Shownotes
Shalabh Gupta
Bio
Shalabh Gupta, MD, is a visionary entrepreneur and the CEO of Unicycive, bringing a mission-driven approach to solving complex problems through innovation. A physician by training, Shalabh has founded three biotech companies and has deep experience navigating both public and private markets. He built Unicycive from the ground up—starting with no funding or assets—and took it public on Nasdaq as the company’s sole full-time employee. Shalabh credits his success to the support of friends, mentors, and the many individuals who have contributed to his journey, directly and indirectly.
Summary
Shalabh Gupta, a physician turned entrepreneur, elucidates the profound challenges inherent in the startup journey, emphasizing that it is not merely a romantic endeavor, as commonly portrayed by society. He articulates that a founder must possess a clear purpose beyond superficial motivations such as fame or fortune, for it is this deeper conviction that equips them to confront the inevitable adversities they will face. Throughout our dialogue, Shalabh shares insights from his extensive experience in building biotech startups focused on tackling critical health issues, particularly in cancer and kidney disease treatments. He advocates for a leadership style that empowers team members, fostering a culture of collaboration and resilience, where successes are collectively celebrated and failures are acknowledged as learning opportunities. This episode serves as an inspiring guide for both aspiring and seasoned entrepreneurs, urging them to reflect on their motivations and to cultivate the grit necessary to navigate the tumultuous waters of startup life.
Story
The conversation with Dr. Shalab Gupta, a physician turned entrepreneur, illuminates the often romanticized yet arduous journey of startup creation. Gupta emphasizes that the allure of entrepreneurship frequently overshadows the stark realities faced by founders. He articulates that the essential motivation for embarking on such a journey must transcend superficial desires for fame or financial gain. Instead, he argues for a profound commitment to a purpose that resonates deeply within one's ethos. Through his personal experiences, Gupta delineates how his medical background not only informed his entrepreneurial endeavors but also equipped him with resilience in the face of inevitable challenges. His story serves as a poignant reminder that without a clear and compelling 'why', the trials of startup life can become insurmountable. He encourages aspiring entrepreneurs to embrace the complexities of their ventures, underscoring that the path of innovation is fraught with difficulties that require unwavering tenacity and passion.
Dr. Shalab Gupta posits that the startup journey is rife with obstacles that demand resilience and a robust support system. Gupta's approach to leadership emphasizes empowerment; he advocates for fostering a collaborative environment where team members feel valued and equipped to tackle challenges. He reflects on his transition from medicine to entrepreneurship, noting that the skills he honed in the ICU—such as critical thinking and emotional fortitude—have been indispensable in navigating the high-stakes world of biotech startups. The conversation underscores the importance of establishing a strong foundation built on shared values and a clear vision. Gupta's insights serve as a guiding light for aspiring founders, illustrating that the pursuit of meaningful innovation is not only a professional endeavor but a deeply personal journey that requires unwavering determination and a clear understanding of one's motivations. His narrative is a testament to the transformative power of perseverance in the face of adversity.
Takeaways
- The romanticized perception of entrepreneurship often obscures the arduous challenges that founders face in their journey.
- A clear and profound understanding of one's motivation is essential, as superficial reasons can lead to disillusionment.
- Startups require resilience and passion; without genuine belief in the mission, overcoming obstacles becomes exceedingly difficult.
- The dual battles of entrepreneurship involve external challenges and internal struggles, which require perseverance and a supportive team.
- Effective leadership is predicated on empowering team members while taking full responsibility for failures, fostering a culture of trust and collaboration.
- Understanding the nature of risk in startups is crucial; founders must identify and mitigate various dimensions of risk to increase their chances of success.
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Transcripts
I think that's a very good question.
Speaker A:I really believe that our society and our media makes a startup journey quite romantic idea.
Speaker A:People think this is a very cool idea.
Speaker A:What it does not tell the founders that it is a really, really hard thing to do.
Speaker A:I think if you don't have a clear why, if it is purely for a particular interest.
Speaker A:For example, some people say, well, I want to be my own boss.
Speaker A:Because you are not your own boss.
Speaker A:I'm the founder CEO of the company.
Speaker A:I have many, many bosses.
Speaker A:I have investors, have board of directors, my employees, my teammates.
Speaker A:Even though they report to me, but I work with them, if they are unhappy, I'm unhappy.
Speaker A:And then you also have to realize that the concept of a particular idea until unless you really believe in your heart, you will not be able to overcome the challenges that you'll face.
Speaker B:Welcome to Designing Successful Startups, the podcast where we dive deep into the minds of entrepreneurs who've turned ideas into thriving businesses.
Speaker B:I'm your host, Jyothi Rosenberg.
Speaker B:Today we're joined by Dr.
Speaker B:Shilab Gupta, a physician turned entrepreneur who's built multiple biotech startups focused on cancer and kidney disease treatments.
Speaker B:Shalab brings a unique perspective to entrepreneurship, applying lessons from his medical background to the high stakes world of life sciences startups.
Speaker B:In this episode, we explore the real motivations behind starting a company and why fame and fortune should never be your primary drivers.
Speaker B:Shalab shares how his experiences in the ICU shaped his approach to risk and failure and reveals the leadership principles that have helped him build successful teams.
Speaker B:Whether you're a first time founder or a seasoned entrepreneur, Shalom's insights on de risking your venture, finding your why and persevering through challenges will inspire you to think differently about your startup journey.
Speaker B:Let's dive in and welcome to the podcast, Shalab.
Speaker A:Thank you.
Speaker B:How are you?
Speaker A:I'm doing well.
Speaker B:Good.
Speaker B:Glad to have you on.
Speaker B:We're always interested in professionals like physicians who also start companies.
Speaker B:It's a cool thing to learn about, but before we get to that, I want to ask you to share with us where you're originally from and where you live now.
Speaker A:By way of background, I grew up in India.
Speaker A:I went to medical school in India and came to do residency training in New York.
Speaker A:I did my medical training in New York, I did an internship residency fellowship and I was a faculty as well as attending physician in New York.
Speaker A:Lived there for a number of years and moved to California roughly 15 plus years ago and I've been in California since then.
Speaker A:I live here.
Speaker A:The company is based that I founded.
Speaker A:They're all based out of California and it's nice to connect with you.
Speaker B:And you've done a couple of startups.
Speaker B:What would you say motivated you on the first one?
Speaker B:And if it's the same reason, what motivated you to do all of them?
Speaker A:The motivation, as you pointed out, was same.
Speaker A:If I could characterize, there were three things that kept me going.
Speaker A:Number one, I felt there was an opportunity to make a difference.
Speaker A:And number two, I felt I could make a difference.
Speaker A:And number three, the desire to pursue something you really believe in the heart of heart that gives you the courage to overcome challenges and obstacles that you may face.
Speaker A:I didn't go in thinking that it was going to be a smooth cakewalk, but after doing the first one, I became even more convinced it was a worthy cause.
Speaker A:I always tell people that if you're not passionate about something, then don't do it because there's no amount of money, no amount of prestige or recognition which will help you to overcome the challenges.
Speaker A:But if you like what you do, you can perhaps do it.
Speaker B:And we always start a company because we're trying to solve a particular problem.
Speaker B:What was the original problem like when you decided to do your first startup?
Speaker B:And then I want to hear the same question answered about your current one.
Speaker A:So Jaguar, in my mind, the idea is to figure out a small niche problem where you feel that you're meaning as an entrepreneur.
Speaker A:In my case, I felt there was an opportunity to make a difference.
Speaker A:I characterized problems that one would need hundreds of millions of dollars, especially in life sciences and maybe 20 years to address it, versus there are problems where you could say to yourself that can be addressed in two to three years time frame with a reasonable amount of money.
Speaker A:Reasonable amount of money does not mean a million dollars, but it does mean something that I felt I could address it.
Speaker A:The first company that I built was focused on cancer treatment.
Speaker A:They were drugs that work very well.
Speaker A:They are called angiogenesis inhibitors.
Speaker A:There were three at the time that were able to block the progression of cancer by cutting the blood supply of the cancer or tumor cells, tumors that grow.
Speaker A:But all these drugs had a problem that at some point they became ineffective because either patients, the tumor cells had outgrown them in terms of creating a resistance or in some cases they were not effective to begin with.
Speaker A:So the first company was focused on a drug that blocked on the high level than this veg of drugs.
Speaker A:So the thesis was very clear.
Speaker A:And I also think about when I'm thinking about a startup idea, I Want to de risk it.
Speaker A:I think when I think about a business or a startup, it's not as inherently risky as you and I were talking about this earlier.
Speaker A:You have to find ways to be able to diminish the risk.
Speaker A:And the risk can be defined in multiple different dimensions.
Speaker A:Every industry has risk, every startup has risked.
Speaker A:But in my all of these scenarios, if I could characterize, there are five risk.
Speaker A:I think about it chemistry.
Speaker A:You are working with a molecule that has almost everything in the body is mediated by chemicals and electricity, electrical impulse that get mediated by chemical reaction that then turn to organ.
Speaker A:So chemistry is one.
Speaker A:Then there is a biology.
Speaker A:What I just explained to you in this, my first startup, the biology was well understood.
Speaker A:We knew that if you could block the angiogenesis, which is a formation of new blood vessel and tumor, you could effect essentially control the tumor growth.
Speaker A:So biology is known that there's a clinical risk, there's a regulatory risk and there's a market risk.
Speaker A:So the idea is if I characterize these five risks very quickly, the goal is to take away as many risk as possible.
Speaker A:By way of an example, I'll just go back to the first company.
Speaker A:We did not have a biology risk.
Speaker A:We knew that if we worked on the particular target, we can effectually or essentially block that tumor growth.
Speaker A:Commercial risk wasn't there to some extent.
Speaker A:We knew that these drugs which are anti angiogenesis drug called Vega blocker, they sold for billions of dollars.
Speaker A:If you can improve efficacy of an angiogenesis drug even by 5 or 10%, that leads to a very large market opportunity.
Speaker A:There was a regulatory risk because you still had to run a trial, there was a clinical risk, you still had to run the clinical trial and there was some chemistry risk.
Speaker A:So when I got the drug, we had diminished the chemistry risk as much as possible.
Speaker A:And that is how I think about every problem.
Speaker A:In other words, to summarize what I just said by giving you one example is to find out a niche where we as a small company can address it, make a difference and then find a way to start to take the risk of it as much as possible.
Speaker B:And what about the current one?
Speaker A: hinking about this startup in: Speaker A:On one end, cancer treatment has changed dramatically.
Speaker A:If you are developing a drug for cancer every year, standard of care changes.
Speaker A:But when you think about kidney treatment, that hasn't happened.
Speaker A:It has improved fair bit, but the base of innovation is rather slow.
Speaker A: In: Speaker A:And I wanted to have a portfolio of drugs.
Speaker A:I didn't want to have one drug at a time because that creates people say all eggs in one basket.
Speaker A:So I didn't want to have that.
Speaker A:So I found two different drugs from two different companies.
Speaker A:I knew some of the world known physicians, scientists, people call them key opinion leaders.
Speaker A:These are nephrologists who are very knowledgeable about this space and I work with them and I was able to build something that I felt there was an opportunity again to focus on kidney treatment, build a drug and bring it to market.
Speaker A:A few things happened that I call them, some of them serendipity, some of them I call grace.
Speaker A:Because no matter how hard you try, there is some element of that plays a role into it.
Speaker A:But the thesis was very simple that kidney treatment there was not a lot of improvement that had happened over decades.
Speaker A:We felt there was an opportunity.
Speaker A:I was able to bring in two drugs and then focus on this part.
Speaker A:And this time instead of trying to advance to a certain point, I was very convinced that the best thing is to try to take the drug and take it all the way through the approval and which I'm glad that we are waiting for a regulatory approval from the FDA at the moment.
Speaker B:Oh, that's cool.
Speaker B:You like to talk about the why for why an entrepreneur decides to start something.
Speaker B:So we've, we just talked about the what, what is the idea and you I get from you that you really like to coach mentor startup founders and this is a great opportunity to do that right here.
Speaker A:Yeah, I think that's a very good question.
Speaker A:I really believe that our society and our media makes a startup journey quite romantic idea.
Speaker A:People think this is a very cool idea.
Speaker A:What it does not tell the founders that it is a really hard thing to do.
Speaker A:I think if you don't have a clear why, if it is purely for a particular interest.
Speaker A:For example, some people say I want to be my own boss.
Speaker A:Answer is you are not your own boss.
Speaker A:I'm the founder CEO of the company.
Speaker A:I have many bosses.
Speaker A:I have investors at Ford Breakfast, my employees, my teammate.
Speaker A:Even though they report to me, but I work with them, if they are unhappy, I'm unhappy.
Speaker A:And then you also have to realize that the concept of a particular idea until unless you really believe in your heart, you will not be able to overcome the challenges that you will face every startup, regardless of who the person is, regardless how foreshadowed you are how where you're starting from will have challenges.
Speaker A:Some are small and people call them a bump in the road.
Speaker A:But there are times that you feel like there is a full stop.
Speaker A:You have to take a turn.
Speaker A:And that ability people use fancy versus strategic agility, that will not be there if you are not coming from a place where you believe that you want to pursue it against all odds.
Speaker A:So that's one number two, startups are not just a fight outside.
Speaker A:I've often talked to CEOs about it.
Speaker A:There are two battles you're fighting.
Speaker A:One, of course from our side.
Speaker A:You're raising money, you're trying to develop your product, you're trying to hire the team.
Speaker A:The second one is insight.
Speaker A:There are days that are full of disappointments.
Speaker A:You have a technical hurdle, you never thought this would be a problem and you believe the product will succeed.
Speaker A:But now you have a challenge.
Speaker A:For us, we were asked to run one additional trial.
Speaker A:This can be very challenging moment.
Speaker A:It's not just a question of running additional trial.
Speaker A:That means you're behind on your product approval.
Speaker A:That means you now have to go raise more money.
Speaker A:That means you have to tell people, the same people you felt that there will be no additional trial required.
Speaker A:And that's not entirely in your control.
Speaker A:So there will be challenges.
Speaker A:And some challenges can in the hindsight be a great opportunity.
Speaker A:For us.
Speaker A:Running an initial trial was on some level delay, but it gave us that clinical data that we feel would help patients as well as physician for physicians to be able to prescribe the drug.
Speaker A:So the second part is that first is why you have to have a real clear why.
Speaker A:The second part is that you have to realize you are going to count down many people both outside and inside.
Speaker A:When I say inside.
Speaker A:If you have family members who rely on you, depend on you.
Speaker A:Now suddenly almost all of your time is consumed by this company.
Speaker A:You're going to be behind on your personal commitment to your family and you hope may not be forever, but there is an intense period of time.
Speaker A:You hope that they will be understanding and they will be willing to give you time.
Speaker A:And number three, not all startups lead to the success and glory People look at it, there are huge number of failures.
Speaker A:So you have to be willing to understand that if I don't succeed, it's okay.
Speaker A:I think these are the two or three things that again our society doesn't want.
Speaker A:There is a personification that the startup is doing.
Speaker A:The startup is really cool thing.
Speaker A:Probably it is a cool thing until you hit one or two or few of these roadblocks, and that's okay.
Speaker A:Everybody faces it.
Speaker A:And if you find out this is not something you want to do, it, you move on.
Speaker A:But I think the part I will say to anyone is that you have to recognize there are challenges.
Speaker A:I don't mean to discourage anyone.
Speaker A:Why would I do that?
Speaker A:And I always talk to people, but I do ask them that what is that you want to accomplish?
Speaker A:And if it is money and if it is a fame and if it is a prestige or glory, that is the wrong reason to do it.
Speaker A:It cannot be the number one, two or three reason to do it.
Speaker A:Somewhere along the down the line, if you have those reasons, that's fine.
Speaker A:The number one reason is it's something you believe in, that you have a problem you can solve.
Speaker A:And you personally believe that you have the skill set and you will have resources that you can address that.
Speaker B:Very early on in this particular thread, you talked about being your own boss and you had a nice story about that.
Speaker B:But what I have found in myself and others who've done more than one startup is that it's not the own boss.
Speaker B:You're right to really fend people off from thinking about that.
Speaker B:But there is something that's in that same sort of general concept of that that's so different about a startup from anywhere else I can think of working, and that is that the entire organization, because it's small, tends to be able to stay aligned and work together and make decisions really fast.
Speaker B:And I personally have found, and many people I know have found that aspect of a startup, whether the startup succeeds or not actually is alluring and addictive.
Speaker B:It's something that you seek out to, to do again, be able to work together, make decisions, understand the problem that you just, you know, just bumped into Pivot again, keep going.
Speaker B:And I say to people, yes, it's true, eight out of ten startups fail.
Speaker B:And in fact I've had, I've done nine and I've had two successes.
Speaker B:So I'm on track for that statistic.
Speaker B:And yes, there were hard moments for sure, but in general they were joyful experiences.
Speaker A:I agree with you.
Speaker A:I think what you just talked about it just to elaborate further, you may not be your own boss, but you are right that the best part of my day, people have asked me, and maybe I felt this before, but more so recently as in last year or two, the best part of my day is what you just said is to sit down with people who believe in the same common goal and you feel that you are Empowered to make a solution decision that will help you find the solution.
Speaker A:If you are a bigger organization, you are dependent on a lot of other people and sometimes there is an inertia to be able to make those decisions.
Speaker A:But our ability just going back to the same challenge that we talked about is we were asked to run another trial, but taking a like minded people and aligning with them, saying that we are going to do it in a half the time, half the money that is required by typical companies to run the trial, we can do it that alignment, that focus and I call it an opportunity to co create.
Speaker A:There are artists who create paintings, there are artists who create music, There are composers who have written a beautiful piece of music, There are movie directors who direct movies.
Speaker A:I think in some small way, and I know that startups are not like people don't think about entrepreneurs are necessarily a creative artist.
Speaker A:But in some small way you are creating something and may not be necessarily just a creator, but maybe co creator.
Speaker A:And as you start to build your team, your entire team and you are creating something that as you find it out is a culture, it's about being able to find solutions and that can be beyond financial success.
Speaker A:It can be intellectually very rewarding.
Speaker A:And sometimes when the people who work with you, they look back and they say, you're right.
Speaker A:We really did think that we could run a trial in such a short period of time and do it in such efficient manner, but we did it and that makes them feel proud, that makes them feel empowered.
Speaker A:And I think what you just said about creating a culture, especially company like ours, we have by design, we are not very big and small is the relative term.
Speaker A:So I won't go into that.
Speaker A:But we have added people as we have gone along the way thoughtfully, we did go out and higher X number of people because we raised financing and we had the funding so we could do it.
Speaker A:We've been always thoughtful.
Speaker A:Does this person really need to be here?
Speaker A:Do we really feel this is the right person to be here?
Speaker A:Or if they were not right fit, we said no, we don't think it will work for you or for us.
Speaker A:And that has been also a blessing.
Speaker B:So you were trained as a physician, you went to medical school residency.
Speaker B:So I understand what they do and don't teach you.
Speaker B:And one of the things they don't teach you is how to run a company.
Speaker B:What was the transition like?
Speaker B:You saw a problem, you wanted to solve it, you thought you you could solve it.
Speaker B:We build companies for that reason and you had to lead a Company, you had to lead a group of people, you had to learn on the job, you had to learn pretty quickly.
Speaker B:Can you tell us a little bit about that transition from physician to founder, startup leader?
Speaker A:Yeah, no, you're absolutely correct.
Speaker A:I did have a graduate degree or I have a graduate degree in finance.
Speaker A:That was helpful.
Speaker A:But even I think former degrees can only help you.
Speaker A:This just at some level, I think what you pointed out is something, it's a big problem.
Speaker A:There is no textbook about how to be a CEO.
Speaker A:There, there are a lot of, there are a lot of ideas about how to succeed in a business, but people don't talk about it, how to be a successful CEO because there are things you need to do that you are learning.
Speaker A:As you mentioned on the job, the things that I did, one is that always have a group of mentors to help you.
Speaker A:And you know what you just said about part of it is that I like to mentor people because I think when you are helping somebody see their problem, it's a two way street.
Speaker A:As much as I think I'm helping them, I'm also helping myself because when I meet a CEO, for example, every quarter I mentor one or two companies on the Stanford as part of their startups program.
Speaker A:They are early on in their journey, they are facing the same problems I faced five years ago, six years ago.
Speaker A:But when I talk to them about their problem, you start to see a perspective that then helps you to go back to your job, your day job and realize that it's very easy to tell somebody how to have perspective, but it's very hard to have a perspective when you're facing a problem.
Speaker A:So I think going back to what being the CEO, few things, I will continue to talk about this.
Speaker A:I call it personal leadership.
Speaker A:And I tell my team members that you are CEO of your own life.
Speaker A:You wake up in the morning, you get to decide how you spend your day.
Speaker A:You brush your teeth, you shave and shower, dress up however you like, you live in a free country.
Speaker A:But those are the choices you make and those choices that make you who you become.
Speaker A:So we all have a personal leadership.
Speaker A:We have to lead ourselves.
Speaker A:And then if you are in a family, you have to lead your family, help them to be what they need to do.
Speaker A:But similarly, we all have an opportunity to learn by doing it, but constantly learn from other people.
Speaker A:So mentorship is one, you talk to people who are around you.
Speaker A:Number two is by reading books.
Speaker A:I read.
Speaker A:An enormous amount of time I spend on reading books outside my space, which is non biotech, non business non.
Speaker A:These could be biographies.
Speaker A:In fact, if I could turn around the screen, on the other side is a bookshelf which is full of physical books.
Speaker A:I do read Kindle, but there are books that I pick up on a flight and I try it and I turn on my laptop and start answering emails because that is a three to four hours of dedicated time, especially if you're going from California to New York, that you can pick a book that can give you wisdom that you would have not otherwise had.
Speaker A:And the third thing is constantly take the time to reflect.
Speaker A:I spent time at least on the weekend to reflect on what worked, what did not work, and you start to then understand a pattern, a behavior.
Speaker A:Some things, no matter how hard you try, you will make mistakes.
Speaker A:There is just no way about it.
Speaker A:All you can do is to not make the same mistake again and again.
Speaker A:And that is something you want to be able to avoid.
Speaker B:Hi, the podcast you are listening to is a companion to my recent book, Tech Startup Toolkit how to Launch Strong and Exit Big.
Speaker B:This is the book I wish I'd had as I was founding and running eight startups over 35 years.
Speaker B:I tell the unvarnished truth about what went right, and especially about what went wrong.
Speaker B:You could get it from all the usual booksellers.
Speaker B:I hope you like it.
Speaker B:It's a true labor of love.
Speaker B:Now back to the show.
Speaker B:Going back to first time as CEO for a second.
Speaker B:So I had an experience that's somewhat similar, I think, to your transition.
Speaker B:I went from being a an academic, a professor of computer science, to doing a first startup.
Speaker B:One of the things that happened in that transition was something we talk about a lot in the startup world, which is imposter syndrome.
Speaker B:I was very nervous about becoming the CEO.
Speaker B:I had the impression, and I don't exactly remember where it came from, that without sales and marketing experience, I might not be a good CEO.
Speaker B:But I had worked on a problem while I was still a professor, just like you.
Speaker B:You were exposed to the problem.
Speaker B:In your case, you were exactly the right CEO.
Speaker B:And it turns out I would have been too.
Speaker B:But my imposter syndrome was exacerbated by the first investor I visited who said, what gives you the idea you're qualified to be CEO?
Speaker B:He was someone I was hoping would fund the company, and he clearly wasn't going to.
Speaker B:He was wrong.
Speaker B:The next VC I talked to was adamant that the technical person, the person with the vision, the person with the passion is the right person to be the CEO.
Speaker B:At least at first.
Speaker B:It might not work out after 18 months, I made that mistake.
Speaker B:I didn't take on that CEO role.
Speaker B:I did subsequently.
Speaker B:It finally worked out.
Speaker B:The other part of the thing I wanted to ask you though was initially you were like a solo founder.
Speaker A:Yes.
Speaker B:And now you've built a pretty good sized team.
Speaker B:I think you've been talking a little bit here about the self reflection and reading a lot and what and whatnot.
Speaker B:From the standpoint of the people listening to this, how would you say your leadership has changed from when you were doing this at first and you were just you?
Speaker B:And now you've gone so much further and you've learned how to lead a big team and keep them productive.
Speaker A:You are right.
Speaker A:I think first and foremost I want to share with you something that we all know as a fact, a factoid that we don't realize.
Speaker A:I would say to you that I would challenge most of us that we are not the same version of ourselves as of three years ago, human body, every single cell changes every two years.
Speaker A: y, the version that I have in: Speaker A:Every single cell in my body, my bones, my eyelashes, my skin with my brain cells have changed.
Speaker A:And I bring this up because I want to connect to people, to their deeper part of it.
Speaker A:We are not always the same.
Speaker A:We all have challenges.
Speaker A:We all have imposter syndrome.
Speaker A:We all have difficulties.
Speaker A:There are times that we will be told that you can't do it.
Speaker A:There are times that somebody will say, I run a public company.
Speaker A:You can't imagine all types of feedback we get.
Speaker A:You always have to listen to the feedback, but you don't have to take things that are not helpful personally.
Speaker A:And it takes a little bit of courage to understand that every single feedback is not always helpful.
Speaker A:But when I think about building the team, Jyoti, one thing I realize that is never about me anymore.
Speaker A:It's about my team.
Speaker A:I want to empower them.
Speaker A:And every single time we face a problem, I said to them two or three things.
Speaker A:Number one, I know we can do it in a shorter period of time, make less money.
Speaker A:Number two, I will empower you to do whatever you need to do.
Speaker A:But I will be there with you.
Speaker A:If I can only write a paragraph, if I can only do one thing, I will do it.
Speaker A:I don't want you to think I'm going to sit there, walk into conference room and walk away into some corner office because not only they know it, but they've seen it, that I will do whatever it takes if it requires Me to get on a call with a vendor.
Speaker A:They realized that being a CEO is helpful.
Speaker A:For my team to show up in a call their times is not helpful.
Speaker A:So it's just empowering them to make them realize that I'm there with them.
Speaker A:And then the third part is that if there is a problem, if there is a mistake, I always say, if we succeed, we'll succeed because of you.
Speaker A:If we fail because of me.
Speaker A:And it's not meant to be cheesy or philosophical part, but if you're a CEO, you do have to live and die with everything you accomplish, your team accomplishes.
Speaker A:So that the people call it different ways to say the buck stops at you.
Speaker A:But saying it and believing it in your heart of heart.
Speaker A:I said to people, it doesn't feel good that you made a mistake, but I'm the one who's responsible for it.
Speaker A:But I said, I also cannot take you and put it in front of my investors and say, no sir, it's not my fault.
Speaker A:Meet the person who made the mistake because it won't go well.
Speaker A:And the reason I say this, by having these three principles, I recognize that whatever we fail to accomplish is my mistake.
Speaker A:But the victories, the triumphs, anything they've accomplished is accomplished as a team.
Speaker A:It creates an environment.
Speaker A:People feel truly empowered.
Speaker A:The saying it's one thing, but to actually embody it day in the art is harder.
Speaker A:There are mistakes people make.
Speaker A:Sometimes they're not necessarily mistakes.
Speaker A:They're things that we know now that we could have done better last time.
Speaker A:And no matter how smart these people are, how dedicated, motivated and intellectual they are, we all have sometime chance that we fail.
Speaker A:Oh my gosh, I wish we could have done differently.
Speaker A:And sometimes these are repercussions for that.
Speaker A:If you decide a clinical trial, you enroll patients, you can go back in time, ksa, I wish you differently.
Speaker A:But then empowering them, telling them, no, we did what we could do best with this information we had at the time.
Speaker A:And you don't have to go back in time reminding them to focus forward.
Speaker A:And if whatever mistakes are there, you take responsibility.
Speaker A:Even if they want to feel bad for themselves or criticize themselves or somebody within the team.
Speaker A:You see, that was a collective decision.
Speaker A:I made the decision, I'm responsible for it.
Speaker A:Let's focus forward.
Speaker A:The one thing which I will say, it doesn't feel good to always feel that you are responsible for all the mistake.
Speaker A:But there's no other way out there.
Speaker A:If you're CEO of the company, you will have to own.
Speaker A:And once you own it.
Speaker A:Deliberation is that since you are responsible, you can also correct.
Speaker A:And I think that is something that it is little difficult.
Speaker A:It takes a huge amount of grit and also just tenacity.
Speaker A:But what it does in return is that my team knows that they can make the right decision.
Speaker A:They are not afraid.
Speaker A:Nobody's afraid that if I do this, I'll be reprimanded later or I'll be punished later.
Speaker A:And that makes a difference.
Speaker A:That is why people can think creatively.
Speaker A:That's why we can come up with bold ideas and pursue them.
Speaker A:Because every single person in the company is pursuing the same idea, realizing that it may or may not work.
Speaker A:But we also know that if it worked, we lost the creed.
Speaker A:And if it failed, the CEO is willing to take the call for it.
Speaker B:Shalab, you just mentioned a very important word a few minutes ago, or actually just a few seconds ago.
Speaker B:Grit.
Speaker B:And I would love to know what your grit story is.
Speaker B:Where did it come from for you?
Speaker A:It comes back, actually, believe it or not, from my medical training and what I'm going to say I've said to some of my close team members.
Speaker A:Being a physician, sitting in icu, seeing people die every day, and sometime spending your entire night on the 15, 20 minutes you have in ICU, you start to realize that we all, at some point in time, not too far in the future, may face the same outcomes.
Speaker A:Maybe not icu, you've heard of the acute care wars.
Speaker A:People are suffering.
Speaker A:What it makes you also realize that if that is the case, then being afraid or being fearful about failures is just a fallacy because the eventual truth is that we are going to suffer.
Speaker A:And I took care of patients at Bellevue Hospital where people were homeless.
Speaker A:Some of these patients, they're homeless, but they're good people.
Speaker A:They're good, good people.
Speaker A:I took care of them.
Speaker A:I went to two blocks up north at NYU Hospital.
Speaker A:NYU's medical center attracts some of the more affluent parts of the city, which is almost anybody you can imagine in New York City.
Speaker A:Who lives there, famous investment bankers, three Mr.
Speaker A:Nanciers, famous authors, so on and so forth.
Speaker A:But the suffering.
Speaker A:When you're putting intravenous line into a homeless person or an affluent person, or when they are short of breath and you need to put them in an oxygen, it's a similar part.
Speaker A:When you start to realize that the suffering is going to be there, even if you choose a safer route, you start to realize that this fear of failure is just made up.
Speaker A:And that gave me the freedom to realize that life is Short, might as well use something meaningful out of it.
Speaker A:Something I believe in it.
Speaker A:So that is all of the parts that I talk about and I've talked to my friends about it.
Speaker A:And sometimes people say you talk like cotton punch.
Speaker A:I don't mean that way, really.
Speaker A:The experiences that I've had made me realize that we are all living a life that is.
Speaker A:People call it philosophical senses that parenthesis and eternity.
Speaker A:We are not here forever.
Speaker A:So might as well use something that we believe in.
Speaker A:That's where the why and the passion and the focus comes on.
Speaker A:And I think if you feel there is something you are pursuing a worthy cause, then as you said, whether you succeed or fail in the end, but at least you know you are doing your worthy cause because what else would you do?
Speaker A:Would you do something for making somebody else happy?
Speaker A:And what do you.
Speaker A:What happens then?
Speaker A:And I say this is a rhetorical question, but the point was that question was very clear in my mind, has been clear in my mind, and I don't want to do it.
Speaker A:Anything else that I don't believe in.
Speaker A:I'm fortunate that I figured this out, but I think we all have the same opportunity.
Speaker B:Everybody's got a very interesting grit story and yours is.
Speaker B:No, no different in terms of the details are.
Speaker B:But everyone's got a great story.
Speaker B:I appreciate hearing about yours.
Speaker A:Thank you.
Speaker A:I think you and you and I were talking prior to this call.
Speaker A:You mentioned about your own story.
Speaker A:And really, I think as you said, we all find reasons to do what we do.
Speaker A:And I think then failure becomes a secondary endpoint, because failure, whether the enterprise on a personal level, you're not gonna always succeed.
Speaker A:And there will be challenges that you can't overcome.
Speaker A:But if you believe in something and you're willing to wake up next morning and try one more time, that becomes a one depreciating part.
Speaker A:People always talk to me, what is the secret power?
Speaker A:I said the perseverance that the fact that I can persevere.
Speaker A:I have a very high threshold for pain.
Speaker A:I can keep fighting and fight some more.
Speaker A:And that's what gets my team also motivated.
Speaker A:Because you can't lead people.
Speaker A:If you take every failure to your heart and you are with one setback, you are upset for next six months.
Speaker A:And that won't do well till they start up setting.
Speaker B:It's hard to pivot if you don't have the attitude you're talking about.
Speaker B:And your team needs you to be the one leading the pivot.
Speaker B:And that's the name of the game.
Speaker B:I think this has been a great conversation with so much benefits to the people who are startup founders or are thinking about it, who are listening or watching this episode.
Speaker B:Thank you very much for doing this with me and for being here.
Speaker B:I really appreciate it.
Speaker A:Thank you for having me, Jyoti.
Speaker A:Very much appreciate it.
Speaker A:Thank you for the opportunity and it was good to hear your story as well.
Speaker A:Thank you.
Speaker B:Before we wrap up, here's your founder's toolkit from Today's conversation with Dr.
Speaker B:Shilab Gupta.
Speaker B:Three leadership principles when building your team, remember empower your people to accomplish more with less.
Speaker B:Work alongside them rather than above them, and take full responsibility for failures while attributing successes to the team.
Speaker B:Develop your perseverance muscle.
Speaker B:As Shalab emphasized, your ability to wake up each morning and try one more time despite setbacks is your secret power as a founder.
Speaker B:Cultivate a high threshold for challenges and model this resilience for your team.
Speaker B:Find your true why before launching a startup.
Speaker B:Ensure your motivation runs deeper than money, prestige or recognition.
Speaker B:The journey will test you and only a genuine belief in your mission will sustain you through the inevitable challenges ahead.
Speaker B:That's our episode with Dr.
Speaker B:Shalab Gupta.
Speaker B:Until next time, keep designing your success.
Speaker B:The show notes contain useful resources and links.
Speaker B:Please follow and rate us@podchaser.com designing successful startups.
Speaker B:Also, please share and like us on your social media channels.
Speaker B:This is Jothi Rosenberg saying TTFN Tata for now.
