Episode
Sep Naraghi on Creating Order from Chaos in Startup Quality
- Podcast
- Let's Talk Quality
- Published
- Oct 1, 2025
- Duration seconds
- 2882
- Processing state
not_requested
Actions
POST https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/let-s-talk-quality-6567110/episodes/sep-naraghi-on-creating-order-from-chaos-in-startup-quality/transcription-requests
Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode.GET https://stenobird.com/podcast/let-s-talk-quality-6567110/sep-naraghi-on-creating-order-from-chaos-in-startup-quality.md
Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource.
Summary
Creating order from chaos: how a VP of Quality builds trust, leads through constraints, and keeps teams focused on patients. In today's episode Hemish was joined by Sep Naraghi, Vice President of Quality & Regulatory Affairs at Cellularity Inc. Sep has led quality in both Big Pharma and startups and has a practical, people-first approach to building trust, making trade-offs, and delivering under resource constraints. Sep’s journey is anything but linear: from QC in generics to supplier quality at Boehringer Ingelheim, to leading quality and regulatory in a startup. His leadership philosophy is anchored in two values—trust and order—and he’s candid about how feedback early in his career reshaped how he manages one-to-ones, builds transparency, and partners across the business. We talk about the following: Early path: QC in generics to supplier quality at Boehringer Ingelheim and an accelerated step into leadership. The two values that guide him—trust and order—and how childhood experiences shaped them. What changed in the industry: from “quality as police” to quality embedded early and driving value. Practical ways he learned softer skills: asking more questions, reading the room, and focusing on people in 1:1s. Big Pharma vs startup: resource constraints, creative problem-solving, and prioritising the ‘must-haves’. Keeping culture strong under pressure: transparency, bi-weekly team forums, and cross-functional partnership. Managing up and across: using a ‘ladder of inference,’ lunch-and-learns, and making the logic visible. Hiring and fit for startups: flexibility, curiosity, blunt-but-respectful dialogue, and support from your boss. Creating order from chaos: bringing structure to reach IND/BLA milestones without losing speed. Advice for aspiring leaders: lean int…