introduced the concept, but Johnson was certain the concept would work out for their hydrodynamic chromatography needs. It did, and let us begin the first commercialization of the concept, with a second sale about six months later to the Amoco Research labs in Tulsa, OK.
The second miracle was an award by the Department of Defense (based on a long-forgotten proposal by the now defunct Science Spectrum) to develop a system to determine if water samples were safe to drink. That support lasted about three years and allowed us to develop our first major MALS systems.
I was about to say that I would never try that again at that age. If one wants to start an entrepreneurial company, start young while there is still a chance of employment if you fail. (Oops! I just remembered that I decided to fund a new company about six months ago based on the analysis of aerosol particles that was an early WTC government-funded project. That’s still going on at my personal expense, but it is fun!)
Q: LSU has been a successful part of the Wyatt success story. How did it come about? How do you measure its success?
A: Wallace Coulter had given me the idea while I was at Science Spectrum. He showed me how to focus on our customers’ needs most effectively by making sure they learned well all the features and functions of the instruments they were buying. He emphasized, as well, making each cus- tomer feel [their] importance to the company by making sure that during their training they were treated like the kings they were with no expense spared. When they leave LSU, they know many of our staff, who are always there to serve them personally whenever they need help or advice. Once a WTC customer, few ever switch to another vendor. They remain in a great sense like family and return often to purchase new instruments as well as to make sure we are always aware of what they want and expect.
Q: I’ve attended several of the Light Scattering Colloquia; I’ve been impressed with the customer-centric philosophy displayed at these meetings. Others talk about this, but WTC seems to really live it. How did this evolve?
A: During the early evolution of our instruments and early sales activities, we communicated often with our customer base. Many of them were mak- ing some truly remarkable discoveries that we wanted to share with our other customers. Again, all part of the LSU “alumni group.” The concept of building a conference around such achievements and providing the basis for all of our customers to exchange these ideas and discoveries was based upon a very successful plan laid out many years earlier by a firm called Technicon. They were leaders in the introduction of automated systems for the clinical laboratory market and their biannual “conferences” were extremely successful, as were ours. This year, for example, we are expect- ing an excellent turnout with a Nobel Laureate as a key speaker.
Q: Recently WTC was listed as one of the 10 best places to work. This is a significant award. Can you add some color?
A: After our customers, there is nothing more important to our business than our employees. We do our best to encourage open communication
with each and every one of our employees and try to provide benefits (and quarterly bonuses each quarter!) to make them feel a major part of the business. And, of course, we’re dog friendly, so employees feel very comfortable bringing their “best friends” to work whenever they want! We must be doing a lot right in this regard because, despite our rapid growth, our average employee has been here for almost six and a half years. Every new employee is welcomed by the whole company with a special lunch in her/his honor.
Q: Wyatt is a family business. Any suggestions to others about how to create an environment where all feel comfortable, with the opportunity for personal growth?
A: Obviously, we hope that our employees always feel part of the company. In addition to exceptional benefits (one, for example, is the company’s donation monthly to each employee’s 401k independent of any employee contribution) we encourage each to communicate (by e-mail) directly and in confidence with one of the officers of the company, telling them what they did last week, what they plan to do this week, and discussing any problems they may be experiencing within the company. In the early years of the company, we picked up an occasional manager who was out of touch with his subordinates. Thanks to the encourage- ment of confidential communications through this weekly report, we have very few problems with poor managers.
Q: We are running out of space. Any final advice that you can give young scientists seeking to satisfy their entrepreneurial ambitions?
A: I wrote a brief editorial for Chemical and Engineering News on the sub- ject last October 13th entitled “An Entrepreneurial Fallacy” discussing some of the problems of this ambition. Were I to have expanded on it, I would have suggested that the would-be entrepreneur focus on a long- term business plan and never believe that she/he will get rich fast. Try to use your own (or friends or family) funds. The country needs greatly to rebuild its manufacturing base, so think about ideas that will result in such activities. Always recognize that most such ventures fail, so don’t be afraid to stop when the future looks very bleak for a very long time.
Robert Stevenson: Thank you for making time to talk with me today. I know that many of our subscribers will appreciate the vision and dedica- tion that you and the extended Wyatt family have made in building WTC to a world-class business.
Philip Wyatt: It was our pleasure, Bob! Keep up writing those interesting articles for your magazine. They often inspire us all!
Robert L. Stevenson, Ph.D., is Editor, American Laboratory/Labcompare; e-mail:
rlsteven@yahoo.com.
AMERICAN LABORATORY • 25 • MAY 2014
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