A new phase for Merelogic

A little over a year ago, I started a company called Merelogic with the goal of helping biotech startups do a better job of managing and leveraging data. I had a vague idea that I would do this through a consulting model, focused on designing data infrastructure. Since then, I’ve iterated on this in a number of different ways. But in the last few months, I feel like I finally hit on a solid understanding of what I want Merelogic to be. So this week I’m going to take a break from the usual content and write about what this new direction will look like.

There are three main themes to this new direction, all of which you can see in the new Merelogic website, and which I’ll describe in more detail below:

1. Connecting: Rather than trying to be the endpoint for design and consulting services, Merelogic’s primary goal will be to connect biotech teams with broader resources.

2. Structure: Rather than just providing services, Merelogic will start with self-service design tools that allow us to help a broader audience, supported by services to help teams use them.

3. Partnering: To allow Merelogic to cover a broader scope and deliver the most effective tools and services, most of this will be in partnership with other experts with complementary expertise.

Connecting

In my last few posts, I’ve written about why I believe it’s so hard for biotech teams to find and evaluate software tools. (In fact, I’ll get back to that topic again next week.) This is largely because of the stage that the field is in, and maybe it will naturally get better over time. But I believe Merelogic can play a role in accelerating the process, and there are three things I’m doing to get started:

First, I’m starting to offer free consulting calls to biotech teams looking for the right software or approach to address a pressing problem. This isn’t a discovery call that’s meant to lead to a paid project. (In fact, I’m not currently taking on new biotech consulting clients.) It’s an opportunity for me to help you with a pressing problem while I get a better sense of the kinds of tools and services I can offer in the future. If you want to give it a try, you can sign up here.

Second, I’m working on a resource that I’m calling the Biotech Reference Stack that will provide a more granular way for biotech teams to understand the functionality they need and find the software to support/implement it. This isn’t ready to launch quite yet, but I’m looking for software teams to “tag” themselves so their software will be on there when it does go live. If you’re a developer, you can sign up here.

Third, I’ve started offering services, in partnership with SaaS product, sales & marketing experts (see below), to help software companies develop go-to-market strategies that ensure they can connect with and help the users they want to serve. We’re currently working with the first handful of clients to identify their target users/customers and create messaging that will get their attention. As of today, we have capacity for two or three additional projects. If you’re interested, fill out this form to schedule a discovery call.

Structure

But it’s not just about finding the right software - it’s about fitting all the pieces together into a functioning system. Because the field is in such an early stage, we don’t have a canonical template for a biotech organization’s software stack. (A number of people have proposed their own versions, but we don’t yet have a clear winner.) So we typically rely on individual experience and figure things out as we go.

I believe Merelogic can play a role in systematizing this general body of knowledge into canonical and repeatable best practices. The core of this will be the Reference Stack I mentioned above, but I’m planning to build a number of design tools that make building your own stack as straightforward as possible.

The first of these tools will be a worksheet/app that I’m calling the Biotech Stack Template to help teams define not only what software they’ll use, but also the conventions and processes that will ensure the different components form a cohesive whole. And for teams that need additional help, I’ll be partnering with experts in automation and informatics (see below) to offer services that make sure you can get the most out of them.

This is currently still in development but if you join the waitlist here, you’ll be notified by email as soon as I have more information to share.

Partnership

For this first year and a few months, Merelogic has always just been me, occasionally using the royal “we”. But all the things I’ve written about above are a lot for just one person. So to make it all happen, I’ve started partnering with independent experts who complement my own expertise. I’ve decided to go this route over hiring internal employees because I believe the future of expertise-based businesses is small and single-person shops. The best and brightest experts want to be their own bosses (just like I do) so partnering is the best way to both create the most flexibility and work with the best people out there.

As I mentioned above, I’m partnering with two experts on the software go-to-market strategy projects: Product Management Expert Vicky Li Horst and SaaS Sales and Marketing Expert Vijay Renganathan. So far, their understanding of the general principles and approaches in these fields has been an invaluable complement to my understanding of the biotech software landscape and I’ve learned a ton from both of them.

I’m also working on a partnership with an automation & informatics team to build services around the Stack Template tool I mentioned above. More on this once it’s finalized, but for now I’ll just say that they’ll bring a depth of both technical expertise and general consulting experience that I’m really excited about.

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So, that’s what I’ve been working on behind the scenes, as I’ve been writing these posts. The new Merelogic website reflects where the company is today, with hints of what’s coming in the future. As always, I really appreciate everyone who’s been following along on this newsletter. More updates to come, but next week it’s back to the usual content.

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