LifeSci Continuum with Bill Schick

Bill Schick FCMO
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I'm a Fractional Chief Marketing Officer for life science companies and I help them accelerate product adoption & make marketing work.This is LifeSci Continuum, where we explore the unbroken sequence of innovation, strategy, & growth in the life sciences industry. Join us as we explore the insights and experiences of founders, product managers, commercialization leaders, & marketing pros in the field. Discover the strategies & tactics that have worked for them, hear about their challenges and triumphs, and gain valuable knowledge to help your company thrive.From commercialization to full life cycle product management and marketing, learn about the latest trends in pharmaceutical, biotech, med device and healthcare marketing, product management, and branding.From groundbreaking startups to exit-stage brands, we uncover the secrets to success in the life sciences, reflecting the ongoing evolution that defines our industry.As a fractional CMO in the life sciences, I can help you establish, track, and optimize the right metrics and KPIs that align with your business objectives. This includes defining what success looks like for your specific stage of growth, whether it's early lead generation, nurturing prospects, or moving toward commercialization. I'll ensure that your marketing efforts are measured using data-driven insights, helping to identify opportunities, optimize campaigns, and make informed decisions to accelerate growth and ROI while minimizing wasteful efforts. For more specialized help with growth, check out my firm, Mesh.https://meshagency.com/ 

  1. Aug 1

    How to Build and Fund Your Home Healthcare Product

    The healthcare industry often approaches home diagnostics by taking technology designed for a clinic, making it smaller, and expecting consumers to adopt it. Anywhere Dx began with a different question: What would a parent actually want to use? In this episode of LifeSci Continuum, I welcome my clients Nathalya Mamane and Dr. Michael Mina, Co-founders of Anywhere Dx  to share their real-world experiences building, funding, and commercializing healthcare and life science innovation. These conversations are designed to give founders, product leaders, and commercial teams a clearer view of what it actually takes to move from idea to adoption, and where smart teams often get stuck along the way. If you are just starting your journey, or you are feeling stuck somewhere between strategy, product development, commercialization, and growth, contact me today. I’d be happy to help you find the clearest path forward. https://www.linkedin.com/in/founderandcdo/ Nathalya Mamane: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nathalya-mamane/  Dr. Michael Mina: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-mina-md-phd-711918113/  Anywhere Dx Website: https://www.anywhere.health/  00:00 How to Build a Healthcare Product People Actually Want 02:20 How Anywhere Dx Identified a Real Healthcare Problem 06:45 How to Find the Right Healthcare Startup Co-Founder 10:19 Why Healthcare Startups Should Solve Problems, Not Build Technology 15:45 Medical Device Design: Building Products Patients Will Actually Use 20:29 Healthcare Startup Challenges: Investors, FDA, and Market Adoption 31:43 Why Simple Medical Devices Win Over Complex Technology 38:00 Medical Device Engineering: Making Complex Technology Simple 45:14 Healthcare Startup Funding and Product-Market Validation 50:18 Healthcare Startup Advice: Find the Problem Before Building the Product Nathalya Mamane was not a diagnostic scientist. She was a mother who was tired of losing an entire day every time one of her children needed a strep test. The healthcare industry often approaches home diagnostics by shrinking technology designed for the clinic and expecting consumers to adapt. Anywhere Dx started somewhere smarter: with the question, what would a parent actually want to use? In this episode, Nathalya Mamane and Dr. Michael Mina share how Anywhere Dx is working to create an affordable, saliva-based molecular strep test that families can use at home, and why successful healthcare innovation starts with a real user problem, not a technology looking for a market. A simple user experience is not simple to build. This conversation explores what it takes to turn a clear consumer need into a regulated healthcare product, from defining the right requirements early to navigating funding, technical complexity, and the realities of bringing a new diagnostic to market. If you are just starting your journey, or you are feeling stuck somewhere between strategy, product development, commercialization, and growth, contact me today. I’d be happy to help you find the clearest path forward. https://www.linkedin.com/in/founderandcdo/ #LifeSciences #HealthcareInnovation #ProductMarketing

    How to Build and Fund Your Home Healthcare Product

  2. Jul 6

    How to Raise Money for Your Medtech Startup | Christina Goudy

    If you think raising money for a medical device startup is mostly about having strong science and a slick deck, you are going to have a rough time. Talk to Bill. Bill Schick: https://www.linkedin.com/in/founderandcdo/ In this episode of LifeSci Continuum, I sit down with Christina Goudy, MBA, CEO and co-founder of Reach Orthopaedics, to talk about what medtech fundraising actually looks like when you are in the middle of it. Christina is building a company in a tough category, solving a real orthopedic problem, raising capital in a brutal market, and doing it all from Canada while navigating the U.S. medtech investment landscape. We get into medical device startup fundraising, pitch storytelling, investor expectations, startup marketing, cross-border investment, and why founders need to act like real companies earlier. Connect with Christina Goudy to continue the conversation: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christina-goudy/ https://www.reachortho.ca/ 00:00 Why raising money in medtech is harder than most founders expect 00:22 Christina Goudy’s background and path to Reach Orthopaedics 02:33 The orthopedic problem Reach Orthopaedics is solving 04:03 What early-stage medtech fundraising looked like during COVID 06:39 Why founders need to adapt when the market changes 09:03 Changing the structure of a seed round without changing the goal 10:11 The reality of raising medtech capital from Canada into the U.S. 13:15 What due diligence and investor momentum look like in real life 14:17 Explaining an unmet clinical need to investors outside your specialty 15:41 Why storytelling matters in a medical device pitch 17:24 The mistake technical founders make when they pitch features first 20:03 Matching the right story to the right audience 22:09 What accelerator programs can and cannot really do 23:07 Three lessons Christina would tell herself earlier 25:51 Why marketing matters even before you feel ready for it 30:04 Why startup employees need to advocate for themselves A lot of medtech founders still assume that if the science is strong enough, the market, investors, and momentum will eventually line up. Nice fantasy. Not how this works. In this conversation, Christina breaks down what it looks like to raise money for an early-stage medical device company when the funding market changes, investor expectations shift, and the original plan no longer fits. We discussed how Reach Orthopaedics moved from a priced round to a SAFE, why adapting the structure of the raise matters, and how founders need to think about dilution, milestones, and what investors need to believe before they move. One of the most useful parts of this episode is investor pitch storytelling. Christina explains how her team reworked the story to make the problem resonate clearly, especially with investors who do not live in orthopedic surgery every day. A lot of founders are still pitching like technical insiders to audiences who are not. They lead with jargon, features, and science details when what they really need to do first is create relevance, context, and urgency.  We also get into something founders do not talk about enough: marketing in early-stage medtech startups. Christina makes the point that marketing is not a luxury you get around to after the “real work” is done. Fundraising is marketing. Investor confidence is shaped by how credible, clear, and coherent your company looks. Your website, story, identity, positioning, and ability to explain the problem and your value are all doing work long before revenue shows up. If you still think branding and messaging are optional because you are “science first,” this episode may irritate you a little. Good. Another useful angle is the Canadian medtech startup perspective. Christina shares the real friction of trying to raise from U.S. investors when some funds want a company incorporated in the U.S. before they will even engage. That is one of those practical, expensive startup realities that can eat time and money fast. It is also a good reminder that raising capital is not just about the pitch. It is about structure, geography, timing, investor fit, and knowing which constraints matter. We also touch on accelerator programs, startup cash flow, team leverage, and why employees inside early-stage startups often have to build the roadmap while walking it. Christina has a refreshingly honest take on why founders need to listen when team members advocate for themselves. In startups, replacing someone is not just replacing a headcount. It is replacing hard-earned navigation through a messy system without a template. If you are building a medical device company, trying to improve your medtech fundraising strategy, reworking your startup pitch deck, or figuring out how to communicate real value to investors without burying them in technical detail, this episode is worth your time. #MedTech #MedicalDevices #StartupFunding #Fundraising #MedicalDeviceStartup #Orthopedics #PitchDeck #LifeSciences

    How to Raise Money for Your Medtech Startup | Christina Goudy

  3. Apr 14

    The MedTech Commercialization Mistake Teams Keep Making | Ayse Unsalan

    If your commercialization team shows up after the big decisions are already locked, don’t act shocked when the product struggles in the market. Talk to Bill. - Bill Schick: https://www.linkedin.com/in/founderandcdo/ In this episode of LifeSci Continuum, I sit down with Ayse Unsalan, global medtech commercialization and product strategy leader, to talk about why strong products still stall in the market. We dig into the hidden cost of silos, why commercialization teams too often inherit decisions they did not shape, and why clinical value alone is not enough to drive market adoption. Connect with Ayse Unsalan to continue the conversation on medtech commercialization, product lifecycle strategy, and market adoption. - Ayse Unsalan: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ayse-unsalan-ab11a743/ 00:00 Why great medtech products still fail in the market 01:10 Ayse Unsalan’s background in medical device commercialization 02:58 Why successful teams focus on the problem, not the product 04:48 How silos break product launches in medtech organizations 07:47 Why cross-functional teams must align early 12:11 Why commercialization must be involved from day one 16:08 The danger of falling in love with your product 18:56 How bad assumptions kill pricing and market success 21:33 Clinical value vs market adoption explained 25:06 Why great products fail without financial and operational value 30:23 A real failure story from trying to build the “perfect product” 33:36 Why startups fail without commercial strategy 37:56 The biggest mistakes teams make too late in development 41:11 Feature-focused vs value-driven product strategy 45:46 What “relevance” really means in medtech Too many medtech teams assume that if the product is clinically strong, the market will figure itself out. Cute theory. Often dead wrong. In this episode, I talk with Ayse Unsalan about the commercialization failures that happen long before launch. Drawing on nearly two decades in medical device marketing, portfolio strategy, and product lifecycle leadership, Ayse explains why successful products are usually backed by successful teams, not just clever engineering. We get into what happens when cross-functional teams stay trapped in silos, why timing matters more than many organizations want to admit, and how commercialization teams are often forced to inherit decisions around indication, price, value proposition, and evidence long after those decisions should have been challenged. Ayse also lays out one of the most useful distinctions in medtech: clinical value may get you access to the market, but adoption is what keeps you there. That means teams have to think beyond features and superiority claims and focus on whether the product creates real clinical, operational, and financial value for the full system around the user. If you work in medtech and you’re still treating commercialization like the last mile instead of a strategic input from day one, this episode is for you. #MedTech #MedicalDevices #Commercialization #ProductStrategy #GoToMarket

    The MedTech Commercialization Mistake Teams Keep Making | Ayse Unsalan

  4. Apr 3

    The Truth About Medical Device MVPs | Aaron Joseph & Russ Singleton

    If you think an MVP in medtech looks like a stripped-down prototype, you’re already behind. Talk to Bill. https://www.linkedin.com/in/founderandcdo/ In their return to LifeSci Continuum, medtech veterans Aaron Joseph and Russ Singleton tackle one of the most misunderstood concepts in medical device development: the MVP (minimum viable product). From surgical robotics to capital equipment, we discuss why “minimum” doesn’t mean cheap or simple and how smart teams use MVPs to learn faster without compromising safety, trust, or regulatory strategy. - Aaron Joseph https://www.linkedin.com/in/ajosephprofile/ - Russ Singleton https://www.linkedin.com/in/russellsingleton/ 00:00 Why MVP advice from software does not work for medical devices 01:14 What an MVP actually means in regulated medical device development 03:26 Why early customer feedback is essential for medtech startups 06:27 Why medical device MVPs are expensive and often not profitable 10:28 How clinicians reveal unexpected uses for new medical technology 14:25 Convincing early hospitals to use an unfinished medical device 17:23 The “pre-MVP” strategy and first-in-human medical device systems 19:00 Safety, reliability, and regulatory requirements for early devices 21:31 Why regulatory strategy must start early in product development In Medtech, Your MVP Isn’t Small. It’s Strategic. Founders love to throw around the term MVP. Usually wrong. In software, MVP often gets treated like a stripped-down version you shove into the world fast so you can learn. In medtech, that thinking can get expensive fast. Or worse, it can box you into a regulatory, clinical, or commercial path that makes future growth harder than it needs to be. That’s exactly why this latest Life Sci Continuum episode matters. In my conversation with medtech veterans Aaron Joseph and Russ Singleton, we unpack one of the most misunderstood ideas in device development: what a minimum viable product actually means when safety, trust, workflow, reimbursement, adoption, and regulatory strategy are all in the room, glaring at you. And here’s where Jobs to Be Done becomes incredibly useful. Too many teams define their MVP by asking: “What’s the smallest thing we can build?” That’s the wrong question. The better question is: What is the smallest thing we can build that helps us learn whether we can solve the real job better than the current alternative? That shift matters. Because the “job” in medtech is rarely just functional. A surgeon is not just trying to complete a procedure. A hospital is not just buying a device. A clinician is not just adopting a tool based on technical performance. They’re hiring a solution to reduce risk, protect outcomes, fit into workflow, preserve reputation, satisfy procurement, support training, and avoid creating chaos. That means your MVP cannot be defined by product features alone. It has to be defined by what you need to learn about the job, the context around the job, and the barriers that stop adoption. Sometimes that means your MVP is not minimal in any normal-person sense of the word. Sometimes it is overbuilt, manually supported, operationally painful, and commercially ugly. Good. If it helps you learn the right thing faster, that may be exactly what it should be. JTBD helps teams avoid a classic medtech screw-up: building an early device around what engineers can make instead of what the market actually needs to hire. It forces sharper questions: - What progress is the user trying to make? - What anxieties could stop adoption even if the tech works? - What workarounds are they firing to make room for this? - What has to be true

    The Truth About Medical Device MVPs | Aaron Joseph & Russ Singleton

  5. Mar 25

    Why FDA Approval Isn’t Enough: Navigating Market Access | Lori Siegel

    Commercialization doesn’t have to be a solo sport. Schedule a call with Bill Schick to pressure-test your launch plan before surprises show up downstream. https://www.linkedin.com/in/founderandcdo/ In this episode, I sit down with Lori Siegel to talk about what really happens after FDA approval. Lori shares lessons from working on pre-launch commercialization in biotech, including why approval doesn’t automatically lead to adoption. We also dig into how journey mapping and Jobs to Be Done thinking can reveal the real customer, and why reimbursement and hospital budget realities can derail even the strongest clinical story. - Contact Lori Siegel: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lori-siegel-mph-40453315/ 00:00 Introduction to medical product adoption challenges 01:29 From clinical trials to commercialization strategy 04:06 Identifying the real customer in healthcare markets 08:03 Why doctors are not the only decision makers 11:17 Messaging that works for hospitals and payers 17:35 The hospital budget reality most founders miss 24:54 NTAP reimbursement and funding new medical technologies 29:50 Why expert partners and industry networks matter Three Pro Tips 1. Treat Commercialization as a Parallel Workstream, Not a Phase Too many teams mentally sequence commercialization after clinical success, even when they intellectually know better. What Lori’s story reinforces is that commercialization decisions are not downstream tasks. They are design constraints. Budget impact, reimbursement mechanics, and operational feasibility quietly shape whether a product can exist in the real world at all. If these constraints are discovered late, teams are forced into reactive repositioning rather than intentional strategy. A practical way to act on this is to run commercialization planning in parallel with pivotal trial execution. That does not mean building final messaging prematurely. It means stress testing assumptions early. Who pays first? Where does the budget actually sit? What decisions are irreversible if we wait? Treating commercialization as a living system rather than a milestone dramatically reduces late stage surprise. Early commercial readiness assessments and go-to-market risk audits are just two of the ways you can accomplish this. 2. Separate Clinical Value from Operational Permission A subtle but critical insight from Lori’s story is that agreement does not equal permission. Clinicians may believe in the therapy. Payers may acknowledge long-term value. Yet operational permission, the ability to actually deploy the product, can still be missing. That permission often lives with pharmacy leadership, pharmacy and therapeutics committees, and operational workflows that rarely appear in early go-to-market plans. Teams should explicitly ask: Who grants operational permission, and what do they require to say yes? This shifts strategy from persuasion to enablement. Evidence packages, packaging decisions, and deployment models should be built around removing friction for these gatekeepers, not just convincing end users. 3. Build Your Expert Bench Before You Think You Need It One of the quiet throughlines of this episode is how often progress came from who Lori’s team spoke with, not just what they analyzed internally. Hospital leaders, reimbursement experts, and experienced operators surfaced constraints no spreadsheet could reveal. The mistake many teams make is not ignorance. It is waiting too long to ask. A practical rule of thumb: if a decision could materially delay launch, you should already know someone who has navigated it before.  Enjoyed this episode? Subscribe to LifeSci Continuum for real-world insights on biotech, medtech, and pharma commercialization, from people who’ve lived it. #LifeSciContinuum #BiotechCommercialization #MarketAccess

    Why FDA Approval Isn’t Enough: Navigating Market Access | Lori Siegel

  6. Feb 27

    Regulatory Consultants and What They Get Wrong | Thomas Moore, PhD

    You can’t outsource judgment, but you don’t have to do it alone. If you’re navigating go-to-market decisions in a regulated space, work with Bill through MESH as your fractional CMO. Talk with Bill at MESH. https://meshagency.com/about-bill-schick/  About this episode: Early-stage medtech founders often treat regulatory strategy as a checklist item. That mistake can cost years, capital, and credibility. In this episode, I sit down with Thomas Moore, founder of PTL Solutions, to understand why regulatory strategy is actually a business roadmap and how founders can engage with it intelligently without outsourcing their judgment. Follow Thomas: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thomas-moore-phd-40016753/ PTL Solutions: ptl-solutions.com 00:00 Defining Regulatory Strategy  01:13 Thomas Moore Background  02:23 Why Regulatory Strategy Is a Core Business Tool 05:41 The Problem With Checkbox Regulatory Thinking 08:49 When Regulatory Consultants Miss the Mark 10:58 Why Founders Must Stay Engaged in Regulatory Strategy 12:26 What Investors Look for in Regulatory Planning 14:25 Can Founders Build Their Own Regulatory Strategy 16:14 Where MedTech Teams Get Stuck 21:18 The Must Have Elements of a Strong Regulatory Strategy 25:56 Why Regulatory Strategy Is Not a Linear Process Regulatory strategy is often framed as a compliance hurdle — something to outsource, check off, and move past. But as Thomas Moore, PhD explains, that mindset quietly introduces risk across the entire business. With over two decades in medical device development, Thomas has seen what happens when founders receive a beautifully written regulatory document they can’t defend, explain, or adapt. In this conversation, he reframes regulatory strategy as a living roadmap — one that connects product design, clinical evidence, quality systems, investor confidence, and FDA credibility. This episode is especially relevant for early-stage medtech founders navigating limited budgets, compressed timelines, and high stakes. Thomas shares why founders don’t need to do everything themselves — but why they can’t afford to be hands-off either. From pre-subs to predicate strategy to “spinning plates” across functions, this conversation gives founders language, structure, and confidence to engage regulators and consultants from a position of clarity. If you’re building a regulated product and trying to move fast without stepping on landmines, this episode will help you think more clearly about where regulatory fits — and why it’s inseparable from business strategy. 🎧 Subscribe to LifeSci Continuum for founder-level conversations on commercialization, regulation, and building durable life-science companies. https://meshagency.com/about-bill-schick/ #MedTechFounders #RegulatoryStrategy #LifeSciences

    Regulatory Consultants and What They Get Wrong | Thomas Moore, PhD

  7. Feb 20

    Prepare For What Investors & the FDA Are Really Looking For | Tim Looney

    Need investor traction now? Bring in a fractional CMO  to package your story, de-risk your milestones, and turn Tim’s engineering plan into an investable go-to-market narrative. Let’s align tech, timeline, and TAM. Book a strategy call with Bill. https://meshagency.com/fcmo-fractional-cmo-fractional-marketing/ Founder-friendly, investor-real talk. In his second visit to LSC, Tim Looney (Northeast Biomedical) explains how to turn prototypes into investor-ready products: DHF done right, phased engineering plans, avoiding “jam it through” FDA myths, and picking the right money. https://www.linkedin.com/in/tlooney/  00:00 Why do MedTech founders get stuck after early traction 03:15 What do investors actually want to see before funding 07:10 Why does skipping process slow FDA and fundraising 11:45 What documentation really matters for MedTech devices 16:40 How should founders think about de risking early 21:30 What makes a MedTech product truly investor ready Investors aren’t funding your cool device—they’re underwriting your ability to de-risk it. In this episode, Tim Looney (President & CEO, Northeast Biomedical) returns, breaking down the investor lens for med-tech: show a credible timeline, a traceable design history file, and a stage-gated plan that prevents “surprise” testing at the eleventh hour. We dig into DHF essentials, how to avoid endless prototyping, and why “let the FDA tell us what’s missing” is the slowest, riskiest strategy. Tim shares a standout success—an EU class III clearance in two weeks thanks to a meticulous dossier—and a cautionary tale where a buyer inherited gaps and had to backfill under FDA scrutiny. We also talk capital: why the color of money matters, how to spot investors who add operational value, and the signaling power of ISO 13485 systems, external advisors, and documented learnings. If you’re preparing for investors—or realizing you should have prepared earlier—connect with Bill.  Translate conviction into execution-ready roadmaps and pressure-test investor fit before urgency takes over. https://meshagency.com/fcmo-fractional-cmo-fractional-marketing/  #MedTech #RegulatoryStrategy #InvestorReadiness

    Prepare For What Investors & the FDA Are Really Looking For | Tim Looney

  8. Feb 6

    Develop Your Go To Market Strategy for Your Real Customer | Shehla Rooney

    Built a life-science product that works, but growth stalled? Talk to Bill about diagnosing your commercialization path before you spend years selling to the wrong buyer. https://meshagency.com/fcmo-fractional-cmo-fractional-marketing/  Physical therapist turned founder Shehla Rooney (GoKnee, https://www.linkedin.com/in/shehlarooney/ ) shares how early success selling to clinicians masked a deeper problem and why realizing the patient was the true buyer changed everything. This podcast focuses on the misfires, mindset shifts, and lessons that reshaped her go-to-market strategy. 00:00 Why growth stalls when founders guess their customer 06:10 Early assumptions and selling to the wrong audience 13:45 The moment customer discovery changed the strategy 21:20 Selling the solution instead of the product 28:40 How listening replaced guessing in go to market decisions 36:05 Applying one marketing lesson across the business 43:30 A simple playbook for founders building real growth If you’ve built something that works but growth still stalled, this episode will feel uncomfortably familiar. In Part 1 of this conversation, I talk with physical therapist and GoKnee founder Shehla Rooney about how a breakthrough recovery tool and years of hard work were slowed by one fundamental mistake: selling to the wrong audience. Shehla walks through the early illusion of traction from her professional network, why marketing to PTs and surgeons felt logical (but wasn’t), and how promoting features instead of outcomes missed what patients actually cared about. She also draws a powerful parallel between bad marketing and bad clinical care, skipping diagnosis and jumping straight to treatment. Before you spend another dollar on marketing, get clear on who actually converts. DM Bill for the ICP Clarity Worksheet. #MedTech #DigitalHealth #gotomarketstrategy

    Develop Your Go To Market Strategy for Your Real Customer | Shehla Rooney
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About

I'm a Fractional Chief Marketing Officer for life science companies and I help them accelerate product adoption & make marketing work.This is LifeSci Continuum, where we explore the unbroken sequence of innovation, strategy, & growth in the life sciences industry. Join us as we explore the insights and experiences of founders, product managers, commercialization leaders, & marketing pros in the field. Discover the strategies & tactics that have worked for them, hear about their challenges and triumphs, and gain valuable knowledge to help your company thrive.From commercialization to full life cycle product management and marketing, learn about the latest trends in pharmaceutical, biotech, med device and healthcare marketing, product management, and branding.From groundbreaking startups to exit-stage brands, we uncover the secrets to success in the life sciences, reflecting the ongoing evolution that defines our industry.As a fractional CMO in the life sciences, I can help you establish, track, and optimize the right metrics and KPIs that align with your business objectives. This includes defining what success looks like for your specific stage of growth, whether it's early lead generation, nurturing prospects, or moving toward commercialization. I'll ensure that your marketing efforts are measured using data-driven insights, helping to identify opportunities, optimize campaigns, and make informed decisions to accelerate growth and ROI while minimizing wasteful efforts. For more specialized help with growth, check out my firm, Mesh.https://meshagency.com/ 

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