State of Medtech

Episode breakdown

00:00 – Why You Shouldn’t Wait to Start Your Capital Raise

00:34 – The Hidden Cost of Fundraising & Building Public Visibility

00:53 – Intro: The State of Medtech with Omar Khateeb

01:08 – Meet Colleen Gray: From Entrepreneur to Investment Banker

01:38 – Why Raising Capital Is Harder in 2024

02:13 – Colleen’s Journey: Tech to Orthopedics CEO to US Capital SVP

04:18 – Lessons from Building and Selling Compan...

Episode Breakdown:

00:00 – Intro

00:21 – Why materials matter in medical device design

01:14 – Dr. Upma Sharma’s path from engineer to medtech CEO

03:01 – Arsenal’s founding story with Bob Langer and George Whitesides

06:20 – DARPA’s battlefield challenge and the birth of Rescue Foam

10:15 – How “Fix-a-Flat” foam saves lives internally

11:44 – Neocast: A liquid embolic inspired by toothpaste physics

14:33 – How Arsenal removes...

Episode Breakdown:

00:00 – Intro

00:30 – Catherine Mohr on solving wicked problems in healthcare

01:36 – From engineer to surgeon to global strategist

04:42 – Early Intuitive years: misunderstood startup to category leader

07:29 – Ad 1: Blue Goat Cyber

10:28 – Why she created the Intuitive Foundation

13:59 – Asia and Africa will dominate healthcare by 2050

17:59 – How to identify problems worth solving

22:17 – Behind the creati...

Episode breakdown:

00:00 – Welcome to the State of Medtech Podcast

00:28 – Introducing Marc Zemel, CEO of Retia Medical

01:05 – Marc Zemel’s Background and Journey to Medtech

02:09 – The Problem Retia Set Out to Solve

02:59 – From Concept to Commercialization: Retia's Path to FDA & Medtronic Partnership

03:44 – Retia’s Primary Use Case: High-Risk Surgeries & ICU

05:00 – Why Accurate Hemodynamic Monitoring Saves Lives...

Episode breakdown:00:00 – Intro: Why ASCs Are Reshaping Medtech02:48 – Smith+Nephew’s Outpatient Playbook with Craig Gaffin06:00 – Why the Future Is Subscription-Based Devices10:31 – What Makes the Cori Robot Different15:22 – Capital Efficiency in Modern Medtech19:10 – Competing with Intuitive Surgical’s Platform Model24:44 – Craig on “Wi-Fi Money” and Recurring Revenue28:02 – How Smith+Nephew Uses Data to Win in ASCs32:17 – Buildi...

Episode breakdown:

00:00 – What June’s headlines missed

01:44 – Why Medtronic exited another business unit

05:02 – The quiet strategy behind “focus”

08:20 – $700M in deal volume: Who’s buying, who’s scaling

09:56 – LSI 2024: What we learned on the ground

13:33 – GTM strategy shifts in diagnostics and devices

15:41 – Private equity’s next move in medtech

18:23 – Boston Scientific’s bet and others to watch

20:10 – Key signals inve...

Episode breakdown:

00:00 – Why Ronny Abovitz has better mics than podcasters

01:45 – From MAKO Surgical to Magic Leap: Rony's medtech journey

03:00 – Growing up in Cleveland and why he built MAKO near home

06:00 – The talent stack: engineer, cartoonist, D1 javelin thrower, DJ

14:16 – The cartoon that nearly got him expelled

18:16 – Building MAKO Surgical from a backroom lab

23:16 – How he met Chris Dewey & closed his fir...

Episode breakdown:

00:00 – The Hidden Problem in Medtech Feedback

02:16 – From Bing + Netflix to Medtech: Sasi’s Journey

04:17 – The Missing Link in Voice of Customer

08:01 – How Fanvoice Works for Busy Surgeons + Reps

10:17 – Sales as a Strategic Feedback Channel

14:29 – Small Sample, Big Signals: AI Pattern Recognition

16:40 – Sentiment Analysis = Real-Time Product Intelligence

20:22 – Avoiding Slow Burn Failures Through Fast...

Episode breakdown:

00:00 – Why AI agents are misunderstood—and underused in healthcare

02:47 – What separates automation, AI, and agents

06:19 – Which industries are deploying AI agents best

08:15 – Overestimating AI: what it *can’t* do yet

10:06 – The wildest use case Jelani’s built: full browser automation

12:56 – AI avatars + loneliness + aging populations = a new medtech opportunity

16:44 – HIPAA-compliant SMS agents for hea...

Episode breakdown:

00:00 – What’s Wrong with Traditional Endoscopy

03:19 – Bryan’s Path: Law, VC, MIT Startups → Medtech CEO

07:50 – Why Endoscopy Is Ripe for Disruption

11:10 – Breaking Down the Endoscopy Market TAM

13:48 – Starting with Sports Med: Why That Matters

16:30 – Why Pristine Is Betting Big on ASCs

18:33 – The $100K Problem Hospitals Don’t Talk About

19:27 – Real Barriers to Adoption (And How They’re Overcoming The...

Episode breakdown:

00:00 – From Chicago Roots to Stanford MBA: Laura’s Unlikely Path

03:19 – Why SI-BONE Was Her First Medtech Role

06:55 – Sabbatical, Reflection, and Finding Purpose in Patient Impact

09:13 – What It Took to Become CEO After Being CFO

11:35 – Leading SI-BONE Through Its IPO

14:43 – The Reimbursement Playbook Behind Their Success

16:41 – Defending a Category Against Fast Followers

19:22 – Why SI-BONE Invested ...

Episode breakdown:

00:00 – Why Spine Still Struggles with Innovation

03:41 – Gabriel’s Journey: From Farmhouse Birth to Gates Think Tank

06:48 – What Working With Bill Gates Taught Him About Scale

09:31 – The Problem with Surgical Visibility (And Proprio’s Fix)

13:27 – How Proprio’s Tech Differs from AR, Navigation, and Robotics

16:18 – Real-Time Guidance Without Fiducials

23:18 – Proprio’s Beachhead Market: Spine and Beyond

26...

Episode breakdown:

00:00 – Intro

03:11 – What is TechMed?

06:00 – Building from data first

15:43 – Why AI adoption in healthcare lags

22:01 – What makes a dataset proprietary

28:11 – Why traditional sales and marketing fail

46:33 – Why VC is struggling—and how TechMed fits

55:18 – The rise of wearables and implants

1:02:39 – What company will be the next Intuitive Surgical?

1:11:55 – How TechMed can attract elite talent

Don’t Let Cybersecurit...

Episode breakdown:

00:00 – Declining Birth Rates and the Rise of Fertility Tech

01:08 – Founding Illumicell: Oil, Rocket Science & AI Meet Reproduction

03:20 – From Azerbaijan to McKinsey: Jeyla’s Path to Medtech

06:42 – Fertility Deserts in the U.S. and the Accessibility Gap

10:09 – The Real Cost and Toll of IVF on Women

12:48 – Sperm Health as a Predictor of Longevity and Disease

15:47 – Funny & Wild Founding Stories: ...

Episode breakdown:

00:00 – Why Cybersecurity is a New FDA Blocker

02:50 – Meet Blue Goat Cyber: Medtech-Only Cybersecurity

04:18 – FDA’s 2023 Final Guidance on Cybersecurity

07:00 – 68% of Devices Are Network Connected (Here’s the Risk)

09:45 – Why Retrofitting Security Fails

13:30 – FDA Risk Management: ISO 14971 vs TIR5717:10 – Secure Software Dev: IEC 62304 & Who Actually Follows It

20:08 – Is ISO 27001 Enough? What the FDA Actuall...

Episode breakdown:

00:00 – Intro: Is Medtech Having a Moment?

01:30 – Macro Trends: May Outperformed April

03:10 – Medtronic Spins Off Diabetes Division: Why It Matters

06:00 – AI Scams in Tech vs Guardrails in Healthcare

09:15 – Public Market Confidence: Strong Q1 Earnings Recap

12:30 – Intuitive Surgical CEO Transition & What It Signals

14:55 – ResMed’s Long Play: Sleep OS & Apple Vision Pro Strap

18:45 – VirtuOx Acquisition &...

Episode breakdown:

00:00 – How Arun Menawat Is Challenging the MedTech Status Quo

01:32 – From Novadaq to Profound: Building a 3rd Medical Device Company

03:19 – What Tulsa Pro Actually Does (Explained Simply)

06:52 – How Engineering Principles Shape Arun’s Leadership Philosophy

10:14 – Why He Took the CEO Role 6 Weeks After Exiting Novadaq

13:23 – Prostate Anatomy & Why Standard Treatment Damages Quality of Life

15:51 – How Tulsa Pro...

Episode breakdown:

00:00 – Intro: AI Meets Stroke Care
01:00 – Robert’s Journey from UCLA to Neurocritical Units
02:10 – Why Stroke is 30 Years Behind Cardiology
03:36 – Why Only 5–8% of Hospitals Use TCD
04:15 – How Stroke is Diagnosed Today (and Why It Fails)
05:28 – 80% of Strokes in Community Hospitals Have No Known Cause
07:16 – The Role of PFOs and Why TTE Misses Most of Them
10:15 – How Bubbles Reveal Stroke Risk Through the Brain
12...

Episode breakdown:

00:00 – Intro: Ray Cohen’s MedTech Resume

02:21 – 44 Years, 0 BigCo Jobs: Ray’s Founding Philosophy

05:04 – How He Closed a $600M Deal Without an Investment Banker

08:05 – Why Relationships Matter More Than Bankers in M&A

11:19 – When Is the Right Time to Sell a MedTech Company?

13:44 – Why He Took Axonics Public *Before* FDA Approval

15:53 – $111M in Year 1 During COVID — How They Pulled It Off

17:42 – W...