The Hidden Advantage: Building the Right Launch Team & Governance Model
Product launches are amongst the most complex undertakings for biopharma companies—and there’s no shortcut to success. No matter how strong your strategy or detailed your plan, success ultimately depends on people. If you don’t have the right team in place, even the best-designed launch will fall short. That’s why launch governance and team structure aren’t just operational necessities; they’re strategic levers. Organizations that invest in building a high‑performing launch team and a governance model tailored to their unique needs don’t just execute—they create a competitive advantage.
Several considerations will shape your launch team structure and governance—and directly influence who you select, how the team operates, and what support they’ll need:
- Launch Experience – Is this your company’s first launch? How much launch experience exists within your organization?
- Implications: Internal experience will impact the level of expertise required on the team, whether you need to bring in external support, and how much structure and oversight your governance model must provide.
- Desired Launch Team Dynamics – To what extent do you expect your team to operate as an integrated, cross‑functional group? Is this consistent with your current culture?
- Implications: Your desired team dynamic will shape role selection, behavioral expectations, and whether new ways of working are needed to enable strong cross‑functional collaboration. Even if you have a highly experienced launch team, it’s likely the first time THIS TEAM is launching together.
- Organizational Decision-Making – How does your organization collaborate and make decisions? Is authority centralized or shared across empowered teams? Are decisions made quickly or more slowly?
- Implications: Existing decision-making patterns will inform governance design—defining authority levels, escalation pathways, meeting cadence, and required functional representation to maintain momentum. And then it’s up to the organization to live these decisions to create trust and efficiency.
- Partnerships – Are external partners involved in the launch? What is the structure of the relationship, and how could it affect planning and execution?
- Implications: Partnership arrangements will influence team composition, require clearly defined roles and responsibilities, and may necessitate additional coordination or joint governance mechanisms.
While there’s no single approach to structuring your launch team and governance, four best practices consistently position organizations for success:
- Appoint a Launch Lead Who Bridges Strategy and Execution – This role varies by company and launch, but the Launch Lead must flex between strategic and execution‑focused work while maintaining a strong cross‑functional lens. Launch success requires alignment across all functions—not the efforts of just one or two teams.
- Establish a Small, Expert Launch Management Team (LMT) to Drive Progress – Typically composed of the Launch Lead and a few launch‑experienced resources, the LMT drives critical work: shaping strategy, coordinating across teams, tracking progress, and flagging risks. Acting as the “quarterback” of the launch, the LMT ensures visibility, timely communication, and cross‑functional alignment.
- Create a Lean, Empowered Governance Structure that Can Scale – Your model should include a Core Launch Team, Extended Launch Team, Steering Committee, and functional working teams. Core Launch Team members—one per key function—must be empowered decision‑makers who effectively communicate back to their functions. Keep the Core Team lean; leverage the Extended Launch Team to involve additional functions without slowing down execution. The Steering Committee plays a critical role by resolving escalations and making timely decisions that cannot be addressed within the Core Team, Extended Team, or individual functions.
- Define Roles and Ways of Working to Enable Alignment and Decision‑Making – Roles and responsibilities should be clearly defined across all governance groups. Equally important is aligning on ways of working early—how decisions will be made, how escalations will be handled, how information will be shared, and what each governance member is accountable for.
Planning your next launch? Building the right team and governance model is just the beginning. Whether you’re launching for the first time or bringing deep experience to a new organizational or market context, our workshop offers actionable insights, proven best practices, and practical tools to set you up for success.
Join us on March 26th and 27th and learn from our team of launch experts. Reserve your spot today: http://bit.ly/4eP0153