News and Insights
A Golden City Where Life-Saving Innovation is the Ultimate Prize – San Francisco
August 9, 2019
Through the decades, San Francisco has been the stomping ground for #biopharma and #medtech CEOs, financial analysts, top-tier media, #health change agents and, of course, the global investment community.
More than 25 years ago, I made my first pilgrimage westward to San Francisco to attend the Hambrecht & Quist (H&Q) Healthcare Conference. Like many successful investment firms, H&Q was folded into one bank and then another. The smaller H&Q meeting that began 37 years ago has since morphed into the J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference, industry’s colossus gathering that draws some 400 companies, both public and private, to deliver presentations to thousands of attendees who pack the Sir Francis Drake Hotel to capacity.
Through the decades, San Francisco has been the stomping ground for biopharma and medtech CEOs, financial analysts, top-tier media, health change agents and, of course, the global investment community. The city has the highest concentration of biotech companiesin the country, with many of the nation’s largest biotech calling the Bay area home including well-known companies such as Amgen, Genentech and Gilead Sciences. Plus, where there is amazing talent and financial resources, start-ups will cluster. So will great support services to enable them to share word of their efforts to people with pressing health interests and needs.
The Golden Gate City is acknowledged, along with Boston, as one of the country’s two mega biotech centers. Almost 30 percent of U.S. biotech investment finds its way to the Golden Gate City. The regional biotech sector generates some 127,500 jobs – from scientists, to business leaders to the service sector that helps support their efforts with law firms, accounting groups, clinical trial design consultants, and, yes, communications agencies. Finn Partners is in the hub of this activity.
As my colleague Arielle Pinsof, based in our Chicago office, recently told me, “As a West Coast native, there’s something special about the approach to problem-solving out here – people bring both passion for affecting positive change and an openness to collaboration that feels very natural. No wonder FINN is right at home here.”
In past months, we have shared about our Health Practice efforts in New York, London, Paris, Frankfurt, Jerusalem, Washington, DC, Detroit, Hong Kong, Chicago, Seattle and, most recently, Nashville. Joe Foster, a Portland native, who helps lead FINN Health efforts in the West often says: “While our growth is important, the real impact we are having on people’s lives across the globe is what drives us.”
We are a community centered around making a difference. That value draws us to industry sectors of innovation, including health. Boston, Singapore and San Francisco are metropolises of ideas and innovation. As we look to 2020, expect to see more and more FINN Health Practice news from these great cities. For wherever we have amazing talent and the support of strong agency community, clients committed to improving the human condition will find a great partner in FINN.
POSTED BY: Gil Bashe
