Venture capital veteran Armen Vidian joins Omar Khateeb to discuss the future of medtech investing, the missing link between tech and healthcare, and what today’s founders must do to attract capital and talent. From the challenges of clinical trials to the opportunity in AI-enabled devices, this conversation dives into the realities of building, funding, and scaling medtech companies in a shifting landscape.

Episode Breakdown:

00:00 Students of the market and what defines great founders

01:32 Armen Vidian’s journey from Racine to MIT to medtech

05:00 Lessons from Evolve and Abbott clinical trial pitfalls

07:11 Backing Proprio and the small world of medtech investing

08:05 Why Recode Ventures looks beyond traditional medtech VC

10:40 Attracting talent and capital into medtech

12:00 Sales culture versus tech culture in device companies

15:01 Why old go to market models no longer work

16:45 The incrementalism trap in medtech innovation

18:28 When Recode actually invests in devices

19:01 Marketing in medtech versus tech what’s missing

21:05 Why devices must be intuitive without hand holding

22:06 Cybersecurity as a non negotiable for FDA approval

25:04 Why tech enabled devices are the real talent magnet

28:32 Investor perspectives medtech versus tech risk tolerance

31:20 Why Proprio could be Tesla for medtech

33:29 Traits of founders who succeed in this space

35:02 Why medtech still attracts purpose driven entrepreneurs

36:41 Harsh truth lack of AI adoption already cost medtech jobs

38:01 Why incremental startups will not get acquired anymore

39:09 How closed club dynamics hurt new founders

42:09 What full stack medtech companies might look like

45:39 Talent pay and career realities in medtech

49:25 Lessons from Intuitive Surgical’s rise

52:15 Why surgeons deserve better design and experiences

55:17 Why disrupting medtech requires respect for its challenges

57:01 Books Armen recommends to founders

1:01:04 His top advice for entrepreneurs raising now

Are you a medtech CEO in need of some marketing help attracting investors, growing sales pipeline, and more? Go to ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠GrowMyMedtech.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ to book time for a free analysis.

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