5 Tips Startups Need to Know for Success (BoneZone)
BoneZone has re-published 5 of my 30 lessons for startups. Enjoy.
Nimble startups remain critical to driving market innovation in orthopedics. As in many industries, the current health and economic environment demands change, creating a ripe opportunity for startups to usher orthopedics into the “new normal.”
In seeking advice for startups that are generating their first product ideas, we turned to Tiger Buford, an orthopedic executive, thought leader and recruiter who works with small companies, for perspective. Buford wrote a post on his OrthoStreams website, “30 Lessons Learned in 30 Years of Orthopedics.” The first five lessons target startups. We cite them here.
5 Lessons for Startups
Time the Market
Buford pointed out that most game-changing ideas in orthopedics were too early for market acceptance. Spinal cages were conceived around the late 1970s, robotic orthopedic surgery in the 1980s, telemedicine in the 1990s, and many early artificial discs were designed that never reached the market.
“You must be in the right place at the right time to impact orthopedics in a big way,” he said. “Each unique opportunity in orthopedics happens only once in time. As the Greek philosopher Heraclitus said, ‘You can never step into the same river twice.’ In other words, the next Maurice Ferré, M.D., will not build another MAKO (first real robot company). The next George Bagby, M.D., will not build another Spine-Tech (the first spinal cage). The next Mark Reiley, M.D., will not build another Kyphon. These guys had the right technology at exactly the right time.”
Read the rest of the article at BoneZone here