Drug Commercialization and Percolation Theory
How Sorcero Gets It Right – And Why You Don’t Need to Go Viral
Intro
I’m Danny—former pharma-tech founder who bootstrapped to exit, now host of Life Sciences Today. I help techbio and digital health CEOs grow revenue.
🚀 For sharp thinking on growth, subscribe and read my Friday essays,
This week’s essay is about drug commercialization and percolation theory.
My latest podcast guest was Dipanwita Das, CEO of Sorcero, which provides medical intelligence to top pharma and medtech companies.
Listen to the podcast here - Medical Intelligence with Sorcero
Sorcero sells enterprise software for post-market medical intelligence.
That includes medical affairs, pharmacovigilance, commercial teams and regulatory affairs; 4 adjacent clusters that rarely talk to each other.
Sorcero unifies these 4 clusters. And that’s the key to their growth.
Let’s talk about why that works for Sorcero.
Don’t Chase Influencers – Study Physics Instead
For my master’s thesis in physics, I studied electrical conductivity in transition metals at low temperatures. I also got interested in percolation theory—which models the behavior of amorphous materials like glass.
However - percolation theory has much wider applications than in materials science.
It models how signals or flows spread through irregular, networked systems:
How water moves through porous rock.
How fire travels through forests.
How disease spreads across populations.
How movies become blockbusters—or flops
Hollywood uses it to model how films move through theaters, streaming platforms, critics, and fan communities.
The magic happens when enough clusters connect to pass the percolation threshold—the tipping point where the signal spreads on its own.
And the same applies to enterprise software buyers.
Enterprise Software Buyers Don’t Do Viral
Enterprise software adoption isn’t viral. It’s not Facebook or Instagram.
It’s clustered becaused the decision makers inside the enterprise (and their colleagues in their industry) are clustered.
In order to sell enterprise software (like Sorcero does) you don’t win by hitting the algorithm—you win sales and adoption, by earning trust inside the tightly-knit networks inside the buyer organization.
That’s what Sorcero got right.
They didn’t just sell to “the commercial team.”
They built footholds in medical affairs, pharmacovigilance, commercial teams and regulatory affairs, 4 adjacent clusters that rarely talk to each other.
• 4 trust-dependent functions.
• 4 distinct buying centers.
• 1 platform that connects the signals—and the people.
This isn’t luck. It’s physics.
They hit critical density across clusters, so signals could percolate.
How Percolation Works
Percolation of signals isn’t explosive. It grows starting with local order (for example the medical affairs group of a pharma commercial area).
✅ Local Order: Start inside a tight, high-trust cluster.
✅ Bridge Actors: Activate trusted people who span clusters.
✅ Threshold Activation: Once enough clusters resonate, the signal spreads.
Hollywood knows this: seed early critics, niche festivals, genre fans.
Sorcero knows this: win the trust of medical affairs, then let that trust spill over into adjacent domains.
You don’t have virality.
You gain momentum through cluster overlap and threshold activation.
The Incomplete Manifesto for Percolation Growth
If you’re building in life sciences—or any high-trust market—forget the feed -
Build for resonance.
Your operating system:
Clarity
Say what you mean. No fluff. No gobbledygook.
Simplicity
Make the signal clear. Don’t distract. Focus the promise.
Workmanship
Build what works. Not what demos well.
Respect
Attention is earned. Not harvested.
Consistency
Keep showing up. Inside the cluster. Every time.
Percolation isn’t magic. It’s physics.
But only if you build the right connections.
👉 Subscribe to the pod. Read the Manifesto. Then go build trust that spreads.
About Me
I’m a former pharma-tech founder who bootstrapped to exit.
Now I help techbio and digital health CEOs grow revenue—by solving the tech, team, and GTM problems that stall progress.
If you want a warrior to work by your side, book a call.
About Sorcero
Sorcero delivers medical and commercial intelligence to drug and device companies.
They help medical affairs, safety, and commercial teams see the full picture—so they can act with confidence.
🔗 Visit Sorcero