Both sides of the divide
Tom follows the science, the engineering, and the commercial picture at the same time, so the advice has to hold up on all three.
Proof. Chemist by training (MChem, CChem); executive MBA (LSE, NYU Stern, HEC Paris).
Independent advisory practice
Deep technology advice from someone who has built it.
The independent practice of Tom Fleming. A decade building and scaling an autonomous drug discovery company, brought to the founders, boards, and investors building the future of the life sciences.
The premise
Deep technology is forged under pressure.
The science is hard. The timelines are long. Capital is patient or it is gone, and the people building it are usually doing several jobs at once.
Advice is easy to come by. Advice from someone who has done the job is less so: someone who follows the science and the engineering, has built and scaled a company under the same pressures, and is at home in the boardroom and the policy room. That is the gap Crucible was set up to fill.
The difference
Two halves of the same problem.
Deep tech asks two things of an advisor at once: enough grasp of the science and the engineering to follow what is being built, and enough experience of running a company to know what building it will cost. Tom Fleming has spent his career on both sides.
He is an operator-scientist: a chemist by training who went on to build, finance, and run a company rather than advise one from the outside. That is what the practice rests on. He is not a career consultant, he works across the science and the business rather than one of them, and he does the work himself.
What you get
What Crucible brings.
Built from the inside
Tom has hit the operational milestones and made the difficult calls himself, so he has a fair idea of what a plan costs to execute.
Proof. A decade as co-founder, COO and CEO of Arctoris; built the Ulysses® platform.
Structures, as well as advice
Crucible helps design and stand up new operating and funding models, from CRO and PRO structures through to FROs.
Proof. Pioneered the PRO model; experience across CRO, PRO and FRO structures.
Network and reach
A cross-sector network put to work for clients, and senior engagement with UK government on science, AI, and sovereign capability.
Proof. Senior UK government engagement; relationships across pharma, biotech and techbio.
The work
What the work usually involves.
Most relationships combine a few of these, scoped to the moment that matters.
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Founder, CEO and leadership advisory
A senior sounding board through start-up and scale-up, with a people-driven approach to teams, culture, and the hard calls.
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Strategy and positioning
Category creation, the commercial model, partnerships, and the fundraising narrative.
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Board and investor management
Non-executive and advisory roles, board effectiveness through growth and pressure, and the investor relationships that decide the next round.
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Engineering, biology, AI and enterprise
Strategy at the frontier: autonomous labs, closed-loop experimentation, and the structured data that makes biology usable for AI.
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New venture and research-structure design
Building and launching new models, from CRO and PRO service businesses to FROs, consortia, and funding across public, private, and philanthropic sources.
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Ecosystem and government
Convening cross-sector networks across pharma, techbio, government, and philanthropy, and advising on sovereign capability in science and AI.
Track record
The short version.
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Arctoris
A decade as co-founder, COO and CEO of an Oxford-based autonomous drug discovery company.
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Ulysses®
Built a fully automated, data-native drug discovery platform.
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OpenImmune
Founder and lead of an FRO research consortium spanning academic, clinical, industrial, and AI partners.
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New models
Pioneered the Partnership Research Organisation as an AI-ready alternative to the CRO.
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Capital
Raised venture and grant funding, designed across public, private, and philanthropic sources.
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Government
Senior UK engagement on the life sciences, AI, and sovereign capability.
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Qualifications
MChem, CChem; executive global MBA (TRIUM: LSE, NYU Stern, HEC Paris); FRSC, FRSB, FRSA.
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Focus
The UK, with particular depth in the Oxford, Cambridge, and London ecosystem.
Selected partners
Expert networks and advisory platforms.
If you are building something hard, let’s talk.
A short introductory call, at no charge, to understand your situation and whether Crucible is the right fit.