Neither Scott nor Bibbs felt guilty about their golf outings. “It was a good opportunity for Jeff and me to break away from the rest of the team and have strategy sessions about where we wanted to go and what we wanted to do,” Scott says. “Golf is great for that.” It was during one of those afternoons at The Meadows that Scott and Bibbs struck upon the business model that would set Pharmatek apart from the CRO pack.

 

As they walked from one fairway to the next, the two partners agreed to borrow a chapter from the Starbucks playbook. Pharmatek would focus on quality and speed: direct client-scientist communication, no project managers running interference, and easy-to-decipher invoices. It was exactly what San Diego’s growing community of small and virtual biotechs—funded by VCs interested in getting drugs to the clinic as efficiently as possible—needed but weren’t getting.

 

Scott and Bibbs were putting their time on the links to good use. Still, Scott wondered if there wasn’t some way to make it at least seem more like work. Scott scoured his email list for biotech contacts and came up with 28 names. He invited each to a friendly round of golf and networking. Dividing by four, he scheduled seven tee times at The Meadows.

 

Only six players showed up. Adding insult to injury, The Meadows charged Scott $1,870 for five unused tee times.

 

As a golfer and businessman, Scott knew the value of perseverance. He continued to send out monthly invites. The turnout improved. At the same time, things were looking up for Pharmatek. Scott and Bibbs had gotten in at just the right time. “We were the only chemical development group in town,” Scott says. “That really helped us a lot.” The BGN was good for business, too. One afternoon a month, Scott was the man. “I met tons of people,” Scott says.

 

In 2002, Scott and Bibbs offered to buy out their investors at 17 percent interest. They had no takers. Today, Pharmatek has 75 employees and more than 100 clients. The company is involved in more than 150 projects, all of which “have interesting applications and significant markets,” Scott says.

 

Until this year, the BGN was missing one thing—a charity. Scott had always told himself that the right cause eventually would reveal itself. That happened in late October 2007, when parched Southern California exploded in flames. The tournament raised $11,050 for badly needed renovations at Maderas Golf Club’s neighborhood firehouse, Rancho Bernardo Fire Station 33. Remarkably, Maderas was mostly unscathed by the wildfires. Flames halted at the edge of the well-irrigated course.

 

Back on the 18th hole green at the BGN tournament, Team Invitrogen birdies to take the tournament with a 10-under-par 62. After the awards ceremony that evening, Bishop, Hughes, Finn, and Renner exchange slaps on the back and head back to their cars clutching eight-inch, gold-plated cups. Finn mumbles under his breath that he’s ready to do it all again the next day. Anyone for a round of golf?