– Dmitry, tell us about yourself. When and how did you come to the USA?
I have lived half of my life in Russia and half – in the United States. I sincerely love both countries. I live in Austin, but I visit Russia several times a year and spend 1-2 months a year there. In Russia, I was received an education, cultural and social values. The USA is a land of opportunity. Opportunities to develop in the profession, to get an education at world-renowned universities, and to develop your own business. For example, the registration process and taxation is so much simpler here. Also, the market size is the largest in the world.
I have a wonderful wife and four children. My eldest daughter is 19 years old and the youngest son is 10 months old. I was born and raised in the Novosibirsk Academgorodok (Russia). After graduating from Novosibirsk State University (NSU) with a major in Natural Sciences (biology, chemistry, ecology), it was difficult to find a job. This was the first year when bachelor’s and master’s degrees were introduced in the educational system of NSU. I received a bachelor’s degree and passed master’s courses and went for an internship to Sweden. I remember how I sat for days and sent my resume out. A professor from Sweden offered an internship for 3 months with the condition that if I work well, I will go to the graduate school there. In the very first days in Sweden, Russian-speaking colleagues (the laboratory was in the biomedical center in the city of Uppsala and consisted exclusively of folks from Russian-speaking countries and India) I was explained that Sweden should be considered a step to get to the USA… It was during these years that the human genome was sequenced. This was a revolution in biotechnology and many new biotech companies and biomedical research centers were appearing in the United States. Subsequently, scientists were hired from all over the world, especially from China, India, Russia, and Europe. The important part was that the education is in the field of chemistry, biology, or biochemistry. I ended up at the National Laboratory in Berkeley, where I quickly realized that I know the fundamentals, but working with complex tools (for example, RT-PCR, sequencing, etc.) and biotechnology (cloning, transfection, etc.) must all be learned. And that should happen very, very fast. My brother, Ivan, helped a lot. He was working on his postdoc and quickly explained how things work and showed me around. He explained how to open a bank account, find an apartment, get a SSN, insurance, etc.).
I am very grateful to my colleagues from Berkeley. They invested a lot of time, effort, and patience in me. For two years I did not just work, but learned and learned. I studied with real pros in the field and real projects, and not just from the books. Back then I was mostly just “hands” and performed experiments that were designed by real scientists. Interestingly, these people included me as a co-author and my first publication was in Science. I was amazed by the presentations of speakers invited to the University of California Berkeley from different parts of the world every week (the LBNL National Laboratory is part of UC Berkeley). This is how I heard a presentation by Andrew Fire – the man who discovered a biological phenomenon in 2001, and in 2006 he and his colleague were awarded the Nobel Prize in Medicine. After hearing the presentation, I got excited about this topic (and I still am) and in 2003 I got a job at Ambion in Austin. I often hear the phrase “I / she / he was offered a job” and sincerely envy, because no one ever offered me a job. I had to send hundreds of resumes and go through interviews to get one. We immediately liked Austin, and now we have lived here for 18 years.
Ambion was at the time a privately held company owned by Matt Winkler. When I entered the UT Austin graduate school (Pharmacology / Toxicology) and told my colleagues that I was leaving the company for the university to complete my studies, Matt made an offer. They would pay for my tuition, and I would be a full-time graduate student and continue to work as a full-time employee in the company. These were the hardest 5 years of my life. By that time I already had two children. I used to buy the cheapest awful tasting 50 cent coffee in the morning at the gas station, because good coffee didn’t wake me up. Every day I had to go to lectures and seminars at the university and then to the company to work. Right next to the building where I studied, there was only parking for motorcycles. Therefore, the motorcycle became my main means of transportation.
– Tell us how you created your company.
After university, I did not go back to working at Ambion. Matt had sold the company to a large corporation by then, and I set up my own company right across from my former employer. We are still friends now and periodically meet for lunch and at professional meetings. I started a preclinical drug testing company. Our specialization is cancer drugs/ oncology. This is a serious scientific field with quality control systems (GLP / cGMP), certification, and training for working with hazardous substances. Most of my colleagues are either PhD or MD, PhD. The story of my company’s start is extremely simple. When I left the university, there was a little confusion. My professor, it turns out, had a “team of people,” according to the documents, who collaborated on behalf of the university with Terapio. When I left, it quickly became clear that I was that “team.” This is how I got my very first client. I took out a $ 200,000 loan from Chase Bank to rent a building and buy my first laboratory equipment. Of course, there was a huge risk. The serious company such as Terapio would never give serious projects to a startup, but the circumstances were such that they needed to continue exactly the research that I did at the university. Then I found new customers and the business began to develop.
– What is a business success for you personally?
When you start from scratch and you desperately need money for business development, you have to find projects to work on. Therefore, in my opinion, success is when you can find new projects in order to pay salaries to yourself, to all employees, and invest in the development of the company. And also to have an opportunity to do research that interests you personally. For example, here is a purely academic work that we recently did at our own expense (no government grants) – Two dichloric compounds inhibit in vivo U87 xenograft tumor growth. Cancer Biology & Therapy. 2019. PMID: 31234707). This is work about the affordable ways to fight brain cancer, because not everyone can afford expensive treatment.
I like working as a scientist and doing experiments, but it turned out that doing business development is also extremely interesting. This is when a potential client comes and says that we are doing this and that and we want you to do such and such research for us. You need to understand their science and their technology, read articles and patents in this area and propose a series of experiments to further develop and test new technology. UT Austin education helps a lot, because customers are often from cancer research centers or pharmaceutical companies and use a lot of specific terminology (eg., pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics, IC50, antibody affinity, etc.). If you can speak their professional language, that’s half the battle.
– Can you tell us about interesting case at your company?
Several years ago we carried out a project for preclinical testing of a new drug from one of the largest pharmaceutical companies. It was a compound that was just then published in the Nature magazine. The authors described the anti-tumor properties of this substance for resistant brain cancers. But when we started testing, based on our data, this drug had no effect on cancer. Not even low or medium, but none at all – a complete zero. This was extremely strange, since the scientific publication was in a journal with a serious reputation and our client invested a significant amount in detailed and comprehensive testing of this substance. At first, I simply could not believe our data, because I saw with my own eyes publications describing the antitumor properties of very similar compounds. It seemed to me that the client would be unhappy with such information. However, their response was an unexpected one. “We bought this technology from a small company, but all of our own tests showed that the drug was not working. And since we are talking about investing major additional funds, we sent this drug to 3 different companies for independent testing. You are the third company to confirm that the drug is not working. Thank you for helping us save millions of dollars.”
– You’ve had the experience of creating several startups. Have all of your companies been successful? Can you tell us about your less successful experience?
I have created more than 10 companies and only a few have been profitable. For example, 10 years ago, I was invited to give a report at a Rosnano conference in Moscow on the intracellular drug delivery to cancer tumors. I then flew to the Novosibirsk Academgorodok to see my parents and make a short presentation at the Novosibirsk Technopark. After the report, I was shown a domesticated fox and offered to sell these domesticated foxes in the United States. For more than 50 years, there has been a farm in Akademgorodok where foxes are bred – very aggressive and vice versa – tame. The farm has switched to self-sufficiency from the academic focus and sells the “tame” foxes as pets. Oddly enough, it turned out that there are many people in the United States who are willing to pay $ 7,000 for such a pet. The most amazing thing is that these people are well aware that foxes, to put it mildly, have a strong odor, endure serious diseases, and can show aggression. I paid for the first 2 foxes and the delivery to the USA. When I arrived to pick up the foxes at Dallas airport, I was in for a “surprise.” Both foxes were lying on the floor in the cage, unconscious and with high fever. The veterinarian said the foxes had been fixed a few hours before being sent on the plane and both needed serious treatment or they would die. The customs officer immediately said that they can’t let sick animals into the country and he is returning them back to where they came from. The veterinarian replied that they would not survive the flight back. I was offered a choice – 1) Returning the foxes back and return the money, or 2) transfer these foxes to a Texas zoo. This would be a voluntary surrender of property to the State, not a confiscation. I signed the papers that I transfer both foxes to the State of Texas, after which I was offered a choice of any Texas zoo. I chose Austin Zoo. You can go see – these 2 foxes are a major attraction. However, in terms of business, it was a complete fiasco.
– Many people in Austin know you as a science teacher at the Russian School Sputnik, and that you never took a salary. Tell us why you are doing this?
Six years ago, I took my youngest daughter to the Russian School, and at the beginning of the year, the teacher in the Science class unexpectedly moved to Houston. I was asked to “substitute for a little while.” “A while” ended up to be years. Yes, all this time I worked as a volunteer. I’m certainly not a professional teacher – I am a scientist and a businessman. My business is for money, and teaching is for fun. It’s an opportunity to do something useful for the younger generation. You know, at first I could not even believe that many children may be interested in complex scientific concepts and they perceive inherently boring information with lightened up eyes. There are many really talented children at Russian School Sputnik for whom everything is quick and easy. I sincerely admire them and envy them, since I myself am not a genius or even talented. The school experience was very interesting, many children have grown to the level where I was able to offer them Summer Internship in my company. These were challenging projects, but four students managed to complete them.
– Tell us about founding the Russian Cultural Center in Austin. What prompted you to do this?
As I was developing my business for many years, I had to work as a programmer, an accountant, a marketer, and many other jobs. Those who have created their own startups will understand me. Three years ago, in addition to the Science class for children, I started the “Business in the USA” discussion club for adults. I spent weekend time at school anyway, so I thought it would be interesting to share my experience and learn about the experience of others. We discussed various areas of business from company registration and taxation to marketing, investment, and patent law. Inviting Russian-speaking experts in various fields worked great. For example, a CPA with 20 years of experience in Texas gave a presentation and answered questions about taxation. This “1 hour a week conversation with an expert” format proved to be very effective. I got to meet a lot of interesting people. They, like me, prepared presentations completely free of charge, shared their experiences and answered questions. The creation of the Russian Cultural Center (RussianAustin.com) was a logical continuation of this project. The idea was to create a platform for social and professional communication among Russian-speaking Austin. I saw with my own eyes how many interesting people with amazing life experience we have in our community. The platform would be focused on education (classes for adults and children), information sharing (interviews, a newspaper or magazine in Russian), and events, such as art shows and concerts.
– Do you have more Russian-speaking or English-speaking friends?
You know, at one of the business presentations Tatiana Busel talked about SEO and PPT optimization and she said that working in large companies (Apple and Google) gave her invaluable experience, but for her personally meeting new people, acquaintances and colleagues was so much more valuable. I thought about her words for a long time, because I have similar values, and realized that for me people are also the most valuable part. Not every single person, but those who become real friends. It is interesting that it does not depend on the language, although I do have more Russian-speaking friends. I have also been friends with Brad Shogren for 25 years and with Kevin Kelnar for 18 years, including times when he was my colleague, subordinate, and business partner. With Curt Bilby we were colleagues for many years and remained friends after he left the biotech industry and created a company to test the authenticity of paintings and art objects.
For almost 10 years now, every Friday we gather with a few Russian-speaking guys in an Arab hookah bar in south Austin and play cards. The group is really great. At times we don’t get to play at all, because our main purpose is really to share news, life’s joys and difficulties. At the end of the working week, there are always many interesting topics for discussion.
– Tell us about your hobbies?
I am a traveler at heart, everything I earn I spend on my family and on trips around the world. I’ve been to 82 countries. The memories captured in the photos gives a feeling that life has not just passing by. In my opinion, the best investment is in your education, including the experience gained while traveling. A couple of years ago, at passport control in Houston, they asked me if I knew how many months a year I spend in the USA. I did not know. They said: “on average it is 8 months a year.”
I visit Russia several times a year, listen to Russian music and audiobooks. The best book I’ve listened to in the last 10 years is “Home Sapiens” and it’s the sequel “Homo Deus” by Yuval Noah Harari. I would include the history of mankind known to us described in the book “Sapiens” in the school curriculum.
– Tell us about your favorite cities and countries?
The most amazing place I have been to is the Galapagos Islands. In general, this is a topic for a separate discussion. If you are interested, you can read about me personally and see photographs from my trips at ovcharenko-nsk.com
Contact information:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dmitri.ovcharenko
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dmitriyovcharenko/
Website: ovcharenko-nsk.com
Interviewer: Olga Ovcharenko
Editor: Olga Falkowski
Publisher: Russian Cultural Center