For example, Thar Pharmaceuticals first started with a pain product. After spending a couple million dollars, Chordia says the company dropped it in favor of an anti-cancer drug that moved treatment from an IV to an oral tablet. The higher potential cost savings of this created a stronger market.
Then Thar Pharmaceuticals discovered the same drug worked on a disease that didn’t have a treatment. It pivoted again because the returns for an orphan disease were even better.
“We ended up switching to that application, and when we did that, a German pharmaceutical company bought us. They made an offer we could not refuse,” he says.
Chordia is always asking, “Where are we going? Are we still going in the right direction? Is it time to focus on something else?”
He’s learned when to switch and when to continue working, but timing matters. The company’s first drug would be of more interest today because of the opioid crisis. Chordia wants to look at it again because the pain drug is non-addictive.
You cannot fall in love with your technology, Chordia says. If there’s no market, how are you going to sell it?
Knowing when to give up and when to continue is based on listening to the market. Don’t develop products for something that’s 10, 15 years down the road. If you’re developing technologies that people need, they can help pay for it.
“Do something that people will say, ‘I need it today, if you have it for me in six months I can live with it. But I really have an application today,’” he says.
A proven track record helps, but Chordia says somebody somewhere will help you because they need the product. You just have to find that person.
Pull back for total cost
It’s also important to consider total cost while weighing short-term and long-term benefits. This is something the Thar team educates its customers on.
“We were doing green not because it was good for the environment — that was the icing on the cake. We were doing it because it was cheaper in the end product if you look at the overall cost, not just one item,” he says.
That mindset of understanding total cost also applies to Thar. Chordia says you usually get what you pay for.
When he started his first company, they needed a photo of an instrument. They hired someone for $35 an hour. He didn’t have the right equipment and it took eight hours. The next time, they hired a professional. He charged $75 an hour, but was in and out in two hours.
“You need to look at this from a total cost point of view, not a dollar per hour basis. People usually get caught up in ‘Oh, it’s only $35 an hour, I can afford it.’ No, you really need to understand the total cost,” Chordia says.
