Brief conversation with Phil Ryan (COO, SOMAVAC® Medical)
Abigail: [00:00:00] Hey, everybody. My name is Abigail. Today I’m sitting with Phil. Ryan. Phil, why don’t you introduce yourself?
Phil Ryan: [00:00:07] Yep, I’m Phil Ryan, I’m the chief operating officer here at silverback and a board member. I came from a large medical device manufacturer here in town, and recently came to Soma back in 2019, and I’m responsible for operations and sustaining engineering, a little bit of accounting, quality management, distribution. Back of the house, back in the house.
Abigail: [00:00:30] Yeah. All of this, all of this over here. Okay. So based on your experience with your prior job and then coming into Soma small company, how has your role changed? Or you’ve probably added more things?
Phil Ryan: [00:00:45] Yeah, I was indirectly responsible for some of the things that I do now. But being directly responsible means you do everything from, you know, kind of plan strategy to take the trash out. So. Yeah. Start to finish. Yeah. Start to finish. There’s no really in between. Oh, wow. And you don’t have a lot of opportunity to delegate. Although I do have some fantastic partners we work with to help us through.
Abigail: [00:01:06] The the difficult questions. Oh I’m sure. And so what are some advantages that you found working in a small company instead of a larger company where you came from?
Phil Ryan: [00:01:16] Yeah, small companies are much more nimble. So if we need to respond quickly to a customer request, we can do that quickly. If we need to make changes to.
[00:01:25] The product, we can do that, you know, efficiently. Timing here for changes is, is a pretty fast
Phil Ryan: [00:01:32] And decision making processes are pretty fast. You know, we don’t have to deal with the committees. And, you know, the other normal bureaucracy that’s consistent with a large company.
Abigail: [00:01:42] Goodness, that’s a lot. That’s a lot. Okay. So if you could give advice to somebody that’s trying to decide to go from a large company to a small company and kind of do what you did, what would you say? Or what was the biggest eye opening thing?
Phil Ryan: [00:01:58] I think just be prepared to do all of the things you did in your career. So if you started at the entry level in whatever role that was, you’re probably going to be doing that job again. You know, rolling up your sleeves and getting your proverbial hands dirty. But also go into it with an appreciation for uncertainty. You know, startups are a lot about change, and you have to adapt to the market or adapt to, you know, suppliers or whatever the variables are that are coming at you and you don’t really have any negotiating power with those people because you’re a startup. Right? But that also gives you the opportunity to find new partners and you know, be creative in your solutions. And so as a coming from a big company to a small company, that’s a mindset change, I would say. Yeah.
Abigail: [00:02:42] So what drove you to come to a small company?
Phil Ryan: [00:02:45] Well, I early, early in my career, my first job was with a small company. We we worked on what I would call church tables and had computers. And this may have been before you were born, but the reality was it was a fantastic environment. You came in earlier, you knew everybody. You know, first name, you knew about their family, and you were kind of, you know, all in this together. Nobody was there just to kind of do the 9 to 5. And that’s the that’s the fascinating thing to me about a startup is right. We have a committed goal. And, you know, the start time and the finish time are not really important. You know, finishing the activity is what really adds value.
Abigail: [00:03:18] Everybody has the same mindset, right. Oh goodness. Okay. Well that’s it. That’s all I had for you. Right okay. So everybody this is Phil again and thanks so much for tuning in.
