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The interview was conducted on 20 January 2010 with Mr. Patrick Yi, Chief Executive Officer of MediPurpose Pte Ltd.
Mr. Patrick Yi has earned his little victory pose at the end of our interview.
1. Genewired: What can you tell us about your background?
You might be surprised that I arrived at my current career path in medical device development and distribution after exploring directions and opportunities in seemingly non-related background.
I was born and raised in Malaysia in a large family of 8. I went to the University of Singapore on a Singapore Government Merit Scholarship. After earning an undergraduate degree in Electrical Engineering and a Master’s degree in Business Administration, I fulfilled my scholarship bond working as a systems analyst at SingTel.
In the early 1980s, I was part of the pioneer team that built this billion-dollar Raffles City complex. In 1987, I became general manager for the NETS debit card system, and in 1994, I became a consultant to MasterCard International and started exploring various business ventures from retail to game publishing to electronic payment services.
2. Genewired: Could you share with us the motivation and story behind your startup, MediPurpose?
It all started in 1998 when my brother-in-law and SurgiLance safety lancet inventor John Teo approached me with his design for a superior safety lancet product. He needed help with getting his medical device innovation to market, and he recognized the potential of my strengths in marketing and business development.
You might wonder why I even considered getting into a completely new industry when I was in my forties. Although my backgroup is in so many diverse industries, I have consistently been a "builder" - first as a builder of software and people in SingTel, then a real building in Raffles City and finally a new payment system in NETS.
My motivation in starting MediPurpose was to put all of my experiences and ideas about product development and marketing to the ultimate test - build a new medical device and the infrastructure to sell it in the global healthcare market.
3. Genewired: What is so interesting about MediPurpose's core technology?
Over ten years, we built the infrastructure within MediPurpose to develop and commercialize new medical device inventions.
We have established the expertise and network for our medical device product development and manufacturing - design firms, patent attorneys, subject matter experts, market research, regulatory consultants and contract manufacturing facilities. We also have the marketing and distribution experience and network - more than 200 distributors in the US and Europe, GPO (group purchasing organization) relationships, sales and logistics management.
Our infrastructure for developing and commercializing medical products is our asset. Our core technology is in the systems, methods and people who manage that infrastructure.
4. Genewired: What have been your most difficult/ challenging times? (startup journey, fund raising, etc.)
Fund raising is always challenging for startups and we were no different. I had no luck with angel, corporate and VC investors so I had to bootstrap the company through my own resources, friends and relatives and my suppliers. There were times when I struggled to pay my suppliers who were very gracious to give me extended payment terms. Fortunately, I never missed payroll for my staff. I didn’t pay myself any salary till we have a positive cash flow. On hindsight, I am glad that I did it this way as I learned how to grow my business and market my medical product more efficiently with limited financial resources.
Due to our limited resources, we skimped on the testing phase of our product development as we were eager to market our product as quickly as possible. This was a mistake as we had to recall our product after the initial launch due to quality problems with our product. It took us almost a year to fix the problem and we lost one of the two initial customers as a result of that. Since then we ensure rigorous testing and quality assurance processes for our product and our customers recognize us for the quality products we deliver.
Although our safety lancet is patented, we were sued by a competitor for patent infringement when we established an office in the States. It took us 5 years and more than a million dollars to litigate this case which we finally won on appeal.
5. Genewired: We know that you have achieved your dream to be an entrepreneur. In the year 2010, what are the new levels of opportunity that you are seeking for business?
The opportunities we are seeking in 2010 involve providing opportunities to others. We have recently launched two new business divisions—Innovation and Distribution Services. They are intended to help both new medical device inventors and existing medical product innovators introduce their medical products to market.
Of course, we have not forgotten about our current lines of medical products. For them, we continue to market and sell them through the traditional methods.We are also actively engaging in social media and other modes of online communication to do this, as well as to attract medical device inventors and innovators.
6. Genewired: What advice do you have for a young entrepreneur/ newbie who is just starting out a life science/ biomed tech company?
Be patient. Do not risk or destroy months and years of hard work or thousands of dollars of investments by being hasty with decisions. Remember the product recall I had. Your first product recall might be your last.
Do your homework as best as you can. Know your market, your product regulatory requirements, your distribution channels and your competitors. Talk is cheap for you – talk to as many people as you can to learn what you have to do.
If you don’t want to do it all yourself, find a mentor, sponsor or partner. Don’t be afraid to ask for help. It reduces your risk both emotionally and financially.
7. Genewired: Is there any one who may have influenced your outlook on life and business?
Our Minster Mentor Mr Lee Kuan Yew, the long-time leader of Singapore, is my role model!
I have read both his memoirs. The challenges I faced in building MediPurpose are obviously small in comparison with the challenges he faced in building Singapore, but I had tried to learn from his vision and principles.
8. Genewired: How do you define success in business?
As an engineer and builder, I think success is best defined by how well a business is in achieving its short and long-term goals, and those can be objective, like financial success, or subjective like personal satisfaction.
Today, I would say that I am most proud of the success MediPurpose enjoys with being able to provide a happy and stable workplace for our employees, which we would now call ‘shared values’.
Ten years ago, I would have defined success as the moment when we sold our first safety lancets. A few years later, I would have defined success when we have built a profitable and sustainable business.
Author: Ai San Yip
Editor: Fan Mingwei
Photographer: Erwin Chan
© GeneWired 2010. All rights reserved.
For additional information about MediPurpose, please visit http://www.medipurpose.com
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