Medtech Snapshot Podcast

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​Welcome back to another MidTech Snapshot. With us today is Bill Karpu from Octane, and I'm really excited to talk through a variety of topics today, everything from Raising Capital to their Launchpad program, and even a brand new AI hub that's in development here in Orange County. So stay tuned.

Alright, Bill, so I'm really excited to start our discussion off today looking at Raising Capital. You know, I mean, this has been a huge discussion for MidTech startups, obviously, in particular, but, you know, it's, it's not been the easiest as of recent in your organization over the years. You know, since 2010, if I recall, you all have done 1600, give or take raises, and 86% of the companies that go through your accelerator, they've been getting funding in about 15 months.

Walk us through, how is that possible first? I mean, those are some pretty good stats. And what's the difference between the companies that are getting funding through your program versus the one that aren't? Yes, Travis, I mean, they are good statistics, if you look at it from that standpoint. And one of the reasons is that, you know, we work with or see about 550 companies a year, and whittle that down or do the diligence to get it to about 65 that we work with.

So we're already diligently out, if I could use that phrase, about 88% of the companies that we see. So, you know, we're dealing with a smaller and tighter nucleus. So, you know, that's that's one component.

The second and third are really, really critically fundamental to what Octane does. So, you know, one is that we've got a high degree of credibility with investors right now. And, you know, we're positioning these companies in, you know, I call it their first real smart money.

So it's either family offices, you know, ultra high net worth individuals or venture, you know, either strategic or institutional. So we've got we've got relative credibility with each of them. On the other is that we we've produced really good results and we've got data that backs up and an AI tool called Haystacks that we could give an investor a probability of success of their investment.

Medtech Snapshot ep #120 features local medtech legend George Wallace, CEO of NV Medtech.

Listen in as George shares his story on how he got started and a sizeable risk he took early in his career - leaving a good job with a large firm to enter the startup world. ​

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[Travis Smith] Welcome back to another Medtech Snapshot, the one question, one answer, a highly digest medical device podcast. With me today is George Wallace. If you are from Southern California and you've not heard that name, let me give you a little education course here real quick.

So George, many people who are from this area may know him from his time at MTI, but the interesting part with his background is where he comes from. With a starting point with Edwards Labs, or as a lot of people from that period know, is American Hospital Supply. Also going into a really early stage startup, which then transitioned into what we know today as Applied Medical, and then starting MTI in 1993.

So I'm really looking forward to this discussion today as we talk about risk, how you take risk, how you evaluate that, as well as funding. So stay tuned. All right, George, so we're talking about taking risks.

You've certainly been in that role plenty of times in your career where I'm sure you've had to evaluate when you say yes and when you say no to opportunities. So you had recently shared a really interesting story with me that I would love for you to share with the folks who are listening, which was at the age of 27, fairly newly married with two young children. You somehow convinced your wife to move from California to Indianapolis so that you could join a pre-commercial startup.

There's a fair amount of risk in that type of decision, especially for a young family. So can you kind of walk us through, why did you take that risk and what did you learn from the experience?

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Welcome back to another MedTech Snapshot. The one question, one answer, highly digest medical device podcast. With me today is Ray Biscuso.

He is the executive vice president of events for AVIMED. We're going to be getting into a variety of topics today covering why would you want to get involved in some of these events? Perhaps, of course, we'll be talking about AVIMED, but why also just being involved in the industry at large as well? There's also a rather large conference coming up later this year, so we'll dive into some of those details. So stay tuned.

All right, Ray, well, welcome in. So I'm really looking forward to diving into just kind of where AVIMED is today. You know, and you all have been through a variety of changes.

I mean, 50 years is quite a long time for a trade association to be around. So can you maybe just walk us through, you know, the pathway to get to where you are today? And why people should consider getting involved with your organization? So yes, we're celebrating 50 years. We were founded back in 1974.

And we were created because industry was all of a sudden regulated by the FDA. And we were started by companies that actually had products on the market. And you had to have a product on the market in those early days.

And it was really just the big guys that joined. And it was a closed network. But we are the world's largest trade organization.

We have a global footprint. Our members include, I want to say all 10 of the 10 largest medical device companies are members of ours. I think 35 of the 40 largest.