Sep Naraghi on Creating Order from Chaos in Startup Quality

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 into discomfort; empathy over ego; and build trust before you need it.

Sep Naraghi is a thoughtful, values-led leader who turns ambiguity into execution, champions transparency, and builds teams that do the right thing for patients and the business.

Thank you Sep for sharing your incredible journey.

Hope everyone enjoys the show!