Experienced business development for your
next milestone.

Fractional BD support for life sciences companies, sized to where you are today

For tools and technology companies, CDMOs and other services and manufacturing providers, and drug developers.

Schedule A Commercial Acceleration Call Where we start
Q1Q2Q3Q4Q1Q2Q3Q420262027

We deliver:

  • A customized commercial strategy
  • The right internal structure
  • Experienced commercial talent
  • 30 to 40% less than a full-time team
  • All implemented at the right time for your business

Great science
earns attention.Commercialization
earns adoption.

You invested in your science and technology first. That was the right call. Now the market needs to know you, and that takes both marketing and business development, working in parallel, each one informing the other.

Commercial work is often the most stretched function in a growing company, yet it may decide both the next funding round and long-term success. Great science rarely drives adoption, investment, or market access on its own. Investors want evidence that the market is responding, and customers and partners need someone who shows up, follows through, and earns their trust.

  • A fractional experienced BD representative, matched to the level your business needs
  • Direct outreach, discovery meetings, and follow-through with your buyers
  • Conference strategy, meeting planning, and on-site representation
  • Support for proposals, RFPs, and partnership discussions

Clinical acceleration has outpaced commercial infrastructure. We build the systems that close that gap.

Not One Size Fits All

Every company is different. The level of BD experience you need, the support your team requires, and the infrastructure you already have all vary. Some companies want a fractional experienced BD representative and nothing else. Some already have strong marketing and need the sales side. Others want support across both.

So you choose. Use your systems, borrow ours, or combine the two. Everything goes out in your name and your voice. The market sees you, not us.

Business development

  • An experienced fractional BD representative, matched to your stage and needs
  • Full-cycle selling, and any part of the sales process, from first outreach through proposal, negotiation, and close
  • Partner and licensing outreach
  • Conference strategy, meeting planning, and on-site representation
  • Support for RFPs and partnership discussions

Sales infrastructure

  • Target intelligence from our proprietary database
  • Outreach cadence and process
  • CRM and pipeline reporting, if you don’t have your own
  • Metrics that show real progress, not just activity

Marketing support

  • Ideal customer profile, messaging, and value narrative
  • LinkedIn content, written and posted
  • Newsletters
  • Email and LinkedIn outreach campaigns
  • Collateral

All of it anchored in the Propel Commercial Acceleration Playbook™, so what we build together becomes a repeatable process you can keep building on.

Business development that speaks your buyer’s language

The title may be the same across life sciences. The job is not. We match BD experience to the buyer you are actually trying to reach.

Tools, Technology, and Diagnostics

Instruments, reagents and consumables, analytical tools, software, technology platforms, and diagnostics

Who you need to reach
R&D, process development, and manufacturing leaders at developers and manufacturers, plus the platform and procurement teams behind them.
What you’re building toward
Market adoption: strategic partners, collaborations, and market adoption.
What matters
Timing. The window is often widest early in development. Once a process is locked for the clinic, switching can mean validation or comparability work few teams want to take on.
What we do
Map programs by stage, find where your technology solves a real problem, build the sales funnel, secure evaluations, and close deals that generate revenue and prove market adoption.

CDMOs, CROs, and Services

CDMOs, CMOs, CROs, testing and analytical labs, and specialty logistics

Who you need to reach
CMC, technical operations, quality, and supply chain leaders, with sponsor procurement at the end of the process.
What you’re building toward
Clients: drug developer relationships and the strategic partnerships that follow them.
What matters
Sponsors are protecting a timeline. Capacity rarely wins the work on its own. Experience, timeliness, and risk reduction do, and shortlists often form well before an RFP is issued.
What we do
Build target lists around program stage and trigger events, open technical dialogue early, support RFIs, site visits, and proposals, and keep long, multi-stakeholder cycles moving.

Drug Development

Therapeutic developers and platform biotechs seeking strategic partners

Who you need to reach
Search and evaluation, corporate BD, and alliance leaders at pharma and larger biotechs, along with regional and co-development partners.
What you’re building toward
Data, and the partnerships and collaborations that should be ready when it lands.
What matters
Partnering has a long memory. Relationships built before the data package is ready can shape how that package is received.
What we do
Sharpen your partnering story, prioritize counterparties by strategic fit, open conversations with the right people, plan your partnering calendar, and support the path to licensing, co-development, and regional deals.

From first call to a repeatable BD engine

  1. Commercial Acceleration Call

    A focused conversation about what you sell, who needs it, and what has to happen next.

  2. Acceleration Audit

    Over 30 days, we assess where you are today, identify what will have the biggest impact on BD success, and define the level of BD experience your business needs. Most companies are closer than they think, and the audit shows exactly where to focus.

  3. Targeted Playbook

    We build the sections of the Commercial Acceleration Playbook™ that matter most for your business, creating a repeatable process and a foundation for ongoing success you can keep building on.

  4. BD launches alongside the Playbook

    Outreach starts while the Playbook takes shape, so what the market tells us sharpens it as we go. Marketing support is added only if you want it.

  5. Continue or expand

    Grow the engagement, add a segment or market, or, if it’s the right fit for everyone, bring your BD representative onto your team permanently.

Fractional BD support is a strong fit when…

  • You’re raising your next round and need commercial momentum to continue while leadership focuses on investors
  • Your founder or CEO is still carrying most commercial conversations
  • You have marketing in place but no one dedicated to BD
  • You’re entering a new segment, market, or geography and need relationships there quickly
  • A BD leader has moved on and you can’t afford to wait out a search
  • You want experienced BD in place while you build toward your next milestone

Led by someone who has sat in every seat

Propel was founded by Susan Nichols, who brings more than 25 years of C-suite commercial experience across diagnostics, tools and technology, contract manufacturing, and drug development.

She spent 15 years in diagnostics with global leaders including Roche, Abbott, and Thermo Fisher, then led commercial growth across tools and technology, contract manufacturing, and drug development, including roles as Chief Business Officer and CEO. As CEO of Falcon Therapeutics, a drug developer, she led the company’s partnering, and she leads partnering today as fractional Chief Commercial Officer at SCTbio. She has sold into and partnered across every segment we serve.

Propel brings together a collective of senior business development and sales consultants who have led commercialization across biotech and life science organizations.

“Susan was able to quickly step into our team as a fractional commercial leader and help organize our sales and marketing processes, as well as support development of our commercial strategy as we prepared for a new product launch.”

Brian FethCEO, Xcell Bio

“Susan quickly proved to be an invaluable partner to our team, bringing both deep cell and gene therapy expertise and a thoughtful, practical approach to every challenge.”

Luděk SojkaCEO, SCTbio

Questions We Hear Often

How much of a BD representative’s time is included?

As much as your business needs. Every engagement is fractional and sized during the Acceleration Audit to your priorities and stage. You get senior experience without committing to a full-time salary, benefits, and equity package, and the engagement can grow as your needs do.

Do we have to use your systems?

No. Use your own, borrow ours, or combine the two. We work with whatever mix gets you moving fastest.

Whose name does the outreach and content go out under?

Yours. Everything is written in your voice and sent from your company and your people. The market sees you, not us.

Who owns the pipeline?

You do. The pipeline we build together belongs to your company.

Is this a staffing or recruiting service?

No. Propel contracts and stands behind every engagement, so you have one accountable partner rather than an individual contractor.

Can we hire our BD representative?

Yes. If it’s the right fit for everyone, there is a clear path to bring your BD representative onto your team permanently.

Do you help with fundraising?

Our work focuses on commercial and strategic transactions such as customer agreements, licensing, co-development, and distribution. We do not act as a placement agent or finder for capital raises.

You work across CDMOs, tools and diagnostics companies, and drug developers. Why does that matter?

Because these three groups sell to each other. Our relationships and database span all sides of that ecosystem, which is part of how we open the right doors quickly.

Let’s put experienced BD to work on your next milestone.

Tell us what you’re selling, who needs it, and what has to happen next. We’ll help you decide what support makes sense, and what it would take to make it work.

Schedule a Commercial Acceleration Call

Not sure where you stand yet? Take the free Commercial Gravity Score