From Pain to Purpose: Beau Wangtrakuldee’s Mission to Reduce Waste in Healthcare

Full Transcript

Chris Edwards (00:00.44)

Welcome to the Good Business Podcast. This podcast is designed to help you understand how you can create a business that is not just good for people or the profit line, but also for the planet. My name is Chris Edwards and I’m award winning entrepreneur. And you might know me from my first business, which is a digital media business in Asia called Honeycomers. Or maybe you don’t know me at all, but you might also know me from Launchpad.

 

which is a community of conscious entrepreneurs. We’re actually clocking up to about 625 members at Launchpad from across 11 different countries. And I met Beau because she participated in our Pitch Festival last November. Beau is based in the States, but she has Thai heritage and she was out visiting family in Thailand when she heard about the opportunity to come and pitch at our Pitch Festival. But…

 

What I wanted to really share with you today is, I suppose what I love most about this episode, Beau has a very ambitious goal of helping reduce waste and plastic in the medical industry. And if you think about when you go to the doctor or when a doctor performs a surgery,

 

so much of what they use just goes straight to landfill. So it’s a really amazing concept, Amor Sui, and I’ll let her share more in this interview. But what I loved most about this interview was really her vulnerability and willing to share, really her lessons as an entrepreneur and what she wished she knew when she started out. All right, let’s get into it.

 

Chris Edwards (01:42.734)

Well, Beau, thank you so much. Thank you for your time. I can’t wait to really dig into your journey. How did you really come up with the idea of a more SUI? 

 

(Beau Wangtrakuldee)

Yes. So my background, Chris, is a PhD material scientist, chemist. I work in a laboratory space as, you know, our research expert for over a decade. And I have a really clear understanding from my firsthand experience.

 

of the gap and challenges around safety and PPE market from my own experience. I was in a chemical spill accident when I was still finishing my PhDs. At the time I was wearing a lab coat, I have, you know, full shoes on and I did everything right, but I was still hurt as a result because my own lab coat was not at quality and did not protect me when the time comes. So the chemical…

 

you know, just burn right through my lab coat onto my body. And I was out of commissions for like over a week. Yeah. And I think that from that journey of trying to return to work and find a better product that I can trust my life on, it was just so difficult trying to find product, get transparent about what is, how product is made and whether it’s that made the safety certification.

 

And so it allowed me to see into the PPE industry that is broken in so many ways. And that’s why Amarsie it’s here to solve it. It means self -love. And I think the name means, you know, ability for us as a company to allow everyone to make conscious, you know, purchase on PPE, whether to protect themselves and then also protect the planet. Yeah. I mean, PPE, I can imagine.

 

Like, well, first of all, what a journey. I’m sorry that it took an injury at work to, to really, I suppose, be part of your journey to inspire you to do this. But I suppose in hindsight, thank God it did. But to tackle something like the PPE and PPE being personal protection, um, what’s E stand for? 

 

(Beau Wangtrakuldee)

Personal protective equipment. Equipment. Okay. But you can really, what, um, what I understand it is lab coats and.

things that you wear. Yeah, lab coats, medical gowns, or, you know, in some countries called isolation gowns, you know, the fluid repellent drapes that protects you usually in healthcare, manufacturing, cleaning, food packing, and so forth. And then also fire resistant clothing. I think the market that we focus on overall is medical supply.

 

and PPE is just a category of it. And our team right now really see a huge need in protective apparel, which is currently being dominant by disposable products. And when you think about disposable product, it’s like plastic, literally like plastic that you, you know, do grocery shopping and think about that plastic, put it on your body and expect that it’s going to protect against any blood splash, protects against any infectious disease.

 

protects it against any things that come in touch with you. And you know, you could imagine that it does not. And so, you know, our product is there to elevate the quality, comfort, and then also reducing disposable single waste from those type of products. Are you the first in market for creating a reusable PPE product for medical use? Because it’s not something I’ve heard of. No, well, if you’re looking at the PPE market currently,

 

Even medical supply, I would say medical supply in general. 80 % of product in the market are disposable and the rest of 20 % are reusable, but they are reusable that are really low quality, are not comfortable, like really thick, like people just don’t want to wear them. And third, it’s not circular. You know, when we talk about armor suit products and we could get into it later on, you know, we really look into three categories of innovations. We’re looking for…

 

performance in terms of safety, we looking for comfortability and functionality and sustainability. And when we talk about sustainability, it’s mean that at the end of life, it also has to be able to, you know, like do a product take back program, but it could be repurposed, we use and recycle in all entirety. Cause otherwise, you know, you just keep creating waste in that loop. It feels like such a huge opportunity in that.

 

Chris Edwards (06:20.046)

I mean, every time I take a child to the doctor, I mean, they use products and actually give it to us to take home because they are trying to find ways to give that plastic piece of equipment a second life. But, you know, we might take home, you know, I don’t know, a measuring syringe if they give my child a Panadol, right? But I mean, I’d love to know the scope and the amount of opportunity you have.

 

as a business, I feel like it’d be quite mind blowing in terms of how much PPE is used out there that is not recycled. But do you have some stats that you could share with us? I know stats globally during COVID, and I know stats in the US annually. So let me just give it to you, you know, just healthcare, you know, just the healthcare sector in the US, 22 billion

 

medical gowns or isolation gown disposable is used annually. And you know, like I would also, I would almost say 90 % of them will end up in the landfill in shape or form. So that’s like 22 billion tons of plastic that will get dumped just from the US healthcare alone. And globally, I think during COVID, we dumped

 

you know, waste from plastic PPE, I think it’s like 10 tons like a day. Wow. So the opportunity to have impact here is enormous. It’s enormous. And you can look at the estimation, you know, I know from estimation that PPE industry, medical supply industry is $330 billion market. And just estimate if for a single unit of disposable are sold at a dollar, that’s $330 billion.

 

pounds or kilos of things that get thrown away every year. And 80 % of that would be disposable. And so where are you at with Amosui? What year are you in now? I mean, I bootstrapped this in 2018 and we started getting our first investment money from Ventures in 2020. So I said the first couple of years of Amosui was focused mainly on products and like…

 

Chris Edwards (08:43.47)

you know, like just testing out our thesis. But I feel like it really take off in 2020. Like we know who we are in terms of the company. I think the overall vision is we want to change the way people buy medical supply. And we come to that conclusion because there’s no there’s no other ways. You can’t be a product innovators and create a circular economy without creating system. Right. So.

 

We have to create better products, but we have to enable logistical circular system for our product to be used in the system and also create a take back program for people who use it to be able to recycle it at the end of life. So that’s our vision. It’s a full circular model that allows our product to be adapted easily into the global market. And at the same time, potentially in the future, onboard other product.

 

like ours in different categories. So, Beau, you’re in, what’s it, year five now of running AmoySui. I imagine, I imagine there’s been lots of challenges with fundraising, but also just building a company from scratch in, I suppose, what is a real brand new green field market. What’s been the biggest challenges that you’ve faced? Chris, believe it or not, I feel like.

 

The biggest challenge for myself is to trust in myself, you know, as an instinct of entrepreneur, you know, like I got, when I told you about the chemical spill that happened, that happened in 2013, and I didn’t start the company until five years later. It took me a really long time to convince myself that I can start a company and go solve this problem myself, you know, and through that, that whole journey of just starting the company, I did.

 

And earlier on in Armorsui, I need validation step, every step of the way for me to like give in a little bit more. You know, like I did Armorsui as a patent project for two years. I have a full -time job and that was my patent project for two years before I went full -time. And so, you know, it was the first customer who bought in. It was the crowdfunding campaign that funded our first production.

 

Chris Edwards (11:05.998)

It was our first, you know, U .S. university contract that bought us that get me in and it’s a validation along the way that I trust myself that I will grow into the person that I am today that could take on a bigger vision for a company. And I think that’s the biggest challenge, you know, like if I have that earlier on, I feel like I could accomplish much more, but sometimes it’s just like you have the ceiling that you set yourself.

 

And you kind of have to break through every step of the way to go to the next stage. Thank you for sharing that. That’s very vulnerable. Honestly, I’m really surprised. I mean, I met you at our pitch festival and you were so confident and you’ve got such an amazing product solving such a real need. I was expecting you to say, you, there’s so many challenges I would imagine in what you’re doing. Like.

 

learning a whole new industry or manufacturing or, you know, breaking down, I suppose, these massive clients that buy enormous amounts. But I could also imagine like winning one of those contracts would be really scary too, because the size of the scale in which you’re operating. But, you know, it surprises me because I’ve seen you present so beautifully and share so authentically and

 

Your vision is so clear that it really surprises me. But I think a lot of my listeners and myself can hard relate to that. Like the biggest challenge is just getting out of your own way. The best, the best entrepreneurs are just someone who could figure it out. You don’t know it all. You can’t do it all. And you have to figure it out. You either do it yourself or you rely on someone or you get the answer answer. And most of the time.

 

If I don’t believe in myself, it makes things really hard to move forward. You know, like, and it’s almost like, can I go get that contract? Can I do this? Can I pitch to this investor? Can I go do this? And it’s like every step, the way that you can walk across it, then your opportunity opens. So what have you done to help you build up this courage? You know, in an earlier years of Armorsy, I validated that based on others.

 

Chris Edwards (13:25.27)

you know, like tractions. I validated it from, you know, potential customer validation. Would they pay for it? Would they support me? Can they make referral? You know, like what were their feedback? Everything were based on, you know, like customer feedback really early on in the year. But as I grew into, you know, like working on Armour City Full Time, I think there’s two factors that also

 

contributes to my own growth as an entrepreneur, co -founder and CEO. Second is the people I keep around me. I think you may have heard a phrase that you are the result of like five to 10 people that you interact with on a regular basis. And so, you know, like people I choose to spend time with, like my co -founder is a great human individuals and positive in many ways. It’s like one of those people that you keep around and you can keep moving forward and kind of move past any.

 

any mountains and third, I just like myself, like I constantly working on myself to and even like evaluate myself of what I want to do with my own journey. And I think a lot of entrepreneur don’t feel this, but you really do have a lot of power in like paving your own path, whether to take investor or not taking investment, to take clients, to not take clients. I’m just being more mindful instead of going after everything.

 

Or trying to do things just because someone else said that is a good opportunity. Yeah. Okay. So listening to your gut and surrounding yourself with like, um, I suppose good people, but you know, co -founders or, you know, non -official board of directors. Or even investor or someone just, you know, colleague thing. I have a lot of those people that.

 

They’re so smart or they have a mindset sometimes, you know, like the answer to your questions is just like one or two people away. And, you know, the, the greater your network, the more engaged your network is, the faster you can get to that solution. It could be a make or break it to your company. That’s really interesting. And I do think that investor definitely helps you find people that are super smart and interested and obviously invested.

 

Chris Edwards (15:41.262)

like quite literally in your success. But I suppose it’s something that I don’t think about enough that anyone who’s taking on investment, they’re actually taking on a mentor or a business coach. So how many investors do you have now? How much have you raised? We raised just under a million in a pre -seed round and we are on a $3 .5 million seed right now that’s currently active. Fingercross, we will be closing at the end of this month. Yeah, Fingercross.

 

Yeah, finger crossed. Oh, congratulations. Congratulations. And how did you find the Pitch Festival? You came out to Singapore to participate in the Launchpad Crib Pitch Festival. Gosh, was that November last year? But yeah, how did you find the experience? I’m interested to know. So one of our investors is called Gold House Venture. They are Asian American, Pacific Islanders, focus fun.

 

in the US and one of the LPs in that fund is Elaine, Elaine Kim. So, you know, I did tell her that I am, you know, going to be in Thailand from November to really early January. I have not seen my family for five years before COVID. And so does my son. And so I’m taking, you know, a long trip to be working in Thailand. It’s kind of crazy, it’s 12 hours apart.

 

from US to Thailand. And so she invited me like, if you’re interested in this, feel free to come over to Singapore. So I submit the application and I went over and that was really a good experience. That’s the first time I travel with my son to do business trip and then also enjoy another country is like just me and my son. I mean, my sister too. She helped out. Very good. And did you, did you meet some new investors in the room from the at the Pitch Festival? I did. I did.

 

Yeah. And has anything transpired from those conversations? There, you know, what I learned also with investor connections that there is always yes and like maybe not right now, but like, you know, like soon. So there’s a lot of potential investment opportunity that’s not a fit at this stage, but maybe the next stage, especially when as we’re looking to expand globally into Asia and so forth.

 

Chris Edwards (18:03.566)

you know, in the next 12 to 18 months, it will become a really good opportunity for us. The second is that they also have network of investor globally. So they make warm intro for us to keep the conversation going. Sometimes, you know, like investment conversation, you may have heard is about FOMO, fear of missing out. The more conversation, the more active conversation you have, the more likely you’re closed around.

 

And so, you know, as much as I can facilitate that as the word going around talking about amnesty, it’s all, it’s always the best for us instead of, you know, quiet in the corner. Yeah. It’s, I mean, I can’t, I’ve not been through the fundraising journey, but I can’t imagine how you manage it. It sounds to me after speaking to lots of entrepreneurs that are fundraising, it’s almost like having two jobs, you know, running your company and then.

 

pitching, pitching for fundraising. And you’re also a parent, right? So add another job in there. But yeah, what would you say to entrepreneurs that are thinking about fundraising? I would make a suggestion. And for I think for myself too, I could do a better job at this. If I wish I were told myself before I fundraise, I would totally map out the trajectory of what I would.

 

like from the beginning, what I’d be using funds for and how many times I’ll be raising fund. Even though I thought I was careful, I still feel like I could do a better job of doing that. Why did I say that? One, I think that you should try to bootstrap as long as you can to get an attraction because it will allow you to have better valuation and sell less the company through the rounds. You know,

 

And second, if you have a plan of how many you raise and how much equity you want at an exit or IPO or whatever, you’re more likely to reach a target instead of just keep raising funds away and selling a lot of companies away. Or not able to meet the demand of investor to get to the next multipliers before the next round.

 

Chris Edwards (20:21.486)

I think I could be better doing that, but at the same time, you know, you can never tell. So you have to be flexible also about what you’re facing with the investment community. I think it’s really good advice. I feel like sometimes people think about fundraising as, you know, a bit of the Holy grail to having a successful startup. But as someone who’s not raised funds and now like my business is 15 years old, so it’s…

 

Kind of nice being the only shareholder. I mean, it makes life very simple. I mean, because investors come with work. You have to report your metrics to them. You have to keep the relationship with them. You have to keep them engaged. You have to write investor update. That’s like one quarter of my time, monthly, just investor engagement. Just imagine what you will be taking on. And it’s also come with…

 

I think expectation that you are going to reach a certain level of growth every time you raise. And so it becomes, you know, it probably would, you know, like inference, like the decision you make as you grow, because maybe there’s a certain way that’s more authentic to your vision. And there’s a certain way to grow faster. And you might have to take the other way just to, to keep up with, with demand.

 

So I want to just change tracks for a second. I really love this, that your favorite life lesson quote is quote, people rarely succeed unless they have fun in what they’re doing. So how do you find that fun when you’re spending, you know, a quarter of your time managing investor relations and you know, I suppose all the struggles of, of running a startup, but yeah, how do you find your fun in work?

 

I feel incredibly grateful for, you know, being able even have that capacity to take this journey. I don’t think everyone has an opportunity to, to do what I believe in, you know, as a company and a mission. And so I choose to see the positive in every interactions I have instead of all the challenges, even though.

 

Chris Edwards (22:41.646)

I feel like most of my life as a founder of a startup or an early stage company, like 90 % of it is all like gray. And the celebration don’t last really long because then you already on the next thing. Like there’s always some problems ahead of you. And so I choose to see things positively and I just have to in order to keep going in this journey. So I really embrace, you know,

 

you know, life experience, like going to Singapore to pitch. Like, when am I ever going to do that? Maybe this is the last time I go. Um, you know, like, when am I going to meet, you know, Singapore investor or be able to share my company with a totally new face? You know, like I feel like New York, Philadelphia, LA, San Francisco, I’ve seen that I have seen them all, you know, like, but not Singapore. Um, or.

 

you know, just an opportunity to talk to, you know, some really inspiring founder, be able to call them colleague or investor, or being able to, you know, speak to clients of my dreams. I think seeing things in positive light, it just, it’s all, it’s also provided me a better experience to keep going instead of choosing to, to, you know, like seeing the challenges day to day.

 

And just to wrap up, I’m wondering if you could time travel and go back to 2000 and say 13 when you started out. What would you say to your younger self? I think that’s what I share. You know, just believe in myself. If I see the problem, I want to solve it, that I can I can take it on. And if I don’t and I failed and I would learn something from it.

 

You know, like we have this saying in this company, like it’s, it’s a cause I’m not doing that is it’s, it’s scary that actually doing it. You know, like if you don’t take that, if you don’t try it and then you, you kind of kick yourself in the head, like, why didn’t I try it’s too late or something. Or you don’t do your best of what do you think is your capability, capability allow? And then, you know, you end up not being able to do it. So it’s a cause I’m not doing that.

 

Chris Edwards (24:58.926)

preventing us from getting to where we need to be instead of, you know, not doing it. I have a favorite saying which I share often and lots of the listeners here will know this one, but done is better than perfect. And I just believe in, right? As you fail, you’ll still learn, right? You’ll still be wiser for it. So yeah.

 

share that philosophy. Great, great, my things alike. It’s been an absolute pleasure having you on the show. I wish you all the very best. And I do hope that you end up coming back to Singapore and updating us all. I think I will. I’m going to put my, put, you know, throw some positive feelings out there and, you know, I’m sure I’ll see you again. That sounds great, Beau. Thank you for your time.

 

Yeah, I really, I really, really genuinely love the journey you’re on and we need more bows in the world. So thank you for being the trailblazer that you are. How good was that chat with Bow? Two massive lessons that I took away from this chat. Firstly, that fear holds so many of us back and it can be really crippling, particularly as a female entrepreneur. And I think we need to.

 

just acknowledge the fear and do it anyway. And that was a really massive lesson I’m taking away from today’s conversation with Beau. And the other big takeaway is that action and actually just making decisions and moving forward and, you know, one of my favourite expressions, done is better than perfect, is something that Beau and I both very strongly believe in. And it was really nice to hear that message from Beau. And like she said, you know, we’ve…

 

that have very similar thinking and great minds think alike on that one. I hope you found this interview inspiring. And yeah, if you are an entrepreneur starting out in your journey, please hit me up in the DMs or come and check out Launchpad. We are a bunch of beautiful humans that are all supporting each other in our journeys of creating businesses that are ethical and conscious. And yeah, we’d love to hear from you.

 

Chris Edwards (27:14.03)

Before I close out today, I just want to acknowledge the traditional owners of the land I’m recording this podcast on, which is the Arakwale people of the Bundjalung Nation. I’m here in beautiful Byron Bay and I pay my respects to these elders, past, present and future. And I extend my respects to all traditional cultures. My name is Chris Edwards and I hope that you feel inspired as I am to create your own good business.