Pros
A vibrant innovative company that developed an exciting and affordable robotic arm and then realised an additional asset were its pre-sales engineers who did a sterling job creating the automation of a key NHS diagnostics facility during the worst of the covid outbreak. now it appears they've developed some exciting additional equipment and software to facilitate their now 100% commitment to the lab automation space.
Cons
At the time of choosing to join the company, Automata had been primarily concerned with manufacturing as such their robotic arm was geared towards that market. When they moved to lab automation essentially the week after I joined it eventually put me in a tough spot as it became clear I wasn't qualified to spearhead any form of business development into the new spaces of drug discovery and Bio-Tech at a time when the company was doing everything it could to learn about those spaces and capitalise on the experience and success they had had in drug discovery, we were re-writing the rule book of sales in the company and indeed lab automation at large. It appears over the last year or so they've been successful in mastering this new field but it was tough for me at the time. Not really anyone's fault but it was a real shame for me. I think when they were considering that change it would have been useful for them to pause a little more and think about what they wanted going forwards and be realistic about how long it would take and how that would impact short-term sales pipeline and success. And I would have had the chance to do the same. However, it's the luck of the draw sometimes and timing can be everything I don't think anyone really knew what was coming next at that precise time, so I'm glad they've moved forwards and made a success of it.