Why Early Stage Medical Device Deals Aren’t as Bad as You May Think




Medsider: Learn from MedTech and HealthTech Experts show

Summary: Warren Buffet is often quoted as stating, “The best time to be greedy is when others are fearful.” But can this same concept apply to the medtech space? Can limited partners (the investors in a venture fund) be sold on the idea of bankrolling early stage medical device companies? In this interview with Mike Carusi, General Partner at Lightstone Ventures, we learn why his firm believes the current medtech environment represents an incredible investment opportunity. Interview Highlights with Mike Carusi - Because of the challenges involved with raising money for early-stage medtech deals, will there be a large innovation gap in 7-10 years?- Is there any sort of mandate within large strategics to keep the medtech ecosystem alive?- For those “bloated” medical device startups that have raised $100+ million, how much pressure are they under?- Why early stage medical device companies should look at biotech and pharma in order to discover creative ways to fund companies.- Will the build-to-suit (“exclusive incubator”) trend continue?- VC firms win by trying to hit home runs versus singles. But if you can be efficient with capital, can hitting singles be a viable model? In other words, can Fred Khosravi's success be duplicated?- Is there room left for the traditional model of incremental product improvements (with minimal clinical data) at higher market prices? AKA the “fast follower” approach.- Are we in a renal denervation bubble?- How does a medtech engineer, physician, or entrepreneur get the attention of Mike and his VC colleagues?- What are medical device acquirers looking for in pre-revenue startups? In other words, what markets should startups be pursuing?- Best practices for “de-risking” a potential acquisition.- How Mike’s early experience in sales helped him throughout his medical device career.This Is What You Can Do Next 1) You can listen to the interview with Mike Carusi right now: 2) You can also download the mp3 file of the interview by clicking here Don't forget – you can listen to this interview and all of the other Medsider interviews via iTunes. And if you get a chance, leave us an honest rating and review. 3) Read the following transcripts from my interview with Mike Carusi. Read the Interview with Mike Carusi I hate to have these interviews interrupted. So before we dig in, listen to these quick messages: First, to get free email updates when another Medsider episode goes live, simply go to Medsider.com/free. We don't send emails often. But when we do, they're full of valuable content. No spam…ever. Just go to Medsider.com/free to sign up. Second, Medsider is on iTunes. Just go to Medsider.com/iTunes and you can subscribe to the podcast for free. That way, all the new episodes will automatically download to your iTunes account. It's super easy. Also, if you like the podcast, don't forget to rate it. That really helps us out. Okay, for you ambitious doers…here's your program… Scott Nelson: Hello, hello everyone. It’s Scott Nelson, and welcome to another edition of Medsider. For those of you who are new to the program, this is a show where I bring on experienced and proven med tech and medical device experts and ask as many questions as I can fit in in about 30 minutes. And on today’s program I’ve got Mike Carusi, who is a General Partner and Team Leader of Lightstone Ventures. He focuses on biopharmaceutical and medical device investments out of the firm’s Palo Alto office. Mike also joined Advanced Technology Ventures in 1998 and serves as a general partner. Some of his representative investments include Altura Medical, Ardian, which was acquired by Medtronic, EndoGastric Solutions, GI Dynamics, and several others. Mike was also featured on the 2011 Forbes Midas List of top technology investors. He is of course a recognized thought ...