What BD professionals find when they research your company before the first meeting
Before a BD professional at a pharma company, a CRO, or a research institution agrees to a first meeting, they look you up. This happens independently, quietly, and before you know the conversation is possible.
What they find during that research shapes whether the meeting happens at all, and if it does, what they think of you before you say a word. 94% of B2B buying groups put their shortlist in order before making first contact with any vendor.1 Most of the evaluation that determines that order happens through independent research.
Understanding what that research looks like, and what it tends to surface, is the starting point for building the kind of commercial presence that makes those conversations easier to start.
Table of contents
The research sequence
The typical sequence a BD professional runs before agreeing to a meeting follows a predictable pattern. It takes between five and fifteen minutes. It covers three sources in most cases.
First, they search your company name on Google. They are not looking for anything in particular. They are checking whether you exist as a credible entity, whether there is any third-party validation, and whether anything concerning surfaces. The results that appear in those first ten seconds set the tone for everything that follows.
Second, they go to your website. They look at the homepage. They check the about page. They try to understand what you actually do, who you do it for, and whether the company appears to be functioning. A website that communicates clearly in the first ten seconds is a different proposition from one that requires effort to decode.
Third, they check LinkedIn. Usually the company page first, then the founding team’s profiles. They look at whether the page is active, how many followers you have, and what the most recent posts say. If the founder’s profile is active and thoughtful, that contributes materially to the impression. If the company page last posted six months ago, that also contributes, in a different direction.
The whole sequence happens before the meeting is accepted. What they find either gives them a reason to proceed or raises enough uncertainty that the meeting gets deprioritised.
What they typically find
For most life science companies at the early to mid stage, the independent research reveals a recognisable pattern.
The website exists and has information about the company’s technology or services. But the homepage communicates primarily to the people who already know what the company does. A first-time visitor who is a BD professional at a potential partner has to work to understand the commercial relevance of what they are reading. The science is described in detail. What it means for someone in their position is less clear.
The LinkedIn company page has followers and some posts, but the activity is inconsistent. There are announcements of publications, conference participation, or awards. The posts are accurate. They do not tell the BD professional much about what it would be like to work with this company, what the commercial terms of engagement look like, or what the founding team’s priorities are.
The founding team’s personal profiles are present but largely inactive. The founder has a title and a history. There is no recent content that would give a first-time visitor a sense of how the company is developing or what the founder thinks about the market they are operating in.
The overall impression is of a company that exists and is doing real work, but whose commercial presence has not kept pace with the quality of the science. That gap creates friction. It does not prevent meetings from happening, but it means every meeting starts with more work to establish credibility that a stronger online presence would have done in advance.
What makes the difference
The companies that generate the most productive commercial conversations are not necessarily doing more marketing. They are doing a small number of things consistently.
Their homepage answers the right questions in the right order for a first-time visitor who has come from a search or a referral. What do you do? Who do you do it for? What evidence exists that it works? A BD professional who can answer those three questions within thirty seconds of arriving on the homepage has enough to decide whether to continue.
Their founding team is visibly active on LinkedIn. The content is not marketing copy. It is honest, specific, and shows how the company is developing. A BD professional who has seen three or four posts from the founder in the past month already has a sense of the company’s direction and the founder’s priorities before any conversation takes place.
The 2024 Edelman and LinkedIn B2B Thought Leadership Impact Report found that 73% of decision-makers find an organisation’s thought leadership more trustworthy than its marketing materials when assessing capability.2 The content that creates this effect comes from individuals, not brand accounts.
The company also appears in search results for the terms a BD professional would use when researching their category. This does not require ranking for highly competitive terms. It requires being findable for the specific queries that a specialist audience in your sector uses. A company that appears credibly in those results, with a clear and relevant page, has an advantage that compounds over time as the search programme matures.
The commercial value of closing the gap
According to Gartner, 75% of the B2B buying journey is complete before a buyer engages with a vendor.3 The conversations that matter are being shaped before they start. The companies that understand this invest in their digital presence as a commercial asset rather than a communications task.
The practical consequence is straightforward. A BD professional who looks up your company before agreeing to a meeting and finds an active, credible, professionally presented picture of what you are building is more likely to agree to the meeting, more likely to arrive at it with a sense of the company’s direction, and more likely to move the conversation forward without requiring the first meeting to do all the work of establishment.
That does not require a large marketing function. It requires a website that communicates clearly, a LinkedIn presence that is maintained consistently, and an SEO programme that makes the company findable for relevant searches. Each of those can be built incrementally, and the effects compound over time as the digital presence matures.
Our ebook ‘From complex science to commercial visibility’ covers the full framework for building this kind of presence, including a detailed chapter on what the independent research moment looks like and how to build the digital presence that makes it work in your favour.
Questions or need guidance? Send us a message, we’re happy to help!
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Frequently asked questions
How early in the commercial process does independent research happen?
Research typically happens before the first meeting is agreed, and sometimes before the first outreach. A BD professional who receives a cold email or sees a referral will often look up the company before deciding whether to respond. The impression formed in that moment influences whether the conversation gets started at all.
What does a BD professional actually look for on a company's website?
They are primarily checking for clarity and credibility. Can they quickly understand what the company does, who it does it for, and whether there is any evidence that it works? A homepage that requires significant effort to decode, or that communicates primarily to specialist insiders, creates friction. A page that answers those three questions within the first thirty seconds is doing the job it needs to do.
How important is LinkedIn compared to the website?
Both matter but they play different roles. The website is where people go to understand what the company is and what it does. LinkedIn is where they form an impression of how the company is developing and what the people behind it are like. A strong website with an inactive LinkedIn presence leaves a gap that the website alone cannot close.
How long does it take to build a credible commercial presence?
The foundational elements, a clear website and an active LinkedIn presence, can be put in place within a few weeks. The compounding effects, particularly from SEO and consistent LinkedIn activity, become most visible at six to twelve months. Starting earlier produces better results sooner, but starting at any point is better than waiting until a specific commercial opportunity requires it.
References
- 6sense 2025 Buyer Experience Report, 4,000+ B2B buyers. https://6sense.com/science-of-b2b/buyer-experience-report-2025/
- Edelman and LinkedIn, “Reaching Beyond the Ready: 2024 B2B Thought Leadership Impact Report,” 2024. https://www.edelman.com/expertise/Business-Marketing/2024-b2b-thought-leadership-report
- Gartner, “The New B2B Buying Journey.” https://www.gartner.com/en/sales/insights/b2b-buying-journey
