Profitable > Unprofitable
You want to work inside a break-even business or profitable business. Unprofitable ortho businesses are under extreme stress and have very few resources for new capital.
AI > Imaging/Nav > Extremities > Robotics > Biologics > Spine > Joints > Trauma
Your company should find a way to work in the AI or Imaging/Nav space today for max growth potential. The other areas have had their disruptive decade and have run their course. The other areas have too many competitors and too much price pressure with the exception of Extremities nearing the end of its golden years.
Navigation > Robotics
You want to innovate in navigation instead of innovating in robotics, because its the future, because software is nimbler that hardware, because navigation can be agnostic as opposed to robots that are procedure-specific.
Small > Big
You want to work in a small orthopedic company for your career.
Disposable > Reusable
You want to be in the single-use disposable business, not the reusable instrument tray business, for better use of capital, better tracking of inventory, and less manual labor in the field.
Seed > Series A > Series B > Series C
In the this tight financial market, you want to seek funding as early as possible in your company. Fund-raising gets more and more challenging as you business matures. Extend your runway now, because the next round may be pushed way out. Read – Tightening.
Equity > Salary
You want to have more of your pay in equity and less in salary.
AR > VR
You want to figure out AR as a future technology to turn an average surgeon into a God surgeon. VR is for training, not surgery.
Class II > Class III
You want to develop Class II innovations, as the FDA and Investors have all but shut down Class III innovation businesses.
US > EU
You want to sell first in the US, as the future reg pathways and margins in the EU have created friction there.
On-site > Remote
You actually should want to work on-site rather than remotely to accelerate your career.
Dataset Building > AI programming
Garbage in, garbage out. The big opportunity in orthopedics is building the best dataset, not the AI.
ASCs > Hospitals
You want to sell to ASCs and service ACS, rather than traditional hospitals, because of the ease of selling, the ease of servicing and higher margins.
Uncomfortable > Comfortable
You want to work in a culture that challenges you daily to get outside your comfort zone. A comfortable culture will make you weak.