Higgins, Robert F., and Sophie LaMontagne. "Stan Lapidus: Profile of a Medical Entrepreneur." Harvard Business School Case 805-087, December 2004. (Revised July 2010.)

1. Stan Lapidus: Profile of
a Medical Entrepreneur
Case Study
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Ana Lessa 68080 MEGI
Daniel André 65882 MEIC
Francisco Ferreira 63563 MEIC
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Paulo Martins 65929 METI
António Junior 57699 METI
Marco Aurélio 77863 MEGI

2. What is it about?
Stan Lapidus
The poor immigrant kid that ended up
revolutionizing cancer detection procedures
Inventor of Cytyc’s ThinPrep technology
Founded / Co-Founded 5 companies

3. After College...
1975
Elscint
1977
Raytheon
1978
Private
Consulting

4. Becoming and Entrepreneur
1980 - 1987
Itran Corp.
1987 - 1994

5. Cytyc Corporation - 1987

6. Becoming an Entrepreneur
1995 - 2001
2003
2008

7. What we think about “Stan”
“You have to believe in yourself, but you also have to know your limits.”
“You can always hire good people you’ve if got a good story”
Stan Lapidus

8. What we think about “Stan”
Research, networking and passion
“A period of introspection after each professional experience, whether it be
good or bad, is valuable”
“After I left the company, I thought a lot about my experience, especially what
I was good at and what I was not good at”
“If you have a big market, a clear value proposition, and strong protective
barriers like patents and FDA approval, you can do margins like those in the
pharmaceutical industry” - Stan Lapidus

9. What happened to his companies?
Itran Corp: acquired by Automatix Inc on January 24, 1994. Automatix itself acquired by
Robotics Vision Systems Inc. (RVSI) and RVSI in 2005 acquired by Siemens Energy and
Automation;
Cytyc : merged with Hologic Corp on May 20, 2007 creating a $10 billion women's
healthcare company with over $1 billion in projected annual sales;
Exact Sciences Corp: went public in 2001. Total annual revenue of $4.1 million in 2012;
Helicos Biosciences: filed for bankruptcy on November 15, 2012;
SynapDx: Stan Lapidus is currently the President and CEO. In 2012 raised $32 million in
funding rounds and had an estimated sales volume of $620,000.