The Medtech Innovation Podcast copertina

The Medtech Innovation Podcast

The Medtech Innovation Podcast

Di: Spencer Jones
Ascolta gratuitamente

3 mesi a soli 0,99 €/mese

Dopo 3 mesi, 9,99 €/mese. Si applicano termini e condizioni.

A proposito di questo titolo

 Medtech Innovation Podcast: Spencer Jones dives deep into winning medtech startup strategies. Each episode unpacks hot takes and insider tactics from the trenches of medtech innovation. Join physician inventors, founders, engineers, and healthcare market makers as they share actionable insights to navigate the FDA, secure medtech funding, and drive medtech breakthroughs. No-nonsense advice to be a change maker in medtech.©️ 2024 XO Medtech Economia Gestione e leadership Leadership Ricerca del lavoro Successo personale
Episodi
  • Become An Acquisition Target

    Become An Acquisition Target
    Jan 20 2026

    I'm joined by Brent Lavin, Founder of Ironwood Medtech Partners, as we explore product commercialization mastery, the critical mistakes medtech companies make in development, and how to navigate M&A as both acquirer and startup.

    The Product Development Trap Most Startups Fall Into
    → Companies commit to their solution too early without sufficient iteration - taking multiple prototypes to physicians saves months later when you discover fundamental flaws during verification testing
    → The biggest mistake is treating early-stage innovation like a regulated activity instead of moving fast with rapid prototyping and real-world physician feedback
    → Spend an extra month or quarter in the fuzzy front end of innovation to avoid costly pivots during the long documentation phase - go slow to go fast

    How Overlooking Human Factors Kills Great Products
    → Physicians love products that fail in practice because it's the scrub techs at the back table who struggle to unbox, prep, or load devices onto wires
    → Human factors testing shouldn't be about "teaching to the test" for FDA submission - it should uncover genuine workflow gaps that lead to unintended consequences
    → Most companies recruit from one hospital doing one procedure type instead of getting a representative sample of physicians who only do your procedure one out of eight cases

    The Segmentation, Targeting, Positioning Framework
    → Positioning isn't about being faster - it's about enabling physicians to treat new patient populations or do something fundamentally better for specific procedure types
    → Real example: Straub Medical's Rotorex succeeded against six competitors by targeting mixed morphology thrombotic and calcific lesions plus instant restenosis specifically
    → If you're marketing to everybody, you're marketing to nobody - geographic focus beats spreading thin across top-volume physicians nationwide in year one

    M&A Reality Check: What Strategics Actually Want
    → Big companies aren't looking for expensive pivots - they evaluate whether acquired technology can easily generate the data needed for regulatory expansion
    → The -10M acquisition sweet spot is rarely just about revenue multiples - it's about strategic fit, IP strength, and regulatory pathway clarity
    → Most startups undervalue their clinical data and bench testing demographics - these become dealbreakers when strategics can't use existing work for global submissions

    Best Quotes:

    "We treat even concept development like a regulated activity and that's not what we should be doing. We should be working as quickly as possible to get prototypes in front of physicians."

    "If you're truly looking at human factors like uncovering gaps and problems instead of teaching to the test, you would increase sample size and get people from around the country, not just your backyard."

    "If you're marketing to everybody, you're essentially marketing to nobody. You have to know specifically who you're going after."

    Want more insights on medtech innovation?

    Subscribe to the channel so you don't miss hot takes and insider tactics from the trenches of medtech startups.

    Find the perfect vendors for your medtech project for free at MedtechVendors - https://www.medtechvendors.com/

    🤝 Join the #1 network for medtech innovators on the internet. Become a member to accelerate your journey, collaborate and build valuable ventures. Join for free using this link.

    📈 My FREE 5-day course for Medtech Innovators to create successful ventures: https://xomedtech.com/free-course

    FIND SPENCER JONES ON SOCIAL
    Spencer's LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/medtech-innovation/
    XO Medtech LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/xo-medtech/

    FIND BRENT LAVIN ON SOCIAL
    Brent Lavin's LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/brentlavin/
    Ironwood MedTech Partners Website - https://www.ironwoodmedtechpartners.com/

    Episode Timestamps:
    0:00 - Introduction to Brent Lavin and his medtech journey through GE, CR Bard, and BD
    3:35 - Why product development is more complex today than 15 years ago
    8:09 - The biggest mistake: committing to solutions too early in development
    13:01 - Human factors and clinical workflow - the underappreciated nuance
    22:09 - Segmentation, targeting, and positioning for commercial success
    32:15 - Geographic targeting strategies for early-stage companies
    38:20 - Evaluating M&A opportunities from the strategic acquirer's perspective
    45:30 - The $10M acquisition sweet spot and what makes deals happen
    52:18 - Advisory boards vs consultants: when and how to use physician expertise
    Mostra di più Mostra meno
    1 ora e 6 min
  • Medtech Investor Secrets

    Medtech Investor Secrets
    Jan 8 2026
    I'm joined by Monica Vajani, Executive Director of the MedTech Accelerator at mHUB, as we explore the broken early-stage funding model, the evolution of value-based care's impact on medical device purchasing, and why Chicago is becoming a powerhouse for hard tech innovation.Living Through the Value-Based Care Revolution→ Monica witnessed firsthand the transition from physician-driven purchasing decisions to complex value analysis committees requiring clinical evidence and cost justification→ The fundamental disconnect: hospitals take on financial risk through value-based care models, but medical device companies still sell based on static clinical trial data from months or years ago→ Value analysis committees are overwhelmed, making decisions without real-time outcomes tracking, leading them to focus on simple cost reduction rather than innovative solutions that truly improve patient outcomesThe Brutal Truth About MedTech Funding Today→ The early-stage funding model is broken - companies need realistic ballpark figures like pharma's 4% success rate metrics to understand their actual chances of reaching market→ If you're developing a Class III neurology device requiring a 50-patient safety and efficacy trial, you're looking at approximately $30 million in capital needs that most founders drastically underestimate→ The funding environment has hollowed out: angels aren't stepping in like before, VCs are moving later stage, and 80% of the market is fighting for 40% of available capitalWhy Fractional Expertise Beats Full-Time Hires Early→ Hiring one or two full-time people with four to five airtight fractional consultants in regulatory and commercial is a better model than three full-time employees with narrow experience→ Companies waste equity on multi-year relationships with full-time COOs who may not work out, when fractional experts with proven playbooks can deliver quick wins→ The marketplace for fractional talent exists because companies are in analysis paralysis and aren't willing to commit full-time, but need specific expertise immediatelyThe Insurance Company Reality No One Wants to Face→ Hospital margins are squeezed, device reimbursement is flat or declining, but insurance companies keep growing revenues - something has to give at this tipping point→ The average person stays on an insurance plan for just 2.5 years, creating perverse incentives where payers optimize for short-term metrics rather than long-term patient outcomes→ The explosion in hospital administrative staff directly correlates with healthcare spending as a percent of GDP, with most growth stemming from prior authorization requirements that should be eliminated for 50-60% of care itemsChicago's Secret Weapon for Hard Tech Innovation→ mHUB has created over 7,000 jobs and their 700+ companies have generated over $2 billion in revenue while raising nearly $2 billion in capital - these are not small numbers→ The Illinois state government will match any venture dollars raised, and the ecosystem from universities to medical systems to high net worth individuals actually plays nice together→ Unlike coastal hubs, Chicago offers a "get shit done" environment where the right connections are just a phone call away, with 80,000 square feet of prototyping facilities and labs at mHUBWhat Accelerators Get Wrong (And Right)→ Too many accelerators are self-serving pitch practice sessions rather than investing actual capital and meeting entrepreneurs where they are with specific expert introductions→ mHUB's model: invest in companies, then reduce time to find the exact regulatory, reimbursement, and commercialization experts needed rather than overwhelming founders with generic networking→ The hyper-focus on demo days and events without high-commitment, high-performance environments fails to develop entrepreneurs who need targeted help, not generic playbooksThe Prior Authorization Solution That Will Never Happen→ A bilateral disarmament where 50-60% of care items are exempted from prior authorization requirements would simultaneously reduce hospital administrative costs and insurance company processing burdens→ United Healthcare is currently 180 days out on processing claims - eliminating unnecessary prior auth would speed payments and ease the cash crunch on hospitals→ Instead of rational policy reform, we're heading toward an AI hellscape where agentic systems appeal to each other endlessly while both sides maintain bloated administrative layersBest Quotes:"There's so many companies out there developing net new solutions. At some point, we're not going to be walking around with 70 devices on our bodies.""Being an entrepreneur does not mean you have to take a company, raise funding, and do all that. Only a few people know how to do that, and even those people need luck.""The biggest mistake in MedTech is thinking you can throw out a bunch of activity, but if you're not really driving towards outcomes, you ...
    Mostra di più Mostra meno
    42 min
  • Why Orthopedic Giants are Resisting Patient Specific Implants

    Why Orthopedic Giants are Resisting Patient Specific Implants
    Oct 14 2025
    I'm joined by Jonathan Swill, Principal Consultant at Surgical Excellence Partners, as we explore the future of patient-specific implants in orthopedics, why 20% of knee replacement patients remain unsatisfied, and how personalized medicine combined with robotics and AI will transform musculoskeletal surgery.In this episode, we dive deep into:The Patient-Specific Implant Revolution in Orthopedics → Why orthopedics is the "last bastion" to adopt patient-specific approaches while cranial maxillofacial surgery has made it the gold standard → How automated surgical planning software is reducing design time from weeks to days by cutting engineer-surgeon iteration cycles → The critical integration gap: precise robotic placement means nothing without the perfect implant design to matchFrom Research to Commercialization: The HSS Experience → How exposure to both implant failures and custom department successes at Hospital for Special Surgery sparked the patient-specific vision → Point of care labs enable hospitals to commercialize solutions internally and democratize patient-specific technologies → Physical proximity to clinical problems allows research hospitals to move from issue identification to solution faster than anyoneThe 20% Problem: Why Off-the-Shelf Implants Fall Short → One in five total knee replacement patients worldwide report dissatisfaction with outcomes—that's over 500,000 people annually → Mechanical alignment taught surgeons to align everyone to 7 degrees regardless of patient size, anatomy, or natural joint position → Kinematic alignment restores patient's natural body position but still uses off-the-shelf parts with non-native geometriesAdoption Barriers: Why Perfect Technology Doesn't Guarantee Market Success → Large orthopedic companies have hundreds of billions in off-the-shelf inventory that would become obsolete with widespread patient-specific adoption → Entrenched sales forces with long-standing contracts and massive influence create structural resistance to innovation → Surgeon education is harder than regulatory approval—you must prove improved outcomes, OR time savings, and cost reduction simultaneouslyKinematic vs Mechanical Alignment: The Paradigm Shift → Mechanical alignment was the legacy standard because off-the-shelf implants were the only option available → Kinematic alignment restores patient's natural anatomy and ligament positions but still lacks truly patient-specific geometries → Even leaders like Restore3D still focus on mechanical alignment with patient-specific implants—massive opportunity remains for kinematic integrationAI-Powered Surgical Planning: From Support Tool to Decision Partner → Current AI automates repetitive tasks like landmark identification and implant templating but remains basic and task-based → Next five years will see AI become predictive—forecasting post-op outcomes from intraoperative imaging at 6, 12, 18, 24 month intervals → AI will enable true kinematic alignment at scale by analyzing patient-specific anatomy and predicting optimal restoration positionsLead Qualification Over Volume: The Startup Survival Strategy → 90% of surgeons use one specific product and will die using it regardless of 3x cost savings from alternatives → Cutting 10 poor-fit prospects to focus on 10 qualified leads yields more customers faster than broadly targeting 30-40 big names → First sale cracks the ice—learn what worked, replicate the pattern, and qualify future leads against that success profileAdvice for Medtech Innovators: Become a Multi-Tool Athlete → Choose startups over big companies early in career—wear multiple hats, learn faster, become more valuable to future employers → Don't silo yourself into one specialty—COVID hiring freezes taught the value of broader medtech product development skills → Being really good at 4-5 different disciplines makes you "glue guy" who translates across teams—more valuable than being best at one thingBest Quotes:"Why wouldn't you want to be Shohei Otani? Why wouldn't you want to be him?""If 20%, if only 80% of our patients worldwide are satisfied and in no more pain with their knee replacement, that's still 20% of people. At two to three million knee replacements a year, that is over 500,000 people that are unsatisfied.""We need to not accept what's good enough. We need to accept perfection. We need to expect perfection because we see surgeons as these amazing geniuses that they are. But I think the tools that we're giving them are not allowing them to be perfect.""Orthopedics is the last bastion to really take it on in terms of patient-specific work because cranial maxillofacial—that's what they do. That is the gold standard and that's how it's taken.""You can make the best product in the world, but if they don't understand the value of your product and how it improves patient outcomes or how it improves surgeries, then it's not going...
    Mostra di più Mostra meno
    1 ora e 15 min
Ancora nessuna recensione