How I Got From There to Here

Since I have had a recent and unexpected career change, many in my network have asked about my move. What is it, exactly, I am doing now?

I am sure many of the questions have arisen because the move seemed abrupt and, on the surface, my transition was from one field to an entirely different universe. Well, if you are interested, below is an 8-minute read that shares more.

Moving from a career in medical device distribution business (most recently as the CEO of the world’s largest distributor of automated external defibrillators) to a high-tech hardware engineering consulting firm seems like a significant change but, when you peel the layers back, it’s not that different.

My Prior Role

In my prior role, as CEO, I was responsible for all operational aspects of the business including revenue generation and growth. We were a distributor of complicated, Class III medical devices that are typically sold to, and used by, untrained lay-people. While we built and assembled many private-label products, we were a distributor (not a manufacturer) of AEDs. Nevertheless, during my time in the industry and very close relationships with the AED OEMs (original equipment manufacturers), I came to learn and understand a lot about the manufacturing process (think ISO 13485 requirements).

Unfortunately, the AED industry has historically been hit by recalls, field corrective actions, and stop-ships. Even after leaving the space, the trends have continued (“Philips Reaches Agreement with US Government on Consent Decree…” ). AEDs are inherently safe products – they cannot charge or discharge a "shock" unless attached to a victim experiencing cardiac arrest – and offer immense value to the public. As such, these issues and any AED unit failures are very troublesome and instill fear in the market as a whole, not just the OEMs immediately impacted and under the watchful eyes of the FDA on a given day. Thus, they need to be resolved.

My Earlier Role

In the earlier stages of my career, I operated a business that invested in a high-tech hardware concept that connected with our custom software (think: IoT for the medical field). It was a game-changing breakthrough at the time. I designed the device by hand and brought it to the Product Realization Group (PRG) to help turn my vision into a reality.

PRG acts as a high-tech general contractor in the hardware industry, with a team of leading technical program managers and VP of operations that can help businesses get to market faster and on budget. For those who find themselves in my shoes of yesteryear, with gaps in the hardware development process, PRG has a close consortium of engineers (electrical, mechanical, regulatory, reliability, supply chain, and more) who can pitch in. The overarching goal is to help take an idea from concept (i.e. “binder paper”) to full mass production. My invention, along with great strides and traction our business made in the SaaS subscription space, helped lead to a successful exit.

Taking the learning lessons from my "prior role" and my "earlier role," a lot will be applied to my new role. For instance:

• Relationships Matter: It may sound cliché, but relationships matter. Even our high-velocity distribution business, which benefited from years of fantastic customer service and hundreds of thousands of “inbound” customers, thrived on relationships. Relationships with vendors, customers, and even “competitors.” When the dynamics of relationships change, organizations go from “100-year companies” (I love how a friend and VC Will Young’s fund, VTF Capital, distinguishes between businesses and 100-year companies) to near-term, purely metric-driven, and quarterly focused “businesses.” When such changes are made, and long-term relationships turn into numbers on a spreadsheet, partners go elsewhere, inbound referrals wane, and sales ultimately slow.
• Entrepreneurs & Entrepreneurial Thinking Rules: Any sized business is capable of anything, and all companies should keep pushing the envelope. As PRG colleague, Mark Brinkerhoff, demonstrates in his video series (https://fusiondesigninc.com/design-tips/), wild ideas and failure can lead to some of the most promising success stories. Trying and testing and failing is how one finds lasting success. Such efforts should be celebrated and advanced, not shunned or de-prioritized due to a lack of focus, sales history, or glossy (i.e., expensive) marketing reports.
• Alignment: Alignment of one’s vision and ethics is critical both internally (up-and-down the board and org chart of a business) and externally (between consultants and their customers). If there isn’t alignment of goals and a shared effort to advance such goals because of disagreements or silent dissent and hidden agendas, projects will stall and fizzle, and people will be surprised. First, ensure complete alignment and only then should you press “go.”
• Businesses Operate Differently: Without the right alignment of work styles, conflict can ensue. For instance, some like a clean desk and highly organized approach. Others prefer a messy desk. Moreover, still others like a hybrid, an “organized chaos” (this where I fall if you didn’t already know). Some managers like pre-determined, regular meetings with a strict agenda, while others like to walk the floor and brainstorm and engage ad hoc throughout the day. One size doesn’t fit all and one approach doesn’t sate all challenges. Forcing conformity leads to more problems, not fewer.
• Hustle & Results Matter More Than Perception: While politics are a fact of life and live in all businesses, the larger a company gets and the more external "mentors" pitch in with their agenda, the more unhelpful and distracting politics can be. More people bring more motivations and more motivations can cause a lack of alignment and focus. Effort gets diluted. Some like to share, present, and talk about ideas and results. Others prefer to achieve them.

In my short tenure at PRG, I’ve learned that hardware entrepreneurs and development teams typically fall into one of two buckets, each with unique business challenges: startups and established businesses. Note: some established businesses, such as a software company, could be hardware “startups” if it’s their first rodeo.

Typically, hardware startups have the following challenges:

• They’ve had an “ah ha” moment and built a prototype or proof of concept manually, but they aren’t sure how to scale their manufacturing or, worse, sell.
• They’ve focused on product, but not process. They can do it once, but not thousands of times per day.
• They’ve put all of their effort on features today, but haven’t weighed the importance of production and supply-chain down the road. (This is where PRG’s technical project managers and VP of ops add a ton of value.)

Typically, established hardware companies have the following challenges:

• They’ve seen sales success but suffered from poor reliability, which hurts brand and sales. Product #1 has been launched, and there were a lot of learning lessons and pitfalls that they would like to avoid before product #2 is built and goes to market.
• They do not have clear product lifecycle (PLC) processes and gated reviews to help advance next-generation products and get them out of the door.
• Hiring and training a team of new resources is costly and time-consuming. They need action and activity today and don’t want to wait for the recruiting and hiring cycles.

Taking what I’ve learned from where I’ve been in an “unrelated” industry, I’m building relationships with businesses of all sizes to align around their goals and allow them to operate in their own unique ways to hustle and achieve lasting results that matter. Simply put, I want to help the next startup to get to market fast and with a reliable product, the first time, just as much as I want established businesses to keep innovating and to avoid the disastrous effects of failing in the field.

While I’m new to the organization, it has already been rewarding to see our client’s products on our walls, in our pockets, and in our skies.