Derek Herrera is the founder of Spinal Singularity, a medical device company that develops products to improve lives for those with spinal injury.  He started the company in 2015 after working for another startup medical device company to learn a bit of the ropes. 

We discussed his path to becoming an entrepreneur and journey so far.Derek graduated from the Naval Academy and was a Marine Corps officer for many years.  He was shot and injured while on the battlefield in Afghanistan, and was paralyzed.  He has been a very active advocate for Marines and veterans and is on the board of several foundations.  It is amazing how many parallels his military experience and startup journey have, and his training there has been very helpful to him. 

He’s also been building community amongst medical device industry founders in the area, so we’re kindred spirits in trying to connect more people here for greater support, encouragement and advantage. Derek is exactly the type of entrepreneur we need to support, encourage and provide "unfair advantage" to for creating an innovative company here in Orange County.