On both the OrthoStreams blog and newsletter and the BoneChat private community we talk alot about what a startup should do, but we don't talk enough about what not to do.
Orthopedic startup success is a statistical anomaly. Roughly 75% of medical device companies never reach profitability, and only 10–15% of ortho ventures ever achieve meaningful traction or a clean exit. In the ortho space, the deck is stacked even higher.
For every Kyphon, there are a hundred Surgaligns and Conformis's.
When we study the "corpses" in the ortho graveyard, we rarely find one dramatic, singular flaw.
Instead...
