The Founder Rollercoaster: Brian Suddarth on Risk, Cash Flow & Growth

speaker-1: I think most important thing when starting all this is that everybody has to be ready to jump in. you know there's gonna be I always call it it's the roller coaster ride. you're gonna have the highs and you're gonna have the lows. the ups are great, but the downs they can be really hard.

speaker-0: Hey everyone. My name is Carmen Devad and I will be hosting today's episode of Behind the Founders. Joining me here today is Brian Serdith. Brian, welcome. Can you introduce yourself?

speaker-1: Yes, my name's Brian Sudith. I'm here out of Scottsdale, Arizona, and I'm glad to be here today.

speaker-0: Yeah, really glad to be here as well. And I'm really excited for us to dive into the discussion, of course, your journey with founding different businesses, helping different business partners and everything like that. So to get us started, could you share with the listeners out there who you are? What inspired you to launch 352 ingredients?

speaker-1: Okay, yeah, no, I'll talk about a couple different things. So I've been through the corporate world. and I was in the medical device side up until twenty sixteen, running a medical device company on the sales side. And then prior to this, I actually owned a couple online stores. We sold and we had online stores from twenty fifteen and then we exited that in twenty two. And once we exited that in twenty two. I bought into an organization, Air Group, which I'm a founding partner with a particular one, but then also with some business ADHD. we had some other partners that we joined forces and we started 352 ingredients back in February of twenty five. so each of them have some unique purposes. Aero Group is really focused and what I really love about that is trying to help businesses and founders identif or businesses to identify areas to improve working capital. because I sat on the corporate side and I had to let people go and because we weren't hitting our numbers and I believe there's a better way to do it. and then I've also sat on the other side where when payroll comes around, everybody gets paid. And you eat ramen noodles.

speaker-0: Mm-hmm. Yeah, for sure. yeah, I was just briefly looking through your LinkedIn profile just to get a better sense about your history. So I guess one of the most common questions that I that probably a lot of listeners would love to understand is oftentimes there is a lot of comfort and stability when it comes to being in the corporate world as well, before taking that leap of faith to. build your own business. So what inspired you to actually take that pivotal step?

speaker-1: I've always been an individual from when I was a very young age to selling, you know, cards or doing something to make a little extra money. and but I was very fortunate when I started in the medical device side, but I just wasn't my jam, even though I was there for twenty years. I always felt that there was more that I could do. I like to be more of my own boss and doing what I want to do. And it just just the drive to create and build something.

speaker-0: Mm-hmm. Yeah, definitely for sure. Especially when you're able to find a solution or purpose to be able to help other people as well, which was what we were speaking about earlier before we started this recording. it is definitely a very empowering and rewarding feeling to be able to just help someone out there because as we mentioned, you never know what was going on behind closed doors. You never know what someone else is going through as well. Okay, so. I'd be curious to learn a little bit more about 352 ingredients. And of course we could talk a little bit later about Era Group, but for the listeners who have never heard of 352 ingredients, they probably came across your website or they heard it somewhere. What is it exactly that your focus is on?

speaker-1: Yeah, so we're what we started with is we funded research and development for atopical dermatitis and radiation dermatitis. So I have a my lead medical director and scientist is out of the University of Florida, and he has identified over 2500 plant extracts in which actually develop different functions. And with that, we've been able to create and combined three amino acids and four plant extracts to build out an ingredient that will be able to enhance skincare products. So it will improve could potentially improve atopical dermatitis, acne, but more importantly, it's really we're retraining the skin so we can maintain that longevity and that natural look.

speaker-0: Yeah, and I can imagine that is something that a lot of people would desire to have to, of course, maintain their youth and of course maintain quality of skin because that is really what you first see as well as a way to boost your self esteem. Just out of curiosity, why exactly that number 352?

speaker-1: Well, three fifty two is actually the area code of Gainesville, Florida. And that's where my scientist is out of. And that's where a couple of my partners went to school as well. so that's a tied to Gainesville, Florida.

speaker-0: Okay, and what particularly drew you to getting involved in the skincare dermatology industry?

speaker-1: Well, it really was with my partners and with our scientists. my scientist, as I said, he's he has a burning desire to create things. And what's great about this is we say topical dermatitis, but really where it can also go is into hydration and if we can help malnutrition and children, et cetera. So really we got into it just because of our scientists and his story. from India and what he's been through over his life and just being able to bring something that's natural and bring something that can actually help individuals more on the you know can be on the skin side, but eventually can look at other areas.

speaker-0: Mm-hmm. Yeah, 100% for sure. I think it's definitely very inspiring to be able to also hear other people's personal stories as well. So tell me a little bit more about when you started, when you started the beginning of the journey of 352 ingredients, what was the biggest challenge that you had to face when building the business stuff?

speaker-1: Yeah, I that's very easy. when you're starting a business and you you're first going on a capital raise. So we seeded the business with partners that we're in business with otherwise and just initially seeding the business, establishing our agreements with the research team. And what's challenging, I think, with research and development is you're pouring money into hypothesis, a theory, or you're pouring money into where you believe. So there's a lot of testing, a lot of money spent on that. so that's initially, I mean, just building out that initial infrastructure. and then from that testing is making sure that you're getting the results that you need within your company's budgetary system or within 'Cause you're all in a cash burn. You're all pre-revenue, so you're spending a lot of time I say volunteer work. We're spending a lot of time just, driving for the mission and focusing the money in, very targeted areas on the research side of it.

speaker-0: Mm-hmm. Yeah, definitely it's requires a lot of risk taking, especially when you mentioned testing out different hypotheses, the pre-investment, also the on dealing with the unknown, whether the hypothesis would turn out the way you wanted to. Was there ever an a point where You and your team were testing out a hypothesis. It did not go the way that you hoped, or it took you by surprise. How did you navigate this?

speaker-1: Well, I think there's a couple of things on that. We did, with that when you're testing so many different ingredients, and you're kinda up against time, which is cash, you know, there is some times in which, you know, we we looked at it and then what's great is my scientist and his team is able to pivot very well. And they kept on driving toward the, you know, the data and and what's crazy about it is when you're dealing with these types of testing on a cellular level. is you're very restricted in the time. You it takes, 10 days to grow them and you could you have to actually go through all the testing within a short time frame. So there was a lot of late nights for that the staff over there did, which was very grateful for. but I think one thing that I think most important thing when starting all this and on any of these groups is that everybody has to be ready to jump in. And when I say that, it's not just yourself and diving yourself in the work, but it's your support system around you. the support system is very valuable because you know there's gonna be I always call it it's the roller coaster ride. you're gonna have the highs and you're gonna have the lows. And I chuckle, I go sometimes if I don't hit that two to three times. I'm just because and it's an emotion. You gotta be mentally prepared for those ups and downs because as somebody I was talking to the other day, the ups are great, but the downs they can be really hard.

speaker-0: Yeah, yeah. And it's also really about trying to survive the downs as well. I remember I had a conversation, I think it was in one of the earlier episodes with one of the business founders, and they mentioned something about, of course, every every journey is different, every business founding journey is different. That it does take roughly the first three years are usually the toughest ones, and you have to really survive and push through the first three years before you really reap what you sow as well. just want to know from your experience, what are your thoughts around that?

speaker-1: I think it's a I first three to five years are incredible. both on the financial side of it as well as the mental side of it. I think people need, you know, it takes a very unique person and it goes back to your original question of stepping out out of that security blanket. And and if you don't have that support or that mindset that, you know, it's okay if you're not getting a paycheck and 30 days, 60 days, 90 days, you have the sustain to sustain it. it's very rewarding. Cause if you go into the situation and don't have that support, financial support or the regular support, it's going to be very challenging and keeping a positive mindset and focusing on the goals and creating the key milestones or the KPIs, developing those and hitting those, those are the milestones that you keep driving for and having a great team around you. That's really important.

speaker-0: Absolutely for sure. So speaking about team, I know that you are quite well-rounded. You are really actively involved in multiple ventures. so let's still focus a little bit more on 352 ingredients. Could you walk with us through about your team setup? I know you mentioned that you have a couple of scientists being able to bring those products in life. tell tell us a little bit more about the team setup. How many of you are there?

speaker-1: Yeah. and the complete team right now we're just sitting at four, four to six, depending on the time today. Most of them are with shareholders as well. so a lot of equity side of it. so currently right now, just on the and I should back up. I in the lab itself I have five outside the lab itself. Then you run into we have four, four to five. And I say four to five because it fluctuates between some consultants and just the other folks that are helping on the day to day stuff.

speaker-0: Okay. and the four people that you have on your team outside of the lab, where are they all based? Are they remote? Are they all in office?

speaker-1: Yeah, well what's crazy about this is the science is done in the University of Florida. One of the partners is in Boston, between Boston and Florida. There's two in Florida. There's one in California. So we're all remote. the only folks at heart is the individuals that are in the lab.

speaker-0: Okay. And how did you go about bringing on those team members? Do you have do you recruit them or is it through word of mouth? How did you find all those sets second, third, fourth, five pairs sets of hands?

speaker-1: Yeah. Well, what's good thing about it over time you find the right partners. And a lot of these guys are partners from prior ventures that we've been into. So we we knew each other prior and so and we all decided to go into this together. So it's all mutual either mutual relationships. So we knew each other prior, or somebody within the group, like my scientist, knew another gentleman and brought him in and It's a very small network out there. everybody says it's a small world and it is a small world when you get around great people. They're usually surrounding themselves with great people. So that's where we're very fortunate.

speaker-0: Yeah. And I I bet that definitely makes a huge difference to be able to have this small network where you're able to build really good rapport, trust, trustful relationships, to be able to collaborate and just share that mission as well to improve the skincare and dermatology world as well.

speaker-1: Yes, it is. It's we're very, very, very blessed.

speaker-0: Yeah, of course. And Tell, let's switch it over to because we did briefly speak about it before we formally start to record the podcast. you mentioned that you are also working as a founding partner at Era Group. I hope I pronounced that correctly. Perfect, wonderful.

speaker-1: You're right.

speaker-0: thank you. Thank you so much. I'm glad I got that right. So what what exactly does Error Group do? And just share the listeners a bit about that.

speaker-1: Yeah, no, it's actually a great organization. We've been around for since about 31 years. but what's awesome about this, and this works with a lot of organizations, is we go in and we talked about this earlier. It's all about giving and building and helping folks. And yes, it is a business, but what we do is we go in and help companies unlock that internal working capital. And it's probably the most valuable working capital they have. most folks will say they don't have enough time because they're, you know, and it goes on both startup world and then established is, you know, we we are required to do so much in such a short amount of time. So what this group does is allows we come in and we have experts and 70 different expense categories, and we'll help the end of the company identify them. And then from there we will help them implement it. And we what's great about it is we do it all on a contingency basis. So it's really about what can we get another set of eyes on? Can we help them out or can we not? And and that's what the whole goal is.

speaker-0: Yeah, absolutely for sure. So what kind of I guess you did touch on a little bit as well that you work with all types of different scaled, different size organization businesses. What kind of clients or businesses have you taken on industry wise, location wise?

speaker-1: Yeah, no. this is a global organization, but we focus a lot in because there's a thousand of us o overseas and there's probably two hundred and seventy-five in the US. But I mean we're focusing on manufacturing, manufacturing, healthcare, non for profits. going back to our original theme is if we can help somebody and give back into the community. pretty business agnostic. to be very honest. And we really focus on organizations between 15 million dollars and recurring revenue on up. but however, that can fall down because you know, I just we just helped a smaller non-for-profit school, only spending probably a little over a hundred some grand for food, and we were able to go in there and save them eighteen, eighteen or so percent. So it's something in which again. Now they can, use that money into their school, you know, help that their students. then just recently we also worked with the manufacturing which needed help with insurance because insurance costs are raising incredibly high at a very fast rate. but we were you know able to help them find better coverage and reduce their overall spend so they can reinvest back into the company and into their employees.

speaker-0: Growth. Yeah, absolutely for sure. One of the things that just popped up in my mind that I'm sure probably a lot of aspiring business founders would love to know is I can imagine that you've had a lot of experience partnering up with startup business founders, where they probably need a lot of funding outside to be able to make that possible to grow their business. From the experience that you've had, what do you believe they should consider before taking on investors or borrowing money in order for them to choose the right option to to really grow their business?

speaker-1: I think the biggest thing is validation. One thing that you'll find with entrepreneurs or individuals in general, they will think they have the next best idea since sliced bread. They think it's going to make billions. But validating that before you and make sure there's truly a roadmap to get to where you're going. And when you're going through that validation, Period, really keep an open mind because there might be some tweaks, or there might be things in which you could adjust, or maybe it's not the right one, right idea, and it's okay. park the ego and and just really gather as much information that you can. and then also before you or when you go into it, is make sure you have. good and great legal advice. I think it's very important on that because structure of that, when you start raising money and you start seeing dilution, you know, you can I've seen a lot of folks are in red, you know, you start a company, you're the main person, and then through multiple fundraises, bridge notes, et cetera, you get diluted right out of the company. So all your hard work and sweat you you really don't have anything. so I really say just make sure your your idea is validated. Make sure you have a good legal team and keep an open mind.

speaker-0: Yeah, definitely for sure. I really value what you mentioned about also you know, collecting a lot of trial and ever error involved when keeping an open mind as well, because that's actually a lot of data and data can be used to be able to point them in the right path of the necessary steps that they would need to take to bring the business to life while also involving the validation aspect, the legal aspect and everything like that. So Brian, what I'd love to learn and understand is how exactly do you balance your life, your time? You know, you're involved at 352 ingredients, profit maximization consultants, and then of course, at era group, how do you manage and balance your time in all of this?

speaker-1: Well, calendars. Yeah, systems. I mean, I'll be honest. I mean, a lot of it is a lot of stuff when you're going through it. I mean, you you got certain times where you're very busy in one organization and the other other organization, especially on research, you're going through times with you know, trials are going on. So, you know, it's just really having a good support team. and I I'm I'll be very honest, and a lot of things have changed and it's helped me a lot with 352. And we talked about it a lot, is the tools and the technology that's available for startups now, with different agents or AI agents or just just those tools. And that can really free up some of your time. but I think the most important thing is Being true to yourself, making sure you spend time with the family and the ones you love and and keep your head clear and know when to step back and put your energy toward it, toward whatever task is at hand. I hope that answered your question.

speaker-0: Yeah, absolutely for sure. it is always interesting to hear because everybody seems to have very unique experience around balancing their time, whether it's with family, whether it's also with the business. sometimes they structure their life around their business or they structure their business around work. It is very interesting to see all the that there isn't exactly like a one size fits all approach when it comes to that as well.

speaker-1: Yeah, you're absolutely right. Cause I was just with some folks that this past week and he has younger kids and what he and he has a pretty high demanding job. But he goes, How we balance it is they know we work a lot, but they get to go out on a lot of cool vacations with the job. so it's really bringing yeah, it's really bringing, you know, keeping the people close and spending time with them.

speaker-0: Yeah, absolutely for sure. I'd love to revisit what you mentioned earlier about how things are constantly changing with technology, with AI. So at the different businesses that you're working in, which aspects or of your business have been automated using AI?

speaker-1: I so for one is I mean the easiest one is of course an assistant. just making sure you're keeping on time or on par with your meetings coming up with meeting preps. I use a lot of tools for that. every morning, I'll be honest, every morning at four o'clock I wake up and there's dashboard. hit me with my long term goals. It's hitting me with that, scripture, quote of the day. What each of my meetings consists of that day. And within there, there's a dozer of, what we spoke about in the past. Yeah. And if it's a new client, it goes out and pulls additional information for me. So I can have it right at my fingertips. so you don't miss a beat on there. so that's been a big help. in regards just organizing the day and keeping me on track. then the next thing that I've started building out and I'm building out is more on the prospecting and using it for identifying potential prospects and and having an ICP and being able to narrow that list so I'm not doing as much research or my team's not doing a ro lot of research. So as we continue to build that out and any sort of financials financials is a big one. Closing of the month is very easy now. A lot of that can be done using different tools. and just by using your phone, if you see a mistake you can communicate and it can get fixed. So I mean I was I flew home this morning from Washington and it was quite interesting. People probably thought I was weird. I was talking into my phone because I knew my laptop was open and it was building out, what I needed to do today and was answering some of the questions that needed to be addressed by just the different technology out there.

speaker-0: Yeah, I definitely agree with you as well. It is definitely quite efficient, I would say. from our side as well, we also use quite a lot of different automated tools to be able to, for example, meeting notes or just give like an agenda overview of the to-dos that we need to do. so that's definitely quite useful as well. So besides from the automated processes, or also when you mentioned that you're building out identifying prospects. Are there any aspects of your work where you feel that it's taking up a lot of your time? You still have to do it all manually. And if you could give those tasks to somebody that could take over the task, what would that be?

speaker-1: That's an interesting question. Yeah. And I'm starting to do it. It's the research side of it. You know, it's the it's the constant, you know, research side of it. just staying on top of what's going on in the world. having those quick, you know, updates so you can know if there's the trends that are changing. that's been very beneficial. that's a great question. I have to think through that a little bit more.

speaker-0: Yeah, yeah. No, absolutely for sure. Because I can imagine that when it comes with AI, there's of course some limitations as well that AI won't be able to completely replace as well, right? So that's

speaker-1: One thing that I always tell everybody, AI won't replace everything. I said what's gonna be what's crazy about it, and had this discussion quite a bit, you still need to know what you're putting into it,

speaker-0: Mm-hmm.

speaker-1: and you need to know what's going to come out. And you have to, you know, you need to know what the idea what the results are gonna be. What it's doing is it's eliminating the 20, 30 hours, you know, that it it takes to crunch this data. or it's eliminating the hours that we used to have to Google search or read and go out and identify everything. So it's just it's it's moving quickly and it's allowing us to make that more efficient. I will be the first one to tell you we'll never take away the jobs or the human side of it. I think that's probably where I love the most is being able to go and meet people face to face and you know have that human interaction because that's something that will never go away. we'll never be able to teach it. Some people might think so, but we'll never be able to teach that human interaction and being able to see what you know, their eyes are, their, you know, body language, you know, how do we engage? So I enjoy the human interaction the most, but if I can reduce all that, you know, prep to get there, that's what's makes it more efficient.

speaker-0: Mm-hmm. Hundred percent as well. with the human element, that itself is something really unique, essential, that can never be replaced by even like a robot or an AI or anything like that as well.

speaker-1: Yeah, no, it's a powerful tool. it's you know, guardrails that need to be put around it. people need to understand it. they need to understand it because if they don't, they'll get left behind. I think it's helped a lot of even on the research side, it's a lot really helped us to identify certain compounds and how to combine them to get a quicker outcome. and that can eliminate some of the testing. that is something in which we have implemented within our organization at three fifty two is we have a platform that we acquired that actually speeds up the

speaker-0: Mm.

speaker-1: research side of it significantly.

speaker-0: Okay. what would you say are the next steps or next goals you have for three fifty two if you're able to disclose that of course if it's

speaker-1: No, no. we're in we're in a great position. I'm in the process of we're finishing up formulation and going to consumer testing here at the end of October. we're looking to have some partners signed up and launch in Q1 of 27. and then we'll continue to expand into our international market. And the biggest thing is is identifying other partners so we can bring this technology to them. And then what we can do with taking this technology to another part of the world or other parts in which we can help more people.

speaker-0: Mm-hmm. do you have somebody who's doing the partnership outreaches or you have support around that?

speaker-1: we do a little bit of a lot of the outreaching is again comes from our internal group that we already know. some of the outreaches as well are being done and identified through the tools we just spoke about. And then we have interactions by, you know, being at different trade shows or organizations.

speaker-0: Yeah, well that's definitely very exciting chapter as well, especially when they come when you're taking it on a very global scale too. so yeah, definitely exciting to see how it would unfold for 352 ingredients as well. so just a final question that I always love to ask for every single one of the guests coming on to our podcast. If there was one business advice that you could pass on to the listeners out there, whether they choose to be aspiring founders or considering to start a business, what would it be?

speaker-1: Things take a lot longer than you think.

speaker-0: Okay.

speaker-1: That is one thing I can guarantee. they that's one thing. You said one thing, but I really things do take a lot longer than you anticipate. And you just gotta continue to push forward. remember the reason that you started it and and continue to, you know, strive for it. And a big thing to me is check the ego.

speaker-0: Mm-hmm. Yeah, definitely for sure. Definitely a very powerful reminder to always give yourself a reminder of where the what the original focus was to begin with as well, as sort of like a guiding compass as well, as well as dropping the ego to be able to become more open-minded, to be open to see where it would go as well. Brian, thank you so much again for coming on to Behind the Founders to speak with me and what you've been building at 352 ingredients, as well as Error Group and so on. And it was a pleasure talking to you. And thank you so much again. Be sure to stay tuned for the next episode of Behind the Founders.

speaker-1: Thank you very much for allowing me to join you today.