In our latest BoneChat roundtable, we I sat down with the king of strategic deals, Mike Minette. Read about Mike's 42 deals so far:
Minette Deal Sheet 2025Download
Watch / Listen to the full BoneChat discussion here - https://youtu.be/xQUg_mTTPsk
In our discussion, corporate strategy and M&A leader Mike Minette strategist behind 150+ transactions (including Ortho deals - Highridge, Brainlab, ZimVie, Canary Medical, Embody) delivers a pragmatic playbook for startup founders and executive leadership teams.
Negotiating with multi-billion-dollar strategics like Stryker, Zimmer Biomet, or J&J can feel like stepping into a cage match. Small teams get seduced by the prestige of a corporate partnership, only to get ground down by endless due diligence or trapped in deal structures that strip away their independence.
Here are the key takeaways every orthopedic founder, startup CEO, and board member must internalize to build real enterprise value and retain control.
Rule #1: Always Protect Your Decision Rights
Strategy isn't a once-a-year board deck—it’s an ongoing, 13-month-a-year discipline. The single biggest mistake early-stage orthopedic companies make is surrendering control...
