June 27, 2025 • 47 mins
In this episode of the Being an Engineer podcast, host Aaron Moncur interviews Katie Karmelek, a mechanical engineer and co-founder of Chamfr. Katie shares her journey from engineering to entrepreneurship, discussing her passion for medical device innovation and how Chamfr is revolutionizing component sourcing for medical device engineers.
Main Topics:
- Katie's engineering background and family influences
- The founding of Chamfr and its mission to accelerate medical device development
- Challenges of creating an online marketplace for medical components
- Personal experiences that highlight the importance of medical device innovation
- Advice for young engineers and entrepreneurs
About the guest: Katie Karmelek is a mechanical engineer and entrepreneur with nearly 20 years of experience in the medical device industry. She is the co-founder of Chamfr, an online marketplace that simplifies sourcing components and tools for medical device development by connecting engineers with qualified suppliers.
Before launching Chamfr in 2017, Katie held roles in product development and business management at companies like Olympus, Vention Medical, and TDC Medical. She also founded Karmelek Engineering, Inc., applying her technical expertise to further innovation in the field.
Katie holds both a Bachelor's and Master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from Northeastern University. She is committed to mentoring young engineers and frequently shares insights on materials and design trends through the Chamfr blog.
Links:
Click here to learn more about simulation solutions from Simutech Group.
🚀 Join Us at PDX 2025! 🚀
PDX 2025 is the Product Development Expo designed for engineers who want hands-on training from industry experts. PDX focuses on practical skill-building, cutting-edge tools, and real-world solutions.
📅 October 21-22, 2025
📍 Mesa Convention Center, AZ
🔗 https://reg.eventmobi.com/product-development-expo-2025
About Being An Engineer
The Being An Engineer podcast is a repository for industry knowledge and a tool through which engineers learn about and connect with relevant companies, technologies, people resources, and opportunities. We feature successful mechanical engineers and interview engineers who are passionate about their work and who made a great impact on the engineering community.
The Being An Engineer podcast is brought to you by Pipeline Design & Engineering. Pipeline partners with medical & other device engineering teams who need turnkey equipment such as cycle test machines, custom test fixtures, automation equipment, assembly jigs, inspection stations and more. You can find us on the web at www.teampipeline.us
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Katie Karmelek (00:00):
When you're developing those products, you
realize that they're helpingpeople, and you do and you know
that, and that's so fulfilling,and we've already talked about
that. But when it's somebodythat you love so dearly, it is a
whole different ball game. You
Aaron Moncur (00:13):
Katie, hello and welcome to the being an engineer
podcast. Katie karmalek is ourguest today, a seasoned
(00:33):
mechanical engineer and the cofounder of chamfer, a game
changing online marketplace thatconnects medical device
engineers with in stock andcustom components to accelerate
prototyping and productdevelopment with nearly two
decades of experience spanninghands on engineering and
strategic business roles atcompanies like Olympus and
(00:54):
vengeance. Medical Katie bringsdeep expertise in driving med
tech innovation from concept tocommercialization. Beyond her
professional achievements, Katieis passionate about mentoring
the next generation ofengineers. She actively supports
programs like the gallantengineering business program at
Northeastern University, andcontributes to various women in
(01:17):
STEM initiatives. Katie, thankyou so much for being on the
show with us today.
Katie Karmelek (01:22):
Thanks for having me, Aaron. I'm excited to
talk with you today.
Aaron Moncur (01:25):
Terrific, terrific. Now, we had your co
founder on the show. It's been,it's been a few years now, maybe
more than a few years, threeyears, something like that.
Yeah, you had Julie Schulte onright? Yes, yeah. And, and she
was lovely, of course, but a lothas changed in the past three
years or so. Chamfer has beengrowing quite a bit. You have
(01:47):
different offerings now, and sowe're going to dig into all of
that. But before we get into allof that fun stuff, let's start
with the typical first questionthat we do here on the being an
engineer podcast, which is whatmade you decide to become an
engineer, sure?
Katie Karmelek (02:02):
Yeah. So I was, I was influenced by my
grandfather. First, he was amechanical engineer. He served
in World War Two, and he wasalways doing stuff around the
house. One day, he would justsay, okay, you know what? I
think we need a new electricaloutlet over there. And before
you know it, an hour later, we'dbe wiring a new electrical
outlet, and he knew how to doeverything, which just amazed
(02:25):
me. I was captivated by him, hisstories and really just, you
know, how he approachedeverything from scratch, with
confidence and knew how to doeverything. But it really wasn't
also just him. I I grew up witha mom who went a single mom who
went to medical school when Iwas in first grade, and she was
then an ER doctor, is nowretired. My dad is a dentist,
(02:49):
and my brother followed in mymom's footsteps and is now also
an ER doctor. So I wassurrounded by medicine, but I
knew for sure that I didn't wantto be a doctor. So for me, I was
actually really excited to findthe medical device industry
because I still wanted to helppeople, but without being
bedside next to the patient, Icould still bring kind of that,
(03:10):
the the engineering aspect, andstill be a part of the whole
healthcare system, which justI've loved since the Day. I
found the industry
Aaron Moncur (03:20):
fantastic. So your, your full time effort
right now is chamfer, but beforethat, you, you had a career in
engineering. I mean, doingengineering work, can you maybe
just walk us through a couple ofhighlights, where places you
worked, and maybe if there was aproject in particular that was
exciting or interesting that youcan talk about,
Katie Karmelek (03:41):
absolutely, yeah, I was fortunate to find
medical device industry in at Iwent to Northeastern and so my
first Co Op, just finding myfirst job, essentially, I found
the medical device industry. SoI worked on a lot of really cool
projects. I worked at a companycalled NMT medical, which had a
heart implant. So I was exposedto catheter delivery systems and
(04:03):
minimally invasive, you know,heart surgery. That way. Just my
very first Co Op. I worked atBoston Scientific I have a
patent with them on a biliarystent. And then from there, I
worked on the services side ofthe business. I loved just being
able to work in a variety ofdifferent projects with
different companies, mostlyminimally invasive surgical
devices, a lot of catheters. Andone in particular is actually
(04:27):
actively in clinical trialsright now. And it's a really
cool new way to treathydrocephalus, which is a
swelling in your brain, right?
And so it can be a reallyhorrible disease, and the
current course of treatment isbrain surgery, literally opening
up your brain and putting a tubefrom your brain all the way down
to your abdomen, like the mostinvasive. And a lot of people
(04:48):
who get this have to have repeatsurgeries. We met a woman who
had, I think, over 14 repeatsurgeries for this, and it's
actually a minimally invasivefemoral access device. That can
go all the way up and deliver alittle implant this big to treat
hydrocephalus. It's you guysshould check them out. They're
called Sarah Vasque, and I had ablast, very complex product, but
(05:09):
a lot of fun. And they're doinggreat things. So
Aaron Moncur (05:14):
incredible. Wow, how fulfilling it must be to
have been a part of that and seehow it impacts people's lives.
Unknown (05:21):
You know what? I'm such a small part of it, and that's
the best part, too. I've beenexposed to so many great people.
It takes a ton of manpower,women power, all the power to
bring those products to market,and having access to the parts
that you need, to the testingthat you need, right, and really
building out that wholecomprehensive strategy to get
(05:41):
that product to market takes alot, and I just feel fortunate
to have been a very small partof that one in particular, and
several others,
Aaron Moncur (05:48):
all right, so that's a perfect segue into
chamfer, having access to thecomponents you need to develop a
product. Tell us a little bitabout chamfr. What is chamfer?
How did it get started, and whatwas the problem that chamfr is
solving?
Katie Karmelek (06:04):
Yeah, so chamfr is an online marketplace. We are
connecting buyers and suppliersat their point of need, and that
is through access to in stock.
Components. Is one piece of it.
We also facilitate connectionsat the custom component level,
right getting connected with theright supplier that you need to
source that specializedcomponent that might not be in
(06:27):
stock or readily available. Andthen beyond that, you know, it's
not just about components. Whenyou're developing a medical
device, you need a lot ofdifferent services and
capabilities. So we're really,truly are the One Stop Shop
experience that can help you getconnected to the right person to
bring that product to marketfaster. We initially started
(06:49):
with the foundation of themarketplace, right that in stock
components, because, number one,I was an R and D engineer. I say
was because I don't reallypractice Bill free choices to
market. I guess I still am an Rand D engineer, but I was trying
to prototype and not finding theparts that I needed. I'd have to
go to multiple websites. Nothingfit thoughtfully together, and
(07:11):
it was a lot of time spent. Andso, you know, my vision for
bringing chamfr to light, whichI had a co I have a co founder
that had a different vision, andit's really interesting how we
came together. But I was like, Idon't I don't want to waste all
this time. I just want to beable to place one shopping
experience. I want to be able toget what I need. And I want them
to be from medical gradesuppliers, not kind of what I
(07:34):
would say, quote, dirty tubingfrom maybe a more industrial
supplier. I want to know thatI'm going to be working with the
people that can help me longterm. I also don't want to wait
weeks. I don't want to have towrite a PO and go through all of
that process. I want to be ableto get parts in my hands
quickly, because that's the nameof the game, right? It takes a
lot of time to figure out anditerate and play in order to get
the product to the right designthat you need. And then Julie,
(07:58):
who you mentioned earlier, so weactually had the same concept
for the business around the sametime, and she had a completely
different perspective on it. Itwas she understood the
prototyping angle, but she wascoming from the sales side
saying, I need to access theseengineers at their point of
need. I need to be able to getspec in early. I need to be able
then I want them to know aboutme and my you know. And so for
(08:19):
her, it was the sales teams needthis as well. And so we kind of
came together and said, yeah,they are both of our problems
are solved with the samesolution. You know, we need to
do this. So that was sort of thebackground around chamfr. A lot
of people ask us why the namechamfr. So it is because we are
giving engineers an edge toinnovate faster, right with the
(08:42):
access of components, as well asthe access to this supply base
that we've built, we have overwe have hundreds of suppliers,
over 100 suppliers, and thenit's like almost 12,000 in stock
components that we have on oursite today. So we've grown
tremendously. And I think we'vereally just scratched the
surface of the not just thenumber of products, but the
(09:04):
technologies and the suppliersthat we can bring to this
marketplace.
Aaron Moncur (09:09):
Yeah, I feel like I see chamfer just all over the
place. Now you guys really havejust blown up. Congratulations
on the success of the company todate, and I'm sure it's only
going to get bigger and betterfrom here. How did you and Julie
meet initially?
Katie Karmelek (09:23):
Yeah, so, actually, so Julie was running
sales and marketing at a companycalled vention medical. I had
been part of vention, but as byacquisition of a small design
company that I called TDCmedical, that was actually one
of my most favorite jobs ever.
I'm actually still very closefriends with the engineers that
I worked with there. We just hada blast bringing products to
(09:43):
market and testing anddesigning. But so, you know, by
acquisition, TDC became what wasknown as venture medical, and
Julie was brought on on theexecutive team. So one day,
she's passing me in the hallwayand she's like, Wait, you're an
engineer. Come here. She askedme to explain to her the
difference of a multi lumenversus a coaxial design of a
(10:04):
catheter. So I just drew acouple of circles, and I'm like,
this is how this I do it. Andshe goes, You need to be in
marketing. And I was like, No, Idon't. Can I go back to my job
now, because I have a lot ofwork to do, and it probably took
another year, she ultimatelyconvinced me to come over to
marketing, and we ended uphaving a blast. As you may know,
vention medical had an onlinestore, and at the time we were
(10:26):
acquiring new componenttechnologies, and I was
ultimately responsible, underJulie to bring those products,
not only to the online store butto the sales teams, and educate
them on how they can what newmarkets we were uncovering how
those component components couldbe leveraged. And the sales
teams loved it. They were like,Bring me more of these leads.
You're making my job so mucheasier. And we just saw
(10:48):
exponential sales across allthose component technologies. So
we ended up having a blast doingall of that. Now, vention was
acquired and is now Nordsonmedical, and so at that time, I
think it had been over, over 10years that I had been at TDC and
then vention, and I was like, Ithink it's time to, you know,
see something else. And then Iwas right around the time where
(11:10):
Julie and I had sort ofconcepted the idea for a
chamfer, and we couldn't get itout of our heads. We both went,
we're toying with other jobs andwhat we do. And we really just
were like, if we're gonna thetiming probably isn't right,
because we both have young kids,and we were really overwhelmed
by that. But we said, You knowwhat, there's never going to be
a right time. We gotta, we gottatry. So
Aaron Moncur (11:32):
that's terrific.
Talk a little bit about the theneed for in stock components. I
mean, I don't know that everyonefully realizes or appreciates
the challenges that an engineermight go through to get
something for a prototypequickly. Wasn't that the case
prior to chamfer that you couldjust go out and, like, buy three
(11:56):
balloons off the shelf.
Unknown (12:00):
If you wanted three balloons, you'd probably be
spending 15, $20,000 you'd get aminimum of some number of
balloons, but you'd have to payfor the tooling of the balloon,
pay for the extrusion run andwait for the extrusion to be run
to then sent there to then blowmold in that tooling that you
just paid for. And you neverlike that, you'd have to be so
(12:21):
confident in your design,because you're spending not only
that money, but time is moneytoo. So you're talking six,
eight weeks at minimum, if notlonger. So No, we've, we've been
very fortunate that the partnersthat we've built it, as we grew
chamfer, saw the value andinvested in these products on
the shelf, right? These are not,this did not happen overnight. I
(12:44):
mean, I can tell you, pobamedical started with us having
no balloons on the shelf. Maybethey started with, you know, 20
to 50 to start, and now theyhave over 200 balloons in stock
today, if not even more. I mean,they've just exploded. So the
they have a ton of products, andthat's, that's an investment,
(13:07):
and then in their side, right inthe tooling and everything. But
they saw the value, and itreally helps expedite, because
that balloon, you might thinkyou need a spherical but you're
not exactly sure what diameter,or you don't know what durometer
urethane you might want to havethat out of right? So now you
can just grab a couple a bag ofa few balloons for a couple $100
test them out, and then the nextday, you could be finalizing
(13:30):
your design.
Aaron Moncur (13:31):
Amazing. So much time is saved, by the way, poba
medical founder Dan Kasprzyk, Ithink, was the third guest on
the being an engineer podcastfive years ago, such
Unknown (13:44):
a great guy. Yeah, that was a good early guest. Yeah,
absolutely.
From motors and robotics tocontrols, automation and
precision prototyping. Simutekbrings ANSYS simulation tools
(14:06):
and expert insight directly toyour team. We help you
accelerate design, reduce riskand eliminate costly rework,
validate before you fabricate.
Simutech group helps yousimulate thermal stress,
vibration, fluid flowelectronics, cooling,
electromagnetic performance, youname it,
whether you're an automotive,aerospace, energy, industrial
(14:29):
automation or the next bigthing. Simutech partners with
innovators to deliver simulationdriven results that move
products forward, build smartermachines, launch stronger
products, scale faster withsimute X simulation support by
your side.
Simutech group, your engineeringpartner in motion, visit
(14:49):
simutechgroup.com and Let'spower up your next design.
Aaron Moncur (14:56):
All right. Well, back to champ for what were some
of the challenges? Challengesthat your team faced early on,
and how did you overcome them?
Yeah, I don't
Katie Karmelek (15:05):
think we realized how complex a
marketplace is when we decidedto start this whole thing.
Really, I think if we could goback and tell ourselves, then
how hard it was going to be, Idon't know if we would have
taken the same path. But, youknow, I think in that we are the
kind of people that are justwhen you set your mind to
(15:26):
something, we're going to figureit out, no matter how hard it
is, and we'll die trying, but wewill figure it out. And so in
the early days, when we hadconcepted this and we were
thinking about it, we also, youknow, decided, okay, let's talk
to some suppliers, let'svalidate this, that that we have
that before we invest in a toolthat they may or may not use.
Let's get some of that feedback.
And I, I'll never forget one ofour first meetings with one of
(15:47):
the first suppliers that joinedchamfer. We sat down, we told
them, and they're like, Okay,we're in. And they started to
write a check to us. And we'relike, you know that we haven't
even built the marketplace yet,right? Like we're just, we're
just trying to figure out ifwe're going to do this. And
they're like, if anybody can doit, it's you guys. So I'm
investing in that, and it'sproven true. They weren't wrong.
Some of our our earliestadopters are some of our best
(16:13):
suppliers, who have been with usfrom the very beginning.
Aaron Moncur (16:17):
Amazing, amazing.
I'm sure this happens all thetime, but I'm curious if you
have any specific stories youcan share where a team's
development really wasaccelerated, you know, pretty
dramatically by access to thesein stock components at chamfer.
Unknown (16:35):
Yeah, I actually just heard a story recently. You
know, for us, when we set wesell these parts online. It's
all very it's all digitized,right? So we're not physically
talking to people, so we don'talways get all of the stories,
but we love them. So orwhoever's listening, if you have
a great story how you've usedchamfer, please let us know,
because we'd love to hear them.
But I was fortunate enough to behaving a conversation recently,
(16:57):
and I this, it was a physicianentrepreneur developing a
product, and they went fromconcept to first in human in six
months. And they said it was allbecause of chamfer
Aaron Moncur (17:13):
that's incredible.
It's incredible years, usually,yeah, so that
Unknown (17:17):
we're talking like five, six, I mean, well, maybe
three, five years depending onthe complexity of the product.
You know, the 510, K aspect,your regulatory path and what
you need to do at the amount oftesting that's required. Of
course, many devices that arehighly complex do take a lot
longer. But this, in this oneexample, I was floored, because
I've never, you know, typicallyit takes five months just to
(17:39):
kind of get that firstprototype, often right, let
alone being that far through thedevelopment process. And that
was all attributed to the fastaccess of components, having
them readily available. And, youknow, working with a partner
that could really just innovatethat quickly with them.
Aaron Moncur (17:57):
That's amazing.
Wow. I love efficiency andseeing solutions in the market
that actually make a realdifference. And so hearing
something like that, I mean, whoknows how long it would have
taken this company, otherwise,years, probably, and probably
hundreds of 1000s of dollars, ifnot more, saved. Absolutely.
That's a big impact.
Unknown (18:20):
Yeah, absolutely, yeah.
We love to hear those stories.
It just also really validateswhy we did this, right? I mean,
our ultimate goal is helpingproducts get to market faster,
because that's helping somebody.
And it doesn't have to always bea life saving device. It can be
just making someone's life evenincrementally better, is really
why we do this. And so, I mean,the fact that it was that much
(18:44):
faster was just mind blowing forus.
Aaron Moncur (18:48):
Yeah, yeah. How does it feel to know that you're
having an impact on patientslives out there and in a way
that you know they may not havebeen able to experience without
chamfer yeah,
Unknown (18:58):
sometimes we have to pinch ourselves for like, Is
this really happening? Did we dothis? Is this really ours?
Aaron Moncur (19:05):
Well, amazing. All right. Well, short break here,
the being an engineer podcast isbrought to you by pipeline
design and engineering, where wedon't design pipelines, but we
do help companies developadvanced manufacturing
processes, automated machinesand custom fixtures,
complemented with product designand R and D services, and we're
(19:27):
having an exciting event thisOctober called PDX. It's October
21 and 22nd out here in Phoenix,where we'll have dozens of
subject matter experts doingtraining on different topics
relevant to engineers whodevelop physical products, for
example, how to program a robotor glue dispensing or vision
(19:50):
inspection, or advanced surfacemodeling for CAD practical
project management, 3d scanningand reverse engineering,
metrology, Gd and T the list.
Goes on and on and on. It'sgoing to be a fun, fun time and
wonderful educationalexperience. So we hope you can
join us this Phoenix October,this October 21 and 22nd just
outside of Phoenix. All right,getting back to Katie. So,
(20:13):
Katie, you had mentioned thatyour grandfather was an
engineer, and he influenced you,thinking back on that, what are
some of the other ways that heinfluenced you to decide to
become an engineer and pursuethat career path?
Unknown (20:33):
I think so. He always had a way of making things with
such precision. He because, Imean, he was just, he's very
polish, very like, just, he doeseverything, even his signature
was always exactly the same,right, everything, and so, you
know, watching him just be soorganized and diligent and
(20:55):
everything that was one piecethat, you know, you kind of just
sort of take for granted. Youthink engineering, you're just
tinkering and making a mess orwhatnot. But his workshop, mean,
he had this shed with, I mean,hundreds of 1000s of various
parts dating back to, who knowshow long, all different nuts and
bolts and screws and everythingwas labeled. He had his little
like embossed label maker. Andso I have to give him a lot of
(21:18):
credit in that way, because hetaught me to value craft,
craftsmanship, I'll say, andalso have some curiosity,
because I was, like, alwaysamazed that he knew everything,
and I didn't know how he kneweverything, and so I always
wanted to know more. So that'sI'd say, where I know how I got
that from him, and then, yeah, Ijust he was a very independent
(21:39):
person, and I think I don't knowif I got that from him or not,
but that is that's onesimilarity between the two of us
that will always share
Aaron Moncur (21:48):
curiosity, I think is a very important word for
engineers. What What otheradvice or attributes to develop
would you suggest for youngengineers who want to get into
the medical device field, oreven those particularly
interested in eventuallyexploring entrepreneurship,
Unknown (22:09):
the first thing I'd say is just say yes to opportunities
as they arise, because, like,for instance, the example of
Julie pulling me into marketingor whatnot, and I was fortunate
enough to have somebody that wasdoing the pulling in that
example right, and really sawthe, you know, the value in me
to be in that role. You don'talways get that every day. Say
(22:33):
say yes, be curious, but sayyes, because those opportunities
are examples of how you can getexperience that you know you
might not realize how valuablethat can be. And sometimes you
can say yes, and it's not agreat fit. And then you know
that you don't want to do that.
So I would say, always be opento new opportunities and
experiences as they come. Andthen the other thing I would say
(22:54):
is, is don't wait to be ready. Ithink you know for us with
chamfr. If we had waited to beready, we never would have built
this. We had to start small.
We've been we are, actually, arestill very scrappy, even though
we, you know, we're eight yearsin, we still do a lot of things
ourselves. We're very hands on.
We're very into like we're goingto figure this out and truly
(23:15):
understand it and then automateand I feel like that allows us
to really have control over howwe've built our business, the
ins and outs of it, so andsurround yourself with people
that have that same mindset, bego for it. Start scrappy, figure
stuff out and just, you know,keep at it. There's always a
solution, even when it feelslike there isn't.
Aaron Moncur (23:39):
Yeah, I love the attitude of scrappy when when I
started pipeline, it was just meand I worked out of a spare
bedroom in my house. And it wasthat way. Even as we started
hiring people and growing alittle bit for the first almost
10 years, it was, it was thatformat. Everyone worked from
home. We didn't have a formaloffice. Overhead was really low.
(24:02):
We were definitely scrappy, andI think that's what enabled us
to grow enough to the pointwhere, like, Okay, now we can
afford an office, right? We wereable to survive for long enough
to get to that, that tippingpoint, because we were so
scrappy. So I I love thatattitude personally. Let's, I'd
(24:23):
love to talk a little bit moreabout your transition into
marketing, because as far as Iknow, that was not something
that you had done before, right?
This is brand new for you. Yeah.
Okay. So Julie says, Hey, Katie,you should, you should be a
marketer. And you're like,that's crazy. And eventually, a
year later, you actually you doit. So what was that transition
(24:44):
like? And what was it likebecoming a marketer, coming from
engineering, what does amarketer even do?
Unknown (24:51):
Yeah, yeah. It's a great question. I had no idea at
the time. I was like, engineersdon't belong in marketing. That
doesn't make sense. And she'slike, No, you don't. Understand
they're the best fit. So it'sactually a role which was new to
me at the time. I had neverheard of it, and they're there.
You're called product managers.
So essentially, you trulyunderstand the ins and outs of
the product in which you'remarketing and be able to speak
(25:13):
to the technical aspect. You doneed to have good communication
skills so that you can translatethe technical aspect of whatever
product you're talking about tosales, to marketing, making sure
that you can dumb down if that'snot a great way, that's those
are, that's not a good choicewords, but you know what I mean?
You can simplify the tech, thehighly technical piece of it,
(25:34):
and make it digestible forwhether that's going to be some
kind of content, whether that'sfor sales, trainings and
purposes, and it really justmakes everybody on the same
page. And that takes a certainkind of person, which I ended up
loving. I never thought I wouldsay that. Honestly, when she,
when she came to me and this wasall happening, I'm like, I see
myself in R D. I'm gonna, I'mgonna run, you know, I'm gonna
(25:58):
run an art I'm gonna be an R andD manager of some company. That
was the role in my mindeventually, and that was where I
was going to head to. But it'sbeen it was so much fun, and it
really helps me develop a lot ofother skills, so not just
communication skills, butbusiness strategy skills,
bringing me to the table withthe executive team so that we
(26:19):
could connect these dots andreport out on on the success of
the online store and otherthings. So it really brought to
light a lot of otheropportunities that I never would
have experienced if I kind ofjust pigeonholed myself and
said, No, I'm an R D engineer.
This is what I do. It opened up.
And once, once you have thoseskills, you don't, you can be an
engineer anywhere. You see a lotof engineer CEOs. You see them
(26:42):
in all different roles. And so Ithink it can really help,
because it just is that it's amindset more than a skill set at
a certain point. And I thinkthat's really what matters. So
getting all of the variousexperiences of people's
different mindsets and what thatmeans to a business and
organization or even inacademia, wherever you are, it
(27:04):
all translates, and it'simportant to have experience
with it.
Aaron Moncur (27:15):
The Product Development expo or PDX is your
chance to learn from subjectmatter experts, providing
practical, hands on training fordozens of different engineering
topics, Gd and T advancedsurface modeling, DFM, plating
and finishing techniques,programming robots, adhesive,
dispensing, prototyping, tipsand tricks and lots more. PDX
(27:37):
happens October 21 and 22nd inPhoenix, Arizona. Learn more at
PD Expo. Dot engineer. That's P,D, E, x, p, O, dot engineer. It
sounds like that role was reallyhelpful in preparing you to
(27:59):
start chamfer.
Unknown (28:01):
Absolutely, yeah. I mean, well, I it was also, it's
so Julia and I are the way thatwe work together. And we had a
third, a third, co founder,Catherine, and all of us are
working on this, this marketingteam together. It was the way
that we worked together. Wasjust absolutely incredible. I
mean, we didn't live near eachother. We were working mostly
(28:22):
from home. I was working out ofone of the venture medical
offices, but most of us werecompletely remote. And so we we
not only worked in completesilos, if you would, geography
wise, but we are so synergizedas a team. And that's how you
know that you know, once youfind good people. You know this,
you kind of tend to staytogether. And that was
(28:43):
instrumental in starting chamferbecause when you start a
business with somebody, you areessentially getting married to
them. And it's can be reallyhard sometimes, but being able
to overcome those challengesface them together, and you do
want somebody with a differentmind. You don't you want, you
don't you want, you don't wantto have two of the same
perspectives in a business,because you really need to
(29:05):
challenge each other and be ableto have different roles, since
you won't have a lot of people.
And that's really proven to be,you know, probably one of the
best decisions I ever made in mylife was to to take Julie up on
that opportunity, because Idon't think we'd be here today
if I hadn't,
Aaron Moncur (29:22):
it's so funny to think about how maybe not
little, but key decisions alongthe timeline of life can make
such a drastic difference in theeventual trajectory of our
lives. Right?
Unknown (29:36):
Absolutely. Yeah, I tell this story so I go to
Northeastern and I'll talk tothe students. They always asked
me about my career path and thechoices that I made. And when I
was in college, my last Co Op,that I had three co ops at
Northeastern, and my last one, Iwas going to just ditch
engineering all together and gotravel. I was going to go to
Hawaii and study whales for alittle bit and pretend I'm a
(29:56):
marine biologist. And that I wasgoing to go to New Zealand and
like work. A farm and just enjoylife. And I was able to do this
and still meet the curriculumrequirements. I would just have
to write a paper about myexperiences, but my co op
advisor said, Just go on a fewinterviews. And you know, that's
it. Just keep up your your skillsets, update your resume. So I
(30:19):
went on an interview at BostonScientific, and I got offered
this amazing opportunity to workin their endoscopy team that I
just I couldn't refuse. So Iended up not going at all on my
whole expedition and travel. AndI went to Boston Scientific, and
I do, as I said, Before, I havea patent with them on the
biliary stent that I worked on.
And I met a lot of great peopleand had a wonderful experience.
(30:40):
And then the student, whenever Itell this story, they always are
like, so have you gone to NewZealand or Hawaii? And I was
like, I still haven't. Actually,
Aaron Moncur (30:51):
I still never been to either place. Oh yeah, that's
it. I grew up in Hawaii. I don'tknow if you knew born and raised
in Hawaii, that's right on Oahu,a town on the east side of the
island called Kaneohe. So it's,it's, it was amazing, right? I
loved, loved growing up there.
That's still home. I hope toeventually end up there someday.
(31:13):
And another place that I'vealways wanted to visit was New
Zealand, because it also justlooks gorgeous, and we're
actually planning a trip to NewZealand next year. So it's, it's
funny to hear you see those twoplaces.
Unknown (31:30):
Funny, yeah, one day we'll get there. We had, you
know, we have three kids now, soit's, life is a little
different. But we'll, we'll,we'll be getting them all there
sometime. I think, yeah, yeah.
Aaron Moncur (31:40):
Well, speaking of three kids, you had a personal
experience just very recently,and it underscored the
importance of, kind ofviscerally, underscored the
importance of getting componentsinto engineers hands quickly so
that they can develop these lifesaving, life sustaining medical
(32:04):
devices. Can you share a littlebit about that experience?
Unknown (32:07):
Absolutely. You know, this one does hit pretty close
to home. So just recently, mynine year old son was
hospitalized. He ended up havinga badly perforated appendix, and
we ended up being admitted tothe hospital for 18 days
together. We got home just theother day, just a few days ago,
(32:29):
and yet, he has a PICC line forat home IV antibiotics, which
I'm administering to him threetimes a day. I'm a, I'm a home
nurse, and as well, now I'mgoing to add that one to my
resume. But, but, you know, itwas, it's been, it was, it was
quite a wild ride. He was very,very sick. And it's very, it's
your it's hard when your kid issick no matter what. And this
(32:49):
was, was very intense, you know,and I'm sitting in the hospital
thinking about all of the timesI spent building catheters and
developing products that weresimilar to everything I'm seeing
around me, and it was like, youknow, I couldn't in the in the
moment, and when, when you'redeveloping those products, you
(33:10):
realize that they're helpingpeople, and you do, and you know
that, and that's so fulfilling,and we've already talked about
that. But when it's somebodythat you love so dearly, it is a
whole different ball game. I wassitting in the in the one of the
rooms when my son ended uphaving the PICC line placed. And
he was brave enough. They gavehim the option. It was brave
enough to do it under localanesthesia. So he was awake and
(33:33):
we were talking, and it was veryscary for him. He had a moment
where the catheter was kind ofnot having a life of its own and
not going the right way. And hefelt like he couldn't breathe
for a minute. And we, we bothsat there and worked through it
together. He was so brave. AndI'm like seeing this Catherine
that I saw 1000s of times, righton all different French sizes
and all the lure fittings andeverything. And then you watch
(33:54):
it and realize that, you know,it's, it's incredible what
everybody does in our industry,and it it just, you know, you
really have this moment whereyou're like, Okay, I am even
more now so connected to this,in this industry, to what we do
and to our mission to helppeople. You know, we're not just
(34:15):
enabling innovation. We'rereally making people's lives
better and or potentially savingtheir lives. And my son is now
one of the people who neededthat. He's still, he's still at
home right now with his pickline and his arm. It's a cool
purple PICC line, so it'sawesome. And I got him some arm
sleeves so that he looks reallycool when he's outside and
keeping it protected. But yeah,it is, it is one it's been, it's
(34:39):
been quite an experience thatyou know, I'll never forget, and
hopefully he won't remember allof the details in as much you
know as clear but, but no, it'sbeen. It's been one of those
times where I'm very gratefulfor everybody involved in the
healthcare system, from everyonein medtech to all of the nurses
and doctors and and. Everybodyinvolved. So it's been, yep, a
(35:02):
lot of gratitude right now forfor everything that's
Aaron Moncur (35:05):
done. Yeah, amazing. Wow. Well, I'm so happy
to hear that he's doing wellnow. And what, what an
incredible story. Thank you forfor sharing such a personal
experience. It makes me rememberwhen our second child was born,
and we were in the hospital anda nurse came in with it's called
(35:29):
a Vocera badge. It's basically amedical walkie talkie that
nurses and physicians wear athospitals, and they could push a
button and easily call someoneor communicate with someone.
Anyway, this nurse walked inwearing this bucera badge, and I
said to myself, I can't believeit. I I worked on this like I it
was a small part, I think I did.
DFM on part of the housing forthis plastic injection molded
(35:51):
bad, but I saw it in real life,and someone's actually using
this. And it was such a neatfeeling. So the you know, your
experience was, was, I think, somuch more powerful. But it's so
fulfilling seeing something thatyou had a hand in, or, you know,
even the industry in whichyou're a part, seeing that in
real life.
Unknown (36:13):
Yeah, every day I'm giving him the antibiotics, I'm
connecting the syringe, the, youknow, all the lure fittings
together, and I'm like, Oh, wehave these syringes, these same
BD syringes and my on chamfer,we have the same tubing. We sell
all of this. And it's, yeah,it's, it's been, it's been very
eye opening. I'll say I have amuch while I understood it. It
didn't, it didn't resonate theexact same way that it does
(36:35):
today. So I'm feeling even moreempowered by what we do and how
we'll continue to help drive allof these amazing innovations to
market to help those people thatreally need them.
Aaron Moncur (36:47):
Yeah, well, I'm sure if Julie were here right
now, she she'd say to you,Katie, that's the story that we
need to start telling over andover and over. That's this is
the bringing out the marketingmarketer in you here. So you
mentioned the BD syringe andchamfer has so many different
components on its marketplaceright now. How do you determine
(37:10):
which components are mostneeded? What's the process
internally within chamfer todecide that? Yeah,
Unknown (37:18):
so in the beginning, we went off of what we knew that
the industry needed, and wereally focused a lot of
interventional because that'swhere we had come from. That was
like our background and whatlike in the part of the industry
that we really needed, and weknew that industry needed us,
right? It was very clear,tubing, balloons, heat shrink,
all of that was its and, youknow, even today, I think we can
(37:42):
still service in theinterventional market better,
but we have a lot to offer, andwe love that we've got a very
solid foundation. And then whatwe've been doing in parallel is
educating ourselves on whatother med tech industries need,
right looking at, how can wesupport bioelectronics? How can
we support wearables,diagnostics? How can we make
(38:06):
sure that the way engineersinnovate, they can get what they
need on chamfr, and it comeswith, you know, not just
educating ourselves, but alsoasking our our audience, our
buyers. So when you come tochamfer, there's actually a
little survey on the producttable page, like, did you find
what you're looking for? We, weget a lot of input through that.
(38:27):
People are constantly tellingus, because, you know, by them
telling us, we help make theirlives easier, we help make their
jobs easier. So they fill thatout, and we'll use all of that
data to inform, you know, maybegoing after a new supplier,
maybe going, you know, whereverwe need to go to try to connect
those dots, we will. And thenalso search data. So we have an
(38:49):
AI enabled search interface, andwe collect that data regularly,
and we're looking, what arepeople searching for and not
finding that's where we need tofocus, right? There's a real
need. And so we kind of take of,you know, a multi pronged
approach, but that's really howwe're looking to expand. So
anybody, if you have feedback,you don't have to fill out that
survey. You can contact usanytime, but that's, that's a
(39:11):
lot of how we are currentlyexpanding. Well,
Aaron Moncur (39:15):
we'll list Katie's home address in the show notes.
Katie Karmelek (39:19):
I can show you how to how to dose of
antibiotics,
Aaron Moncur (39:24):
right? Well, looking forward to the the
future of chamfer. What? What doyou hope is true about chamfer?
I don't know, three, five yearsfrom now. So
Katie Karmelek (39:36):
we are investing in really digitizing the whole
product, that whole productdevelopment life cycle,
especially sort of that phaseone through three, if you will,
the early stage development,being able to make everything
that happens in that part of theprocess easier, faster and. We
(40:00):
do that with the in stockcomponents, with access to the
supply base, but then also withadditional innovative tools. So
there's a there's a lot morecoming from chamfr That's really
exciting. I can't tell everybodyexactly what it is quite yet,
but we are, we are really at apivotal moment in our
(40:21):
organization where we'refortunate enough to be making
some exciting changes andfeatures and functionalities. So
you'll see more from us,especially in the next six
months to a year, that really tojust be that, that hub, that
central hub, where engineers andsupply chain folks can come to
(40:41):
and trust that they're going toget what they need to help make
their jobs easier.
Aaron Moncur (40:47):
Going back to the beginning of chamfer I know you
had a few customers early onthat really believed in you and
invested in you, but you'vegrown far beyond that. How did
you get your first I don't know,several dozen customers. What
did that look like from a salesstandpoint?
Katie Karmelek (41:08):
Yeah, so we be at being in an r, d engineer. I
first just went to all mybuddies, and I was like, Guys,
what we had told them we weredeveloping chamfer. They were
our beta testers, right? We hada whole slew of beta testing
people, and it was a lot of,hey, come check this out. What
do you think? What should we dodifferent? What parts do we
need? So we had, we had anaudience early on that were
(41:32):
early adopter buyers. So wetalked about the early adopter
suppliers as well, but we hadthem on the buy, on the buy side
as well. And so they were, youknow, and still are some of our
best customers. They've beenwith us from the very beginning,
and they continue to come backand use chamfer, even though
they know all of our suppliers,and they have those
(41:54):
relationships. They're stillusing chamfer for its ease of
use, and it really simplifiestheir development process, so
they'll still buy here, even ifthey could potentially go go
direct. So that was one way. Andthen Julie and I, in the very
beginning, were boots on theground. We went into Boston
Scientific we went into Abbott,went to many of the large OEMs,
(42:17):
and we just went and did lunchand learns. We'd be like, Hey,
you guys want some free food?
Who what? Engineer says no tofree food. And so we would just
bring in lunch and we tell themwhat we were doing. We'd bring
some parts, we'd get theirfeedback. And that was very,
very effective. As we've grown.
We are, you know, notnecessarily doing those same
(42:38):
tactics, right? So we'releveraging other digital tools.
But we are also still picking upthe phone and talking to our
buyers. We're asking them, Whatcan we do different? How can we
help you? What do you need? Sowe're, while we are still very
intimate with our buyers, we'realso working a bit smarter,
using some other, more you know,more digital tools to really
(43:00):
kind of continue to spread theword about chamfr and who we are
terrific.
Aaron Moncur (43:06):
All right. Well, one more question here, and then
we'll wrap things up. So we'vealready talked about how giving
engineers access, quick accessto components early on will
accelerate the speed ofengineering. What's something
else that you've seen, notnecessarily at chamfr, it could
be at chamfr, but thinking backover your career as an
engineering What is somethingthat you have seen done to
(43:30):
accelerate the speed ofengineering?
Unknown (43:34):
Yeah, I mean, so one of the critical pieces to this is
decision making, right? Sowhoever comes to chamfer has to
make a decision about whatthey're going to buy, right? So
I think having somebody that isthat that has that kind of that
decisiveness about them, what'snice about chamfr is you can
(43:56):
pick a lot of stuff, but thatthat is one area that I think,
you know, really being able tosay, Okay, here's the plan,
here's the strategy, here'swhere we're going to tackle
whatever this problem is that isone thing that can really
expedite, because the more youwaffle and waiver them, we're
just going to waste time as wego go through that process. But
then, you know, in terms of kindof tools and functionality, you
(44:19):
know, the one thing that'sreally exploded from, like my
early days in developing medicaldevices, and not just kind of
access of in stock components,but really the additive
manufacturing piece, I think,has been a game changer, and
really complements chamferbeautifully, because you can get
those parts, but you're stillgoing to need some
customization. You're going toneed something quick, whether
(44:40):
that's a custom distal tip or aproximal end, or, you know, even
if it's, you know, a fixture tohold it to test it properly, you
can do so much with that techthat really then can continue to
supplement getting you to marketfaster while getting exactly
what you need to get there.
Aaron Moncur (44:59):
Yeah. I loved your thought about decision making. I
remember when I was I had myfirst internship back in
college, and my boss, I got tobe friends with him, and he
shared how he was hired at thiscompany. And he said, when he
was interviewed by the presidentof the company, I can't remember
the exact question, but theanswer he gave was, I know how
(45:21):
to make a decision. It might notbe the right decision, but I
will make a decision. And Iremember thinking at the time,
that's a terrible answer. Itmight not be the right decision.
Why would you say that? And overthe years, realizing, oh, okay,
I get it now. It might not bethe perfect decision, but making
a decision allows you to getinto action, to actually do
(45:43):
something. And clarity comesfrom action and actually doing
things. And you'll learn quicklyif it wasn't the right decision,
and then you can course correctand do the other thing
Unknown (45:52):
exactly. Fail fast, right? It makes it then again,
that just helps you move faster.
Yeah, for sure, absolutely.
Aaron Moncur (46:00):
Yeah. Well, Katie, this has been delightful. Thank
you so much for being on thepodcast. Congratulations again
on all the success that chamferhas had and will continue to
have. I'm sure. How can peopleget in touch with you?
Unknown (46:13):
Sure, so you've LinkedIn is the best way. I
mean, first and foremost, yougot to follow chamfer, because
we are putting out a ton ofgreat content, we're always
letting people know when newproducts come, when we have a
new supplier launch. We've done,actually, we had our first
webinar recently that was supersuccessful, and we're going to
have a couple of more reallyexciting ones coming soon. So
(46:35):
follow us on LinkedIn. You canfind me on LinkedIn as well.
Send me a message. We'll connectthat way. Those are the best
ways. But if you, if you do,send an email to you know, just
contact us on chamfer. I see allof those. I'll probably respond
right to you. So you can find usin a bunch of different ways.
But LinkedIn is our, is our mostfavorite way of interacting with
(46:59):
with our friends and colleaguesout in the industry.
Aaron Moncur (47:02):
Fantastic. Katie, thank you so much again. And
thank
Unknown (47:06):
you, Aaron, this has been a pleasure. It's like
having a great conversation witha friend that I had never met
before, but I feel like we'veknown each other forever. Now
Aaron Moncur (47:13):
I feel the same way. Excellent.
Katie Karmelek (47:16):
Well, thanks again. Really appreciate this.
Aaron Moncur (47:19):
Thank you, Katie.
I'm Aaron Moncur, founder ofpipeline design and engineering.
If you liked what you heardtoday, please share the episode
to learn how your team canleverage our team's expertise
developing advancedmanufacturing processes,
automated machines and customfixtures, complemented with
product design and R and Dservices. Visit us at Team
(47:42):
pipeline.us. To join a vibrantcommunity of engineers online.
Visit the wave. Dot, engineer,thank you for listening. You.
When you're developing those products, you
realize that they're helpingpeople, and you do and you know
that, and that's so fulfilling,and we've already talked about
that. But when it's somebodythat you love so dearly, it is a
whole different ball game. You
Aaron Moncur (00:13):
Katie, hello and welcome to the being an engineer
podcast. Katie karmalek is ourguest today, a seasoned
(00:33):
mechanical engineer and the cofounder of chamfer, a game
changing online marketplace thatconnects medical device
engineers with in stock andcustom components to accelerate
prototyping and productdevelopment with nearly two
decades of experience spanninghands on engineering and
strategic business roles atcompanies like Olympus and
(00:54):
vengeance. Medical Katie bringsdeep expertise in driving med
tech innovation from concept tocommercialization. Beyond her
professional achievements, Katieis passionate about mentoring
the next generation ofengineers. She actively supports
programs like the gallantengineering business program at
Northeastern University, andcontributes to various women in
(01:17):
STEM initiatives. Katie, thankyou so much for being on the
show with us today.
Katie Karmelek (01:22):
Thanks for having me, Aaron. I'm excited to
talk with you today.
Aaron Moncur (01:25):
Terrific, terrific. Now, we had your co
founder on the show. It's been,it's been a few years now, maybe
more than a few years, threeyears, something like that.
Yeah, you had Julie Schulte onright? Yes, yeah. And, and she
was lovely, of course, but a lothas changed in the past three
years or so. Chamfer has beengrowing quite a bit. You have
(01:47):
different offerings now, and sowe're going to dig into all of
that. But before we get into allof that fun stuff, let's start
with the typical first questionthat we do here on the being an
engineer podcast, which is whatmade you decide to become an
engineer, sure?
Katie Karmelek (02:02):
Yeah. So I was, I was influenced by my
grandfather. First, he was amechanical engineer. He served
in World War Two, and he wasalways doing stuff around the
house. One day, he would justsay, okay, you know what? I
think we need a new electricaloutlet over there. And before
you know it, an hour later, we'dbe wiring a new electrical
outlet, and he knew how to doeverything, which just amazed
(02:25):
me. I was captivated by him, hisstories and really just, you
know, how he approachedeverything from scratch, with
confidence and knew how to doeverything. But it really wasn't
also just him. I I grew up witha mom who went a single mom who
went to medical school when Iwas in first grade, and she was
then an ER doctor, is nowretired. My dad is a dentist,
(02:49):
and my brother followed in mymom's footsteps and is now also
an ER doctor. So I wassurrounded by medicine, but I
knew for sure that I didn't wantto be a doctor. So for me, I was
actually really excited to findthe medical device industry
because I still wanted to helppeople, but without being
bedside next to the patient, Icould still bring kind of that,
(03:10):
the the engineering aspect, andstill be a part of the whole
healthcare system, which justI've loved since the Day. I
found the industry
Aaron Moncur (03:20):
fantastic. So your, your full time effort
right now is chamfer, but beforethat, you, you had a career in
engineering. I mean, doingengineering work, can you maybe
just walk us through a couple ofhighlights, where places you
worked, and maybe if there was aproject in particular that was
exciting or interesting that youcan talk about,
Katie Karmelek (03:41):
absolutely, yeah, I was fortunate to find
medical device industry in at Iwent to Northeastern and so my
first Co Op, just finding myfirst job, essentially, I found
the medical device industry. SoI worked on a lot of really cool
projects. I worked at a companycalled NMT medical, which had a
heart implant. So I was exposedto catheter delivery systems and
(04:03):
minimally invasive, you know,heart surgery. That way. Just my
very first Co Op. I worked atBoston Scientific I have a
patent with them on a biliarystent. And then from there, I
worked on the services side ofthe business. I loved just being
able to work in a variety ofdifferent projects with
different companies, mostlyminimally invasive surgical
devices, a lot of catheters. Andone in particular is actually
(04:27):
actively in clinical trialsright now. And it's a really
cool new way to treathydrocephalus, which is a
swelling in your brain, right?
And so it can be a reallyhorrible disease, and the
current course of treatment isbrain surgery, literally opening
up your brain and putting a tubefrom your brain all the way down
to your abdomen, like the mostinvasive. And a lot of people
(04:48):
who get this have to have repeatsurgeries. We met a woman who
had, I think, over 14 repeatsurgeries for this, and it's
actually a minimally invasivefemoral access device. That can
go all the way up and deliver alittle implant this big to treat
hydrocephalus. It's you guysshould check them out. They're
called Sarah Vasque, and I had ablast, very complex product, but
(05:09):
a lot of fun. And they're doinggreat things. So
Aaron Moncur (05:14):
incredible. Wow, how fulfilling it must be to
have been a part of that and seehow it impacts people's lives.
Unknown (05:21):
You know what? I'm such a small part of it, and that's
the best part, too. I've beenexposed to so many great people.
It takes a ton of manpower,women power, all the power to
bring those products to market,and having access to the parts
that you need, to the testingthat you need, right, and really
building out that wholecomprehensive strategy to get
(05:41):
that product to market takes alot, and I just feel fortunate
to have been a very small partof that one in particular, and
several others,
Aaron Moncur (05:48):
all right, so that's a perfect segue into
chamfer, having access to thecomponents you need to develop a
product. Tell us a little bitabout chamfr. What is chamfer?
How did it get started, and whatwas the problem that chamfr is
solving?
Katie Karmelek (06:04):
Yeah, so chamfr is an online marketplace. We are
connecting buyers and suppliersat their point of need, and that
is through access to in stock.
Components. Is one piece of it.
We also facilitate connectionsat the custom component level,
right getting connected with theright supplier that you need to
source that specializedcomponent that might not be in
(06:27):
stock or readily available. Andthen beyond that, you know, it's
not just about components. Whenyou're developing a medical
device, you need a lot ofdifferent services and
capabilities. So we're really,truly are the One Stop Shop
experience that can help you getconnected to the right person to
bring that product to marketfaster. We initially started
(06:49):
with the foundation of themarketplace, right that in stock
components, because, number one,I was an R and D engineer. I say
was because I don't reallypractice Bill free choices to
market. I guess I still am an Rand D engineer, but I was trying
to prototype and not finding theparts that I needed. I'd have to
go to multiple websites. Nothingfit thoughtfully together, and
(07:11):
it was a lot of time spent. Andso, you know, my vision for
bringing chamfr to light, whichI had a co I have a co founder
that had a different vision, andit's really interesting how we
came together. But I was like, Idon't I don't want to waste all
this time. I just want to beable to place one shopping
experience. I want to be able toget what I need. And I want them
to be from medical gradesuppliers, not kind of what I
(07:34):
would say, quote, dirty tubingfrom maybe a more industrial
supplier. I want to know thatI'm going to be working with the
people that can help me longterm. I also don't want to wait
weeks. I don't want to have towrite a PO and go through all of
that process. I want to be ableto get parts in my hands
quickly, because that's the nameof the game, right? It takes a
lot of time to figure out anditerate and play in order to get
the product to the right designthat you need. And then Julie,
(07:58):
who you mentioned earlier, so weactually had the same concept
for the business around the sametime, and she had a completely
different perspective on it. Itwas she understood the
prototyping angle, but she wascoming from the sales side
saying, I need to access theseengineers at their point of
need. I need to be able to getspec in early. I need to be able
then I want them to know aboutme and my you know. And so for
(08:19):
her, it was the sales teams needthis as well. And so we kind of
came together and said, yeah,they are both of our problems
are solved with the samesolution. You know, we need to
do this. So that was sort of thebackground around chamfr. A lot
of people ask us why the namechamfr. So it is because we are
giving engineers an edge toinnovate faster, right with the
(08:42):
access of components, as well asthe access to this supply base
that we've built, we have overwe have hundreds of suppliers,
over 100 suppliers, and thenit's like almost 12,000 in stock
components that we have on oursite today. So we've grown
tremendously. And I think we'vereally just scratched the
surface of the not just thenumber of products, but the
(09:04):
technologies and the suppliersthat we can bring to this
marketplace.
Aaron Moncur (09:09):
Yeah, I feel like I see chamfer just all over the
place. Now you guys really havejust blown up. Congratulations
on the success of the company todate, and I'm sure it's only
going to get bigger and betterfrom here. How did you and Julie
meet initially?
Katie Karmelek (09:23):
Yeah, so, actually, so Julie was running
sales and marketing at a companycalled vention medical. I had
been part of vention, but as byacquisition of a small design
company that I called TDCmedical, that was actually one
of my most favorite jobs ever.
I'm actually still very closefriends with the engineers that
I worked with there. We just hada blast bringing products to
(09:43):
market and testing anddesigning. But so, you know, by
acquisition, TDC became what wasknown as venture medical, and
Julie was brought on on theexecutive team. So one day,
she's passing me in the hallwayand she's like, Wait, you're an
engineer. Come here. She askedme to explain to her the
difference of a multi lumenversus a coaxial design of a
(10:04):
catheter. So I just drew acouple of circles, and I'm like,
this is how this I do it. Andshe goes, You need to be in
marketing. And I was like, No, Idon't. Can I go back to my job
now, because I have a lot ofwork to do, and it probably took
another year, she ultimatelyconvinced me to come over to
marketing, and we ended uphaving a blast. As you may know,
vention medical had an onlinestore, and at the time we were
(10:26):
acquiring new componenttechnologies, and I was
ultimately responsible, underJulie to bring those products,
not only to the online store butto the sales teams, and educate
them on how they can what newmarkets we were uncovering how
those component components couldbe leveraged. And the sales
teams loved it. They were like,Bring me more of these leads.
You're making my job so mucheasier. And we just saw
(10:48):
exponential sales across allthose component technologies. So
we ended up having a blast doingall of that. Now, vention was
acquired and is now Nordsonmedical, and so at that time, I
think it had been over, over 10years that I had been at TDC and
then vention, and I was like, Ithink it's time to, you know,
see something else. And then Iwas right around the time where
(11:10):
Julie and I had sort ofconcepted the idea for a
chamfer, and we couldn't get itout of our heads. We both went,
we're toying with other jobs andwhat we do. And we really just
were like, if we're gonna thetiming probably isn't right,
because we both have young kids,and we were really overwhelmed
by that. But we said, You knowwhat, there's never going to be
a right time. We gotta, we gottatry. So
Aaron Moncur (11:32):
that's terrific.
Talk a little bit about the theneed for in stock components. I
mean, I don't know that everyonefully realizes or appreciates
the challenges that an engineermight go through to get
something for a prototypequickly. Wasn't that the case
prior to chamfer that you couldjust go out and, like, buy three
(11:56):
balloons off the shelf.
Unknown (12:00):
If you wanted three balloons, you'd probably be
spending 15, $20,000 you'd get aminimum of some number of
balloons, but you'd have to payfor the tooling of the balloon,
pay for the extrusion run andwait for the extrusion to be run
to then sent there to then blowmold in that tooling that you
just paid for. And you neverlike that, you'd have to be so
(12:21):
confident in your design,because you're spending not only
that money, but time is moneytoo. So you're talking six,
eight weeks at minimum, if notlonger. So No, we've, we've been
very fortunate that the partnersthat we've built it, as we grew
chamfer, saw the value andinvested in these products on
the shelf, right? These are not,this did not happen overnight. I
(12:44):
mean, I can tell you, pobamedical started with us having
no balloons on the shelf. Maybethey started with, you know, 20
to 50 to start, and now theyhave over 200 balloons in stock
today, if not even more. I mean,they've just exploded. So the
they have a ton of products, andthat's, that's an investment,
(13:07):
and then in their side, right inthe tooling and everything. But
they saw the value, and itreally helps expedite, because
that balloon, you might thinkyou need a spherical but you're
not exactly sure what diameter,or you don't know what durometer
urethane you might want to havethat out of right? So now you
can just grab a couple a bag ofa few balloons for a couple $100
test them out, and then the nextday, you could be finalizing
(13:30):
your design.
Aaron Moncur (13:31):
Amazing. So much time is saved, by the way, poba
medical founder Dan Kasprzyk, Ithink, was the third guest on
the being an engineer podcastfive years ago, such
Unknown (13:44):
a great guy. Yeah, that was a good early guest. Yeah,
absolutely.
From motors and robotics tocontrols, automation and
precision prototyping. Simutekbrings ANSYS simulation tools
(14:06):
and expert insight directly toyour team. We help you
accelerate design, reduce riskand eliminate costly rework,
validate before you fabricate.
Simutech group helps yousimulate thermal stress,
vibration, fluid flowelectronics, cooling,
electromagnetic performance, youname it,
whether you're an automotive,aerospace, energy, industrial
(14:29):
automation or the next bigthing. Simutech partners with
innovators to deliver simulationdriven results that move
products forward, build smartermachines, launch stronger
products, scale faster withsimute X simulation support by
your side.
Simutech group, your engineeringpartner in motion, visit
(14:49):
simutechgroup.com and Let'spower up your next design.
Aaron Moncur (14:56):
All right. Well, back to champ for what were some
of the challenges? Challengesthat your team faced early on,
and how did you overcome them?
Yeah, I don't
Katie Karmelek (15:05):
think we realized how complex a
marketplace is when we decidedto start this whole thing.
Really, I think if we could goback and tell ourselves, then
how hard it was going to be, Idon't know if we would have
taken the same path. But, youknow, I think in that we are the
kind of people that are justwhen you set your mind to
(15:26):
something, we're going to figureit out, no matter how hard it
is, and we'll die trying, but wewill figure it out. And so in
the early days, when we hadconcepted this and we were
thinking about it, we also, youknow, decided, okay, let's talk
to some suppliers, let'svalidate this, that that we have
that before we invest in a toolthat they may or may not use.
Let's get some of that feedback.
And I, I'll never forget one ofour first meetings with one of
(15:47):
the first suppliers that joinedchamfer. We sat down, we told
them, and they're like, Okay,we're in. And they started to
write a check to us. And we'relike, you know that we haven't
even built the marketplace yet,right? Like we're just, we're
just trying to figure out ifwe're going to do this. And
they're like, if anybody can doit, it's you guys. So I'm
investing in that, and it'sproven true. They weren't wrong.
Some of our our earliestadopters are some of our best
(16:13):
suppliers, who have been with usfrom the very beginning.
Aaron Moncur (16:17):
Amazing, amazing.
I'm sure this happens all thetime, but I'm curious if you
have any specific stories youcan share where a team's
development really wasaccelerated, you know, pretty
dramatically by access to thesein stock components at chamfer.
Unknown (16:35):
Yeah, I actually just heard a story recently. You
know, for us, when we set wesell these parts online. It's
all very it's all digitized,right? So we're not physically
talking to people, so we don'talways get all of the stories,
but we love them. So orwhoever's listening, if you have
a great story how you've usedchamfer, please let us know,
because we'd love to hear them.
But I was fortunate enough to behaving a conversation recently,
(16:57):
and I this, it was a physicianentrepreneur developing a
product, and they went fromconcept to first in human in six
months. And they said it was allbecause of chamfer
Aaron Moncur (17:13):
that's incredible.
It's incredible years, usually,yeah, so that
Unknown (17:17):
we're talking like five, six, I mean, well, maybe
three, five years depending onthe complexity of the product.
You know, the 510, K aspect,your regulatory path and what
you need to do at the amount oftesting that's required. Of
course, many devices that arehighly complex do take a lot
longer. But this, in this oneexample, I was floored, because
I've never, you know, typicallyit takes five months just to
(17:39):
kind of get that firstprototype, often right, let
alone being that far through thedevelopment process. And that
was all attributed to the fastaccess of components, having
them readily available. And, youknow, working with a partner
that could really just innovatethat quickly with them.
Aaron Moncur (17:57):
That's amazing.
Wow. I love efficiency andseeing solutions in the market
that actually make a realdifference. And so hearing
something like that, I mean, whoknows how long it would have
taken this company, otherwise,years, probably, and probably
hundreds of 1000s of dollars, ifnot more, saved. Absolutely.
That's a big impact.
Unknown (18:20):
Yeah, absolutely, yeah.
We love to hear those stories.
It just also really validateswhy we did this, right? I mean,
our ultimate goal is helpingproducts get to market faster,
because that's helping somebody.
And it doesn't have to always bea life saving device. It can be
just making someone's life evenincrementally better, is really
why we do this. And so, I mean,the fact that it was that much
(18:44):
faster was just mind blowing forus.
Aaron Moncur (18:48):
Yeah, yeah. How does it feel to know that you're
having an impact on patientslives out there and in a way
that you know they may not havebeen able to experience without
chamfer yeah,
Unknown (18:58):
sometimes we have to pinch ourselves for like, Is
this really happening? Did we dothis? Is this really ours?
Aaron Moncur (19:05):
Well, amazing. All right. Well, short break here,
the being an engineer podcast isbrought to you by pipeline
design and engineering, where wedon't design pipelines, but we
do help companies developadvanced manufacturing
processes, automated machinesand custom fixtures,
complemented with product designand R and D services, and we're
(19:27):
having an exciting event thisOctober called PDX. It's October
21 and 22nd out here in Phoenix,where we'll have dozens of
subject matter experts doingtraining on different topics
relevant to engineers whodevelop physical products, for
example, how to program a robotor glue dispensing or vision
(19:50):
inspection, or advanced surfacemodeling for CAD practical
project management, 3d scanningand reverse engineering,
metrology, Gd and T the list.
Goes on and on and on. It'sgoing to be a fun, fun time and
wonderful educationalexperience. So we hope you can
join us this Phoenix October,this October 21 and 22nd just
outside of Phoenix. All right,getting back to Katie. So,
(20:13):
Katie, you had mentioned thatyour grandfather was an
engineer, and he influenced you,thinking back on that, what are
some of the other ways that heinfluenced you to decide to
become an engineer and pursuethat career path?
Unknown (20:33):
I think so. He always had a way of making things with
such precision. He because, Imean, he was just, he's very
polish, very like, just, he doeseverything, even his signature
was always exactly the same,right, everything, and so, you
know, watching him just be soorganized and diligent and
(20:55):
everything that was one piecethat, you know, you kind of just
sort of take for granted. Youthink engineering, you're just
tinkering and making a mess orwhatnot. But his workshop, mean,
he had this shed with, I mean,hundreds of 1000s of various
parts dating back to, who knowshow long, all different nuts and
bolts and screws and everythingwas labeled. He had his little
like embossed label maker. Andso I have to give him a lot of
(21:18):
credit in that way, because hetaught me to value craft,
craftsmanship, I'll say, andalso have some curiosity,
because I was, like, alwaysamazed that he knew everything,
and I didn't know how he kneweverything, and so I always
wanted to know more. So that'sI'd say, where I know how I got
that from him, and then, yeah, Ijust he was a very independent
(21:39):
person, and I think I don't knowif I got that from him or not,
but that is that's onesimilarity between the two of us
that will always share
Aaron Moncur (21:48):
curiosity, I think is a very important word for
engineers. What What otheradvice or attributes to develop
would you suggest for youngengineers who want to get into
the medical device field, oreven those particularly
interested in eventuallyexploring entrepreneurship,
Unknown (22:09):
the first thing I'd say is just say yes to opportunities
as they arise, because, like,for instance, the example of
Julie pulling me into marketingor whatnot, and I was fortunate
enough to have somebody that wasdoing the pulling in that
example right, and really sawthe, you know, the value in me
to be in that role. You don'talways get that every day. Say
(22:33):
say yes, be curious, but sayyes, because those opportunities
are examples of how you can getexperience that you know you
might not realize how valuablethat can be. And sometimes you
can say yes, and it's not agreat fit. And then you know
that you don't want to do that.
So I would say, always be opento new opportunities and
experiences as they come. Andthen the other thing I would say
(22:54):
is, is don't wait to be ready. Ithink you know for us with
chamfr. If we had waited to beready, we never would have built
this. We had to start small.
We've been we are, actually, arestill very scrappy, even though
we, you know, we're eight yearsin, we still do a lot of things
ourselves. We're very hands on.
We're very into like we're goingto figure this out and truly
(23:15):
understand it and then automateand I feel like that allows us
to really have control over howwe've built our business, the
ins and outs of it, so andsurround yourself with people
that have that same mindset, bego for it. Start scrappy, figure
stuff out and just, you know,keep at it. There's always a
solution, even when it feelslike there isn't.
Aaron Moncur (23:39):
Yeah, I love the attitude of scrappy when when I
started pipeline, it was just meand I worked out of a spare
bedroom in my house. And it wasthat way. Even as we started
hiring people and growing alittle bit for the first almost
10 years, it was, it was thatformat. Everyone worked from
home. We didn't have a formaloffice. Overhead was really low.
(24:02):
We were definitely scrappy, andI think that's what enabled us
to grow enough to the pointwhere, like, Okay, now we can
afford an office, right? We wereable to survive for long enough
to get to that, that tippingpoint, because we were so
scrappy. So I I love thatattitude personally. Let's, I'd
(24:23):
love to talk a little bit moreabout your transition into
marketing, because as far as Iknow, that was not something
that you had done before, right?
This is brand new for you. Yeah.
Okay. So Julie says, Hey, Katie,you should, you should be a
marketer. And you're like,that's crazy. And eventually, a
year later, you actually you doit. So what was that transition
(24:44):
like? And what was it likebecoming a marketer, coming from
engineering, what does amarketer even do?
Unknown (24:51):
Yeah, yeah. It's a great question. I had no idea at
the time. I was like, engineersdon't belong in marketing. That
doesn't make sense. And she'slike, No, you don't. Understand
they're the best fit. So it'sactually a role which was new to
me at the time. I had neverheard of it, and they're there.
You're called product managers.
So essentially, you trulyunderstand the ins and outs of
the product in which you'remarketing and be able to speak
(25:13):
to the technical aspect. You doneed to have good communication
skills so that you can translatethe technical aspect of whatever
product you're talking about tosales, to marketing, making sure
that you can dumb down if that'snot a great way, that's those
are, that's not a good choicewords, but you know what I mean?
You can simplify the tech, thehighly technical piece of it,
(25:34):
and make it digestible forwhether that's going to be some
kind of content, whether that'sfor sales, trainings and
purposes, and it really justmakes everybody on the same
page. And that takes a certainkind of person, which I ended up
loving. I never thought I wouldsay that. Honestly, when she,
when she came to me and this wasall happening, I'm like, I see
myself in R D. I'm gonna, I'mgonna run, you know, I'm gonna
(25:58):
run an art I'm gonna be an R andD manager of some company. That
was the role in my mindeventually, and that was where I
was going to head to. But it'sbeen it was so much fun, and it
really helps me develop a lot ofother skills, so not just
communication skills, butbusiness strategy skills,
bringing me to the table withthe executive team so that we
(26:19):
could connect these dots andreport out on on the success of
the online store and otherthings. So it really brought to
light a lot of otheropportunities that I never would
have experienced if I kind ofjust pigeonholed myself and
said, No, I'm an R D engineer.
This is what I do. It opened up.
And once, once you have thoseskills, you don't, you can be an
engineer anywhere. You see a lotof engineer CEOs. You see them
(26:42):
in all different roles. And so Ithink it can really help,
because it just is that it's amindset more than a skill set at
a certain point. And I thinkthat's really what matters. So
getting all of the variousexperiences of people's
different mindsets and what thatmeans to a business and
organization or even inacademia, wherever you are, it
(27:04):
all translates, and it'simportant to have experience
with it.
Aaron Moncur (27:15):
The Product Development expo or PDX is your
chance to learn from subjectmatter experts, providing
practical, hands on training fordozens of different engineering
topics, Gd and T advancedsurface modeling, DFM, plating
and finishing techniques,programming robots, adhesive,
dispensing, prototyping, tipsand tricks and lots more. PDX
(27:37):
happens October 21 and 22nd inPhoenix, Arizona. Learn more at
PD Expo. Dot engineer. That's P,D, E, x, p, O, dot engineer. It
sounds like that role was reallyhelpful in preparing you to
(27:59):
start chamfer.
Unknown (28:01):
Absolutely, yeah. I mean, well, I it was also, it's
so Julia and I are the way thatwe work together. And we had a
third, a third, co founder,Catherine, and all of us are
working on this, this marketingteam together. It was the way
that we worked together. Wasjust absolutely incredible. I
mean, we didn't live near eachother. We were working mostly
(28:22):
from home. I was working out ofone of the venture medical
offices, but most of us werecompletely remote. And so we we
not only worked in completesilos, if you would, geography
wise, but we are so synergizedas a team. And that's how you
know that you know, once youfind good people. You know this,
you kind of tend to staytogether. And that was
(28:43):
instrumental in starting chamferbecause when you start a
business with somebody, you areessentially getting married to
them. And it's can be reallyhard sometimes, but being able
to overcome those challengesface them together, and you do
want somebody with a differentmind. You don't you want, you
don't you want, you don't wantto have two of the same
perspectives in a business,because you really need to
(29:05):
challenge each other and be ableto have different roles, since
you won't have a lot of people.
And that's really proven to be,you know, probably one of the
best decisions I ever made in mylife was to to take Julie up on
that opportunity, because Idon't think we'd be here today
if I hadn't,
Aaron Moncur (29:22):
it's so funny to think about how maybe not
little, but key decisions alongthe timeline of life can make
such a drastic difference in theeventual trajectory of our
lives. Right?
Unknown (29:36):
Absolutely. Yeah, I tell this story so I go to
Northeastern and I'll talk tothe students. They always asked
me about my career path and thechoices that I made. And when I
was in college, my last Co Op,that I had three co ops at
Northeastern, and my last one, Iwas going to just ditch
engineering all together and gotravel. I was going to go to
Hawaii and study whales for alittle bit and pretend I'm a
(29:56):
marine biologist. And that I wasgoing to go to New Zealand and
like work. A farm and just enjoylife. And I was able to do this
and still meet the curriculumrequirements. I would just have
to write a paper about myexperiences, but my co op
advisor said, Just go on a fewinterviews. And you know, that's
it. Just keep up your your skillsets, update your resume. So I
(30:19):
went on an interview at BostonScientific, and I got offered
this amazing opportunity to workin their endoscopy team that I
just I couldn't refuse. So Iended up not going at all on my
whole expedition and travel. AndI went to Boston Scientific, and
I do, as I said, Before, I havea patent with them on the
biliary stent that I worked on.
And I met a lot of great peopleand had a wonderful experience.
(30:40):
And then the student, whenever Itell this story, they always are
like, so have you gone to NewZealand or Hawaii? And I was
like, I still haven't. Actually,
Aaron Moncur (30:51):
I still never been to either place. Oh yeah, that's
it. I grew up in Hawaii. I don'tknow if you knew born and raised
in Hawaii, that's right on Oahu,a town on the east side of the
island called Kaneohe. So it's,it's, it was amazing, right? I
loved, loved growing up there.
That's still home. I hope toeventually end up there someday.
(31:13):
And another place that I'vealways wanted to visit was New
Zealand, because it also justlooks gorgeous, and we're
actually planning a trip to NewZealand next year. So it's, it's
funny to hear you see those twoplaces.
Unknown (31:30):
Funny, yeah, one day we'll get there. We had, you
know, we have three kids now, soit's, life is a little
different. But we'll, we'll,we'll be getting them all there
sometime. I think, yeah, yeah.
Aaron Moncur (31:40):
Well, speaking of three kids, you had a personal
experience just very recently,and it underscored the
importance of, kind ofviscerally, underscored the
importance of getting componentsinto engineers hands quickly so
that they can develop these lifesaving, life sustaining medical
(32:04):
devices. Can you share a littlebit about that experience?
Unknown (32:07):
Absolutely. You know, this one does hit pretty close
to home. So just recently, mynine year old son was
hospitalized. He ended up havinga badly perforated appendix, and
we ended up being admitted tothe hospital for 18 days
together. We got home just theother day, just a few days ago,
(32:29):
and yet, he has a PICC line forat home IV antibiotics, which
I'm administering to him threetimes a day. I'm a, I'm a home
nurse, and as well, now I'mgoing to add that one to my
resume. But, but, you know, itwas, it's been, it was, it was
quite a wild ride. He was very,very sick. And it's very, it's
your it's hard when your kid issick no matter what. And this
(32:49):
was, was very intense, you know,and I'm sitting in the hospital
thinking about all of the timesI spent building catheters and
developing products that weresimilar to everything I'm seeing
around me, and it was like, youknow, I couldn't in the in the
moment, and when, when you'redeveloping those products, you
(33:10):
realize that they're helpingpeople, and you do, and you know
that, and that's so fulfilling,and we've already talked about
that. But when it's somebodythat you love so dearly, it is a
whole different ball game. I wassitting in the in the one of the
rooms when my son ended uphaving the PICC line placed. And
he was brave enough. They gavehim the option. It was brave
enough to do it under localanesthesia. So he was awake and
(33:33):
we were talking, and it was veryscary for him. He had a moment
where the catheter was kind ofnot having a life of its own and
not going the right way. And hefelt like he couldn't breathe
for a minute. And we, we bothsat there and worked through it
together. He was so brave. AndI'm like seeing this Catherine
that I saw 1000s of times, righton all different French sizes
and all the lure fittings andeverything. And then you watch
(33:54):
it and realize that, you know,it's, it's incredible what
everybody does in our industry,and it it just, you know, you
really have this moment whereyou're like, Okay, I am even
more now so connected to this,in this industry, to what we do
and to our mission to helppeople. You know, we're not just
(34:15):
enabling innovation. We'rereally making people's lives
better and or potentially savingtheir lives. And my son is now
one of the people who neededthat. He's still, he's still at
home right now with his pickline and his arm. It's a cool
purple PICC line, so it'sawesome. And I got him some arm
sleeves so that he looks reallycool when he's outside and
keeping it protected. But yeah,it is, it is one it's been, it's
(34:39):
been quite an experience thatyou know, I'll never forget, and
hopefully he won't remember allof the details in as much you
know as clear but, but no, it'sbeen. It's been one of those
times where I'm very gratefulfor everybody involved in the
healthcare system, from everyonein medtech to all of the nurses
and doctors and and. Everybodyinvolved. So it's been, yep, a
(35:02):
lot of gratitude right now forfor everything that's
Aaron Moncur (35:05):
done. Yeah, amazing. Wow. Well, I'm so happy
to hear that he's doing wellnow. And what, what an
incredible story. Thank you forfor sharing such a personal
experience. It makes me rememberwhen our second child was born,
and we were in the hospital anda nurse came in with it's called
(35:29):
a Vocera badge. It's basically amedical walkie talkie that
nurses and physicians wear athospitals, and they could push a
button and easily call someoneor communicate with someone.
Anyway, this nurse walked inwearing this bucera badge, and I
said to myself, I can't believeit. I I worked on this like I it
was a small part, I think I did.
DFM on part of the housing forthis plastic injection molded
(35:51):
bad, but I saw it in real life,and someone's actually using
this. And it was such a neatfeeling. So the you know, your
experience was, was, I think, somuch more powerful. But it's so
fulfilling seeing something thatyou had a hand in, or, you know,
even the industry in whichyou're a part, seeing that in
real life.
Unknown (36:13):
Yeah, every day I'm giving him the antibiotics, I'm
connecting the syringe, the, youknow, all the lure fittings
together, and I'm like, Oh, wehave these syringes, these same
BD syringes and my on chamfer,we have the same tubing. We sell
all of this. And it's, yeah,it's, it's been, it's been very
eye opening. I'll say I have amuch while I understood it. It
didn't, it didn't resonate theexact same way that it does
(36:35):
today. So I'm feeling even moreempowered by what we do and how
we'll continue to help drive allof these amazing innovations to
market to help those people thatreally need them.
Aaron Moncur (36:47):
Yeah, well, I'm sure if Julie were here right
now, she she'd say to you,Katie, that's the story that we
need to start telling over andover and over. That's this is
the bringing out the marketingmarketer in you here. So you
mentioned the BD syringe andchamfer has so many different
components on its marketplaceright now. How do you determine
(37:10):
which components are mostneeded? What's the process
internally within chamfer todecide that? Yeah,
Unknown (37:18):
so in the beginning, we went off of what we knew that
the industry needed, and wereally focused a lot of
interventional because that'swhere we had come from. That was
like our background and whatlike in the part of the industry
that we really needed, and weknew that industry needed us,
right? It was very clear,tubing, balloons, heat shrink,
all of that was its and, youknow, even today, I think we can
(37:42):
still service in theinterventional market better,
but we have a lot to offer, andwe love that we've got a very
solid foundation. And then whatwe've been doing in parallel is
educating ourselves on whatother med tech industries need,
right looking at, how can wesupport bioelectronics? How can
we support wearables,diagnostics? How can we make
(38:06):
sure that the way engineersinnovate, they can get what they
need on chamfr, and it comeswith, you know, not just
educating ourselves, but alsoasking our our audience, our
buyers. So when you come tochamfer, there's actually a
little survey on the producttable page, like, did you find
what you're looking for? We, weget a lot of input through that.
(38:27):
People are constantly tellingus, because, you know, by them
telling us, we help make theirlives easier, we help make their
jobs easier. So they fill thatout, and we'll use all of that
data to inform, you know, maybegoing after a new supplier,
maybe going, you know, whereverwe need to go to try to connect
those dots, we will. And thenalso search data. So we have an
(38:49):
AI enabled search interface, andwe collect that data regularly,
and we're looking, what arepeople searching for and not
finding that's where we need tofocus, right? There's a real
need. And so we kind of take of,you know, a multi pronged
approach, but that's really howwe're looking to expand. So
anybody, if you have feedback,you don't have to fill out that
survey. You can contact usanytime, but that's, that's a
(39:11):
lot of how we are currentlyexpanding. Well,
Aaron Moncur (39:15):
we'll list Katie's home address in the show notes.
Katie Karmelek (39:19):
I can show you how to how to dose of
antibiotics,
Aaron Moncur (39:24):
right? Well, looking forward to the the
future of chamfer. What? What doyou hope is true about chamfer?
I don't know, three, five yearsfrom now. So
Katie Karmelek (39:36):
we are investing in really digitizing the whole
product, that whole productdevelopment life cycle,
especially sort of that phaseone through three, if you will,
the early stage development,being able to make everything
that happens in that part of theprocess easier, faster and. We
(40:00):
do that with the in stockcomponents, with access to the
supply base, but then also withadditional innovative tools. So
there's a there's a lot morecoming from chamfr That's really
exciting. I can't tell everybodyexactly what it is quite yet,
but we are, we are really at apivotal moment in our
(40:21):
organization where we'refortunate enough to be making
some exciting changes andfeatures and functionalities. So
you'll see more from us,especially in the next six
months to a year, that really tojust be that, that hub, that
central hub, where engineers andsupply chain folks can come to
(40:41):
and trust that they're going toget what they need to help make
their jobs easier.
Aaron Moncur (40:47):
Going back to the beginning of chamfer I know you
had a few customers early onthat really believed in you and
invested in you, but you'vegrown far beyond that. How did
you get your first I don't know,several dozen customers. What
did that look like from a salesstandpoint?
Katie Karmelek (41:08):
Yeah, so we be at being in an r, d engineer. I
first just went to all mybuddies, and I was like, Guys,
what we had told them we weredeveloping chamfer. They were
our beta testers, right? We hada whole slew of beta testing
people, and it was a lot of,hey, come check this out. What
do you think? What should we dodifferent? What parts do we
need? So we had, we had anaudience early on that were
(41:32):
early adopter buyers. So wetalked about the early adopter
suppliers as well, but we hadthem on the buy, on the buy side
as well. And so they were, youknow, and still are some of our
best customers. They've beenwith us from the very beginning,
and they continue to come backand use chamfer, even though
they know all of our suppliers,and they have those
(41:54):
relationships. They're stillusing chamfer for its ease of
use, and it really simplifiestheir development process, so
they'll still buy here, even ifthey could potentially go go
direct. So that was one way. Andthen Julie and I, in the very
beginning, were boots on theground. We went into Boston
Scientific we went into Abbott,went to many of the large OEMs,
(42:17):
and we just went and did lunchand learns. We'd be like, Hey,
you guys want some free food?
Who what? Engineer says no tofree food. And so we would just
bring in lunch and we tell themwhat we were doing. We'd bring
some parts, we'd get theirfeedback. And that was very,
very effective. As we've grown.
We are, you know, notnecessarily doing those same
(42:38):
tactics, right? So we'releveraging other digital tools.
But we are also still picking upthe phone and talking to our
buyers. We're asking them, Whatcan we do different? How can we
help you? What do you need? Sowe're, while we are still very
intimate with our buyers, we'realso working a bit smarter,
using some other, more you know,more digital tools to really
(43:00):
kind of continue to spread theword about chamfr and who we are
terrific.
Aaron Moncur (43:06):
All right. Well, one more question here, and then
we'll wrap things up. So we'vealready talked about how giving
engineers access, quick accessto components early on will
accelerate the speed ofengineering. What's something
else that you've seen, notnecessarily at chamfr, it could
be at chamfr, but thinking backover your career as an
engineering What is somethingthat you have seen done to
(43:30):
accelerate the speed ofengineering?
Unknown (43:34):
Yeah, I mean, so one of the critical pieces to this is
decision making, right? Sowhoever comes to chamfer has to
make a decision about whatthey're going to buy, right? So
I think having somebody that isthat that has that kind of that
decisiveness about them, what'snice about chamfr is you can
(43:56):
pick a lot of stuff, but thatthat is one area that I think,
you know, really being able tosay, Okay, here's the plan,
here's the strategy, here'swhere we're going to tackle
whatever this problem is that isone thing that can really
expedite, because the more youwaffle and waiver them, we're
just going to waste time as wego go through that process. But
then, you know, in terms of kindof tools and functionality, you
(44:19):
know, the one thing that'sreally exploded from, like my
early days in developing medicaldevices, and not just kind of
access of in stock components,but really the additive
manufacturing piece, I think,has been a game changer, and
really complements chamferbeautifully, because you can get
those parts, but you're stillgoing to need some
customization. You're going toneed something quick, whether
(44:40):
that's a custom distal tip or aproximal end, or, you know, even
if it's, you know, a fixture tohold it to test it properly, you
can do so much with that techthat really then can continue to
supplement getting you to marketfaster while getting exactly
what you need to get there.
Aaron Moncur (44:59):
Yeah. I loved your thought about decision making. I
remember when I was I had myfirst internship back in
college, and my boss, I got tobe friends with him, and he
shared how he was hired at thiscompany. And he said, when he
was interviewed by the presidentof the company, I can't remember
the exact question, but theanswer he gave was, I know how
(45:21):
to make a decision. It might notbe the right decision, but I
will make a decision. And Iremember thinking at the time,
that's a terrible answer. Itmight not be the right decision.
Why would you say that? And overthe years, realizing, oh, okay,
I get it now. It might not bethe perfect decision, but making
a decision allows you to getinto action, to actually do
(45:43):
something. And clarity comesfrom action and actually doing
things. And you'll learn quicklyif it wasn't the right decision,
and then you can course correctand do the other thing
Unknown (45:52):
exactly. Fail fast, right? It makes it then again,
that just helps you move faster.
Yeah, for sure, absolutely.
Aaron Moncur (46:00):
Yeah. Well, Katie, this has been delightful. Thank
you so much for being on thepodcast. Congratulations again
on all the success that chamferhas had and will continue to
have. I'm sure. How can peopleget in touch with you?
Unknown (46:13):
Sure, so you've LinkedIn is the best way. I
mean, first and foremost, yougot to follow chamfer, because
we are putting out a ton ofgreat content, we're always
letting people know when newproducts come, when we have a
new supplier launch. We've done,actually, we had our first
webinar recently that was supersuccessful, and we're going to
have a couple of more reallyexciting ones coming soon. So
(46:35):
follow us on LinkedIn. You canfind me on LinkedIn as well.
Send me a message. We'll connectthat way. Those are the best
ways. But if you, if you do,send an email to you know, just
contact us on chamfer. I see allof those. I'll probably respond
right to you. So you can find usin a bunch of different ways.
But LinkedIn is our, is our mostfavorite way of interacting with
(46:59):
with our friends and colleaguesout in the industry.
Aaron Moncur (47:02):
Fantastic. Katie, thank you so much again. And
thank
Unknown (47:06):
you, Aaron, this has been a pleasure. It's like
having a great conversation witha friend that I had never met
before, but I feel like we'veknown each other forever. Now
Aaron Moncur (47:13):
I feel the same way. Excellent.
Katie Karmelek (47:16):
Well, thanks again. Really appreciate this.
Aaron Moncur (47:19):
Thank you, Katie.
I'm Aaron Moncur, founder ofpipeline design and engineering.
If you liked what you heardtoday, please share the episode
to learn how your team canleverage our team's expertise
developing advancedmanufacturing processes,
automated machines and customfixtures, complemented with
product design and R and Dservices. Visit us at Team
(47:42):
pipeline.us. To join a vibrantcommunity of engineers online.
Visit the wave. Dot, engineer,thank you for listening. You.
Popular Podcasts
United States of Kennedy
United States of Kennedy is a podcast about our cultural fascination with the Kennedy dynasty. Every week, hosts Lyra Smith and George Civeris go into one aspect of the Kennedy story.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com