MedTech Innovator: Accelerating Healthcare Innovation (Pt. 2)
As a startup venturing into the dynamic landscape of medical technology innovation, the road ahead may seem riddled with obstacles. From fierce competition to ever-evolving regulatory landscapes, the journey to success can be fraught with uncertainty.
In the last episode, Kevin Blevins and Jim Gernatt were speaking with Paul Grand, founder and CEO of Med Tech Innovator. We left off discussing Paul’s background, the remarkable journey of Med Tech Innovator, and its pivotal role in shaping the future of healthcare. Today, we continue this conversation with Paul diving into innovative initiatives driving this transformative organization.
In this part, you will gain insights into the pivotal role of organizations like MedTech Innovator in guiding companies through the complexities of commercialization, including navigating investment challenges and addressing payment and coverage issues.
What You’ll Learn in This Episode:
- Challenges faced by MedTech startups, including lack of guidance and funding. (04:16)
- MedTech Innovation ecosystem, including peers, key opinion leaders, investors, strategic partners, and payers. (07:02)
- The value of working with a partner like Siemens. (14:05)
- The importance of getting out of echo chambers and seeing different perspectives. (20:20)
- The importance of fixing investment and payment systems in the medical technology industry. (31:49)
Siemens Startups Program
At Siemens, we understand the struggles of early-stage startups. Let us remove the barriers on your startup journey by helping you transform your engineering ideas into real, marketable products with industry-leading software solutions. Join the Siemens Startups Program to grow your startup to its full potential. Want to get in touch? Reach out here.
Guest: Paul Grand
Paul is the founder and CEO of MedTech Innovator. He created and managed MedTech Innovator as a program within RCT Ventures from 2013 – 2016. In 2016, with the financial support of RCT and other sponsors, Paul left to run MedTech Innovator as a stand-alone company. He spent 11 years as Director and Managing Director at RCT Ventures, the investment arm of Research Corporation Technologies, Inc. Prior to RCT, Paul was co-founder and CEO of startups in the medtech, pharma, and tech sectors.
Host: Jim Gernatt
Jim has been with Siemens for over a decade, leading a variety of sales & new revenue strategy teams. As part of Siemens Digital Industries Software, Jim is the Americas Lead for SMB Ecosystems, Incubators & Accelerators, where he drives thought leadership and sales execution to serve startups with the Siemens Xcelerator Platform. His experience forming new teams within Siemens, performing Technology – Product – Market segmentation and creating executable sales strategies is critical to helping startups focus and achieve milestones. He has extensive SaaS B2B enterprise software sales experience for technical users. When not helping startups achieve milestones, Jim will be found with his best friend and bride, Holly, and their growing family.
Host: Kevin Blevins
Kevin Blevins is the Portfolio Development Executive for SMB and Startup Companies and manages the Siemens Digital Industries Software Startup Program. He works with the Siemens sales organizations as well as Siemens Partners to engage and evangelize the Siemens Startup Program in the Americas. Kevin has spent more than 35 years in the Engineering and Manufacturing software industry. Prior to this he spent seven years in the automotive design industry. Kevin has been with Siemens for 33 years. During this time, he has held positions in Technical Support, Technical Sales Support Leadership, Sales Director for the Automotive Region, Partner Sales Executive, and his current position. Kevin has a Bachelor of Science in Engineering Technology from Lawrence Technological University in Southfield, MI.
MedTech Innovator
MedTech Innovator is a nonprofit global competition and accelerator for medical device, digital health and diagnostic companies. Their mission is to improve the lives of patients by accelerating the growth of companies that are transforming the healthcare system. According to Silicon Valley Bank’s CipherBio, MedTech Innovator is the largest accelerator of Life Science companies in the world. Learn more about MedTech Innovator here.
Pioneers: Startups from Dreams to Reality
Ideas alone can’t change the world. It takes grit, and serious funding. In Pioneers, host Kevin Blevins sits down with startup founders to discuss the startup lifestyle- from concept to execution- and the big ideas that fuel these pioneers. From the future of farming to autonomous flight, there’s no frontier too far.
