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One World Lab, Inc |
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July 14, 2014 Issue |
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The Most Powerful Name In Corporate News and Information |
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Neutral Online Reagent Platform for Researchers |
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 About
One World Lab, Incwww.oneworldlab.com Orchestrate. Expedite. Collaborate.
OWL
offers
primary
antibodies
along
with
other
reagents
from
original
manufacturers
in
test
sizes
to
facilitate
the
side-by-side
validation
and
rating
of
each
product
on
the
review
page.
Customers
who
complete
reviews
earn
discounts
towards
future
purchases.
The
reviews
are
meant to
help
researchers
engage
antibody
manufacturers
and
direct
the
efforts
of
manufacturing
new
antibodies
based
on the
needs
of
researchers. |
San Diego Ca 92121 855.695.5227
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Interview conducted by: Lynn Fosse, Senior Editor, CEOCFO Magazine, Published – July 14, 2014
CEOCFO: Mr. Simson, what is the focus of One World Lab? Mr. Simson: One World Lab is focused on creating greater accessibility for scientists to the tools they need to conduct research. We have done this by creating a unique online platform that is a neutral entity, which hosts the content or catalogues of all the manufacturers together in one place. We created an extra service by providing all of these reagents and tools in a smaller, more affordable test size format, allowing scientists to screen in greater number. They can do more experiments to discover new elements in their own research that they potentially did not have the budget to test previously.
CEOCFO: Has the concept of aggregating the catalogues been tried before in your industry? Mr. Simson: There are several companies who offer directories that list the catalogues of different vendors together in one place. That has been going on for a while. The vendors themselves are paying to have their catalogues listed on these directories. Another thing going on in the life science industry are companies buying product from the manufacturers and then re-labeling it under a different label, their own label. This does not allow the scientists to know who actually created the product. This is an issue with these directory services because most do not discriminate between these re- sellers and the manufacturers when listing catalogues. It contributes to the redundancy that exists out there in the marketplace. At One World Lab, we aggregate the content like the re-sellers do, but with transparency to the original manufacturers and provide a feedback loop from researchers to manufacturers through the review section.
CEOCFO: Do your potential customers know the difference and is it easy to understand the difference at One World Lab? How do you reach potential customers? Mr. Simson: The scientists themselves are becoming more aware about the fact that much of the antibodies they are using are being offered through multiple companies because their data sheets showing the images of how these products work in an experiment are identical. The real issue is the increasing difficulty for scientists to reproduce the results that are published in scientific journals and the inability to identify the original source of the reagents (antibodies) used in the experiments. There are initiatives to try and identify all the antibodies available, as well as list their catalogue numbers in the journals. The problem is compounded when scientists buy one antibody at a time to screen for the best one only to discover they have been retesting from different vendors. Therefore, many scientists are aware of the reselling even though it is not something that is explicit in the industry. At One World Lab, we are doing something that is very service oriented and creating value for specific entities, the manufacturers and the scientists who we support with our platform. To reach our customers we use direct sales, e.g. our sales team visits major research institutions mostly focused on the academic research market. We also use email and eMarketing plus exhibit at many of the major conferences in our industry.
CEOCFO: Do the samples you provide come from the manufacturers or are they generic samples you create? How big of a factor is this availability for scientists? Mr. Simson: At One World Lab, we take the normal sized format provided by the manufacturer (their bulk reagent) and in our facility, we are processing it and resizing it into the sample size. Now the manufacturers do not have to worry about doing anything outside of their normal operations. When we resize it into our files, we use a 2D barcoded tube, which contains all the information about the manufacturer and that product. When we ship the box out, it does not have any of the manufacturer’s information in the box; it has all been scrubbed and replaced with the OWL ID, which allows the scientists to do an unbiased comparison. They can then come back to our website where we have a review platform. With that OWL ID, they access the review section; share with us the performance rating and comments about the performance of the products, the applications they use in the experiment, the experimental protocol and then upload the data image. We get all of that information in a review. As soon as they submit the review, we provide the manufacturer’s name, catalogue number and lot information. This allows the scientists to make sure, when they need more products, they know they can either come through us or go directly to the manufacturer, but most importantly that in the publications, they are putting down the correct information, and they are listing the manufacturers who made the product. This gives future scientists a big advantage when attempting to reproduce the results of an experiment. It also allows the manufacturers to be able to troubleshoot and interact directly with the researchers through our review site creating a feedback loop of fact driven information.
CEOCFO: What do you need to do on your end to make sure that with the product you are sending, nothing has been altered? What are the legal requirements? Mr. Simson: We have to maintain strict guidelines. Everything is kept at the proper temperature and we use sterile techniques as we transfer the product from bulk into smaller tubes. It is something that goes on in every manufacturer’s lab; they are always taking bulk and dispatching it into smaller amounts. We are just taking it one-step further and dispensing into this test size. We allow ourselves to be audited by all of our partners and potential partners. They have all come back and said that we are doing more than what they do most times because we have to be operating at a very high efficiency in terms of organization in order to manage tens of thousands of products and dozens of different manufacturer’s catalogues. At this point, it is a very streamlined process at OWL.
CEOCFO: What is your revenue model? Mr. Simson: The revenue model is currently based mainly on the sales of antibodies in test size vials. The other revenue channel we will be introducing soon is our services model. We will be able to receive samples from the different research institutions, process them and provide the validation data back as a report to show their scientists which products would work best with the experimental model they are using. This validation step seems to be a big bottleneck for many pharmaceutical companies. We will have so much information coming into the website, that we will understand more about the way the products work, or do not work and we will be providing these reports for additional revenue.
CEOCFO: Where are the biggest challenges in putting the technology together? Mr. Simson: The technology itself came along at the right time. You have to have good inventory management software that is a reliable way of tracking every single tube in your system. You must also accurately and reproducibly aliquot every single tube that you handle. That is something we identified early on as we were building out the business model. It comes down to being able to organize and manage a vast library of content, as well as to understand their storage and shipping conditions. The companies that are providing solutions for mass sample management have used us to beta test their products because what we do is at the forefront of automation.
CEOCFO: What are the next steps? Mr. Simson: For us, it is to continue to do what we have been doing and grow the platform. I think we are probably 20% along the way of populating our platform with the manufacturers out there in the life science industry. What I see as the major next step is to expand the number of product lines represented through the platform to make it a full representation of what a researcher would need to conduct an experiment.
CEOCFO: What surprised you so far along the way? Mr. Simson: I guess the amount of resellers that are involved in the marketplace, how incestuous the industry is with the prevalence of companies buying, and selling to one another was shocking. Also the fact the many manufacturers are a little concerned about getting in front of their customers, just realizing how dependent they have become on the reseller model themselves. Many are making most of their money selling to other companies and now when you provide them with the chance to connect affordably with the end-user directly, there seems to be trepidation around it. Some see an issue with the test size vials cannibalizing the sales of full-size vials instead of the chance to get their products tested more often. The reluctance expressed by a group of manufacturers to have their products purchased, evaluated and reviewed in greater number is somewhat surprising.
CEOCFO: Are you funded for the steps you would like to take or will you be seeking partnerships or funding to continue to grow the business? Mr. Simson: Right now, we have angel investors that have allowed us to grow at this pace. I am currently seeking more investors to syndicate a series B capital raise to accelerate the growth.
CEOCFO: What is your geographic reach today? Mr. Simson: We are focused on the US market; we do have business internationally that that has come by exhibiting at large conferences. Our sales team is based in the US, which will continue to be the company’s focus for the next few years.
CEOCFO: Put it all together for our readers. Why pay attention to One World Lab?
Mr. Simson:
The reason why you would want to take notice of One World Lab is that we are
creating a science-based platform where we are taking all of the content
from the life science industry and we are applying the correct measures to
eliminate the redundancy. Our streamlined business model gives researchers
access to the tools they need to do more science. We will see One World Lab
as a key factor that is facilitating the acceleration of discovery. Through
our review platform, there is going to be a great deal of interesting
information we will be gathering like new applications that are being
developed to assist scientists. We are creating what scientists have always
wanted, which is the ability to connect with one another through
experimental results and be able to help one another guide their efforts in
their labs across the world. One World Lab is going to be able to create
this platform because of the relationships we have with the manufacturers,
the way that we create the access to the products and the information
exchange between all the scientists and manufacturers. We see OWL being the
catalyst for discovery, assisting the next generation of scientists along
with the current generation gain new resources for greater efficiencies in
research today. We are certainly using more of a social media approach in
our business model, which is attractive to many of the graduate students and
the next generation of principal investigators and professors. |
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Research Tools for Scientists, One World Lab, Inc., Healthcare Companies, CEO Interviews 2014, Michael Simson, Neutral Online Reagent Platform for Researchers, scientists can do more experiments to discover new elements in their own research that they potentially did not have the budget to test previously, Recent CEO Interviews, OWL offers primary antibodies along with other reagents from original manufacturers in test sizes to facilitate the side-by-side validation and rating of each product on the review page, the reviews are meant to help researchers engage antibody manufacturers and direct the efforts of manufacturing new antibodies based on the needs of researchers, creating greater accessibility for scientists to the tools they need to conduct research, a unique online platform that is a neutral entity, which hosts the content or catalogues of all the manufacturers together in one place, One World Lab, Inc. Press Releases, News, Healthcare Stock, Companies looking for venture capital, Angel Investors, private companies looking for investors, healthcare companies seeking investors, research technology companies needing investment capital |
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