What does it take to challenge decades of conventional medical practice? 

In this episode of Entrepreneur Rx, host John Shufeldt sits down with Dom Messerli, founder and CEO of Lenoss Medical, to discuss his journey from medical device executive to entrepreneur. Dom shares how listening to surgeons led him to develop a biological alternative to traditional bone cement used in spinal fracture procedures, the challenges of building a medical device company, and the lessons learned scaling a healthcare innovation from concept to commercialization. 

The conversation explores entrepreneurship, risk-taking, leadership, company culture, fundraising, and what it takes to bring meaningful innovation to patients and physicians alike.  

About Dom Messerli: Dom Messerli is the founder and CEO of Lenoss Medical. With decades of experience in the medical device industry, including leadership roles at Synthes, Dom has dedicated his career to developing innovative solutions that improve patient outcomes. Drawing on years of collaboration with spine surgeons, he founded Lenoss Medical to address longstanding challenges in the treatment of vertebral compression fractures through biologic, patient-focused technologies. 

About Lenoss Medical: Lenoss Medical is a medical technology company focused on advancing the treatment of vertebral compression fractures. Its flagship product, OsteoPearl®, is a biologic implant designed to provide an alternative to traditional bone cement used in spinal procedures. By leveraging natural bone-derived materials, Lenoss aims to improve patient outcomes while reducing risks associated with conventional treatment approaches. 

About Xcellerant Ventures: Xcellerant Ventures is a venture capital firm that invests in innovative companies across healthcare, technology, defense, and other emerging industries. Through multiple funds and investment vehicles, including the Jetstream Venture Fund, the firm partners with visionary founders, provides strategic guidance, and helps connect investors with opportunities in the private markets. Its portfolio includes companies developing solutions that have the potential to transform industries and improve lives.

About Jetstream Venture Fund: Jetstream Venture Fund is an interval fund managed by Xcellerant Ventures and Sweater Industries LLC, that seeks to provide investors access to early-stage, high-growth companies with flexible terms, lower minimums ($5,000 minimum investment), and no carried interest. Jetstream is one of the first funds of its kind, bringing venture-style investing opportunities to a wider professional audience. Back-end administration is provided by Sweater Ventures a ground-breaking turnkey fund management company.Disclosure for Jetstream: Investors should carefully consider the investment objectives, risks, charges, and expenses of the Fund before investing. The prospectus contains this and other information about the Fund and can be obtained by emailing [email protected] or by visiting the Fund's website. Please read the prospectus carefully before investing.

In this episode of Entrepreneur Rx, John sits down with Allisa Song, Co-Founder and CEO of MU Medical. Allisa shares the story behind developing NanoDropper, a device designed to reduce medication waste and improve patient adherence, as well as her entrepreneurial journey. They discuss the realities of building healthcare companies, navigating the challenges of entrepreneurship, and bringing innovative solutions to patients and providers. Whether you're a founder, healthcare professional, or aspiring entrepreneur, this conversation offers valuable insights on innovation, leadership, and creating meaningful impact in healthcare. 

About Allisa: Allisa Song, MD, is the co-founder and CEO of Mu Medical, the company behind NanoDropper®, an innovative adapter that reduces the size of eye drops to help patients improve medication adherence, reduce waste, and lower treatment costs. She founded the company while attending the Mayo Clinic Alix School of Medicine after identifying a widespread challenge facing glaucoma patients. Today, she leads Mu Medical's mission to improve ophthalmic drug delivery through innovative technologies that enhance patient outcomes and advance eye care. 

About Mu Medical: Mu Medical is an ophthalmic medical technology company dedicated to improving how eye medications are delivered. Its flagship product, NanoDropper®, helps patients reduce medication waste, extend the life of prescription eye drops, and improve adherence to treatment. Today, the company is expanding beyond NanoDropper to develop innovative drug delivery and packaging solutions aimed at transforming the future of ophthalmology. 

About Xcellerant Ventures:  Xcellerant Ventures is a venture capital firm that invests in innovative companies across healthcare, technology, defense, and other emerging industries. Through multiple funds and investment vehicles, including the Jetstream Venture Fund, the firm partners with visionary founders, provides strategic guidance, and helps connect investors with opportunities in the private markets. Its portfolio includes companies developing solutions that have the potential to transform industries and improve lives.

About Jetstream Venture Fund: Jetstream Venture Fund is an interval fund managed by Xcellerant Ventures and Sweater Industries LLC, that seeks to provide investors access to early-stage, high-growth companies with flexible terms, lower minimums ($5,000 minimum investment), and no carried interest. Jetstream is one of the first funds of its kind, bringing venture-style investing opportunities to a wider professional audience. Back-end administration is provided by Sweater Ventures a ground-breaking turnkey fund management company.Disclosure for Jetstream: Investors should carefully consider the investment objectives, risks, charges, and expenses of the Fund before investing. The prospectus contains this and other information about the Fund and can be obtained by emailing ⁠[email protected]⁠ or by visiting the ⁠Fund's website⁠. Please read the prospectus carefully before investing.

For episode 85 of Entrepreneur Rx, John welcomes Courtney Williams, co-founder and CEO of Emagine Solutions Technology. Emagine is tackling the U.S. maternal health crisis with remote patient monitoring. The podcast starts off with Courtney touching on her diverse background and then she moves to how her sister’s high-risk pregnancy inspired her to get into healthcare entrepreneurship. This experience opened her eyes to the dangers of pregnancy and the lack of access to safe healthcare for pregnant women. 

Inspired to make a change, Courtney and her team developed a handheld ultrasound device called VistaScan that is FDA cleared and aimed at low-resource settings. However, they soon realized that the lack of access to healthcare is not just a problem in developing countries but also in their own community. This led them to where Emagine Solutions Technology is today - a maternal health focus. Shortly after, Courtney and her team developed The Journey Platform which is geared towards better connecting providers and patients.

Courtney then moves on to discussing challenges in the femtech industry and funding for female entrepreneurs. She wraps up the podcast by sharing her biggest challenge she has faced as an entrepreneur, Emagine’s potential exit in the future and her hopes for the future of Emagine. Courtney's unwavering commitment to leveraging technology to enhance maternal health outcomes is a testament to her visionary leadership and dedication to making a meaningful impact.

For this episode of Entrepreneur Rx, John sits down with Dom Messerli, the President and CEO of Lenoss Medical. Lenoss Medical is disrupting the treatment of spinal fractures with their OsteoPearl Vertebral Body Augmentation (VBA) System. This minimally invasive and epoxy-free technology delivers a fully biological solution to stabilize spinal fractures and utilizes the natural healing properties of healthy bone.   

The episode starts off with Dom explaining his background in mechanical engineering and his rise within Synthes, a company specializing in spine technology that was later acquired by Johnson & Johnson. He discusses the inspiration behind Lenoss Medical's innovative implant, the OsteoPearl, which treats spinal fracture and allows for bone healing as opposed to the current stand of care. 

Dom goes on to speak about the shortcomings of traditional kyphoplasty using epoxy (such as complications like intravenous embolism) and points out the advantages of Lenoss Medical’s OsteoPearl implants. He emphasizes that bone materials do not carry the risk of rejection like organ transplants because they contain no living cells.  

John and Dom then move to talk about the business side of Lenoss Medical, including raising funds, startup valuation, and the importance of networking in entrepreneurship. They conclude the podcast discussing Dom’s tips for people who want to become an entrepreneur where Dom touches on the importance of partnership. 

For episode 83 of Entrepreneur Rx, John welcomes Ross Bundy, CEO of CRISPR QC. CRISPR QC is a biotechnology company aimed to equip scientists and researchers with data to improve their CRISPR assay design by using its sensor technology to analyze gene editing processes.  

Ross starts off the episode by discussing his background in gene therapy and his experience founding Cardea Bio. He also talks about the challenges of introducing new ideas in a field dominated by experts and the importance of regulatory guidance. He goes on to explain more about how Cardea Bio and CRISPR QC are related, ethical issues in the field, challenges gene editing faces and his excitement of where CRISPR QC is headed. 

He concludes the podcast by emphasizing the importance of building a strong team and finding people's strengths to create a successful startup. He also shares his advice for those considering starting their own startup: build a support network, learn how to translate their expertise into value, and take responsibility for supporting and leading others. 

Internal medicine physician Hillary Lin is the co-founder and CEO of Curio, a VC-backed healthcare startup that is reshaping the landscape of cancer care with hands-on, personalized solutions driven by the power of AI.  

As a Taiwanese immigrant, she experienced firsthand the stark contrast between the complicated healthcare system in the United States and the simplicity of a universal healthcare system.  Seeing the subtle cultural nuances and how they impacted the patient experience was the driving force for her AI solution. Tune in to hear how this experience fueled her mission to create personalized healthcare navigation while providing emotional support to patients.   

In addition to discussing Curio’s evolution of how they have shifted to a SaaS model, Hillary touches on Curio’s future plans to integrate with EHRs and CRMs, her hopes for Curio as it continues to grow, and her stance on transparency in AI. She concludes the episode with the biggest lesson she has learned in entrepreneurship- tackle the hard things and face obstacles head-on in order to succeed. 

Hillary's story is a testament to the power of curiosity, resilience, and the desire to make a lasting impact on the healthcare industry.

For episode 81 of Entrepreneur Rx, John had the pleasure of sitting down with fellow emergency medicine physician James (Jim) Dahle, founder of The White Coat Investor. The White Coat Investor is the most widely read, physician-specific personal finance and investing website in the world. In addition to the blog, he has authored four books and hosts two weekly podcasts.

Jim shares his journey to financial literacy after negative experiences with unscrupulous financial professionals early in his career. He explains how he embarked on a self-study journey and started The White Coat Investor to provide unbiased financial education to doctors. Jim highlights the reasons why physicians often struggle with money management, including the lack of education on finance and the taboo surrounding money talk in the medical field. 

Then, Jim discusses the different pathways to wealth for physicians, including the default pathway of working as a physician and investing in index funds, the reproducible entrepreneurial pathway, and the hardcore entrepreneur pathway. He also addresses the challenges faced by physicians who are living hand to mouth and offers advice on how to start building wealth. 

Jim concludes the episode by discussing the impact of The White Coat Investor and the importance of financial literacy in medical schools. He shares his belief that physicians should still pursue medicine if they have a passion for it, but they should also prioritize financial education early in their careers.

For episode 80 of Entrepreneur Rx, John welcomes back John Criswell, founder, chairman, and CEO of Porter, a transformative healthcare solution that aims to improve the home healthcare journey for payers and their vulnerable members. John Shufeldt’s venture capital firm, Xcellerant Ventures, also recently invested in Porter.

Porter utilizes AI-derived insights and a dedicated clinical team, along with a member-facing platform, to offer a personalized and efficient way for health plan members to navigate the complexities of at-home healthcare. The company focuses on driving better outcomes, improving quality, optimizing risk adjustment, and increasing member retention for payers.

In this interview, John Criswell highlights the challenges of navigating the healthcare system and emphasizes the need for simplification. He explains that Porter aims to streamline the process and provide support for patients and caregivers. John then talks about how he started Porter right in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic and notes the challenges of managing a startup during such a time. He also discusses the transition to a post-COVID leadership style and the impact of remote work on new entrants to the workforce.

John goes on to address the changing dynamics in healthcare and explains that Porter's focus on care coordination and support during transitions of care can help reduce medical malpractice risks for hospitals and providers. He wraps up by offering advice for first-time entrepreneurs and expressing his optimism for the future of Porter.

For episode 79 of Entrepreneur Rx, John interviews rockstar Esther Dyson, founder of Wellville, a 10-year nonprofit project dedicated to demonstrating the value of long-term investment in health and equity. Esther has been or is a director of many companies such as 23andMe, Avanlee Care, Meetup, and WPP Group. In addition, Esther is an active angel investor and also enjoys sitting on the boards of several nonprofits, such as Charity Navigator, ExpandED Schools, Long Now and The Commons Project. 

This interview starts off with her explaining the Wellville project and her impressive background (she has even trained as a backup cosmonaut). Esther emphasizes the importance of asking questions and learning from others, rather than trying to have all the answers. Esther then shares her experiences as an angel investor, highlighting the qualities she looks for in founders, such as creativity, resilience, vision and humility. 

Esther goes on to express concern about society's addiction to instant gratification of all kinds – drugs, food, VC exits and the like. She stresses the importance of providing support and resources for maternal care, doula services, and parenting education to create a stable foundation for future generations and to “train” babies to be healthy humans resistant to manipulation…by trained AIs. Esther encourages individuals to face their fears and take risks, emphasizing the value of having a support system in place. She then concludes by reminding listeners that failure is a natural part of life and should be embraced as a learning opportunity.

For episode 78 of Entrepreneur Rx, John Shufeldt interviews fellow ER doc and seasoned healthtech entrepreneur Alan Roga, CEO and Co-Founder of TruLite Health. TruLite Health’s platform Truity™ is the markets first comprehensive health equity platform and brings together the largest proprietary clinical health equity knowledge base and recommendations with patient-specific clinical and social data sets, and makes it actionable driving patient specific clinical, social, behavioral interventions at the point of care.

The episode starts off with Alan sharing his background including his journey through college and medical school, and how he ended up in emergency medicine. He discusses how emergency medicine is well-suited for entrepreneurs due to its fast-paced nature and the need to make quick decisions with limited information. 

Alan then tells the story of how he got into telemedicine in 2009 after realizing the high cost and lack of access for patients seeking care. He started his own telemedicine company, Stat Doctors, which was later acquired by Teladoc in 2015. Alan explains the challenges of being a corporate suit after the acquisition, but also the excitement and opportunity it brought.  This leads Alan to talk about his latest venture, TruLite Health, which focuses on addressing health disparities through a clinically integrated workflow tool. 

Finally, Alan shares six key questions for would-be entrepreneurs to consider, including the importance of passion, capital, and comfort with uncertainty. He emphasizes the need to find something that matters and to go for it.