From zero to top life sciences agency: How Sheldon Zhai scaled Supreme Optimization

The Science Marketer

In this conversation, Sheldon Zhai, founder of Supreme Optimization, shares how he landed his first clients, scaled his business, and navigated the challenges of building a high-growth agency. We also dive into his recent acquisitions, his vision for AI in life sciences marketing, and his approach to hiring top-tier talent—including why he insists on hiring PhD-level scientists as marketers. If you're thinking of starting your own life sciences marketing agency, Sheldon has some blunt, no-nonsense advice on what it really takes to succeed.

In this episode:
00:00 How Supreme Optimization started
03:21 Finding your first client as an agency
05:32 Common challenges for early-stage agencies
08:05 Key milestones in the growth of Supreme Optimization
10:13 Building a team of scientific marketers
12:33 Scaling up the agency through a strategic investment
17:06 Acquiring and integrating other agencies to scale up
19:36 Lessons learned from six acquisitions in two years
22:03 Scaling up your agency culture
25:33 The role of AI in science marketing
29:01 The future of Supreme Optimization
30:07 Advice for aspiring marketing agency owners
32:20 Book recommendation for marketing agencies

Books recommended by Sheldon:
- Who: The A Method for Hiring, by Geoff Smart
- The Win Without Pitching Manifesto, by Blair Enns

To connect with Sheldon:
- LinkedIn
- Supreme Optimization

To connect with Joachim Eeckhout, host of the podcast:
- LinkedIn
- Contact form

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