Jill Collins of Audacity Health: Providing Digital Solutions With the Human Element

Startups get the party. Startups get the party started. Startups get the party. Startups get the party started. You want tech and tacos? Tacos and tech you know we got tacos and tech is on smash border green guacamole keeper captains counting beans Contador quentan frijoles found us trying to raise some queso la vida San Diego school of rappy rapping fire tortillas round jalapenos in these modern times a crappy my coding yoga posse fold the body origami we be surfing coronado eating tacos el gordo, the taco standing puesto lucha libre and sombrero got a shout out to cost angels by the ocean watch the sunset la Jolla shores Entrepreneurs trying to get funded when San Diego Startup Week is popping in the summer Oceanside, the Tijuana esti be full of hustlers from couch surfing to penthouses right on the beach Tech leaders believe stars are within reach we interview and founders who be shooting for the moon SD Tecos with your host, Neil Bloom. Startups get the party Startups get the party started. Startups get the party Startups get the party started.

Welcome to the Tacos and Tech Podcast. I'm your host, Neil Bloom, and I'm thrilled to have you here. On the Tacos and Tech podcast, we interview builders of technologies, of companies, of communities, and we do it weekly, so thanks for tuning in. Every Tuesday, a new interview, and on Fridays, we talk about what's new in the San Diego tech ecosystem from a news perspective. So make sure you join us there as well too. We also have a tech newsletter that comes out every other week@freshbroodtech.com you can subscribe to listen to it without further ado. Enjoy this episode and welcome back to the Tacos and Tech Podcast. I'm your host, Neil Bloom, and today I'm joined by Jill Collins of Audacity Health, the CEO and Chief Strategy Officer. Hey, Jill, thanks for joining the podcast.

Thank you for having me.

Yeah, it's great to meet you and have you on here. I actually have a little history of Audacity Health, as the company was a early Custer of mine of a previous startup I worked on. So it's really cool to kind of come full circle and get to understand where Audacity is now, get to know you a little bit and do you want to give us a quick overview of what Audacity Health is?

Sure. At Acity Health, our mission is to empower health care and biotechnology brands to make a meaningful contribution to human Health. So we specialize in providing comprehensive brand strategy and activation services, helping innovative health care brands and technologies thrive. So pretty exciting. And what we do in terms of that role is help communicate that science and the value of all of this and how it can make that impact.

On human health so super important, especially in San Diego where many of our companies are led by technical leaders, scientists, engineers. That was actually my background as well. And how to learn how to pivot to become a sales and marketer. And you know, there are people who are obviously leaders in their field, but also working on life changing technology. So really important that we nail it to the world of why this is the right time and place and technology to do it. So. And San Diego happens to be a hotbed for obviously the biotech community. So great to have a team that can help and elevate our San Diego community in a certain regard, which is what we're doing here on the podcast. But obviously brands around the world as well too. So thank you and excited to get to know that aspect of it. But where did it all start for you? Were you always in the branding and marketing space or how'd you end up here at this convergence?

Not at all. I actually started as a scientist working in the lab. So I mean personally and geographically, I started in Ohio where I went to undergrad and I actually was a track athlete in college. And then I went on to do my PhD in Chicago at the University of Illinois. So I had an intent to leave Ohio and move west and I stopped in Chicago for five years. And then after I completed my doctorate, I moved to San Diego to do a postdoc. And so as most people do, once you come to San Diego, you don't leave. And for me, it was a perfect combination of not only the weather, but the business opportunity and the biotech space. So I was in the lab when I realized I didn't want to be in the lab anymore. And so I was in that postdoc lab. It was a neuroscience and stem cell lab, so doing exhilarating work, but I just didn't want to be at the bench. So I wanted to be on the business side where I felt I could make a larger impact on, on healthcare and biotech. So I made the transition. So I got out of the lab, joined a local biotech company and that's where it started, at least on that trajectory. And it was challenging, not to say the least. I mean, I was scientifically trained, so I had to learn the business side from scratch. And that was something I had to navigate and understand really the industry side of it. And then from there I kind of started to migrate towards marketing. And I was recruited into audacity back in 2013 because I did have that experience of marketing and science, which is a unique combination that's very valuable for a lot of biotechs.

Yes, but I think we undervalue what PhDs have, like the communication skills that they, they need to acquire to move through, through postdoc. Right. Whether it's presenting at conferences, writing papers, defending, like talk a little about that of the unsung, you know, skills that a PhD of the marketing skill sets you have to learn. Communication skill sets, maybe as a PhD.

Well, I think there's a variety of different PhD scientists. Most of them have a good grasp and understanding of the science, but being able to communicate it is a completely different skill set. And that's what I actually really enjoyed, even in the lab, presenting the data, talking about the science. But it's not always an innate skill for a lot of PhD scientists. So moving over to the marketing side, it's really the hybrid of understanding the science, understanding how it works, and having that deep technical understanding allows for you to translate it and be able to communicate the value. So I think it's something that is not a common combination, but it is a very valuable one because as you stated, a lot of the startups are founded by a scientific or technical individual. And so they don't necessarily have the ability to distill and communicate and really articulate the value in that marketing capacity. So it is something that is advantageous, of course, because you talk to a founder, they'll rattle on for maybe 15 to 20 minutes about the science and then at the end you still don't really understand what they're doing. So that's what we really do is try to come in and be able to understand and communicate that systemically.

Absolutely. Did you go. So you had a big pivot from the science into a biotech? As a marketer, did you go through formal training, like take courses, or was it really on the job learning to figure out how to get up to.

Speed there on the job learning. And I actually entered into the business side in a business development capacity. So I was working on exploring a lot of technologies for licensing purposes. And then through the tenure at that particular company, the head of marketing had left, so I stepped into some of those responsibilities. So it was a slow trajectory, but I had an excellent boss at that particular company that was a PhD, MBA, so he was doing a lot of mentoring and teaching. And it was also a small company. So a small company means you have to wear a variety of hats and really learn a variety of different skills all at once. So I think that was advantageous too, because I was really exposed to a lot and we were building a diagnostic lab at the time, so I got to see that whole process bring in and develop assays and then look at that commercial strategy all at once. So it was just a really unique opportunity that gave me that foundation I needed.

Absolutely. But having the science background really gives you this. You know, you're almost like a translator. You're able to communicate between, you know, the technical to the non technical, which is huge. Right. And being able to. So it's a huge skill set. And I'm guessing multiple people have that audacity as well too, to be able to talk about this, because it's so easy in every industry to talk about jargon and all that. Every industry has that. But biotech has a whole different kind of step function of learning, you know, at the molecular level. Right. And interactions of science that you just don't see in anywhere else. So having the science background is huge. Speak to that in terms of just the industry that you've seen around, especially in the marketing world.

Yeah. And I think a lot of the technologies and companies we work with, they can easily say we're faster or speak to the benefits. But truly understanding the mechanism of how it works can help you sometimes identify novel benefits or how it can emotionally impact that end user in a different way so that you can really ensure what you put forth and how you communicate is going to resonate with them. So, yes, you've got marketing jargon and people that can use that. But being able to understand the depth of the technology can sometimes bring forth novel benefits, but also just a better way to communicate it. So it's distilling really complex ideas and technologies in the simplest way requires dual understanding, science and marketing.

That makes sense. Can you take us back to the history of the company a little bit? When was it founded and where was it. What was it founded as? I'm curious, kind of has it morphed and changed over time?

It's morphed a lot. We technically say, I think we're in audacity 3.0 is how we refer to us, but it started a long time ago. There was an individual that had founded the company back in 2002, I believe, and it was an individual that had a couple consulting projects and began to grow those. And when I was recruited into the agency, and they served a variety of different types of clients. When I was recruited into the agency in 2013, they had already started to hone in on that biotech clientele. And I think it's probably likely just the location and proximity here in San Diego, there was a prevalence of those. And it was something that was a nice opportunity to really create an interest. And in 2013, when I joined, I understood why they were recruiting the scientists, because you have to understand your clients, the industry, so that you can speak their language and then communicate and as we just said, translate into winning marketing, messaging. But then we were successful in growing, really, the business within the biotech. And so we were acquired in 2014 by Huntsworth Health, which is a global agency conglomerate that's publicly traded. So we joined their agency group. And several Years later, in 2017, they ended up divesting Audacity. And so I had taken a short stint away from Audacity. I was recruited into a local genomics oncology company. And then when the management changed in 2017, they brought me back to run the team. So with that, the team looked a little different than when I left. And so we had diverted a little bit from some of our core focus, but I had a lot of restructuring to do. And so we changed the shape of the team a bunch, and we refocused on that brand strategy. And from there, we really began to thrive. And so year over year, we've had tremendous success growing our clients, our expertise, and that's where we are today.

Really interesting along the lines of the history. So has, like, marketing communications changed over that timeframe too, Right. From different platforms to a different sense of urgency. Right during COVID of just like the need to tell a story that impacts everyone. What have you seen? Kind of. Maybe let's talk through a few different threads here. Like, what are the tools that are available differently now that you're finding you're telling people to lean into more in terms of storytelling and communicating?

Well, in terms of story time, sometimes it's just the channels in which you communicate. Because I think with everybody during the pandemic, things went virtual. And I think in the healthcare space, a lot of the predominant marketing approaches were still those in person medical congresses and meetings. And so how do you get in front of a physician when you can't get into their office? And how do you get in front of a lot of those thought leaders when they're not all together in the same place? There wasn't really a strong attendance for virtual conferences, so you had to Find alternative approaches, how do you engage and get in front of them. And so looking at all the digital marketing opportunities, innovative ways that you could do virtual educational techniques and outreach, so those are things that we really had to tap into during the pandemic and a lot of those are gonna persist just for the efficiency of using digital versus a lot of that boots on the ground. So we've been trying to migrate and continue to evolve with that and leverage the new digital opportunities. But the digital opportunities and landscape regulatory wise has definitely been evolving too. I think the other thread you were talking about is the messaging. How's the messaging approach changed? I think that you had to, especially at the beginning of the pandemic, you had to be mindful of just some of the sentiment around. How do you communicate, how do you respect what's happening in the different perspectives of who you're talking to and the impact. We were working with a lot of healthcare and the healthcare saw a decline in a lot of their core healthcare services as people were staying home. We actually ran a campaign back to care to get people to go back into the healthcare regimens they were before because there was really that return to normality that we were looking for. But yeah, the messaging strategies changed, the channel strategy changed and it's continuing to evolve because we haven't really returned to pre pandemic behaviors. So now it's a hybrid moving forward.

Yeah, it's really true. I think some of the channels, like maybe the social platforms have really asked brand. Not asked, but people want to see the people behind the brand. It seems like more and more. Right. Who are the, what's the face behind this brand in terms of the leader or you know, the person really the change agent maybe around that? Have you seen that? Like, is it more of a humanizing focus to brands to help translate science?

Well, at Audacity we've always taken that approach because instead of focusing on the data and the technology and the science, we try to really infuse that human element in everything we do. So that was something that, that we had already predominantly focused on and has just persisted. I think maybe some other brands have tried to tap into that because they weren't doing so before. But in terms of Audacity, it's been at our core, I think we've always done what about.

So obviously the other thread that happened during COVID was kind of the anti vaxxers and kind of almost anti science to a certain regret. It feels like, what are you helping brands and companies do to really, you know, own that and either get around getting falling into that pitfall of a conversation or getting above it. Like what's kind of the advice you're telling companies around there?

Well, we did actually work on a dedicated project to address that. So we were working with one of the largest diagnostic testing companies and what they were simply trying to do is a non branded educational campaign to really dispel a lot of those misconceptions and really clarify where there's a misunderstanding. And so we had a whole non branded awareness campaign as well as a website which was simply educating what is an antigen test, what is an antibody test? When should one be used over the other? What are they changing as you know, over the course of the pandemic, the recommendations of what testing protocol to use, when, what are the social distancing guidelines and all the things that emerged during various different scenarios and outbreaks. So we had a huge website that we built that was just educational. It would put forth any kind of social policy updates as well as helping you understand all the science and technology terminology that was out in mainstream for people that didn't have that background. And we even created a workflow. It was a nice little tool where you could go through. It was a guided experience where you could select the different criteria to understand what test was appropriate, understand the difference of them. So we were directly working on educational tools to combat that.

That's great, that's awesome to hear. Kind of leading the effort. And then I'm guessing elements that you created for that effort also to other companies that need some way to also talk about that, whether it's at conferences or on Twitter or just avoid Twitter.

Which is the new theme too.

Yeah, for sure. I understood. Largely San Diego based, right. Is where the company is founded. And still though I've got to imagine during COVID virtual environment, it's spread out a little bit as well too. Or still largely local.

Yes. So we were 100% based in San Diego until the pandemic hit. Or actually we did have a Boston office, so a small presence on the east coast because we had a lot of clientele there, which we closed the same month the pandemic hit because it didn't make sense. But we have most of all of our team were here. And with the virtual working environment, it actually opened up the horizons in terms of talent recruitment. So instead of being limited to those unicorns, we talked about having some science and marketing. There's only so many of them and we were restricted to San Diego. So it opened up the boundaries where we were Able to hire easily. And we grew extensively during the pandemic due to, I'm sure you know, the healthcare boom and biotech industry as they ramped up with COVID testing revenues. So we have now a team that's geographically dispersed across the US So we have talent in multiple states and it actually works well to have a local presence for a lot of our clients. Not in San Diego, but I would probably estimate about 75% of them are still local in San Diego.

Cool. Yeah, that makes sense. And that's good to hear. Do you want to. We have listeners who are just starting a startup who are super late stage. Like what point do you find companies first reach out for this marketing help? What's the earliest stage of company that you'll start working with?

Well we do support companies at all stages. I think from the very earliest pre funding startup. I think we're really powerful to engage then because as you're trying to articulate your vision for this company and how do you communicate that to investors, that's where we can help craft that story. So instead of you having to explain in a long winded fashion so that they can try to extrapolate what you're trying to do, we help create that why it matters, what you're doing and how pretty quickly so that they can effectively utilize that investor's time and money intrigue them for potential funding. So I think that's arguably one of the most important times to really engage, but it's also the most difficult because the funding isn't there yet. So we do have to navigate that. And so we often provide limited support to get them what they need. They're mission critical so they can tell their stories so that they can build that investor deck. And then once they secure the funding, we can fully build out that brand and launch it successfully. So we get early startups, but the ones that are well funded, the Fortune 500, they will come to us for a very robust brand creation and product launch support. So we do those often and those are definitely a different process, just the level of effort and budget permitted and then we serve everyone in between and we often see a lot in this space. Biotech has a lot of M and A. So when there's companies that are coming together, repositioning the company for the new strategic direction, we so a lot in that, I guess middle sweet spot where they really need help because they've got a combination of a couple of companies and they need to reset how the corporate brand is positioned. We do a lot of those as well, so I can't say there's one that's better than the other. We're useful across the spectrum, but arguably more so in the beginning.

Yeah. And I actually, wearing my investor hat per se, would agree at the beginning, you know, there's not a lot to show for yet. It's a lot of ideas, a lot of some things proven, maybe in a lab, but not clinically yet. And having to also talk about the founders themselves, why, why they are the right people for this. And that's a story that takes a lot of elements, almost like a multivariable algorithm from an investor perspective of like, why this package makes sense, not you can't point to like traction or trial data yet. Right. So I totally understand why in the beginning having someone who knows how to build a storyline framework to say this is the real deal, this package per se. So that makes, that makes sense. That's smart for companies to lean in and ask for that kind of help. Also, being in San Diego, you know, you work a hard day in the lab and or on a brand, you hang up your hat and you have some tacos. Right. So where do you take the team or where do you go to to have tacos at the end of the day?

Well, as someone that lives in San Diego, it's not a singular answer. So for breakfast burritos, my spot is taco surf. For fish tacos, I like the Fish Shop on Garnet and for all other tacos, Vallarta. So it really depends on the time of day.

Yep, there is a taco for every hour of the day. I totally understand that for sure. Tacos. Oh man. Taco surf in the morning right after getting out of the water. I hear that for a taco surf, burrito can't be bait. Well, it's getting lunchtime now. Perfect time. Also, I'm getting real hungry there. Jill, really appreciate you jumping on the podcast with us and for the work you're doing in helping translate amazing science into amazing brands. So thank you for the work you and the Audacity team are doing and thanks for being on the podcast.

Thanks for having me.

Thanks for tuning in to the Tacos and Tech podcast. You can find all of our episodes on freshbroodtech.com as well as on Twitter at Tacos and Tech Pod. Also follow Fresh Breed Tech on all of our social platforms and make sure to share and give a review on Apple Podcast, Spotify or Google Play. Thanks again.

Startups get the party. Startups get the party started. Startups get the party. Startups get the party started. You want tech in tacos, tacos in tech, you know we got it, hey. Startups get the party Startups get the party started? Startups get the party Startups get the party started? Startups get the party Startups get the party started. You want tech and tacos, Tacos in tech, you know we got it, hey.