Robert Duggan (venture capitalist)

Duggan's first company, Sunset Designs, supplied Jiffy Stitchery kits to consumers - helping them create their own high-quality stitched projects at home.[11] He invested $100k in Sunset Designs, and sold it to British consumer-goods giant Reckitt Benckiser Group for $15 million in the mid-1980s.[12] More than 7,000 retail locations sold Jiffy Stitchery kits, giving the company an 80% market share.[13] The company was sold to Reckitt & Bensicker for $15m.[14]

Duggan, the Patterson Brothers and Carter Holmes were partners in Paradise Bakery & Café, which opened in 1976. Paradise Bakery distributed cookies to major corporations such as McDonald's, Kentucky Fried Chicken, and Disney World.[15] Duggan developed the recipe for the “Chocolate Chip Chipper”. The bakery was sold to Chart House in 1987 and is now owned by Panera Bread.[16] The Paradise Bakery in downtown Aspen is still in operation as of 2020 and maintains the Paradise Bakery name.[17]

Duggan founded Communication Machinery Corp (CMC), which was the third company in the world to create and sell Ethernet Node Processors, a computer networking technology utilized for establishing local area networks (LAN) and providing a gateway to the internet.[18] The corporation was sold to Rockwell International for $45 million.[19]

In the 1980s, Duggan founded Government Technology Services, Inc (GTSI), and sold new computer technologies and services, primarily to government agencies.[6] GTSI was an early pioneer in the new field that would become e-commerce. GTSI engaged in some notable firsts: the first browser-based government contract catalog, the first-ever use of a credit card on the internet (as part of a deal with NASA) in 1995, and the first government IT portal.[20]

In 1996 GTSI was the largest reseller to the U.S. Government of microcomputer software and Unix hardware.[21] Under Duggan's leadership, GTSI grew from an $8 million company to over $600 million in revenue,[6] ultimately being acquired by UNICOM Global in 2012.[22]

In the mid 1990s, Duggan and his son Demian helped found Metropolis Media, an organization with the purpose of helping formerly communist countries transition to free-market societies and to enable consumer advertising.[23] Serving as the chairman of the board, as well as personally investing the $3 million initial financial capital, Duggan oversaw the organization's spread to outdoor marketing projects throughout Eastern Europe, in Croatia, Slovenia, Serbia, Bosnia and Macedonia. Capital Research purchased the enterprise at a price of over $45 million.[19] Metropolis Media is now owned by French advertising giant JCDecaux Group.

Duggan was a founding shareholder of Computer Motion (now Intuitive Surgical), which develops the technology used in robot-assisted surgery, aimed at improving patients' experiences by reducing the degree of invasion during surgery.[24][25] The company worked to accomplish "patient and physician-friendly" robotic surgery - a term coined by Duggan who led the company as Chairman from 1990 to 2003.[26] On 7 Sept 2001 Computer Motion conducted the "Lindbergh Operation" - the first transatlantic telesurgical operation. It was performed by surgeons in New York on a patient in France.[27]

Pharmacyclics is a pharmaceutical company primarily focused on the development of cancer therapies.[28] From 2008 to 2015, Duggan was the largest investor in as well as chairman and CEO of Pharmacyclics.[29] The company then focused its research on ibrutinib (branded as IMBRUVICA), a B cell cancer drug highly effective for treating chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), the most common form of adult leukemia.[30] IMBRUVICA was approved for the treatment of four different types of blood cancer.[31]

Duggan invested in Pharmacyclics when it was valued at between $1 and $3 per share, and negotiated its sale to AbbVie at $261.25 per share in 2015, in a deal valued at $21 billion.[32] He received $3.5 billion from the sale of Pharmacyclics to AbbVie in "one of the biggest paydays ever from the buyout of a publicly held company."[33][34] As CEO and chairman of Pharmacyclics from 2008 to 2015, Duggan had opted not to receive compensation from the company.[35]

Investopedia says, between 2008 and 2015, "Duggan saved Pharmacyclics and turned it into a billion‐dollar company with more than 500 employees."[36]

Since November 2017, Duggan has been chairman of Pulse Biosciences.[37] Pulse develops bioelectric technology, such as Nano-Pulse Stimulation (NPS) technology, which has applications including cosmetic and medical conditions. For example, it has the potential to quickly and painlessly remove skin lesions (like melanomas).[38] As of February 2017, he owned a 15.4% stake in the company.[39]

After having been a director since December 2019, Duggan was appointed as CEO of Summit Therapeutics, a clinical-stage drug development company focused on new mechanism antibiotics, in spring 2020.[40] He is the company's leading shareholder and will serve as CEO without compensation.[41] Summit is focused on developing ridinilazole, a potential new treatment for C. difficile.[42]

Duggan is the founder of Genius Inc., a company which coaches organizations and executives on "the 24 characteristics of geniuses."[43] The organization's program is based on the "24 Characteristics of Genius" described by Dr. Alfred Barrios in 1980.[44]

Duggan invests in fields such as cancer treatment, anti-microbial therapeutics, human longevity and anti-aging technologies, and stem cell research.