Medsider: Learn from Medtech and Healthtech Founders and CEOs

Scott Nelson
  • 4.7 (70)
  • Entrepreneurship
  • Updated Semiweekly

Learn from the brightest CEOs in medtech and healthtech. That's our primary goal with Medsider. We unpack the strategies, tactics, and secrets behind the most successful startups. Join tens of thousands of ambitious doers and get access to the top medical device and health technology thought leaders.

  1. 3d ago

    Building Commercial Conviction Before Launch: Interview with SetPoint Medical CEO Murthy Simhambhatla

    In this episode of Medsider Radio, we sat down with we sat down with Murthy Simhambhatla, CEO of SetPoint Medical. SetPoint is commercializing the first FDA-approved neuroimmune modulation implant for rheumatoid arthritis. Previously, Murthy was CEO of Evolus, leading the company through its IPO, and held multiple leadership roles at Abbott, including President of Abbott Medical Optics and head of the company's Ibis Biosciences molecular diagnostics business. Earlier in his career, Murthy led development of Abbott's XIENCE drug-eluting stent platform following Abbott's acquisition of Guidant. Murthy holds a Ph.D. in Polymer Engineering and is a Fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering. In this interview, Murthy discusses building commercial conviction years before launch, how to sequence platform indications around adjacent markets, and why SetPoint built its reimbursement function in-house rather than outsourcing it. Before we dive into the discussion, I wanted to mention a few things: First, if you’re into learning from medical device founders and CEOs and want to know when new interviews are live, head over to Medsider.com and sign up for our free newsletter. And if you’re ready to level up your medtech game, you should check out Medsider Courses — 8-week masterclasses covering topics like fundraising, M&A and exit planning, design and development, clinical and regulatory strategy, and commercialization. These courses, featuring hard-earned lessons from elite medtech CEOs, can be purchased individually or come free with our All-Access Pass. If you'd rather read than listen, here's a link to the full interview with Murthy Simhambhatla, which includes a link to ScottBot — an AI version of host Scott Nelson trained on every Medsider interview and playbook. Feel free to ask ScottBot any questions you'd like! KEY MOMENTS FROM THE INTERVIEW (03:18) - Murthy's journey from Guidant, Abbott, and Evolus to leading SetPoint Medical (09:53) - How SetPoint stimulates the vagus nerve to reprogram the immune system (11:32) - Why SetPoint built a reimbursement hub around the entire referral workflow (21:36) - A guide to building technical and commercial conviction for a novel therapy (26:58) - The trifecta Murthy wanted in place before commercial launch (30:56) - Why rheumatoid arthritis became SetPoint's first indication (36:11) - How commercial adjacency shapes platform expansion (42:20) - A business case for handholding patients through reimbursement (48:03) - The two lessons behind every skeptical investor question

    Building Commercial Conviction Before Launch: Interview with SetPoint Medical CEO Murthy Simhambhatla

  2. Aug 3

    What Makes a Medtech Company Investable? Interview with Neuros Medical CEO David Veino

    In this episode of Medsider Radio, we sat down with David Veino, President and CEO of Neuros Medical. Neuros is commercializing the FDA-approved Altius Direct Electrical Nerve Stimulation System for chronic post-amputation pain. Before Neuros, David held senior commercial leadership roles at Cardiovascular Systems (CSI) and Stryker, and helped grow CSI's coronary and peripheral business from approximately $50 million to more than $250 million in annual revenue while leading key amputation-prevention initiatives. He also serves as a private equity advisor with Sectoral Asset Management.  In this interview, David discusses how commercialization begins by mapping the patient journey upstream, what it takes to generate gold-standard clinical evidence for a novel therapy, how investors assess scalable medtech businesses, and how to build an investor pitch that earns the next meeting.   Before we dive into the discussion, I wanted to mention a few things: First, if you’re into learning from medical device founders and CEOs and want to know when new interviews are live, head over to Medsider.com and sign up for our free newsletter. And if you’re ready to level up your medtech game, you should check out Medsider Courses — 8-week masterclasses covering topics like fundraising, M&A and exit planning, design and development, clinical and regulatory strategy, and commercialization. These courses, featuring hard-earned lessons from elite medtech CEOs, can be purchased individually or come free with our All-Access Pass. If you'd rather read than listen, here's a link to the full interview with David Veino, which includes a link to ScottBot — an AI version of host Scott Nelson trained on every Medsider interview and playbook. Feel free to ask ScottBot any questions you'd like! KEY MOMENTS FROM THE INTERVIEW (03:02) - David's 30-year medtech journey from cardiovascular devices to leading Neuros (04:38) - How Neuros is treating chronic post-amputation pain with on-demand neuromodulation (11:08) - Why Neuros completely changed its strategy halfway through the pivotal trial (15:36) - Why commercialization starts with referral pathways, not end-users (18:09) - How prosthetists became one of Neuros' most important referral sources (26:11) - What it takes to generate gold-standard clinical evidence for a first-of-its-kind therapy (37:41) - Building an investor pitch that earns the next meeting (41:42) - What gets David excited enough to invest in a medtech company

    What Makes a Medtech Company Investable? Interview with Neuros Medical CEO David Veino

  3. Jul 27

    Building Around Technology and Market Tailwinds: Interview with Adaptyx Biosciences CEO Vijit Sabnis

    In this episode of Medsider Radio, we sat down with Vijit Sabnis, co-founder and CEO of Adaptyx Biosciences. Adaptyx is a Stanford spinout developing wearable technology for continuous molecular monitoring. Over the past 20 years, Vijit has worked at the intersection of deep technology as an inventor, founder, and investor. Before Adaptyx, he was a Partner at Khosla Ventures and co-founded Solar Junction to commercialize high-efficiency solar cell technology. He holds a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from Stanford. In this interview, Vijit discusses how to recognize when a scientific idea is worth building a company around, how to build startup-style learning cycles when spinning technology out of academia, and designing products that are easy for clinicians and consumers to adopt.  Before we dive into the discussion, I wanted to mention a few things: First, if you’re into learning from medical device founders and CEOs and want to know when new interviews are live, head over to Medsider.com and sign up for our free newsletter. And if you’re ready to level up your medtech game, you should check out Medsider Courses — 8-week masterclasses covering topics like fundraising, M&A and exit planning, design and development, clinical and regulatory strategy, and commercialization. These courses, featuring hard-earned lessons from elite medtech CEOs, can be purchased individually or come free with our All-Access Pass. If you'd rather read than listen, here's a link to the full interview with Vijit Sabnis, which includes a link to ScottBot — an AI version of host Scott Nelson trained on every Medsider interview and playbook. Feel free to ask ScottBot any questions you'd like! KEY MOMENTS FROM THE INTERVIEW (03:17) - Vijit's path from Stanford, solar energy, and venture capital to building Adaptyx (07:25) - How Adaptyx is trying to do for hormones what continuous glucose monitors did for diabetes (13:50) - The signals Vijit looked for before founding Adaptyx (25:35) - How Adaptyx turned academic research into startup-speed learning cycles (32:15) - Why cortisol became the company’s first clinical application (36:26) - How Adaptyx is designing new molecular data to fit existing clinical workflows (42:12) - Why new consumer health platforms opened new paths to commercialization (47:24) - Fundraising in an era of shorter attention spans

    Building Around Technology and Market Tailwinds: Interview with Adaptyx Biosciences CEO Vijit Sabnis

  4. Jul 20

    Changing Physician Workflows Requires More Than Clinical Evidence: Interview with Sonex Health CEO Bob Paulson

    In this episode of Medsider Radio, we sat down with Bob Paulson, President and CEO of Sonex Health.  Sonex’s UltraGuideCTR device is a minimally invasive technology that enables ultrasound-guided carpal tunnel release procedures to be performed outside the surgical suite using local anesthesia, expanding patient access and reducing the cost of care. Before joining Sonex, Bob led multiple venture-backed medical device companies through commercialization, including NxThera, acquired by Boston Scientific, Restore Medical, acquired by Medtronic, and VentureMed Group. Earlier in his career, he held senior leadership roles at Medtronic, Advanced Bionics, and Endocardial Solutions, which was acquired by St. Jude Medical. In this interview, Bob explains how to build a reimbursement strategy before your first clinical study, drive physician adoption when introducing a new care pathway, and raise capital aligned with value inflection points.  Before we dive into the discussion, I wanted to mention a few things: First, if you’re into learning from medical device founders and CEOs and want to know when new interviews are live, head over to Medsider.com and sign up for our free newsletter. And if you’re ready to level up your medtech game, you should check out Medsider Courses — 8-week masterclasses covering topics like fundraising, M&A and exit planning, design and development, clinical and regulatory strategy, and commercialization. These courses, featuring hard-earned lessons from elite medtech CEOs, can be purchased individually or come free with our All-Access Pass. If you'd rather read than listen, here's a link to the full interview with Bob Paulson, which includes a link to ScottBot — an AI version of host Scott Nelson trained on every Medsider interview and playbook. Feel free to ask ScottBot any questions you'd like! KEY MOMENTS FROM THE INTERVIEW (03:19) - Bob's path from Medtronic to multiple medtech exits before joining Sonex (05:38) - Why 80% of eligible carpal tunnel patients avoid surgery — and how Sonex is changing that (11:11) - The reimbursement challenge that reshaped Sonex's clinical evidence strategy (19:07) - Reimbursement is a three-leg process: FDA, CPT, and payer coverage (22:07) - Reverse engineering your company from the exit you're trying to achieve (29:35) - How Sonex helped surgeons move carpal tunnel procedures out of the OR (39:06) - Sonex’s "pitcher-catcher" approach to physician and patient adoption (41:59) - Bob's framework for choosing investors who can finance the entire journey, not just the next round

    Changing Physician Workflows Requires More Than Clinical Evidence: Interview with Sonex Health CEO Bob Paulson

  5. Jul 6

    Designing for Access, Not Just Affordability: Interview with SS Innovations Founder Dr. Sudhir Srivastava

    In this episode of Medsider Radio, we sat down with Dr. Sudhir Srivastava, founder, chairman, and CEO of SS Innovations (Nasdaq: SSII).  The company’s SSi Mantra surgical robotic system supports a variety of surgical robotic procedures, including cardiac surgery.  Sudhir brings more than three decades of experience in minimally invasive and robotic cardiac interventions, having served as Director of Robotic Cardiac Surgery at the University of Chicago and founder of the International College of Robotic Surgery. A pioneer in the field, Sudhir has performed more than 1,400 robotic procedures, including over 750 beating-heart totally endoscopic coronary artery bypass (TECAB) surgeries. In this interview, Sudhir discusses what it takes to democratize robotic surgery beyond affordability, how SS Innovations built teleproctoring, telesurgery, and the supporting infrastructure for its robotic platform, and his milestone-based approach to financing a capital-intensive medtech company.  Before we dive into the discussion, I wanted to mention a few things: First, if you’re into learning from medical device founders and CEOs and want to know when new interviews are live, head over to Medsider.com and sign up for our free newsletter. And if you’re ready to level up your medtech game, you should check out Medsider Courses — 8-week masterclasses covering topics like fundraising, M&A and exit planning, design and development, clinical and regulatory strategy, and commercialization. These courses, featuring hard-earned lessons from elite medtech CEOs, can be purchased individually or come free with our All-Access Pass. If you'd rather read than listen, here's a link to the full interview with Sudhir Srivastava, which includes a link to ScottBot — an AI version of host Scott Nelson trained on every Medsider interview and playbook. Feel free to ask ScottBot any questions you'd like! KEY MOMENTS FROM THE INTERVIEW (03:01) - Sudhir's journey from performing the world's first beating-heart robotic bypass to founding SS Innovations (07:14) - The 22-year-old patient who became the catalyst for Sudhir’s affordable robotic surgery platform (08:59) - Building Mantra 3 from the ground up in just five months (12:14) - Inside the engineering process that eliminated months of costly iteration (16:20) - The question that shaped SS Innovations: "How do you democratize access?" (27:10) - From one office to performing 24 telesurgeries in 12 hours across India (29:29) - How a mobile training bus became part of Sudhir's answer to make robotic surgery accessible (33:49) - Lessons from commercializing a surgical robotics platform across developing markets (39:43) - Starting with just $5 million: Sudhir's milestone-based approach to fundraising

    Designing for Access, Not Just Affordability: Interview with SS Innovations Founder Dr. Sudhir Srivastava

  6. Jun 29

    Three Hurdles to Medical Device Adoption: Interview with Esperto Medical CEO Aditya Rajagopal

    In this episode of Medsider Radio, we sat down with Aditya Rajagopal, co-founder and CEO of Esperto Medical. Esperto is a Caltech spin-out utilizing compressed sensing technology with ultrasound to continuously and non-invasively measure blood pressure. Before Esperto, Aditya co-founded ChromaCode, a molecular diagnostics company, and was a researcher at Google[x], where he worked on novel medical imaging methods. Aditya also serves as part-time faculty at Caltech and USC, and holds BS, MS, and PhD degrees in Electrical Engineering from Caltech.  In this interview, Aditya discusses why great science doesn’t necessarily make great companies, what it takes to win as a fast-follower in medtech, and how to sequence a platform technology without spreading resources too thin. Before we dive into the discussion, I wanted to mention a few things: First, if you’re into learning from medical device founders and CEOs and want to know when new interviews are live, head over to Medsider.com and sign up for our free newsletter. And if you’re ready to level up your medtech game, you should check out Medsider Courses — 8-week masterclasses covering topics like fundraising, M&A and exit planning, design and development, clinical and regulatory strategy, and commercialization. These courses, featuring hard-earned lessons from elite medtech CEOs, can be purchased individually or come free with our All-Access Pass. If you'd rather read than listen, here's a link to the full interview with Aditya Rajagopal, which includes a link to ScottBot — an AI version of host Scott Nelson trained on every Medsider interview and playbook. Feel free to ask ScottBot any questions you'd like! KEY MOMENTS FROM THE INTERVIEW (02:44) - Aditya’s journey from Caltech and Google to tackling one of medicine's hardest engineering problems at Esperto (05:17) - How Esperto is trying to solve a 50-year-old problem: continuous blood pressure monitoring without an arterial catheter (07:17) - Why Esperto was okay with being a fast-follower in an established market instead of creating a new one (16:12) - "Great science doesn't necessarily make great companies" and other lessons Aditya learned at ChromaCode (24:02) - Three hurdles every medical device must clear before clinicians will actually adopt it (27:44) - How Aditya determines whether a technical problem actually has a "there there" (37:51) - Esperto’s pitch strategy and how it raised from a position of strength (43:18) - What first-time founders often misunderstand about how venture capital actually works

    Three Hurdles to Medical Device Adoption: Interview with Esperto Medical CEO Aditya Rajagopal

  7. Jun 22

    Creating Consumer Demand for a New Category: Interview with Climatic CEO Eric Kau

    In this episode of Medsider Radio, we sat down with Eric Kau, co-founder and CEO of Climatic. Climatic is commercializing L Max, a daily inhaled system that proactively supports lung function. Before Climatic, Eric served as COO of Seed Health and was part of the foundational team at Chewy. Earlier in his career, Eric held growth and operational leadership roles across consumer, wellness, and e-commerce businesses, including Amazon, BoxyCharm, Target, and Best Buy.  In this interview, Eric discusses what it takes to build a consumer category that doesn’t yet exist, how Climatic approached clinical validation and consumer education simultaneously, and how early user behavior helped identify the company’s strongest initial customer cohorts. Before we dive into the discussion, I wanted to mention a few things: First, if you’re into learning from medical device founders and CEOs and want to know when new interviews are live, head over to Medsider.com and sign up for our free newsletter. And if you’re ready to level up your medtech game, you should check out Medsider Courses — 8-week masterclasses covering topics like fundraising, M&A and exit planning, design and development, clinical and regulatory strategy, and commercialization. These courses, featuring hard-earned lessons from elite medtech CEOs, can be purchased individually or come free with our All-Access Pass. If you'd rather read than listen, here's a link to the full interview with Eric Kau, which includes a link to ScottBot — an AI version of host Scott Nelson trained on every Medsider interview and playbook. Feel free to ask ScottBot any questions you'd like! KEY MOMENTS FROM THE INTERVIEW (02:49) - Eric’s path through Amazon, Chewy, Seed, and the consumer health experiences that led to Climatic (05:49) - Why Climatic is treating lung health like hydration, sleep, or nutrition (11:47) - How Climatic rapidly iterated on formulas, delivery systems, and prototypes to launch a product for a new category in under 2 years (14:56) - Climatic’s approach to product design, which is built around gym bags, vanities, and existing wellness routines (19:59) - How early users shaped both Climatic’s clinical strategy and its go-to-market focus on endurance athletes and biohackers (23:56) - Why Climatic spent more time teaching consumers about lung health than selling the product itself (34:07) - What investors needed to believe before funding a category that didn’t yet exist (40:27) - How Climatic built a 15,000-person waitlist through Strava run clubs instead of paid ads

    Creating Consumer Demand for a New Category: Interview with Climatic CEO Eric Kau

  8. Jun 8

    Building Clinical Evidence Around Your Target Market: Interview with Teal Health CEO Kara Egan

    In this episode of Medsider Radio, we sat down with Kara Egan, founder and CEO of Teal Health. Teal Health is the company behind the first FDA-authorized at-home cervical cancer screening wand. Before founding Teal, Kara worked in healthcare and software investing at .406 Ventures and Emergence Capital, and held product and marketing roles at Zendesk and Stitch Labs.   In this interview, Kara discusses building support and follow-up into at-home screening, how Teal expanded its comparative clinical study to support broader market adoption, and how healthcare incentives, reimbursement, and institutional trust shape new care models. Before we dive into the discussion, I wanted to mention a few things: First, if you’re into learning from medical device founders and CEOs and want to know when new interviews are live, head over to Medsider.com and sign up for our free newsletter. And if you’re ready to level up your medtech game, you should check out Medsider Courses — 8-week masterclasses covering topics like fundraising, M&A and exit planning, design and development, clinical and regulatory strategy, and commercialization. These courses, featuring hard-earned lessons from elite medtech CEOs, can be purchased individually or come free with our All-Access Pass. If you'd rather read than listen, here's a link to the full interview with Kara Egan, which includes a link to ScottBot — an AI version of host Scott Nelson trained on every Medsider interview and playbook. Feel free to ask ScottBot any questions you'd like! KEY MOMENTS FROM THE INTERVIEW (02:49) - Kara’s background in health technology investing and software that shaped Teal’s consumer-first approach (05:14) - How Teal turned the traditional Pap smear into the first FDA-authorized at-home screening product (07:30) - Turning at-home testing, telehealth, and clinician follow-up into a single care experience (13:48) - Raising Teal’s first $1M with mockups and consumer-grade design (22:17) - Teal’s comparative study that matched physician-collected screening with 96% sensitivity (23:40) - How asking women what they actually wanted changed Teal’s view of the market opportunity (32:05) - “Take off the healthcare hat” — Kara’s framework for fundraising, incentives, and commercialization (41:48) - What investors actually care about beyond the company’s mission

    Building Clinical Evidence Around Your Target Market: Interview with Teal Health CEO Kara Egan
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Learn from the brightest CEOs in medtech and healthtech. That's our primary goal with Medsider. We unpack the strategies, tactics, and secrets behind the most successful startups. Join tens of thousands of ambitious doers and get access to the top medical device and health technology thought leaders.

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