Project Medtech

In this episode, Morgan Evans shares her unconventional path into medtech, from a Stanford pre-med track to startup roles, business school at Northwestern, and M&A at Medtronic, before returning to entrepreneurship with a focus on both product and business model innovation. She explains how her company, Agitated Solutions, is tackling better detection and characterization of PFO, including the clinical risk and variability of today’s manual contrast process and the evolution toward a drug-led combination product and software. The conversation dives into how she “kills” ideas using clinical diligence, market size, and value economics, why being an operator makes her a stronger investor through Engage Venture Partners, and how she’s built a broader ecosystem through Moonshot Medical, SurgiSmoke, and Avio Medtech Consulting. She also unpacks leadership fundamentals like trust vs. performance, intent and process failures, decision fatigue, saying no, and using time-blocking and AI assistants as a chief-of-staff to scale focus and execution.

• Morgan Evans LinkedIn

• Agitated Solutions Website

• Avio Medtech Consulting Website

• Engage Venture Partners Website

• Moonshot Medical Website

• SurgiSmoke LinkedIn

• Duane Mancini LinkedIn

• Project Medtech LinkedIn

• Project Medtech Website

Thank you to our sponsors: Ward Law, Wheelhouse DMG, and JumpStart Inc.

In this episode, Oscar Daws, London-based product designer and co-founder of Tone Product Design, joins Duane Mancini to explore what it really takes to turn complex medical technology into products people can use, and want to use. Oscar shares how he moved from broad product design training into medtech through early consultancy work in the UK’s Cambridge–London–Oxford “Golden Triangle,” and why he’s drawn to high-complexity challenges with real patient impact. They break down how regulatory and technical constraints shape medical device timelines, why design must be embedded from concept through design transfer to protect the original vision, and how iteration—from prototypes to limited market releases—reveals issues that studies can’t. The conversation also covers designing for multiple stakeholders (patients, clinicians, procurement), leveraging packaging to reduce risk and build brand, and translating graphic identity into a cohesive 3D visual design language.

• Oscar Daws LinkedIn

• Tone Product Design Website

• “Zero to One” by Peter Thiel

• “The Hard Thing About Hard Things” by Ben Horowitz

• Duane Mancini LinkedIn

• Project Medtech LinkedIn

• Project Medtech Website

Thank you to our sponsors: Ward Law, Wheelhouse DMG, and JumpStart Inc.

In this episode, Aaron Burnett, CEO of Wheelhouse Digital Marketing Group, joins the podcast to unpack how medtech and healthcare companies can drive measurable growth in an era where third-party tracking, long sales cycles, and HIPAA constraints break traditional performance marketing. Aaron shares his path from VP roles at AT&T Wireless and Seattle-area tech to building the agency he couldn’t find—one that pairs technical rigor with strategic sophistication and a values-led approach. The conversation dives deep into Wheelhouse’s privacy-first marketing stack, including HIPAA-compliant measurement built on private client IDs and server-side tracking, a secure AWS-based data warehouse that unifies web, ad, and CRM data, and real-time propensity modeling that sends estimated lifetime value signals back to ad platforms.

• Aaron Burnett LinkedIn

• Wheelhouse DMG LinkedIn

• Wheelhouse DMG Website

• “The Art of Possibility” by Benjamin Zander & Rosamund Stone Zander

• “What Got You Here Won’t Get You There” by Marshall Goldsmith

• Duane Mancini LinkedIn

• Project Medtech LinkedIn

• Project Medtech Website

Thank you to our sponsors: Ward Law, Wheelhouse DMG, and JumpStart Inc.

In this episode, Don Webber, CEO and Mauricio Carvalho, VP of Medical & Scientific Affairs at Bridge to Life unpack the urgent challenge behind transplant medicine: outcomes are strong, but organ availability and perceived risk keep waiting lists high. Expanding the donor pool requires new preservation and assessment tools, and they explain how Bridge to Life is advancing hypothermic and perfusion-based organ preservation to protect cells, improve viability assessment, and help match organs to recipients with more objective biological insights. Mauricio shares hard-earned lessons bringing technology from Europe to the U.S. (where reimbursement, procurement, workflows, and contracting add layers that can make or break adoption) captured in the theme “science can be global, but implementation is local.” Don details Bridge to Life’s evolution, Series C $110M raise, and why adoption is earned through evidence, simplicity, economics, and deep onsite clinical support.

• Don Webber LinkedIn

• Mauricio Carvalho LinkedIn

• Bridge to Life Website

• Latest Bridge to Life News & Press Releases

• Duane Mancini LinkedIn

• Project Medtech Website

• Project Medtech LinkedIn

Thank you to our sponsors: Ward Law, Wheelhouse DMG, and JumpStart Inc.

In this episode, trauma surgeon and EndoShunt's co-founder Milad Behbahaninia and CEO Tyler Zanon share how the company was born from frontline frustration: critically injured patients bleeding out before surgeons can reach hard-to-access injuries. They explain why endovascular innovation is the next horizon in trauma care, how the team engineered a solution that fits existing clinical workflows, and why incremental, surgeon-built improvements can drive outsized impact. They walks through EndoShunt’s rapid maturation since 2023, including multiple preclinical models, meaningful non-dilutive funding, a shrinking catheter profile toward a 7 French design, and plans toward an FDA submission next year.

• Milad Behbahaninia LinkedIn

• Tyler Zanon LinkedIn

• EndoShunt LinkedIn

• EndoShunt Website

• “The House of God” by Samuel Shem

• “ The Power of Full Engagement” by Jim Loehr & Tony Schwartz

• Duane Mancini LinkedIn

• Project Medtech Website

• Project Medtech LinkedIn

Thank you to our sponsors: Ward Law, Wheelhouse DMG, and JumpStart Inc.

Stephen Ippolito shares his path from $5B+ in investment banking M&A to founding Veritus and launching the Human Health Platform, an ecosystem focused on shaping investable healthcare companies earlier than traditional VC. Stephen breaks down the stark differences between PE-backed and family-owned transactions, why founder psychology and identity can make or break outcomes, and what he looks for in first-time leaders—especially the balance of EQ and IQ, coachability, and healthy co-founder dynamics. The conversation dives into why too much healthcare innovation dies in academia, the need for better IP audits and university commercialization programs, and the case for combining complementary startups to unlock disproportionate value. Stephen also offers a blunt reality check on succeeding in U.S. healthcare: know your true customer, distribution, and incentives—then build accordingly.

• Stephen Ippolit LinkedIn

• Human Health Platform LinkedIn

• Human Health Platform Website

• “Good to Great” by Jim Collins

• Duane Mancini LinkedIn

• Project Medtech Website

• Project Medtech LinkedIn

Thank you to our sponsors: Ward Law, Wheelhouse DMG, and JumpStart Inc.

Melissa Muller, Founder and Principal Consultant at Muller Advisory Company, joins Duane Mancini for a practical conversation on what medtech founders must know before scaling beyond early adopters. Melissa breaks down why FDA clearance is only the starting line and why true growth depends on adoption readiness across clinical, financial, and commercial stakeholders. They dive into mapping the full clinical workflow end-to-end (including setup, IT, biomed, and reprocessing), identifying who must say yes (and who can still veto) through contracting and value analysis realities, and clarifying exactly how customers pay across hospitals, ASCs, and other sites of care. The conversation closes with how to drive repeat use, build advocates, and avoid “scaling assumptions” as care shifts and teams beyond the founder must carry the story.

• Melissa Muller LinkedIn

• Muller Advisory Company LinkedIn

• Muller Advisory Company Website

• Duane Mancini LinkedIn

• Project Medtech Website

• Project Medtech LinkedIn

Thank you to our sponsors: Ward Law, Wheelhouse DMG, and JumpStart Inc.

Staci Miller, founder of Gen UX Consulting, joins Duane Mancini for a rapid-fire rundown of the first five things you need to know about human factors validation testing, from the risk documents nobody prioritizes but everyone needs, to the razor-thin line between a task sheet and a leading question that could invalidate your study, to why a 300-page report might be doing you more harm than good. Packed with hard-won insight from nearly 15 years in the field, this episode gives you a practical playbook for getting your validation study and your FDA submission right.

• Staci Miller LinkedIn

• Gen UX LinkedIn

• Gen UX Website

• Duane Mancini LinkedIn

• Project Medtech Website

• Project Medtech LinkedIn

Thank you to our sponsors: Ward Law, Wheelhouse DMG, and JumpStart Inc.

What if the biggest barrier to medtech innovation isn’t the technology, buti fear? In this episode, Merom Klein explores how entrepreneurs can recognize hesitation, build trust, and move investors, customers, and teams from “wait and see” to active champions of innovation. From raising capital to changing the standard of care, Merom shares practical insights on building courage, understanding incentives, and creating the conditions for meaningful adoption. Tune in for a conversation about the human side of medtech innovation and what it really takes to change the game.

• Merom Klein LinkedIn

• Courage Growth Partners LinkedIn 

• Project Medtech Podcast Episode 249

• "Biotech in the Balance: Saving a Strategic Industry in an Age of Distrust" by Jeremy M. Levin 

• "Leadership the Hard Way" by Dov Frohman and Robert Howard 

• "Start-Up Nation: The Story of Israel’s Economic Miracle" by Daniel Senor and Saul Singer 

• Duane Mancini LinkedIn

• Project Medtech Website

• Project Medtech LinkedIn

Thank you to our sponsors: Ward Law, Wheelhouse DMG, and JumpStart Inc.

What if quality management could be the key to driving medtech innovation, not holding it back? In this episode, Ashkon Rasooli, Founder and Principal of EnGenius Solutions Consulting, breaks down how medtech companies can build quality systems that go beyond compliance to support innovation, efficiency, and long-term growth. The conversation dives into the challenges of keeping quality and regulatory strategies ahead of rapidly evolving technologies like software, cloud platforms, and AI, while exploring how companies can avoid costly mistakes, scale effectively, and prepare for the complexities of entering the U.S. market.

• Ashkon Rasooli LinkedIn

• "Never Split The Difference" by Chris Voss 

• "Million Dollar Consulting Toolkit" by Alan Weiss 

• Duane Mancini LinkedIn

• Project Medtech Website

• Project Medtech LinkedIn

Thank you to our sponsors: Ward Law, Wheelhouse DMG, and JumpStart Inc.