Abstract
A turning point had arrived by mid-2001 in the fortunes of Osvaldo Prada and his Argogen Biotech start-up company located in the Genecity incubator complex near Paris. Created in 2000, the firm, despite its technical competence re-affirmed and promising patents filed, was experiencing some difficulties, financial and some in the market place too - developing a profitable client base was taking longer than expected, and equity investors were becoming increasingly more demanding. While every day in the life of an entrepreneur is a ''challenge with roller coaster rides'', as Prada put it, this time, he admitted, there were some special ones confronting him. The firm was at a critical point in its development and cash was drying up. The initial venture capital funding had been all but spent and new funds were uncertain.
About
Abstract
A turning point had arrived by mid-2001 in the fortunes of Osvaldo Prada and his Argogen Biotech start-up company located in the Genecity incubator complex near Paris. Created in 2000, the firm, despite its technical competence re-affirmed and promising patents filed, was experiencing some difficulties, financial and some in the market place too - developing a profitable client base was taking longer than expected, and equity investors were becoming increasingly more demanding. While every day in the life of an entrepreneur is a ''challenge with roller coaster rides'', as Prada put it, this time, he admitted, there were some special ones confronting him. The firm was at a critical point in its development and cash was drying up. The initial venture capital funding had been all but spent and new funds were uncertain.