🧬 Sandy Paige - Seabright Ventures Fund - Part 2 | Practicing Corporate Entrepreneurship | Life Lessons on How to Treat People | Seeking Margins & Avoiding Commodity | Scaling a Non-Profit | A CEO’s 3-5 Important Yearly Decisions

Part 2 of 4.

My guest for this week’s episode is Sandy Paige, co-managing director of the Seabright Ventures Fund, a search fund investing in the US middle market, with a focus on life sciences and cleantech. Sandy is an expert CEO, most recently leading and scaling Explora BioLabs before its acquisition by Charles River Laboratories for $295 Million.

Prior to Seabright, Sandy led The Jackson Laboratory as a Site Director and a Director of International Distribution from 2008 to 2018. Before The Jackson Laboratory, Sandy spent time as a general manager, consultant, and financial analyst, gaining extensive experience in a wide range of industries outside of the life sciences.

Join us as we sit down with Sandy to talk about his experience practicing corporate entrepreneurship after getting his MBA. Sandy also discusses how his time as a general manager of a paper mill taught him life lessons about people and led to his commitment toward treating them in a way he’ll never regret.

We cover his move from the East Coast to the West Coast, where he took up a position at The Jackson Laboratory, and where he learned to scale a non-profit aggressively. Lastly, Sandy touches on when to be frugal and when to spend, the 3-5 important decisions per year that CEOs make, and how crucial a good team is to running a successful business. Please enjoy my conversation with Sandy Paige.

Find Our Guest, Sandy Paige, at these links:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/nathanielsandypaige/
https://seabrightventuresfund.com/

Find Our Host, Jon Chee, at these links:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonchee
https://www.excedr.com

Timestamps:
00:00 Intro
01:04 Episode starts, joining CIANBRO after getting his MBA, practicing corporate entrepreneurship
05:18 Starting consulting, becoming a general manager of a paper mill
10:10 Life lessons taken away from his experience, treating people in a way you’ll never regret
13:08 Finding an industry that has margin and growth instead of being a commodity
16:07 Moving from the East to the West coast and joining The Jackson Laboratory, managing a very different team of people
18:40 Managing employee churn, understanding cultural differences after the move
21:33 Hiring and scaling effectively at an enormous non-profit company
24:45 Choosing when to spend vs when to be frugal, over-capitalizing things that are mission-critical
27:23 Making the most important decisions, a good team is a critical component for success
29:42 CEOs make 3-5 important decisions per year, most of those are hiring people, pattern recognition
34:11 Outro

Social & Website
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/excedr/
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@excedr
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/excedr_inc
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ExcedrInc
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/excedr
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@excedr
Podcast Website: https://www.thebiotechstartupspodcast.com/

Enriched Notes:

Topics Mentioned:

CIANBRO https://www.cianbro.com/
Knight-Celotex https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celotex
Employment Agreements https://www.excedr.com/resources/understanding-employment-agreements
How & When to Fire Someone https://www.excedr.com/resources/how-and-when-to-fire-someone
The Jackson Laboratory https://www.jax.org/
Staffing Your Startup https://www.excedr.com/blog/staffing-your-startup
Leasing & Financing https://www.excedr.com/category/leasing-financing
Cost of Capital https://www.excedr.com/blog/cost-of-capital
Loan Covenants https://www.excedr.com/resources/loan-covenants-and-their-effects
Understanding Debt & Equity Funding https://www.excedr.com/resources/debt-equity-options-funding-startup
Equipment Lease vs Loan https://www.excedr.com/blog/equipment-lease-vs-loan
Explora Bio https://ir.criver.com/news-releases/news-release-details/charles-river-laboratories-acquires-explora-biolabs
Intellectual Property Strategy https://www.excedr.com/resources/intellectual-property-strategy-for-biotechs

People Mentioned:
Chuck Hewett https://www.linkedin.com/in/chuckhewett/ 

The Biotech Startups Podcast gives you a front-row seat to the business and science of building a biotech. Hosted by Jon Chee, CEO of Excedr, the show features honest conversations with founders, execs, and investors about their work, their companies, and how they got there. From scientific breakthroughs to startup lessons, each episode explores what it really takes to grow a life science company—from pre-seed to IPO.