Jim Wilson organizes the Next Great Big Ideas Summit, a two-day event attended by chief executives, researchers, entrepreneurs and investors in the life sciences industry.EDUARDO LIMA/The Globe and Mail
The organizer: Jim Wilson
The pitch: Raising $65,000 and climbing
The cause: McMaster Children’s Hospital
Shortly after Jim Wilson joined the board of the Hamilton Health Sciences Foundation nine years ago, directors were asked to come up with some ideas to attract the next generation of donors.
Mr. Wilson works in commercial real estate in Toronto and specializes in the life sciences sector. He suggested tapping into that community.
“There seems to be a lot of really cool stuff going on in that field and I don’t think anyone has wrapped a fundraising event around that community. Maybe we should do that,” he recalled telling fellow directors. “The reply was, ‘Great idea. Why don’t you go do that?’”
Mr. Wilson took up the challenge and tried to organize an event. His efforts fell through and he put the idea on hold. “We had the format, but we had to figure out how to create relationships,” he said.
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When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, he launched a podcast with people he knew in the life sciences community. The format was a casual conversation about science and the work his guests were doing. Mr. Wilson made the discussions as accessible as possible. He would often interrupt an interview by saying “I don’t have a science background and I haven’t the faintest idea what you’re talking about. Could you please dumb that down for me?”
The podcast caught on and he launched two more including one dedicated to startups. That success led him to organize the Next Great Big Ideas Summit, a two-day gathering that brings together hundreds of chief executives, researchers, entrepreneurs and investors in the life sciences world.
This year’s event, from Sept. 28 to 29, was the fourth annual summit and featured presentations by investors explaining why they backed a certain company. Representatives from that company then explained how they prepared their pitch to the investor.
Tickets cost up to $220 and proceeds go to the McMaster Children’s Hospital, which is supported by the foundation. So far, the summits have raised more than $65,000 in total.
Mr. Wilson is already planning next year’s event. “It’s obviously a passion project,” he said. “And it is such a privilege to be doing this.”
pwaldie@globeandmail.com
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