Favorite Parts of Working as a Life Science CFO and Nonprofit Founder
Gary enjoys seeing the vision and dreams of startup founders come to life, something once not understood earlier in their finance-focused career, and finds immense satisfaction in the life science/med tech space by witnessing how products, like Biomerica's IBS test, can bring both "physical and emotional change" to patients. Moreover, Gary values the ability to "help others" through the non-profit work at Forge Optima, particularly in guiding the younger generation with identity, values, and pathways.
Entrepreneurship, Healthcare, Nonprofit, Leadership, Impact
Advizer Information
Name
Job Title
Company
Undergrad
Grad Programs
Majors
Industries
Job Functions
Traits
Gary Lu
CFO / NPO Founder
Biomerica and Forge Optima
UCLA
Economics
Biotechnology & Pharmaceutical, Nonprofit, Foundations & Grantmaking
Finance
Worked 20+ Hours in School, Greek Life Member
Video Highlights
1. The speaker enjoys working with founders who are dreamers and have a strong vision, noting the importance of a CFO to help execute that vision.
2. The speaker finds it rewarding to work in the life science/med tech space because their products can have a significant positive impact on people's lives, improving their quality of life and providing relief from chronic conditions.
3. The speaker is passionate about mentoring the younger generation and sharing key learnings to help them with their identity, values, and pathways, driven by a mission to make a large impact.
Transcript
What do you enjoy most about your industry?
I would say I'll have to triple this one up. I'm still part of the startup community based on my past history and being with founders who are dreamers. It's amazing to see that.
Earlier in my career, I couldn't understand it because I was more of a hard finance pro, if that makes sense. But it really makes a lot of sense. That's why they're founders; that's why they're typically CEOs.
A lot of people look to Jensen one as an example, right? So it just goes back to when you have someone who can do almost all of it. Have the vision, and obviously, the CFO will help you execute it.
But on the other side, being able to have everyone enamored with what you do is a pretty incredible feeling. I'll pivot that into the life science, med tech space. It's kind of similar, though it's a little bit different because you typically have a physical product.
But the same differences exist: we typically have a physical and emotional change when things work. We talked about foods, IBS. A lot of people suffer from IBS; it's a terrible disease. It's chronic, and it's one of those things where patients can't even go out.
They don't want to go out because they need to be near a washroom, quite honestly, because they just don't know what's going to happen. Or the pain and the bloating are so bad that it really suffers from a quality of life. They just can't go on a run, the things that you and I take for granted. That's what's happening to them.
With our tests, we can effectively have an ability for them to find, assuming they're positive, for IBS. Some people don't know IBS is kind of hard to diagnose as well, but it will help you identify what is causing these issues. And if you're disciplined enough to strip those one or two things out, you will feel better.
Then we have hundreds of testimonials and case studies of people doing this and it completely changed their life. So I think that is an incredible feeling, knowing that we're trying to be a new category creator in terms of the test, but at the same time, it works, which is awesome. We want more people to be able to experience the relief.
On the nonprofit side, this one is a little bit simpler. When you're driven by mission, and ours is really about identity, values, and where you can go with that in terms of pathways, and being able to make a really large impact on the younger generation.
Myself as a father, it's really important for the key learnings that we've taken as the elder folk, if you will. I think it'd be a shame if we don't help the younger generation with some of these. That's why mentorship is so important.
It's academically proven in terms of research and all those things, but those are the areas that I feel like. Being able to dream, being able to fulfill that dream, being able to help others. Those are the things that really matter.