Melissa Lederer has seen thousands of startups. After enough reps, you start to see the patterns. Why some founders make it. Why others struggle. Why great technology alone isn’t enough. And why trying to build a healthcare company by yourself can become a major liability. Melissa has had an unusual front-row seat to all of it. She was part of the founding team at 1871, helped build MATTER’s healthcare innovation community, and today serves as Chief Experience Officer at mHUB, where entrepreneurs are building medical devices, hard tech, and physical products. In this episode of the Advancing Healthcare Innovation Show, Melissa and Michael Stamatinos get into what she has learned from watching founders up close. They talk about what mHUB looks for before investing, why coachability matters, the danger of single-founder companies, what separates great founders from great storytellers, and why access to the right people can completely change a company’s trajectory. They also get into something that may surprise people. Hardware is getting interesting again. After years of venture dollars pouring into software, Melissa believes the combination of AI, compute, medical technology, and physical products is changing the equation. In her words, “hardware is the moat.” And the Midwest may have more of the ingredients needed to win that race than people realize. This conversation is about founders. It’s also about something bigger: what happens when you intentionally build environments where talented people, capital, industry, mentors, and opportunity collide. Because innovation rarely happens alone. If you’re building in healthcare, investing in early-stage companies, or trying to understand what separates promising ideas from companies that actually make it, this episode is worth your time. Learn more about mHub: https://mhub.org/ Timestamps: 00:00 – Welcome to the Advancing Healthcare Innovation Show 04:18 – Meet Melissa Lederer 04:52 – From Flint, Michigan to the innovation world 08:58 – Building 1871 from the ground up 11:17 – What people don’t see about building innovation ecosystems 14:26 – Why healthcare led to MATTER 16:42 – The founders Melissa still thinks about 18:10 – Inside mHUB: What Melissa looks for 20:15 – Why founders struggle to ask for help 22:23 – What mHUB looks for before investing 25:12 – The patterns you see after thousands of startups 27:34 – Great technology vs. a great storyteller 28:45 – Why building physical products is different 31:04 – Why Melissa is bullish on the Midwest 35:02 – Access, impact and building something bigger than yourself 37:18 – How to get involved with mHUB 38:17 – Rapid fire: The most underrated founder quality 39:40 – Closing thoughts 📣 LIKE, COMMENT & SUBSCRIBE About the Show The Advancing Healthcare Innovation Show is hosted by Michael Stamatinos, a nationally recognized connector, strategist, and advocate for innovation with purpose. Each week, Michael interviews healthcare leaders who are driving meaningful change—highlighting stories of access, resilience, equity, and transformation. The AHI Show started with the idea of wanting to highlight stories of what healthcare innovation truly looks like in action. Our mission, highlight real people who are really innovating within healthcare. Guests include healthcare entrepreneurs, providers, payers, and professionals from the investment community. We showcase little wins as well as valuable lessons learned from setbacks through these interviews. The real innovators in healthcare are often the ones in the trenches doing the work with razor-sharp focus. We find these innovators and bring their stories to light. 🔗 Michael’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelstamo 🎧 Subscribe for more episodes that move beyond theory and into the heart of what’s really possible in healthcare. Join our group, Advancing Healthcare Innovation Forum on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/7056196/