I have been watching ortho startups for 30 years. This simple grid is surprisingly predictive of outcomes.
In the grid, I am putting aside all the usual success factors - funding, technology, regulatory pathway, reimbursement, patents, strategic partners, board, leadership experience, product-market-fit - and pitting Leadership aggressiveness against Market tailwinds.
I believe that ALL orthopedic startups fall into one of these success quadrants.
The Y-axis
In a Pull Market tailwinds are created when there is a product with a unique clinical solution and with zero competition. I experienced Pull first hand at Ellipse with MAGEC. Hospitals, surgeons and patient families requested MAGEC worldwide before we had regulatory clearances or sales support. Various MAGEC blogs were started by families of EOS children when we had no marketing.
In a Push Market headwinds are created when there is a product with too many competitive choices and too little differentiation. Push is all about pricing, contracts, relationships, service level, and the product doesn't really matter. This is the bulk of startups unfortunately.
The X-Axis
No explanation needed, as we have all worked for both Timi...
