WEBVTT

00:00:00.060 --> 00:00:06.600
>> My name is Leonard Mazur, and I'm an
entrepreneur in the pharmaceutical field.

00:00:06.600 --> 00:00:15.120
I've had companies that I've started, and I've
been an entrepreneur for about the past 20 years

00:00:15.120 --> 00:00:21.230
with focus in specialty pharmaceuticals,
which is pharmaceutical drugs

00:00:21.230 --> 00:00:25.240
that are either manufactured
or marketed for prescriptions

00:00:25.240 --> 00:00:29.130
by physician specialties, for the most part.

00:00:29.130 --> 00:00:33.700
But I've strayed from that also occasionally.

00:00:33.700 --> 00:00:37.740
I progressed in a series of
positions in a marketing area

00:00:37.740 --> 00:00:40.850
that started as a market research analyst.

00:00:40.850 --> 00:00:45.790
I became an assistant product manager,
product manager, marketing manager,

00:00:45.790 --> 00:00:49.840
and then ultimately I was in
strategic planning and acquisitions.

00:00:49.840 --> 00:00:54.550
And I got into really doing something

00:00:54.550 --> 00:00:59.360
that I thought was a tremendous
contribution to the company at that time.

00:00:59.360 --> 00:01:06.330
And that was the company had acquired a
small ophthalmic pharmaceutical business,

00:01:06.330 --> 00:01:09.720
and that business made prescription eye drops.

00:01:09.720 --> 00:01:12.250
It was doing about 10 million
dollars in revenue at the time.

00:01:12.250 --> 00:01:18.960
And the CO of the company wanted to turn it into
a 100 million dollar company within 5 years.

00:01:18.960 --> 00:01:20.640
That was the objective.

00:01:20.640 --> 00:01:25.480
And so he turned to me and said you're
no longer in the marketing department.

00:01:25.480 --> 00:01:28.650
You're now going to be in strategic
planning, and you're going to figure out how

00:01:28.650 --> 00:01:33.430
to grow this business and you're going to start
buying the companies that are in this field.

00:01:33.430 --> 00:01:35.490
So what I did is, I spent the better of probably

00:01:35.490 --> 00:01:43.550
about 3 months putting together a 100 page
strategic plan and I rechristened the company.

00:01:43.550 --> 00:01:44.580
I redefined it.

00:01:44.580 --> 00:01:47.360
I said it was no longer an
ophthalmic pharmaceutical company.

00:01:47.360 --> 00:01:50.740
It was going to become an eye care company.

00:01:50.740 --> 00:01:57.710
So as a result, that company was
going to be called CooperVision.

00:01:57.710 --> 00:02:01.110
What happened there, is in
about a 6 to 7 year time frame,

00:02:01.110 --> 00:02:06.190
it became a 700 million dollar company and
1 of the world's largest eye care companies.

00:02:06.190 --> 00:02:07.840
I was there for 10 years.

00:02:07.840 --> 00:02:13.840
And it really shaped me in terms of who I
was professionally, how I looked at things,

00:02:13.840 --> 00:02:19.520
how I analyzed things, how to think about
how you want to progress a business,

00:02:19.520 --> 00:02:22.720
how you want to grow a business,
what are the pitfalls.

00:02:22.720 --> 00:02:24.350
It was an excellent training ground.

00:02:24.350 --> 00:02:28.110
And as I said, it was sink or swim.

00:02:28.110 --> 00:02:30.540
So you learned everything on your own.

00:02:30.540 --> 00:02:33.540
There was no formal training manual.

00:02:33.540 --> 00:02:35.260
There was no formal training program.

00:02:35.260 --> 00:02:36.490
There was nothing.

00:02:36.490 --> 00:02:37.500
So you just did it.