Punching above its weight

Candesic came into being in 2002 after the dot-com bubble had well and truly burst.  Seeing the financial bleed that was occurring throughout the markets, Dr. Leonid Shapiro realized, while working for McKinsey, that consultancies that could provide their services at a lower cost would ultimately benefit from the instability in the economy.  Along with a crew of other McKinsey defectors, Shapiro set about the task of creating a firm that would provide services more economically than conventional top consultancies, thus appealing to smaller companies that might not have previously considered using the services of an outside party.  Today, Candesic has two partners who worked previously for McKinsey: Shapiro, who is both a medical doctor as well as a management consultant with experience in health care and technology; and Marc Kitten who leads the firm's continental development. Candesic works with a range of companies, from small independents to the bigger hitters in the Fortune 500.

The company quickly picked up an impressive array of international clients, and after two years of operation, it expanded its services further. The first stage of this expansion was the opening of a branch in Paris to meet the demands of Candesic's increasingly large European client base, while the second stage saw the creation of a health care due diligence unit in London, aimed at companies involved in the medical sector. By 2007, business was doing so well that it was time once again to expand Candesic's foothold in Europe, with the firm opening its third office, this time in Madrid. In 2017, Candesic opened representation offices in Milan and Frankfurt.

A healthy dose of consultancy

Since opening its health care due diligence unit, Candesic has become an expert in the field.  The partners work alongside several medical doctors. The consultancy looks at investments of between €10 million and €15 billion-typically in healthcare services, medical technologies, later-stage biotech, and pharmaceutical spinoffs-and gives advice on acquisition strategy, European and U.S. market entry strategy, research strategy and marketing to physicians.  In the last five years, Candesic was awarded multiple times "strategy consultancy of the year" and “Consultants of the year - Transactional” by HealthInvestor, “commercial due diligence provider of the year” by RealDeals and LaingBuisson’s “Management Consultant of the year”.

While the main vertical is healthcare, Candesic operates in most areas of technology across many sectors. In particular, Candesic's knowledge of the aerospace & defense industry isn't to be sniffed at either, with its consultants in this area boasting a combined working experience with half of the top-10 world players. In addition, it works with a number of smaller private companies with international reach.

Everyone benefits

Candesic keeps costs down for its clients through its performance-based remuneration structure for its most senior consultants, in addition to only paying its affiliate experts if and when they work. This not only benefits Candesic, but frees those consultants to pick and choose jobs as they like, leading to a completely flexible working structure. Plus, if clients aren't completely satisfied with a job, the consultants simply don't get paid. This explains the firm's eagerness to evaluate the extent to which it feels it can help a client before agreeing to take on a project. Candesic's partners and practice leaders oversee every potential engagement, along with a team of consultants from the relevant sectors, (both in-house and affiliated experts) and talk through the possible scenarios with the client. If it is felt that the consultancy can benefit the client, then Candesic will press ahead with a proposed plan.  If not, the consultancy makes sure the process continues no further.