Latest / Behind the Founders / He Started a Life Sciences Company During the Pandemic. Here's What Happened.
Transcript
- speaker-0: Hi everyone, my name is Carmen Döeld, and I will be hosting today's episode of Behind the Founders. And here I am today interviewing Qui Tran, the founder of Sound Life Science Services, also known as Sound. Welcome Queen. How are you doing? speaker-1: Hey Carmen. I've been hanging there. We're you know, like ⁓ mentioned earlier, I I just became a father. this we were having a we welcomed a daughter about well, today actually marks a month, so she's a month old now. And ⁓ yeah, tryna tryna hang in there, you know. speaker-0: Yeah, I can imagine. And again, congratulations. I can imagine it's gonna be a very exciting, ⁓ new adventures chapter as well. ⁓ we'll definitely talk a little bit later about how you navigate balancing out your business as well as recently transitioning into the role as a father. But to get us started, could you introduce yourself to the listeners out there? speaker-1: Sure. my name is Queen Tran. I am the founder of ⁓ Sound Life Science Services. I've we we've had this for the six years and ⁓ yeah we primarily represent the life industry. I've been in the life science industry for most of my career. I graduated from U C L A with biophysics ⁓ and then Did some research for a little bit and then went into the industry from there. I mean, you know, I graduated in two thousand eight, so it was a pretty tough time looking for a job and it was it was a pretty bad recession during that time. So trying to navigate that and then eventually, you know, finding foundation. Started working for ⁓ various companies like Amgen and then know, moving from speaker-0: Yeah. speaker-1: doing lab work to managing and then moving after that moving into a sales and business development role for a device manufacturing company called Lives International. There I I kind of ⁓ learned what I could and then transitioned into being a business owner, which has always been a name of mine. So it's it's nice, yeah. speaker-0: Okay. Yeah, yeah. That's definitely interesting as well. I do I did have a chance to take a look at your LinkedIn and your work history as well. ⁓ it is really interesting to see the transitions you've made. You came from this very ⁓ life sciences background. ⁓ you know, I see here you were a quality analyst with California Cyrobank, analytical chemist with NORAC, and then you were also working as a laboratory manager at ⁓ ⁓ and then afterwards you made this transition to focus more in the business development area as well. So what made you decide to go into life sciences, being in a lab and then transitioning into more business development? speaker-1: Yeah, so it's you know, I've always been interested in science. I thought I would go into ⁓ more research, you going through the whole academic route and then one thing led another during research I kinda got burnt out. And so I moved to ⁓ like being more in industry. But ⁓ come to find out that was also tough because you know, during that time we had you know, the housing crisis. so still, you know, I was still pursuing my passion of of being, you know, being in the sciences, right? So working my way towards Amgen. Amgen is is is one of the leading manuf pharmaceutical manufacturers in the world. And they they they pride themselves in doing the right thing. They find themselves in a leader in industry practices and manufacturing standards. So it was it was a great time there. but also during that time was going through reorganization, I guess you could And then I took the opportunity to go work for a a device manufacturer that you know I was able to meet the owner during that time and we had a we were able to you know have a really good conversation. I've always thought about into sales and business development just because it matched my personality a little bit more. And so you know being to explore that and seeing how that where that would go, right? So I gave myself it was it was Pretty interesting and and rough at the same time. Like I gave myself a year to kind of pursue this. you during that time it was just you know, gon' being in cells like y you know, you're constantly being rejected, you know. speaker-0: Yeah, I heard that a lot. speaker-1: It's it's just it's yeah, it you're just facing a lot of rejections. And so towards the end of the year, I was like, Man, I was almost ready to give up. ⁓ you know, luckily didn't ever stop like I never stopped sort of trying. And so one thing I realized, which nobody really tells you before getting into sales, is that there's a cell cycle, there's ⁓ a pipeline you gotta build up, all that takes time. And you know, you're gonna face a lot of rejections, but y you just gotta keep on pushing through. So like towards the end of the year, some things started know, turning positive ⁓ I started bringing in more more sales, more clients. And then from it was like developing the relationship. and that's where things start to become a lot more fun. And ⁓ and so stuck with that for six years about and so I grew basically the entire West Coast operations for for Lives International. And you know after six years I was thinking like man this is you know w where do we go from here, right? And this is right around where COVID was happening and a a lot of people were having that that conversation, you know, that intern that that that you know sort of like reflection, right? and so You know, took an opportunity because obviously during COVID, there was a lot, ⁓ in the life science, there a lot of focus in the life science, and there was a lot of sort of help needed in in in the life science. So ⁓ I pivoted into providing services, consulting services. And again it was ⁓ kind of for the first year, but then things started picking up, right? And ⁓ and here we are six years later, we're still kicking. speaker-0: Awesome, awesome. Yeah, I was just going to say when I took a look at your profile, I see that you started sound just around the time during the peak of COVID as well. could you tell the listeners out there who have never heard of the company Sound, what ⁓ is your main goal? What do you do? ⁓ Who are who are the clients and what are you trying to achieve? Because you did mention that during COVID there's a lot of need, especially in the life science, in the pharmaceutical industry. So could you share with us a little bit about who are you? ⁓ what is who is sound? Yeah. ⁓ speaker-1: Yeah. know, it it's it's it's really not ⁓ nothing fancy, right? Like we saw an opportunity. because in a way this kind of happened during a lot of like I mean the the insight is like during recessions or times, like companies are constantly you know cutting their cutting costs, right? So ⁓ the easiest way to cut costs is to hire full time employees and which forced to rely more on contractors. and so during this time we thought that okay, we're gonna go into some type of recession, some type of you know, layoff. ⁓ i ⁓ actuality the opposite because the government threw billions of dollars into the industry. And so now there's a shortage of workers, there's a shortage of you know, there's more jobs that that can be filled, right? So what we initially thought was gonna happen didn't happen, but the outcome became the same, right? Like there was still a high demand for countr ⁓ contractors and consultants and those that can come in and and provide services without, you know, ⁓ ongoing costs, right? So you're gonna hire an employee, they're gonna continue to cost you even if they're working or not working. Right. So noticing that kind of opportunity, I took that that chance to to to pursue then this business. That there's no you know initially we were like, ⁓ yeah, we're we're we're gonna help our our our friends, our you know, our clients by providing services that they they need and you know we'll get paid you know for for our work and grow a business. Right. There's really There's no like grander sort of like goal in mind. It was just there's an opportunity, let's go for it. now that we have this business, okay, what what type of company are we do we want to focus on? ⁓ our goal? What's our message? What you know, I'm still trying to figure that out. You know, I'll be honest. Like ⁓ know, the things are like things are evolving, right? So you know, what is our mission goal? Right? Everybody c every company has like on their website what's their mission and our mission obviously is to get the job done, do it you know better anyone else with with integrity, you know, bringing in new technology. let's just push the standards forward. and so ⁓ that's very generic, I say, right? But I if you to say you you're to ask me like, okay, where do I see myself or see the company in five years and what do we be doing? ⁓ we're doing we would be doing more automation integration. We would be doing a little bit more involvement with they call it far pharma four point ⁓ which involves ⁓ machine learning and AI. Right. So that's ⁓ sort of the direction I want to move towards. ⁓ how we get there. I have a plan, but ⁓ I'm still working that out. Right. So there's no mean, yeah, I can't I can't really tell you that there's a there's a a principle in mind. Yeah. I do operate off my own personal feeling about how I treat other people ⁓ and which on how I treat my clients. Right. So ⁓ bad in itself is is a core principle of mine. Is it a core principle of the company? yeah, at the end of the day, we still need to make money and and and grow, right? So how we do that, hopefully my pr core principles and the company's principle align. obviously I as a as a founder and as an owner of the company, I have a good greater influence on how that happens. But you know At the end the day it's trying to get the keep the business alive and and right? So speaker-0: Yeah, of course. Definitely very interesting times, you know. just wanna revisit what you said back how ⁓ COVID is really a time ⁓ people have the space to think and reflect what's ⁓ and very interesting. That was sort of a turning point for you, despite all setbacks you were talking about, working in sales, also the economic crisis, it's it's definitely really tough to navigate and for you to take all of that and use it as inspiration. Okay, let's let's start something, let's build something. So my understanding correctly, are basically like a consulting services and you're helping other pharmaceutical, biotech companies, making sure everything's aligned? Or how would you speaker-1: What's it? Yeah, so we provide ⁓ engineering services. Okay. So whether whether it's ⁓ you know bringing a facility up to code, right? Or or specifically what we do is in the CQV Villem, right? So that's commission qualification validation. Yeah, yeah. ⁓ so qualification validation is is pretty straightforward, right? So you have a requirement that when you have specifications that your client has and we we want to make sure that The systems, the equipment, the software, all of that aligns with what your client is required for. Right. So we test we draft protocols, we we write scripts, we you know, test scripts and and and we we t you know, we basically test and we we record, we report, and so that way once you know ⁓ an auditor for their client or FDA comes, they are able to justify their process. So yeah, and so we have yeah we have we have engineers on our team that that handles various projects. So we're we're project based company. We're not necessarily a a staff augmentation type business. So which makes which allows us be smaller but then a lot more effective. speaker-0: Yeah. Okay. ⁓ that definitely sounds very interesting. I was actually just about to follow up and ask a little bit about the the team culture, the dynamic, how many of you are there currently and are you looking to grow and expand further? What does the setup look like? speaker-1: Yeah, so it's interesting. we we we can't rely solely on so I I hire I have a f I have a couple of full time employees. So ⁓ now ⁓ have two three full time employees and on off have somewhere around five to six ⁓ contractors. it really depends on on the c the the projects that we have, right? So we'll staff up, stop down depending on the need of the project. so floating around is about six contractors and then three full time employees. speaker-0: Okay. And the full time employees, they are machine learning engineers or system engineers. What kind of roles do they fill? speaker-1: Yeah, so they're validation engineers. Yeah. ⁓ right. So they will go on site, execute, and then move on to the next ⁓ task or the next project. you know, and luckily in this business w there's a lot of reoccurring work that to happen, right? So requalifications that need to happen. So you know, we able to support our clients there and obviously it new new new projects that come along as well. So speaker-0: Okay. All right. And I just wanted to come back to the question about how you are basically helping other clients and companies, ensuring that the equipment is compliant, so to speak. Yeah. So could you give some examples? What kind of equipments do you ⁓ a team validate and check through just so that the listeners get a better understanding about what you supported? speaker-1: Yeah, yeah, yeah. So w one of the biggest ⁓ things that we support is in thermal validation that that includes qualifying, validating, you know, freezers, refrigerators, rooms, autoclaves, laplizers, washers, like anything that sterilizes, anything that ⁓ that involves storage. we are I say we're experts in. When it comes to like utility systems, ACPAC systems, environmental modeling systems, clean room, qualifications, those are more complicated systems that we also ⁓ can help in. ⁓ And ⁓ we I mean I have the staff to to help. Obviously my three employees that do work me, they There's some things that they're not as knowledgeable in. So we'll bring in an SME to get that done. Yeah. And ⁓ yeah, that's where bringing in other contractors. speaker-0: Yeah. Okay. And your three full time employees and the contractors, are they all working remotely? Where are they all based? speaker-1: Everybody's w remote. ⁓ so either they have to be on site to execute or they're working from home. And that's kind of like for for a lot of companies like myself, that's basically how how things work. Right. So there's there's w e a lot of people are moving away from having ⁓ a office, to say, and just makes you know makes the overhead costs a lot less. speaker-0: I feel like especially during the period ⁓ COVID, that's definitely shifted a lot of things in terms of remote or being on site. I feel like there's been quite a debate about that as well. when speaker-1: Yeah, I I you know, I have a personal feeling on on that. Like I I think I honestly think that there there should be you know, if you're young in your career, you need to go into the office. Okay. ⁓ you gotta build that relationship. You you know the ⁓ you build it when you when you start working with people, you start becoming friends, build that relationship, you move up in the industry and you continue to s establish that relationship so that way like you build your network. Like nowadays when you're working from home, you know, the moment you're done with work, you're closing that laptop and you're you're out. ⁓ it just doesn't allow you to have that that that that that that a lot of young people need, like a mentorship or even ⁓ you know that that randomness that that happens when you're in the office. You know what I mean? ⁓ that happens. speaker-0: Sense. speaker-1: ⁓ you could learn a lot of things from people that are in ⁓ you your group group that are that that that you just happen to work with or people that you're just walking by ⁓ saying you know, maybe you walk by somebody who is something interesting and you can ask them questions. Right? You're not gonna get that from working at home. And ⁓ yeah, it's unfortunate I think that there should be ⁓ more in office work, especially if you're young, you got to be in office. That also means that there needs to be somebody at your senior level that can actually, you know, a provide some type of mentorship for you. And lose that. And somehow you gotta mimic that if you wanna work from home. But ⁓ you know for me I have a small team. I can I can manage that pretty easily. You know, we'll have get togethers, you know, they're they're working on site at that different different client sites. So they have that interaction with different, you know, senior level people and also people at their own you know at their own level as well. So for small that's okay. For a large company, large team that's that's more difficult to do, I think. speaker-0: when it comes to the networking aspects as well. It's quite interesting the point mentioned about people who are starting their are at the stage in their the earlier stages in their career, the importance ⁓ of networking, ⁓ those relationships. spoken to quite couple of founders about this, the importance of networking. ⁓ what makes you From your point of view, what kind of benefits do you see in terms of networking? Because we talk a lot about this as well. And I think a lot of people are curious to want to have like a more elaborative perspective on this. speaker-1: Yeah, so know, ⁓ perspective on this is because I I volunteer for a non profit and we're we're it's called the International Society of Pharmaceutical Engineering. we have a Los chapter and ⁓ the group i in chapter we have four hundred members. Globally there are I don't know, like tet over ten thousand members. ⁓ you know I've ran that chapter. I'm currently the treasurer, I was the pr the president a few years back. so we we we put together educational programs, events, various things for for those in the pharmaceutical industry. And prior to joining just called the group I S B E Greater Los Angeles chapter. Okay. And so prior to joining the group, you know, my network was pretty small. It was just within, you know, people I work with. being sales, you need that network, right? So you need like a you need people to to support you in in what it is that you're doing. You know, when you go to so part of the reason why I joined initially the the ISPE group is because it was part of my sales requirements, right? To go out, meet people, meet clients, etc. But now it's gotten to a point where those people that I've talked to, they're now my friends or they're my colleagues, or we support each other. And w the great thing about it is that the larger your network, the more solidified, more ⁓ s the stronger your network, what ends up happening is that regardless of what you know good times or bad times, you're always gonna have a group that's gonna support you. Whether you've lost your job, whether there's ⁓ economic crisis, you know, whether you're maybe trying to look to move to a different position, or you know, maybe something better came comes up. That network is gonna support you in all. Right. So now if if I had my business, I I would I wouldn't have survived without my network. Right. ⁓ you know, we wouldn't be getting projects without the network that I have. You know? ⁓ so it's it's very important for sure. speaker-0: Yeah, definitely. There is a lot of power when it comes to connecting, building connections because it only opens doors. You never know where it's going to take you, and you never know what kind of projects you get involved in. And I see that you are very proactive in your life. You know, you are running your business with Sound for over six years now, or close to six years. And then you mentioned that you are part of the ISPE grade in Los Angeles. volunteer group as well and adding on to the fact that you are you became a recent ⁓ new parent, a recent father. How do you manage and balance all that time? Because that's definitely, you know, multiple commitments, responsibilities running at the same time. speaker-1: Yeah. trying to automate some of the things in my life ⁓ of that does require me to learn more about you know what cloud has you know do I you know create agencies right or build agencies i in my life how do I you know automate some of the minor tasks like you know, ⁓ making sure people are paid on time, making sure our time sheets are updated, making sure, you know, if there's a if the project is coming you know to a close, like are we on t on are we ⁓ meeting our timeline? Are we on budget? all different types of project management tasks can automated, can summarized and curated in way that like i it it prioritizes the more important things. And ⁓ i the only way I'm able to do that and at the same time there for my daughter is to you know build of these these agencies in in my life. Right. So luckily at we're we're at a good time where AI is at a point where I don't need to learn code, right? To build a ⁓ project management app or tool for my company. You know, w a way to manage the clients, a way to kind of have a bespoke software or application that will fit our operations. so it's it's been that's kind of way to to get about it. But at the end of the day, you know, I'm not able to do any work if I'm holding my daughter. Right. And that's okay. You know, I can most companies they end in, you know, within the first three years. So you have like three years to survive before somebody even knows who you are, The next three years after that, people are now looking for you. they're searching for you. prioritize her over my business. there's just no way around it. ⁓ yeah, and and you know, I I I've taken a ⁓ a step back in in doing more work, or pursuing more work, ⁓ or growing the business to to s focus more on you know, more on my wife and and my daughter, but once things kinda get settled down then then we'll pick it back up. Right. So ⁓ yeah, there's no there's no balancing. You know, some it's a hundred percent business, some days it's you know, fifty, ten ⁓ you know, other days it's a hundred percent, one percent, you know, family, right? So there's there's no balance. It's never thirty percent near, thirty percent and stuff like that. So yeah. speaker-0: Yeah, quite interesting what you mentioned. I would say like there's a lot of shifts, ⁓ lot of seasons, a lot of phases in life. it's never linear when it comes to building something, when it comes to growth. I think that is something ⁓ like conversation that we're having right now, it is very I would say from your experiences, it's really shedding light and pushing the misconceptions about what balance looks like, what Building a business while also managing side hustles, balancing family looks like it's not always linear. It's not always going to be very I would say balanced. That some days it'll be like you said, 30%, some days it'll be forty percent. It looks different every day and also capacity looks different every day because at the end of the day we're humans. So it it wouldn't it would not make a total sense when it's very, I would say, quantified or calculated. like really calculative as well. So I think yeah, at the end of the day we're human and I think we should also show ourselves and remind ourselves that. And it in a way it also takes the pressure in terms of the pressure to always achieve or reach a certain, I would say, quota or percentage or something like that. Yeah. speaker-1: Yeah, I've you're you're right in that sense. Like, you know, having a certain goal in mind, like, okay, we're gonna grow ten percent, twenty percent, thirty percent, you know, ⁓ it of that kind of gets ⁓ flipped down and and re prioritized of like, okay, when is it okay to just be you know, stable? Yeah. When is it okay to just, you know, ⁓ let be ⁓ as are. you know, enjoy some of the the fruits of the labor, right? So speaker-0: Yeah, a hundred percent. I think a way there's probably a lot of misconceptions that when things are stable, there's the assumption that there's it's becoming stagnant or settling. But actually at the same time, we should also enjoy, like you said, the fruits of labor or all the efforts are in a way reaping off as well. you talked a lot a lot about challenges or setbacks you face, especially with different the economic crisis, the recession. How did you navigate all of this? ⁓ speaker-1: I I have like a a very I guess a naive positive outlook life, you know what I mean? Yeah. Like I'm always think I'm always positive ⁓ in that things will get better. and so you just keep keep pushing through, right? Like e eventually, you ⁓ you're gonna a hand, right? So it re regardless how many cards you're dealt, like eventually you're gonna win hand. ⁓ And as long you just keep going, in the long long run you you'll win more hands than you lose if you just keep keep keep trying. you there's even if do the smallest thing is still a a step forward. Right. So ⁓ I'm always unrealistically positive. And it's ⁓ it's helped me in in in a lot of my ⁓ my challenges for sure. speaker-0: Yeah, definitely. I think it's worth the effort to say, you know what? Every effort counts. It's just about showing up no matter what. And in the end, you are going to you're gonna read the efforts that you make too. So I think it's definitely very important for the listeners out there in times of hardship. It's not gonna be forever. ⁓ it is definitely a season, it's temporary and That'll be a very healthy mindset to keep going as well. great. So I just wanted to end podcast episode with ⁓ one final And perhaps in some ways you've already touched on that. ⁓ But if anything can think of in terms of advice or messages that you want to share for someone who's thinking about building a business or starting. Or who has an entrepreneur mindset, what would it be? speaker-1: ⁓ I would say it takes longer than you anticipate. the journey's worth it, right? So, you at the end of the day, in the beginning it's gonna be tough and and the whole mindset of, hey, come in, let's get some business, we'll make this happen, things take take a lot longer than than than you than you would think. you're basically trying to survive. Right. So the goal is to survive, do as much as you can. You know, we talk about that that place of of stagnant, right? Which is basically what you need in a business to build foundation before you move up to the next, you know, before you take on the next challenges. And so things are pretty much you know going smoothly, ⁓ use that time to build your foundation before you move up and then Try to survive as long as you can because it's a lot longer than what you would normally think. You know, most companies they end in you know within the first three years. So you have like three years to survive before somebody even knows who you are, knows the name of your business, knows what you're trying to do. You know. those first you three years are used to gain business. The next three years after that, people are now looking for you. Now circ you know, they're searching for you. And that's where you want to get. And you know, I obviously for ⁓ for me, my journey is a little different from you know, you'll hear other founders that are constantly working on, you know, a product for ten years and then finally kicks, right? It finally takes off and and it it looks like they've been, you know, they they knew the answer all long, but it takes time and it takes a lot of trial and error. speaker-0: Yeah, for sure. ⁓ I like what you mentioned that everyone's journey is unique, everyone's journey is different. And also about having resilience and and That's also that's also skill that needs to be developed and learned in order to be able to finally see the results that would eventually come to life as well. So I believe that's definitely a very powerful reminder for those out there not to keep pushing and not to give up. And eventually, in the end, everything is going to be worth it too. So, Kui, again, thank you so much for taking the time to share with us about your journey, how you started sound. definitely be sure to stay tuned for the next episode. This is Carmen Devad and Kui Chan. Ат Бахайн та Фаундерс.