Shaun Bagai | CEO, RenovoRx | Revolutionary Cancer Treatment, Startup Success, & Medtech Mentorship

Shaun Bagai is the CEO and Director of RenovoRx, and a seasoned MedTech leader whose path began with a Silicon Valley startup internship that ultimately pulled him away from medical school and into building life-changing technologies. Shaun shares how early experiences in clinical research, physician training, and commercialization—from Medtronic to multiple high-growth startups—shaped his leadership philosophy around mentorship, hiring for “fit,” and balancing empowerment with accountability. Shaun reflects on legacy, values-driven leadership, and why networking rooted in genuine curiosity can become one of the most powerful tools in a MedTech career.

Guest links: https://renovorx.com/contact-us/ | https://www.linkedin.com/in/shaun-r-bagai/  

Charity supported: ASPCA

Interested in being a guest on the show or have feedback to share? Email us at [e-mail]. 

PRODUCTION CREDITS Host & Editor: Lindsey Dinneen Producer: Velentium Medical

 

EPISODE TRANSCRIPT Episode 072 - Shaun Bagai

[00:00:00] Lindsey Dinneen: Hi, I'm Lindsey and I'm talking with MedTech industry leaders on how they change lives for a better world.

[00:00:09] Diane Bouis: The inventions and technologies are fascinating and so are the people who work with them.

[00:00:15] Frank Jaskulke: There was a period of time where I realized, fundamentally, my job was to go hang out with really smart people that are saving lives and then do work that would help them save more lives.

[00:00:28] Diane Bouis: I got into the business to save lives and it is incredibly motivating to work with people who are in that same business, saving or improving lives.

[00:00:38] Duane Mancini: What better industry than where I get to wake up every day and just save people's lives.

[00:00:42] Lindsey Dinneen: These are extraordinary people doing extraordinary work, and this is The Leading Difference.

Hello, and welcome back to another episode of The Leading Difference podcast. I'm your host, Lindsey, and today I am delighted to introduce you to my guest, Sean Bagai. Sean has served as Chief Executive Officer and Director since 2014 of RenovoRx. Prior to joining, he led global market development for HeartFlow, Inc from 2011 to 2014, which included directing Japanese market research, regulatory payer collaboration, and key opinion leader development to create value, resulting in a company investment to form HeartFlow Japan. During his tenure at HeartFlow, he successfully orchestrated their largest clinical trial to date and contracted HeartFlow's first global customers. In addition, Sean has launched innovative technologies into regional and global marketplaces in both large corporations and growth phase novel technology companies. Sean is a graduate from the University of California Santa Barbara with a Bachelor of Science in Biology / Pre-med.

All right. Well, thank you so much for being here, Sean. I'm so delighted to speak with you today.

[00:01:54] Shaun Bagai: Thanks for the opportunity. I really appreciate it.

[00:01:55] Lindsey Dinneen: Of course. Well, I'd love, if you wouldn't mind starting off by just telling us a little bit about who you are, what your background has been like, and what led you to MedTech?

[00:02:07] Shaun Bagai: I really appreciate the question 'cause it's really my background and kinda the early part of my journey that landed me where I am today. I actually did an internship at a medical device startup company in Silicon Valley between what would've been college and med school. And while I was applying to med school, my goal was to get some experience in the industry, in a medical technology space, and then go out to med school. And the founder of my company and CEO really advised me not to go to med school once I got in to become, someday an entrepreneur like his own self. And I ended up following his footsteps with the goal of, just like he, did build companies that really make a major impact on medicine.

[00:02:44] Lindsey Dinneen: Wow.

[00:02:45] Shaun Bagai: So from, yeah, so from that early kind of intro to medical technology and learning what an entrepreneur could do in building new therapies and technologies, I ended up running clinical research at that company once I declined med school. We exited to Medtronic where I learned the sales side of things. So, this physician founder CEO along with my mentor, s