He used to build the tunnels you commute through. These days he’s the guy turning up with a box of acoustic samples, asking you to touch them. Stanley never really left construction, he just found a version of it that lets him talk to people.
Let’s start at the beginning. How did you end up in acoustics of all things?
Stanley is a civil engineer by trade, and he spent about a year at a construction MNC before realising the traditional engineering lifestyle wasn’t what he wanted for the long haul. He’s naturally sociable and curious, which made business development an obvious next move. It let him connect with people and solve real problems. Acoustics turned out to be the perfect landing spot, because it puts his technical construction background to work in a way that’s consultative and driven by relationships.
What were you doing before this?
Civil engineering, specifically on MRT projects. The hours were brutal: seven to seven, six days a week. That’s what pushed him towards sales. He wanted a career where he could still perform at a high level without giving up quality time with his family.
What does your week actually look like here?
Hands-on and relationship-driven. It’s a mix of active outreach through phone calls, meeting clients face to face to consult on what they need, and getting Soundzipper’s physical samples into their hands so they can feel the quality for themselves. Sound is invisible, but the materials aren’t.
Is there a client win that’s really stuck with you?
Alexandra Hospital. It was a purposeful project for Stanley, because he knew the acoustic solutions were going to make life better for patients. It also demanded absolute flexibility. He took the lead in making sure that whatever technical or operational requirement the client brought to the table, the team found a way to solve it.
Why do you think clients come back?
Trust and quality. Clients know they can count on Soundzipper’s professionalism, which gives them the peace of mind that their acoustic needs are completely taken care of.
What do you like most about working at Soundzipper?
The variety, and the people. No two days look the same, which suits Stanley just fine. He’s out meeting new faces, hearing what’s going wrong in their spaces, and letting his curiosity loose on finding the right acoustic fix. The technical problem-solving scratches the engineer itch. The rest of it is just him doing what he’d be doing anyway, which is talking to people.
What’s changing in the market, and where do you want Soundzipper to be in a few years?
Acoustics used to be an afterthought, or a hidden fix for noisy pipes. Now it’s a pillar of wellness and workplace productivity. Between the hybrid office boom, urban density and the creator economy, people desperately need their spaces to sound good.
Stanley wants Soundzipper to shift from a reactive consulting model to a proactive design partner. In a few years, he’d like the company’s proprietary tech to be the industry standard for acoustic rendering, and the footprint to stretch past high-end commercial projects into scalable, high-design consumer spaces. That’s how the core mission gets executed on a massive scale: Making Life Sound Better.
Exclusive Bonus: Stanley used to compete in fencing at a high level, until a persistent injury sidelined him. He’s at the gym most of his free time now, strength training to rehab the muscles around it so he can make his comeback to the strip. So if he seems unusually comfortable with a fast, precise back and forth in a meeting, now you know why.