close to market, but often it’s the bit in the middle that is missing. We have very few investment funds capable of deploying capital in the growth stages of the £5-20m amounts.
This means companies have to find money from overseas, with control of the company’s shares subsequently moving abroad at this point. It’s like a silent brain drain, with others benefitting financially from our innovation. Essentially in this country I feel we don’t back ourselves enough at these critical investment stages.
How has the pandemic changed the way you work? Having spent nearly a decade of my life telling people how important investment in life sciences is for us all and spending nearly a decade developing point of care PCR machines, the pandemic has brought this into even sharper focus. Fifteen years ago, I was told that point of care wasn’t important, it can all be done in hospital labs. Well, that argument has moved on, with the power of what you can test for moving well beyond diseases. Water, oil and gas, security all benefitting from these types of technologies.
On a day-to-day basis though, I think the biggest change is in people’s working lives. It’s okay to be remote, it’s okay to “dial in”, but I feel the world has become 2D by stealth. Perhaps it’s my personality, but I think you have to sit with people, get to know them and build the trust in order to work closely with someone. From my perspective, Zoom and Teams just can’t give you that.
Who is your role model in business? I don’t believe in role models or thought leaders as such. I like anyone who makes time for people, and I dislike the people who see business the way it’s presented on TV. Aggressive, hard-nosed….. you’re fired….. I’m out. It’s just not real life! Business is about collaborations, working with people, both inside and outside of your company. Suppliers, customers, services - these are all people. They have families, feelings and emotions. Yes, hard conversations sometimes need to be had but it’s about mutual respect and doing things the right way and in line with your own values and moral compass.
However, without dodging the question, if I had to choose a role model, then it would perhaps be Jim Ratcliffe. He has shown what combining a scientific background with financial astuteness can achieve. I mean anyone who names their off-road car project after a pub must have a sense of humour. Which leads me to wonder what I will have to call our drug once it’s on market if I took the same approach?
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What would your dream job be? One that was part-time, paid staggeringly well and involved being outdoors a lot. I am not great at being tied to a desk for hours on end. Sometimes I think I would like something simple to do. Give me a job where I can just switch off and not think about everything all the time, but then I know that wouldn’t last long as I would move onto the next thing. In reality, I would love to own a country pub one day. The type that puts roast potatoes out on a Sunday afternoon and has fires in the winter and serves nice people. Whose names you know and their kids too.
Or perhaps I would rent narrowboats to people and take them up and down canals somewhere. I guess for me it’s anything that involves nice people having a good time! That said, I do Iove what I do now. I’m really keen to help other people with their own businesses too, so perhaps more NED roles would be a good option?
What advice would you give to someone starting out a career in your sector? Anyone working in life science businesses have to be in it for the long haul. It takes years and years to get a company established and a product to market. You have to learn how to survive in a small company, and eventually it will grow. Science based businesses are never a straight path and so you have to be agile, look for opportunities and take them. I think if anyone wanted my advice, then I would say you have to look at what you most love doing and try and do more of it.
I would also encourage anyone wanting to explore this sector to do a science focussed educational path, as the career options are so wide and diverse, and I don’t think you’ll ever be out of work. In terms of business types, large businesses can give you a sense of stability and a security - as you know when the next pay cheque is coming. Saying that however, I really love the freedom working for a small business gives, along with the uncertainty of it all too. It keeps things exciting.
What makes the North East a good place to do business? The people - short and sweet. The North East has a lot of people who are welcoming, open and genuinely enjoy life here. As I was brought up in London, you see a lot of people come and go all the time and never really settle, but in the North you have generations of people who want to live and work here.
Beyond that, the North East has such a good quality of life to offer people outside of their work. I live out at the coast, so waking up every day and walking the dog on the beach is fantastic. I think we overlook how important work life balance is here, and how good we have it. Things aren’t perfect of course. From a business perspective there should be more investment in the region, both in our infrastructure, businesses and services, but I think it’s getting better.
How important is it for business to play a role in society? No one works in a vacuum, and no business does either. You grow a business, and it grows the economy, and its staff buy houses, and they often have kids who need educating and then they need jobs and so on and so forth. Your business should reflect your values and that should reflect the society you want to live in. We develop drugs and devices that help people live longer lives and with a greater quality of life, and as such I don’t often question why I do what I do. Essentially, it’s about wanting to make people’s lives better.
Outside of work, what are you really good at? Once upon a time, I might have said Thai Boxing or swimming or something energetic. Now I think life has a more sedate quality to it. I love walking with Harry (the dog) and with my partner to the local pubs and restaurants at the coast. And taking weekends away here and there. I do enjoy motorbiking too and the great freedom that offers. You can only concentrate on the road when you have your helmet on, so that’s a lot of fun, and if I can get away with it, I’ll bike to a conference or meeting. Last year I took a bike over on the ferry to Amsterdam and on to a conference in Leipzig. Wandering around the venue in a shirt and jacket with a helmet under your arm certainly isn’t the normal business attire, but it does start a lot of conversations.
I also love to fix things or perhaps just take something apart and put it back together, so there is a fair bit of DIY on the weekends. I restored a whole set of garden furniture with my daughters in lockdown. Watching a 12 and 13 year-old use a table and mitre saw was certainly interesting. Last month I took the tumble dryer apart and put it back together again, the tear-drop bearing had gone, and the noise must have driven the neighbours nuts. I don’t think we do enough of this type of thing any more, too quick to just order a new one, rather than take the time to fix things. The bearing was only £6, and now it’s perfectly good again.
So ironically whilst it’s about harnessing new skills and technology to move our innovative sectors forward, similarly it’s also about embracing some of our old skills too.
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