Scott Nelson Live

In this episode, we sat down with John Murphy, President and CEO of Virtual Incision.

With a background in life sciences, aerospace, private equity, and venture capital, John co-founded Virtual Incision in 2006. The company makes miniature, portable robots that can be used to perform specific operations. The first iteration is designed for colon resections, with new variations planned for the future.

In this discussion,  John shares tips on how to raise funds as an early-stage medical device company, planning a regulatory pathway that complements your product roadmap, and how to follow a dual-track approach to exiting (warning: it’s a lot of work).

In this episode, we sat down with Robert Fenton, the founder and CEO of Qualio, a cloud-based all-in-one quality management system (QMS) for life sciences companies. 

Prior to founding Qualio in 2012, Robert studied pharmacy for five years at the University College Cork, practiced as a community pharmacist, and spent time in quality and R&D roles at global pharmaceutical companies including Pfizer and LEO Pharma. Robert made the move to San Francisco in 2016 after bootstrapping Qualio in his home country of Ireland. 

In this episode of Medsider, Robert shares his predictions for the life sciences industry in 2022. He also discusses how Qualio can support (and not hinder) medtech and healthtech companies as they move through the complex process of taking a product from conception to the market.

In this episode, we’re sitting down with Holly Rockweiler, co-founder and CEO of Madorra.

Holly spent the early part of her career working as a research scientist for Boston Scientific. In 2013, she took a fellowship at Stanford University’s Byers Center for Biodesign, where she met her future business partner, Ryan Krone. Through the fellowship, Holly and Ryan developed Madorra, a non-hormonal medical device that treats vaginal dryness. As co-founder and CEO of Madorra, Holly’s on a mission to improve women’s health. 

In this episode of Medsider, Holly discusses the importance of listening to your patients when developing medtech solutions, and why having a cause can be a valuable motivator. She also shares her most valuable learnings from participating in Stanford's Biodesign program.

In this episode, we’re sitting down with Robert Kline, the Chairman of ThermoTek.

Robert left big pharma to start Medivance in 1998, which he later sold for $260 million in 2011. His next venture, ViroCyt, a spin-off from the University of Colorado, sold in 2016 for $16 million. Robert then joined startup Bolder Surgical in 2017, pivoted it, and sold the company in 2021 for $160 million. He’s now Chairman of ThermoTek.

In this episode of Medsider, Robert shares the lessons he learned from leading three medtech companies through successful acquisitions: never underestimate the importance and difficulty of fundraising, don’t assume everyone has the problem you want to solve, and don’t build your company around an exit.

In this episode, we’re sitting down with Kevin Goodwin, the CEO and founder of EchoNous. 

Kevin has already been part of a medical first. In 1998, he founded Sonosite, which released the first point-of-care ultrasound device (PoCUS) the following year. It was a classic startup story: Sonosite hit NASDAQ immediately after launching, with no product, no approval from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and no revenue. 

Sonosite was acquired by Fujifilm in 2012, and Kevin left the company in 2014. 

In 2015, Kevin co-founded EchoNous, to make a handheld PoCUS device that cost significantly less than the models used as the standard in hospitals. Even more ambitious, it would use AI and ML to not only deliver more accurate results, but to improve the detail and accuracy of those results over time. The company’s AI-powered Kosmos platform was approved by the FDA in 2020. 

In this episode of Medsider, Kevin explains the pros and cons of public versus private investors, what happens when a competitor with an inferior product dominates the headlines, and why the toughest potential customers are the ones you should try to win over first.

In this episode of Medsider Radio, we’re sitting down with Sanjay Shrivastava. As the CEO and founder of Innova Vascular, and founder of BlackSwan Vascular, Sanjay’s deeply entrenched in the cardiovascular interventional device space. 

Sanjay has worked for household names like Johnson & Johnson and Medtronic as well as small, early-stage startups. Throughout his career, he’s gained experience in various core functional areas of medical device companies, having led teams in R&D, marketing, and business development. 

In this episode of Medsider, Sanjay explains the financial strategy he’s used in his two startups, gives advice on when (and how) to develop strategic partnerships, what questions to explore in the early stages of a medtech startup company, and the best timeline for a win-win exit strategy.

Before we jump into the conversation, I wanted to mention a few things:

If you’re into learning from proven medtech and healthtech leaders, and want to know when new content and interviews go live, head over to Medsider.com and sign up for our free newsletter. You’ll get access to gated articles, and lots of other interesting healthcare content.

Second, if you want even more inside info from proven experts, think about a Medsider premium membership. We talk to experienced healthcare leaders about the nuts and bolts of running a business and bringing products to market. This is your place for valuable knowledge on specific topics like seed funding, prototyping, insurance reimbursement, and positioning a medtech startup for an exit.

In addition to the entire back catalog of Medsider interviews over the past decade, Premium members get exclusive Ask Me Anything interviews and masterclasses with some of the world’s most successful medtech founders and executives. Since making the premium memberships available, I’ve been pleasantly surprised at how many people have signed up. If you’re interested, go to medsider.com/subscribe to learn more.

Lastly, here's the link to the full interview with Sanjay if you'd rather read it instead.

In this episode, we’re sitting down with Marcus Gerhardt, who has started multiple companies, including an eCommerce platform and international consulting firm. In 2008, he co-founded Blackrock Neurotech, a pioneer in brain-computer interface (BCI) technology, and the world’s leading collaborative partner for developing approved medical devices at scale for neurological therapies. He currently serves as CEO and is on the company’s board.

In this episode of Medsider, Marcus explains why Blackrock’s business model works for medtech companies, how the approach gave the company an “in” with the neuroscience research community, and why medical device companies need to work with — and not against — regulatory bodies like the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

In this episode, we’re sitting down with Patricia Zilliox, who has spent her entire career working in ophthalmology, including 30 years at American-Swiss medical company Alcon. In 2017, Patricia became CEO of Eyevensys, a biotech company in the clinical stage of making a drug delivery system to fight various eye diseases. 

In this interview, Patricia gives advice for navigating the complicated world of regulatory affairs, the dos and don’ts of planning clinical trials, and why raising capital is the most frustrating part of her job.

In this episode, we caught up with the  HealthQuest Capital Founder,  Garheng Kong, who worked at GlaxoSmithKline, McKinsey, and TherOx before transitioning into healthcare investing with Intersouth Partners and Sofinnova. 

Garheng’s resume is broad and deep. He has earned numerous degrees from two of the nation’s most prestigious universities — Stanford and Duke — and funded an equally impressive collection of healthcare companies throughout his career. 

Garheng and his team see up to 1,000 investment opportunities in any given year. The experience has taught him how to assess which ones are right for the firm, and which he can afford to let go of. 

In this interview, Garheng shares keen insights for startups and innovators preparing to pursue funding, along with observations about how the healthcare industry has shifted thanks to the global COVID-19 pandemic.

In this episode, we’re talking with Lightpoint Medical CEO Graeme Smith, a medtech veteran with over 32 years of experience in the industry. 

After joining Lightpoint earlier this year, Graeme was charged with commercializing its drop-in gamma probe, SENSEI, a revolutionary tool used in surgeries to non-invasively identify the presence of cancer. 

In this Medsider interview, Graeme shares his tried and true strategies for successful commercial launches and how to introduce products using a global distribution model.