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Coronavirus 101: Working from Home

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Coronavirus 101: Working from Home

With the rapid spread of the coronavirus pandemic all over the globe, most companies have now implemented a full-time work from home policy until further notice. While for some people this way of working is nothing new, for most of us it is a challenge we’ve never faced before. We don’t know how long it is going to last or what tomorrow will bring. Imposed almost overnight, social isolation affects our everyday communication and efficiency as we seek to continue operations and save our businesses amidst the crisis.

It’s a tough reality but we can choose to flip it around and make it work in favour of our productivity and mental health. Here are some aspects of the situation that you can focus on to help yourself and your staff navigate the transition with more ease.

Keep talking

If your job involves sharing an office with other people or interacting directly with customers, you need to completely redefine the way you will keep communication flowing in the new context of working from home.

This will involve extensively deploying channels such as chat or email, as well as increased volumes of phone and video calls to compensate for the absence of face-to-face interaction. Make peace with the fact that there will be some trial and error as you and your teams learn on the go and adjust to the switch. Remember – it is surely better to over-communicate at first than not to communicate at all!

The work-life balance

Is there such a thing anymore? When you are stuck at home all day long boundaries between your work and personal life get blurred. With family and children around, you enter a whole new level of potential pitfalls that can easily boil into stress and frustration. Take a careful look at your workload, both job- and family-wise, and redefine the relationship between the two. That might involve negotiating home duties with your partner, or designing a more creative work schedule with your manager that allows you to alternate between professional and private responsibilities throughout the day.

If there is no spare room at home to turn into an improvised office, designate a dedicated quiet space for your workstation and make it as comfortable as possible. This includes using a table or desk with enough space for your computer or laptop, a comfortable chair, plenty of light, etc. Don’t get tempted to use relaxation spaces such as your sofa or couch for working. That way you will retain some sense of boundary.

Managing Management

One of the biggest challenges that come with social isolation and working remotely full time will be faced by managers. How do you redefine what supervision means in this new weird context? How do you measure performance if your team’s output cannot be easily quantified?

With limited opportunities for directly monitoring remote employees comes the temptation to constantly check or even worse, micromanage. Don’t let yourself go there. The sudden shift from a traditional working schedule to a full-time home office alone is stressful enough for all of us. Make sure your staff have all the necessary tools and systems in place to carry out their tasks at full capacity and communicate with everyone so they don’t feel disconnected.

You have an opportunity to make your team feel trusted valuable and understand that their work is important to keep the business going forward. This will motivate them to do their work more than anything else. Be kind and forgiving when misunderstandings arise (because they will) and go with the flow.

Acknowledge the fact that adapting to change takes time and encourage feedback from all sides until your organisation settles into its new mode of operations.

Since its inception in 2000 Guided Solutions has placed 8500+ candidates in more than 500 medical device companies across 37 countries, and counting.

We identify and recruit medical device specialists at all seniority levels, enabling our clients to connect with associate through to board level talent.

Visit our website to find out how our comprehensive range of search & selection services can help your business reach its potential.

Ways to Increase Your Productivity as a Medical Device Sales Rep

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Ways to Increase Your Productivity as a Medical Device Sales Rep

The job of a medical device sales rep is a demanding and difficult one. One of many challenges you will face along the way is staying motivated and producing results that meet set targets.

Fortunately, increasing your productivity doesn’t have to cost a fortune. Keep reading to find out some of the best way to do so…

1) Technology is your friend

You don’t need the latest iPhone or iPad to sell medical devices, but you do need tools to do your job effectively and efficiently. If your employer provides you with sub-par technology that’s outdated or doesn’t run the programmes you need to use, it can end up being something that distracts you from selling and keeps you on the phone with tech support rather than with prospective clients.

Two items that are proven to increase field-based reps’ productivity are 4G tablets and personal WiFi hot spots. These will keep you connected to internal systems as well as the internet, which can be used for a number of things while out of the office.

Another good idea is to take an annual technology inventory and see what new productivity tools and technology is available. This way you will ensure that you don’t miss an inportant upgrade or an opportunity to become more efficient.

2) Less admin

If medical device salespeople are bogged down with administrative duties that keep them from selling, productivity will suffer. Better have an administrative assistant work with the sales team so that the focus can be on meeting targets rather than paperwork.

3) Remote is key

Having regular in-person team meetings is extremely important from the point of view of keeping up to date with revenue numbers and hot prospects. From the point of view of efficiency and productivity though, every once in a while these can be conducted as a teleconference or even cancelled if the cancellation is communicated well in advance. As long as communication is clear and the intent is to open up more time to focus on new business opportunities, this can be seen as a positive step.

4) Smart appointments

Instead of setting your own meetings, you can have this process handled by marketing or administrative people, automated, or even outsourced. This way your focus will stay on the bottom of the sales funnel as your time will pass in meetings with prospects and closing more business rather than in setting appointments.

5) Introspection 

Understanding what drives top performance and what inhibits you from reaching goals is crucial to the success of any sales organization. Being able to pinpoint best practices and learning from good as well as bad experience is a great way to increase productivity and build on successes.

6) Walk in their shoes 

Before actually starting a job as a medical device sales representative, try and find out what challenges these people face on a daily basis. The best way to do this is to take some time and shadow or accompany sales reps on a few appointments. This will truly provide insight into what they are experiencing and what they do to increase their productivity.

7) Use inbound marketing

One of the biggest challenges medtech companies face is keeping their sales teams’ calendars filled with appointments and keeping them in the field following up on leads. If your company is generating leads through social media (LinkedIn and Twitter) and email marketing, this can additionally boost productivity as well as revenues.

 

Remember, following these steps is not a guarantee that sales forecasts will be met or exceeded. However, they are proactive steps towards improving productivity that you can put in place and optimise your daily workload to support long-term revenue growth.

 

Since its inception in 2000 Guided Solutions has placed more than 8500 candidates in over 37 countries.

We identify and recruit medical device specialists at all seniority levels, enabling our clients to connect with associate through to board-level talent.

Visit our website to register and find out more.

Editors’ Choice: 2019 in Medtech

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Editors’ Choice: 2019 in Medtech

The global medical device industry enjoyed another dynamic year in 2019. The past 12 months were marked by a spectacular rise of new trends and technologies, notably across digital health, wearables and robotic surgery, as well as regulatory upheaval.

As the end of the year is coming closer, it is time to look back and see which were the major highlights across funding, innovations, clinical trials, mergers, acquisitions and regulatory approvals in our annual editors’ recap.

Innovations

Reliable and useful consumer-oriented ECG monitoring is no longer a thing of the past. Alivecor, a California-based medical device and AI company that develops hardware and software for mobile devices launched this year the world’s first 6-lead consumer ECG, the KardiaMobile 6L. The KardiaMobile 6L resembles a large USB memory stick with two electrodes on one side and one on the other, and comes at the very reasonable price of $149.

Another non-invasive device called Hummingbird increases daily activity of people with fibromyalgia, while reducing muscle pain as reported by its developer, North Carolina-based company Vital Motion. The device is placed under the front part of the feet and emits a gentle vibration, providing pain relief and up to 72.7% increase in daily activity levels in patients. Fibromyalgia is a long-term condition characterised by widespread sensation of pain, accompanied by fatigue, sleep, memory and mood issues. Nearly 6 million Americans are estimated to be affected by the condition.

Regulatory Approvals

Infections in the fluid surrounding joint replacements can lead to pain, swelling and decreased function and may require surgery for treatment and a new prosthetic implant. A new diagnostic tool to help determine whether swelling around a prosthetic joint replacement is being caused by an infection was cleared by the FDA earlier this year. The Synovasure test kit—manufactured by CD Diagnostics, which was acquired by Zimmer Biomet in 2016—takes a sample from the viscous, lubricating fluid that surrounds the joint and searches for antimicrobial proteins released by white blood cells. The test kit has been designed for patients under evaluation for a failing implant revision or replacement surgery.

Digital therapeutics firm Neurolief secured the European CE-Mark to market, sell and distribute its Relivion device as a digital migraine treatment. Relivion has been developed as a non-invasive, multi-channel brain neuromodulation technology that is said to deliver therapy similar to surgical implants. The cloud-enabled, system is linked to a mobile phone app and comes with an adjustable headset that simultaneously delivers modulated pulses through adaptive output channels around the head to six branches of the occipital and trigeminal nerves.

Mergers & Acquisitions

Boston Scientific moved into the orthopedics space with a $465 million buyout of spinal implant maker Vertiflex.

Siemens Healthineers agreed to buy US medtech Corindus for $1.1 billion. Massachusets-based Corindus builds surgical robots to assist surgeons with operations on veins and arteries.

Smith & Nephew closed its acquisition of Brainlab, boosting its orthopedic joint replacement business. Smith & Nephew will begin integrating the Brainlab platform into the next version of its robotic surgery platform, Navio 7.0.

Exactech expanded its reach in the foot and ankle market with the acquisition of medical device company EPIC Extremity, which designs bone and joint restoration products and biologic solutions for extremities, knees and hips.

Pharmaceutical giant AbbVie announced the acquisition of Allergan in a $63 billion deal. Combined, the companies would rank as one of the industry’s largest by revenue.

3M entered an agreement to acquire Acelity Inc. and its KCI subsidiaries worldwide for a total enterprise value of some $6.7 billion. Acelity is a global leader in advanced wound care solutions and specialty surgical applications marketed under the KCI brand.

Clinical Trials

Abbott announced the launch of the TRILUMINATE Pivotal trial to evaluate the safety and effectiveness of the company’s TriClip transcatheter tricuspid valve repair system for the treatment of severe tricuspid regurgitation (TR). This is the first pivotal Investigational Device Exemption (IDE) trial in the U.S. to evaluate a catheter-based, non-surgical treatment for patients with severe TR – a condition in which the valve doesn’t close properly, allowing blood to flow backward into the heart, forcing the heart to work harder. In the U.S. alone, approximately one in 30 people over the age of 65 have moderate to severe TRiv.

A series of pilot clinical studies has indicated that non-invasive external stimulation of the vagus nerve alleviates disease symptoms in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) involves delivering electrical impulses to the vagus nerve, one of the cranial nerves that connects the brain to the body. VNS devices can either be implanted under the skin in a pacemaker-style device which sits on the chest, or external devices which are held up to the neck and manually activated to deliver electrical impulses.

 

Guided Solutions is the Executive Search partner of choice to the global Medical Device industry. We connect visionary companies with our continually expanding network of 120,000+ medtech professionals, fulfilling the potential of technology and talent. 

Whether you have a priority hire which requires immediate attention, or you are exploring the idea of adding to your team and would like some advice, contact us today and we will guide you through the hiring journey.

Medtech in 2019: A mid-year retrospective

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Medtech in 2019: A mid-year retrospective

What are the biggest medtech news and key developments that have marked 2019 so far?

Let’s take a look at some industry highlights across regulatory approvals, innovation and clinical trials, funding and M&A as picked by our medtech community:

1. Implantable knee shock absorber embedded in first patient in the USA

An implantable shock absorber has now been implanted for the first time in the United States to test whether it can delay the need for total knee replacements, and maybe even avoid such procedures completely in many patients.

The Calypso Knee System was developed by Moximed, a company based in Fremont, California, and surgeons at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center are the first to try it out in the U.S. The device attaches to the sides of the femur and tibia bones, away from the joint itself and therefore doesn’t alter the anatomy of the fragile joint.

2. New mathematical model can improve radiation therapy of brain tumours

In developing their mathematical model to spatially optimize radiation therapy in brain tumours, researchers at the University of Waterloo set a cap on the total dose a patient could receive throughout their treatment. They then divided the tumour into multiple portions: with the area most densely populated with cells being one portion and the remainder of cells the other. In some instances, they prescribed the dosage of radiation given to each portion, and in other cases, they allowed the model to determine the best ratio.

“It turned out that not necessarily in all cases do you want to distribute the radiation dose evenly between the fractions,” Meaney said. “What our model has shown is that perhaps what’s best is if we take the total radiation dose that we’re allowed to give a patient and administer it over a small area at high strength where the cells are most dense instead of spreading it over a big area with semi-weak strength.”

3. Optic nerve stimulation device could provide visual aid for the blind

Researchers at Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne in Switzerland have developed a new type of intraneural electrode to bypass the eyeball and send messages directly to the brain through the optic nerve. The technique could provide a visual aid for permanently blind people.

Using retinal implants to treat blindness is a developing field. The concept involves allowing users to have the sensation of observing light, which is experienced as white patterns. While this isn’t the same as full vision, it can serve as a visual aid for blind people as they go about their daily lives. In many cases, retinal implants can help those with visual impairments.

4. Royal Philips and Medtronic partner on image-guided AF treatment

Under the partnership, Philips’ KODEX-EPD dielectric imaging and navigation system, dielectric imaging sensors, clinical software and services will be leveraged to support cryoablation procedures performed using the Medtronic Arctic Front Advance cryoablation technology.

The KODEX-EPD system is intended to cut the requirement for X-ray imaging during cryoablation procedures. It comes with cryoablation specific features.

Philips EPD Solutions business leader Marlou Janssen said: “This integrated solution can guide physicians during the treatment of AF patients with ablation, as they can view detailed, CT-like 3D anatomy, reducing the need for X-ray imaging.

“Partnering with Medtronic extends the reach of our KODEX-EPD cardiac imaging and navigation system. Today, this technology is simplifying navigation, and in the future it has potential for a wide range of applications, including addressing the key unmet need of real-time therapy assessment – one of the more significant limitations of the current standard of care.”

5. Siemens in billion-euro deal for surgical robots firm

The medical devices arm of German industrial conglomerate Siemens has agreed to buy US surgical robots maker Corindus for one billion euros ($1.1 billion), in a deal that must still be approved by shareholders and regulators. Healthineers, which Siemens partially floated on Germany’s MDax medium-sized businesses index last year, has until now mainly focused on building scanners.

“With this acquisition, we are opening up a new field for our image-guided therapies business,” chief executive Bernd Montag said.

6. Boston Scientific completes acquisition of BTG

BTG has three key businesses, an interventional medicine portfolio that encompasses interventional oncology therapeutic technologies for patients with liver and kidney cancers, as well as a vascular portfolio for treatment of deep vein thrombosis, pulmonary embolism, deep venous obstruction and superficial venous disease.

Mike Mahoney, chairman and chief executive officer of Boston Scientific said: “The addition of the BTG Interventional Medicine portfolio reinforces our category leadership strategy and enables us to offer best-in-class technologies, unparalleled clinical evidence and a strengthened commercial infrastructure to support physicians treating some of the most challenging diseases impacting patient health around the world. Leveraging the employee talent and clinical and commercial expertise of these two high-performing organisations will generate continued innovation and access so that we may advance patient care in ways that neither company could do alone.”

 

Guided Solutions is Europe’s leading medtech recruitment consultancy. Join our 21,000+ LinkedIn community and stay up to date with latest international jobs and medical device industry updates.

 

6-step Guide to an Engaging and Successful Face-to-face Interview

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6-step Guide to an Engaging and Successful Face-to-face Interview

The face-to-face interview polarises opinions as to its real value in the hiring process. From huge corporations down to the smallest start-ups, every company uses interviewing in its many compositions to form the bulk of its recruiting rationale.

Even though the interview is seen by many as an imperfect (though necessary) evil, there is no sign of a feasible alternative replacing it any time soon. On this basis alone, it is still imperative that your small business can build a robust, engaging and repeatable interview process that yields results both in terms of hiring outcomes and candidate experience.

We’ve put together a list of 6 practical tactics and strategic considerations to implement and bear in mind every time you’re interviewing a potential new employee.

1) Be creative in your phraseology

Unless you are recruiting for an absolute rookie, it is likely that the candidate in front of you has been interviewed before, and even if they haven’t, they can prepare easily for rudimentary questions through some brief online research. If you exercise some individuality and originality in your questioning style, you can put candidates outside their comfort zone and stimulate them to respond authentically and with originality. Using this method, you are much more likely to learn about the candidate’s psyche rather than listening to what they’ve managed to prepare and rehearse.

2) Ask open questions

It’s an obvious one. Open questions require independent thought, quick thinking and improvisation. Over and above the answer, open question responses tell you how this candidate solves problems and constructs arguments under pressure.

3) Remember you are a small business

Remember to look outside of the narrow job function when making assessments and judgements on a candidate’s capability. Small business employees, in particular, are often required to wear many different hats. By designing appropriate behavioural questions, you can learn how the candidate will fit in with your entire environment, not just their immediate job role.

4) Be inquisitive, and a little bit tough

Dig deeply into your candidate’s answers and demand a lot. Never get lost in the artificiality of the interview process and continually remind yourself of what is at stake. You need this person to play a role in allowing you to compete with much larger businesses. Don’t let them off easily, and make sure that you judge their credentials and responses on how you see them fit into your big picture.

5) Consensus should be reached by objective means

Avoid having your stakeholders immediately spring into conversation upon completion of the interview. In the minutes immediately following that, each interviewer should review and summarise their notes and begin to form their own conclusions prior to the debate. This way the conversation will have a maximum number of perspectives unfettered by any external influences.

6) Build in effective resistance to biases

Beware biases. Not only is it natural, but it is also 100% inevitable that you will form them when you meet your interviewee. Various studies have found that within only 10 seconds traditional interviews have morphed from an objective fact-finding mission into a quest to confirm an intuitively reached hypothesis – a phenomenon known as confirmation bias. Keep this potential pitfall in mind and include interview techniques which yield objectively measurable results, such as structured interviewing questions, work sample tests (if applicable), etc.

 

Since its inception in 2000 Guided Solutions has placed 8500+ candidates in more than 500 medical device companies across 37 countries, and counting.

We identify and recruit medical device specialists at all seniority levels, enabling our clients to connect with associate through to board level talent.

Visit our website to find out how our comprehensive range of search & selection services can help your business reach its potential.

The De Novo Pathway: What has changed in 10 years?

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The De Novo Pathway: What has changed in 10 years?

‘De Novo’

“starting from the beginning; anew”

A key tenet of the 1997 Food and Drug Administration Modernization Act (FDAMA) was the creation of the De Novo pathway for medical device accreditation. The De Novo pathway was designed to enable streamlined and timely classification of low-to-moderate risk ‘novel’ medical devices as Class I or II, removing the necessity for provisional class III status and subsequent Pre-Market Approval.

The FDA system of classification and market approval has always relied on predicate technologies and products to inform new accreditation. The De Novo pathway, similar in sentiment to the EU CE marking method, is about device-specific risk and rule assessment rather than precedent.

Despite almost yearly modernisation initiatives since the watershed Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act of 2012 (FD&C), debate still rages as to whether the pathway is truly fit for purpose. In January 2018, the Center for Devices and Radiological Health (CDRH) set an ambitious target to have 50% of all manufactured novel devices come to the US first, or in parallel with other major markets. Doubtless, the pathway has come a long way since 1997, but how realistic has this ambition been? Let’s chart the developments of De Novo and from the evidence, draw some conclusions as to whether the CDRH target is a real possibility or just a commendable idea.

An Inauspicious Start

The De Novo pathway was created to streamline the classification of novel class I & II devices. However, for the first 15 or so years into implementation, it was little more than a well-intentioned theory given the less than negligible uptake by device sponsors.

Before 2012, the key issue with this so-called time-saving mechanism was that it didn’t save any time at all. In fact, it often took longer than the traditional 510(k) method!

So, what changed?

Prior to 2012, device sponsors looking to submit a De Novo application had to:

  • Submit a 510(k)
  • Await an FDA decision on the status of the device. If the FDA found the device did not satisfy the conditions of “not substantially equivalent” to a predicate device then the device was classified as Class III and subject to Premarket Approval (PMA).
  • If no substantial equivalence is proven, then the sponsor submits a De Novo request

Because device sponsors were forced to begin De Novo by the standard 510(K) submission process, then await an FDA decision on substantial equivalence and still face the prospect of the burdensome PMA at the end of it, there was seemingly no benefit to the far more costly De Novo process versus a traditional application.

In 2012, a new provision to section 513(f)2 of the FD&C Act in concert with additional modifications made through the Food and Drug Administration Safety and Innovation Act (FDASIA) set the De Novo on a new path towards increased uptake.

The intent of the adaptation was to streamline the existing process and increase efficiency through the creation of an alternative path. The new method enabled submission of a De Novo classification without prior submission of a 510(k) and a statutory 120-day timeframe for review of the request.

N.B.: The slightly reduced figure for the first four months of 2019 can be attributed largely to the US government shutdown.

The graphic below demonstrates a clear upward trend in De Novo authorisations since the above outlined changes have been enacted:

2009-2019 De Novo Accreditations

Lingering Questions

The De Novo pathway will continue to evolve in ways legislators feel will entice device sponsors to use it. Still, we can point out some fundamental flaws that will continue to limit the pathway’s ability to contribute to the CDRH’s originally conceived target.

A Paradoxical System

One inherent problem with obtaining De Novo accreditation is that once approved, the device becomes a suitable predicate for device sponsors coming further down the line. De Novo still carries a significantly higher cost than the traditional 510(k) submission, causing many device makers to simply register their device elsewhere and wait for a competitor to bite the bullet in the US and then follow in more cost-effectively afterwards. As the variety and volume of De Novo accreditations steadily increase, this regulation, paradoxically, ends up decelerating and stagnating pathway uptake as device sponsors wait for competitors to go through the process first.

 

Since its inception in 2000 Guided Solutions has placed 8500+ candidates in more than 500 medical device companies across 37 countries, and counting.

We identify and recruit medical device specialists at all seniority levels, enabling our clients to connect with associate through to board level talent.

Visit our website to find out how our comprehensive range of search & selection services can help your business reach its potential.

Red Flags in Your CV

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Red Flags in Your CV

As specialist recruitment consultants, one of our key objectives is to be able to critically evaluate candidate CVs and spot red flags, so that we minimise the risk of any disastrous job interviews (or worse – hires) taking place.

We achieve this through a rigorous screening process whereby we spot inconsistencies and irregularities that alert us of potentially unsuitable candidates and help us reduce the overall time and stress for everyone involved at any stage of the hiring process.

Today we bring these so-called red flags to your attention as well so you can develop a better awareness of what a good CV looks like, and start off your journey with us on the right foot.

1. Messy formatting

In the days of readily available, easy to modify templates, a badly formatted CV speaks volumes. It makes it literally impossible for us or for hiring managers to quickly sift through and identify key pieces of information about you. In addition, it implies that you don’t take enough time or effort to present yourself and what you do properly. This is a red flag because every employer, no matter whether big or small, will want to see you take ownership and responsibility over your professional output.

2. No clear focus

If you want to cut through the noise when applying for jobs, don’t use one and the same general version of your CV. Behind every opportunity there is a consultant or a hiring manager looking for very specific achievements, skills and qualifications they consider relevant for that particular role. This means that in order to stand out, it is crucial to tailor your CV towards the job you are applying for. If you believe your experience matches the requirements of that desired role, then let this be the core focus of your CV!

3. No achievements

Every job has its duties and responsibilities. What we truly want to understand when looking at your CV is what you have achieved in your professional journey so far. Flesh out your experience with results, facts and figures such as: meeting or exceeding targets, observing deadlines, saving costs, boosting team performance, delivering a project that benefited the business, etc. etc. The more achievements-centered your CV is, the more impressed we are and therefore likely to pass you on to a hiring manager.

4. Mysterious employment gaps

Many people have gaps in their professional experience and gaps as such are not necessarily an issue, especially if there is a reasonable explanation behind such as spending time with family, travelling, studying, etc.

Unexplained breaks, on the other hand, can and will most likely be seen as a red flag by a potential employer or a recruitment consultant, especially if your career path is interspersed with plenty of them. Questions such as “Is this person hiding something” or “Have they been doing nothing throughout all this time” are likely to arise alongside all sorts of suspicions and worries that are not in your favour at all. That is why, especially when communicating with your recruitment consultant, you should feel free to clarify the circumstances surrounding any gaps in your employment. Or even better, detailed it out on your CV to preempt any such questions coming!

5. Excessive length

We’ve said it before and we will say it again – no one likes a lengthy CV. It shows little respect for the limited time recruiters and hiring managers have to look at it in the first place.

Furthermore, it could be a sign of poor communication skills and poor understanding of your target audience. If you are not able to describe your own profile concisely, would you able to produce succinct reports and other pieces of business communication where brevity is vital?

Even in the world of medical devices where we often come across sophisticated profiles with high levels of expertise and extensive experience, a well-formulated CV rarely exceeds 2 pages.

 

Since its inception in 2000 Guided Solutions has placed more than 8500 candidates in over 37 countries.

We identify and recruit medical device specialists at all seniority levels, enabling our clients to connect with associate through to board-level talent.

Visit our website to find out more or get in touch via +44 1904720040.

How to Pitch Your Medtech to a Venture Capitalist

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How to Pitch Your Medtech to a Venture Capitalist

You’ve got multiple meetings with venture capitalists set up, each offering something unique and relevant to your business. And in turn, you feel your business is a natural fit for these investors based on their backing history. Now you need to convince them the bond you’ve identified is a strong and financially logical one.

This you must do during the all-important, make-or-break, do-or-die, pitch presentation.

There is no one formula that can guarantee a positive outcome when you pitch your company to a VC. Much of the decision-making process will be based on the exactitude of your venture and the business realities beyond the presenting room. However, there are several principles and structures exhibited by nearly all successful pitches, so it is worth considering and incorporating these in yours as well.

The successful pitcher can get inside the minds of the VCs they’re presenting to, making critical investing information emotionally engaging, easily accessible and memorable.

Below is a step-by-step guide for delivering a pitch presentation that grabs and keeps investor attention.

Before you even set foot in the room…

You need to do a substantial amount of homework on your audience. In most cases you will have a relatively short period of time to make the pitch (no more than 30 mins), so the more research you do ahead of it, the greater your ability will be to tailor your pitch to what matters most to your audience.

Ask yourself the following questions, then go and get the answers:

  • Who will be attending and what are their respective roles within the fund allocation process?
  • Where is the fund in terms of maturity and how much is in it?
  • What are the themes and values running through the VC? How will your organisation fit in with these?
  • What are the notable exits for the VC? Get some headlines about the successes of these businesses. Consider subtle ways of psychologically aligning your business with these successes.

The presentation…

There is a lot written about the psychology of the presentation itself. One of the most notable theories on the practice is the 10-20-30 rule advocated by Guy Kawasaki (former Chief Evangelist @ Apple, Google Advisor to Motorola, now @ Canva). The rule is very simple:

Limit your presentation to no more than 10 slides, 20 minutes of length, and a font size no smaller than 30.

We are by no means suggesting that your presentation must stay within these rather tight parameters. Still, it’s worth considering them for a moment.

Evidence suggests that the human brain is only able to comprehend 10 concepts clearly within a single presentation or meeting. Anything beyond this dissipates the overall theme’s coherence, leaving the audience confused, and worse, disengaged. The 20-minute limit stems from the 10-concept limit and how long it should take to elaborate on each of these concepts. Keeping your font no smaller than 30 ensures you are restricted to a low number of words. As a result, your audience cannot read ahead of you and create a presenter-presentee disconnect. You can include greater levels of detail in your leave behind document. In addition, fewer words on the screen will require you to know your material inside-out. This, in turn, makes you a much more confident and charming presenter.

“You need to start like a rocket”

David S. Rose – Serial Entrepreneur and Investor, founder of Silicon Alley Community in New York

In his TED talk, ’10 things to know before you pitch a VC’ (notice the use of 10) David S. Rose discusses the VC pitch in terms of the gradual, logical progression of ideas wherein one idea builds upon the energy of the previous, culminating in an irresistible crescendo of (emotional) investment. But what should those ideas be? Here’s a blueprint for you to consider when ideating your pitch deck.

  1. Opening Gambit

Who are you and what is your purpose? Summarise your mission in one sentence accompanied by your logo. Channel your inner Simon Sinek‘s “People don’t buy what you do; they buy why you do it”.

  1. The Pain

Outline the current challenges your target market is facing.

  1. The Remedy

Time to talk product and tell a little bit of the story of your IP.

  1. The Market

How does the remedy translate into profit? Give some topline evidence for the addressable market.

  1. Why Now?

What are the factors which make this the ideal time to strike?

  1. Competition

Simple enough, “But I’ve created a Blue Ocean?” You still have competition and you must prove your competition is the old way of doing things.

  1. Business Model

How will the money be generated from your proposed activity, and who are the customers providing the money

  1. Go-to-Market

What is your strategy for moving money out of your competitors and existing players’ pockets and into yours?

  1. Team

There’s differing opinion as to where this slide should sit. VCs invest in people leading some to suggest it should be right up front. However, truth is that it is ultimately subjective to the individual pitch and where your flow suggests it would fit best. Wherever it ends up, this concept should serve to reinforce your remedy moment and further demonstrate that your business has what it takes to monetise the pain alleviation.

  1. Vision

Finish with your vision for the future. Circulate back to your opening gambit, and underpin that with concrete, quantifiable, growth indicators.

A Clean Exit…

Following your presentation there will most definitely be questions. The important thing is to remain confident, calm and conversational in your tone and demeanour as far as is possible within such a pressurised environment. Make sure that your responses reinforce the salient points you wanted to finish off the pitch with, as well as your vision and value proposition. Finally, outline what the next steps are, and on what timeline.

 

With over 8,500 successful placements in 37 countries and counting, Guided Solutions is Europe’s largest search & selection consultancy operating exclusively within Medical Devices.

Contact us today to make sure your next hiring step is done the right way.

European Medtech in Numbers 2019

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5 Questions to Ask Your Medtech Recruiter

Guided Solutions
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5 Questions to Ask Your Medtech Recruiter

It might sound like a cliche but it’s true nonetheless: the secret to a positive and enduring employer-employee relationship is ensuring there is a good match between the two in the first place. That is why, if we were to single out the most important question we ask each and every of our candidates,, it will have to be:

“Do you have any questions for me?”

This is where we shift seats and give YOU the opportunity to try and learn whether the particular position, company, or, indeed, career path you’ve chosen to pursue is actually a good fit for you.

Yet, the vast majority of candidates we talk to on a daily basis don’t make the most out of this question. They either skip it altogether out of fear of asking something “wrong” or they ask a few generic questions just to get it over with.

We can’t stress enough the importance your questions play in facilitating the decision making process in matching you against available roles and companies. This is by far the most genuine glimpse we can get not just into your motivation, aspirations and career priorities, but the company culture and values you’re looking for and you will thrive in.

Not to mention that this is by far the best way of testing out your recruiter’s competency and genuine dedication to tell your story and properly represent you to potential employers.

That is why today we flip the script and give you the most important questions you should be asking your medtech recruiter during a conversation:

1. Is this a newly created position?

This is a great question to ask your recruiter as there is no right or wrong answer here. It will help you understand whether the position you are applying for has been previously held by someone else, or it is a completely new role within the company. In the dynamic world of medical devices, this kind of knowledge can be very important. If the role is a backfill, you can try and understand what happened to that person. Were they promoted to a new position? Did they leave? Or moved departments? Try and use these questions to get the big picture about the company, its internal dynamics and growth trajectory.

2. How long has it been open?

Even if you progress quickly through to interview stages, a position that has just been opened typically implies that the hiring process is in its very beginning. Hiring managers and decision makers usually want to see a few good candidates before they make a final choice. This takes its own time so you should be prepared to wait.

If, on the other hand, the position has been open for longer than 6 months, this could be a red flag. It could be due to various factors but it could mean that the job is not well defined against applying candidates, or the hiring managers are too picky, or candidates are dropping out for some reason along the way. It might indicate that someone somewhere doesn’t know what they’re looking for. In any case, this sort of knowledge will give you a sense of the way the search process has been going and what the company’s pipeline for that position looks like.

3. What are the top skills for this job?

Regardless of whether you ask this question before or after you’ve actually submitted an application, it is a good way to get an understanding of whether the job is a good match to your current skills and expertise.

If you ask this question before applying, you can use the information gained to tailor your CV and impress the hiring manager. If you ask it after applying, you can prepare better for the interview itself by planning some questions and points to cover.

4. What is your relationship with the hiring manager?

This is a very important question to ask as it will give you insight not just into what your recruiter knows about the hiring manager, whether they’re on good terms at all and how often they communicate with each other, but also into what your potential relationship with that person might look like. Is the hiring manager just the person who will be interviewing you or would they also be your direct manager/person you report to? What is their background and history within the company? Knowing all this will help you prepare for and perform better at the interview.

5. Why other candidates haven’t been selected?

Try and understand some of the reasons behind other candidates’ dropping out. This will help you prepare better for the more advanced stages in the hiring process, both in terms of designing your resume and having actual interviews with hiring managers.

Knowing what mistakes other candidates have made before you can help you avoid making these same mistakes and there is no better person to give you that information than your recruitment consultant.

 

Since its inception in 2000 Guided Solutions has placed more than 8500 candidates in over 37 countries.

We identify and recruit medical device specialists at all seniority levels, enabling our clients to connect with associate through to board-level talent.

Visit our website to find out more about our comprehensive range of search & selection services.

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