Fractional commercial leadership for pharmaceutical & biotech CDMOs
Grow revenue at your CDMO with senior commercial leadership, without a full-time executive.
We help CDMOs build a stronger funnel and a stronger business with strategy, structure, tools, and the right introductions.
HYDE PARK, NEW YORK WORKING WITH CDMOs ACROSS THE US, UK AND EUROPE
- 20+ yrsCDMO commercial leadership
- 110%of quota in 2025
- 15new molecules signed by her sales team
- 35%revenue growth
- 2xPresident’s Club
Results from Rachel’s prior CDMO roles, including Catalent.
Six Sigma Black Belt Miller Heiman Scotwork MBA
“Rachel knows pharma CDMO sales… Her clients trust her because she tells them the truth.”
Our 90-day guarantee
If we haven’t hit the targets we agree with you by day 90, your next month is free and you can walk away.
Who we are
When a CDMO is trying to grow or get ready for a sale, the science is usually strong. What holds it back tends to be commercial: who you call, how you go to market, which territories you work, whether your proposals go out on time and look like you, and whether a buyer can see a real pipeline. Helping CDMOs fix that is the work we do.
We also know how innovators choose a CDMO, so we can show you how buyers see your proposals and your pipeline.
Welcome
Meet Sunstone Advisory
A one-minute introduction from Rachel L. Timberlake, founder and CEO.
Read the transcript
“Hi, I’m Rachel L. Timberlake, founder and CEO of Sunstone Advisory, and welcome to our channel. Sunstone is a family-owned advisory firm that helps pharmaceutical and biotech contract development and manufacturing organizations, or CDMOs, grow their revenue. We step in as fractional operational leaders, so you get senior commercial leadership without the cost of a full-time executive. And we’re focused on one thing: growing your top line. We build your go-to-market strategy, territory plans, and sales pipeline. We use AI to get from RFP to proposal faster. And we represent you at trade shows and industry events, so your team can stay focused on the science. Most importantly, we find the funded customers who need exactly what makes your company different. At Sunstone, we leave no molecule unturned. Let’s grow your business together.”
What we do
Two services. Work with us on either one, or both.
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Fractional commercial advisory
We step in as your commercial leadership, with veteran experience and executive judgment. The work can include:
- Go-to-market and territory plans
- A qualified target list
- Proposals that go out on time
- Trade shows and events that feed the pipeline, including DCAT Week, CPHI, BIO and AAPS PharmSci 360.
- A weekly pipeline review
- A quarterly review with your CEO
- Building commercial value if an exit is coming
Engagement length CDMO sales cycles are long, so engagements usually run 18 to 24 months.
How it’s paid A monthly retainer, a set project fee, or a retainer plus a success fee on revenue you invoice from accounts we bring in or bring back.
Founding-client pricing Founding clients receive preferred terms: a fraction of the cost of a full-time hire, with success fees paid only on revenue you’ve collected. We’ll walk through the numbers on your call. Compare with a full-time hire.
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Now accepting early-access partners
Sunstone OS
Sunstone OS is in development, and we are now accepting early-access partners. It will give your commercial team three tools:
- Proposal builder. Upload an RFP and get a draft proposal in Word, in your branding, built from your approved templates and past proposals. Your team reviews and edits it before anything goes to a client. A separate internal business case is prepared alongside it.
- Pricing benchmarks. Market pricing ranges from public sources let you compare your own costing against the market.
- Prospect finder. It identifies funded companies with molecules in their pipeline that fit what your sites can make.
Sunstone OS is installed in your environment, and your RFPs, costs and proposals stay in your systems. Market pricing data from public sources is imported on a regular schedule, so your team can challenge its own pricing against the market.
Setup is a structured Six Sigma DMAIC project (Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, Control). We write a project charter and build a team with a project sponsor (typically your CCO), a process owner, your VP of business development, and experts from sales, technical proposals, quality, analytical services, operations, and regulatory. Together we measure how you bid today, find the root causes of delays and errors that force a requote or cost you the deal, improve your templates and process, and put controls in place so the gains last.
Engagement length The Sunstone OS setup engagement runs about six months.
How it’s paid A one-time setup fee, then a license fee for ongoing access, updates, and refreshed pricing data, billed monthly or annually.
Cost comparison with a full-time hire
A full-time VP of Business Development at a mid-sized CDMO typically costs $295,000–$505,000 in year one, once salary, bonus, benefits and a search fee are counted. Sunstone costs a fraction of that, with fees weighted to results.
| Year one | Full-time VP of Business Development | Sunstone (founding-client pricing) |
|---|---|---|
| Salary and bonus | $200K–$325K target total cash | A fraction of a full-time hire |
| Benefits and payroll taxes | ~$45K–$70K | None |
| Recruiting | $50K–$115K search fee | None |
| Paid only on results | Bonus, usually paid whether or not new revenue lands | Success fee on revenue you’ve collected |
| Year-one total | ~$295K–$505K | A fraction of the cost, with fees weighted to results |
| Time to impact | Search and hiring, then ramp-up | Starts in weeks; go-to-market plan in 30 days |
| Commitment | Permanent hire; severance to exit | 90-day first phase, then 30 days’ notice |
Sources: JRG Partners VP of Business Development Salary Guide 2026 (base and target cash, companies with $25M–$100M revenue) · Ki Talent, Executive Search Fees (25–35% of first-year pay) · BLS, Employer Costs for Employee Compensation, June 2026 (benefits are 31.5% of total pay for full-time staff; the table uses a conservative 25–30% of base)
Who we serve
Mid-sized and specialty CDMOs in any modality, from small molecules to biologics and advanced therapies, that serve small to mid-sized pharma and biotech. Whether you’re PE-backed, founder-owned, or preparing for an exit in the next one to three years, we help your top line move.
We work with CDMOs across the US, UK and Europe.
For PE-backed CDMOs and operating partners
Revenue a buyer can believe, before the exit.
When a sale is one to three years out, the commercial story has to hold up in diligence. We help portfolio CDMOs show it.
Pipeline visibility for diligence
A named, qualified pipeline with stages a buyer’s team can test, not a list of meetings.
Forecast credibility
Forecasts built from real opportunities and long CDMO sales cycles, reviewed with the CEO every quarter.
Revenue growth before exit
New molecules signed and lapsed accounts brought back, so the top line is moving when the process starts.
Download the checklist
Free one-page PDF: What a buyer checks in a CDMO’s commercial engine.
Thanks. Your download has started. If it didn’t, download the checklist here.
How an engagement runs
What actually happens once we start.
What you’ll have in 90 days
- By day 30an approved go-to-market plan
- By day 45150 qualified targets in your CRM
- By day 9015 qualified first meetings
Targets are set with you in week 2 and scaled to your size and capacity.
- Weeks 1–4
Diagnostic and target list
We review your pipeline, proposals and positioning, and build a named list of funded targets that fit your sites.
- Months 2–3
Territory plan and events calendar
Territories, account plans and the trade shows and events worth attending, chosen on purpose.
- Month 6
Funnel check
We check whether the funnel is real. If it is only meetings, we stop.
- Every quarter
CEO review
A review with your CEO of pipeline, forecast and what to change next.
What we’re measured on: qualified pipeline value, RFP turnaround in days, win rate, and revenue from new and returning accounts.
Why us
Veteran experience, built into your commercial plan.
Rachel brings more than 20 years of CDMO commercial experience to your plan, shaped to your needs and your stage of growth.
Book a 30-minute call-
Judgment, not hours
The value is the judgment and the result, not the hours on a file.
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The same people throughout
You work with the people who took the first call.
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Hands-on work
We build the named list and the territory and choose events on purpose. At six months we check whether the funnel is real. If it is only meetings, we stop.
If we haven’t hit the targets we agree with you by day 90, your next month is free and you can walk away.
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Relationships disclosed
We are open about our relationships, so you always know who else is in the picture.
About
Rachel L. Timberlake
Founder & CEO, Sunstone Advisory
Rachel is a sales leader with more than 20 years of experience driving top-line growth for pharmaceutical and biotech CDMOs. She combines strategic vision with Six Sigma expertise to build partnerships, negotiate complex contracts, and lead cross-functional teams.
Before founding Sunstone, Rachel led business development at several CDMOs, including Catalent and private-equity-backed organizations. She has secured multimillion-dollar contracts and built client pipelines from pre-clinical through commercial. She holds an MBA from Marist University.
Innovator relationships across small molecules, inhaled products and sterile injectables.
“At Sunstone, we leave no molecule unturned. Let’s grow your business together.”
Rachel L. Timberlake
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Career highlights
- At prior CDMO roles, including Catalent: delivered 110% of quota in 2025, and led a sales team that signed 15 new molecules and grew revenue 35%.
- Two-time President’s Club winner
- Built and onboarded a five-person sales team
- Six Sigma Black Belt; certified in Miller Heiman Strategic Selling and Scotwork Negotiation
- MBA, Marist University
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Specialties
Long-cycle B2B sales across small and large molecule modalities, where 12 to 18 months to close is typical.
- Assessing and valuing complex pipelines, from pre-clinical through commercial
- Building accurate revenue forecasts and growth models
- Sales strategies that scale and last
Dosage forms and technologies
- Oral solid dose, immediate and modified release
- Liquids and semi-solids
- Aseptic inhaled nebulized solutions and topical ophthalmics
- Dry powder for inhalation
- Parenterals: liquid or lyophilized vials, prefilled syringes, cartridges
- Bioavailability enhancement and spray-dried dispersions
- Particle engineering: spray drying and micronization
- Biotherapeutic stabilization and drug delivery
- Clinical and commercial manufacturing, including DEA Schedule I–V, high-potency and solvent processing
- Analytical method services
Testimonials
What colleagues and clients say
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Rachel knows pharma CDMO sales. Years in the space have given her fluency across dosage forms, CMC development, and tools like Salesforce. Her clients trust her because she tells them the truth.
Richard Sidwell Strategic Advisor; former Senior Vice President & Chief Scientific Officer Bend Bioscience
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Much of the credit for our growth in the past year goes to her… What sets Rachel apart is her ability to understand client’s needs and find creative solutions (timing, cost) to aid clients in their drug development process.
Carolyn Berg Formerly Vice President, Business Development Catalent
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Rachel is one of the best ‘hunters’ I know. She is a consummate professional that always helps the customer find the right solution, even if it isn’t one that directly benefits her. This is why people trust her.
Formerly Vice President, Global Partners Catalent
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Rachel is the best I have seen with regards to Customer Service, Technical Input and meeting our needs.
Connect and Develop Manager Procter & Gamble Personal Health Care
FAQ
Questions we hear before the call
How is this different from hiring a VP of business development?
You get a senior commercial leader with more than 20 years in CDMO sales without a full-time executive search or salary. We build the plan, the target list and the process, work the accounts ourselves, and help you hire and onboard reps when the time is right.
How is the success fee calculated?
If you choose a retainer plus success fee, the fee is a percentage of revenue you invoice from accounts we bring in or bring back. The percentage and the accounts it covers are agreed in writing before we start.
Do you work with competing CDMOs?
We won’t take on a direct competitor in your modality and region without your written consent. We also disclose every relevant relationship up front, so you always know who else is in the picture.
What happens at the six-month check?
We review the funnel together: qualified opportunities, proposals out, and revenue in sight. If the funnel is real, we keep building. If it is only meetings, we stop.
How we start
A 30-minute call.
In 30 minutes you’ll get: a candid read on where your commercial engine is leaking, which of our services fits (if any), and every partner relationship we have that could touch your business.
Then we suggest one of:
- An 18–24 month commercial engagement, built for long sales cycles
- A Sunstone OS setup and license, as an early-access partner
Founding-client places are limited. Ask about preferred terms on your call.
Before the call: take the 10-question CDMO Commercial Health Check. Takes about 5 minutes.
Our 90-day guarantee. If we haven’t hit the targets we agree with you by day 90, your next month is free and you can walk away.
Email rachel.timberlake@sunstoneadvisorygroup.com · Call +1 845.392.1909
Leave no molecule unturned.