3 min reading time

This is my new stock answer whenever a medical device hopeful needs capital.

Fill out this form. If you can’t answer the questions on this form, your prospective investors (“smart money,” if you will) don’t have enough information.

Take your pick:
as a Word document (downloads straight to your desktop); or,
as a PDF.

I can’t take credit for the form. That came from Mark Kraus who, until recently, was life sciences chairman for a Seattle-based keiretsu.

For investor presentations, Mark expects graphs, pictures, timelines, prototype examples, and simple tables to complement the application.

“The presentation needs to tell a story that captures the essence of the company and why this is a great investment opportunity,” he said, adding, “If company executives can’t provide the above, they probably aren’t ready.”

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How to Give a Medical Device Pitch

Watch the video below for some sound advice we received a few 10x Medical Device Conferences ago. Full transcript here.

Seasoned VC Jeffrey Kraws summed it up nicely:

“Assume I already know this:

• I already know you’re going after a large medical market with unmet medical needs.
• I already know you think you have the best medical doctor out there on Planet Earth and he’s the world’s expert in this area.
• I also know your management team has gazillions of years of experience and are the best at everything they do and have a proven track record and have done this.
• I also know you have strong IP.
• I also know you’re going to do this at a cheaper cost than anybody else.
• Faster, better, and oh my God, do you know that company A and company B got sold for this much? Their stuff is crap. Our stuff is the real deal. We got all that.”

“I hear that everyday all day long,” Jeff punctuated.

His overarching points: Anticipate his questions. Answer succinctly. Say “I don’t know, I’ll get back to you,” when you don’t know. Then get back to him.

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Tis the Season 🎄

Christmas and New Year’s fall on Tuesdays this year but I still plan to write you, on schedule. To set expectations,

• Christmas Day: Little copy, mostly videos of interest. Perfect for your “me time.”
• New Year’s Day: Paula Rutledge will share her insights about the 2019 job market.

You know I sing barbershop, right? Here’s one of my favorite quartets with a little Christmas ditty. Enjoy. 😊

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Give the Gift of Knowledge! 🎁

These members have questions. Do you have the answers? Visit our community discussion board and catch up on what you missed.

• Mahamad in India has an urgent BREXIT question about EC representation.
• James in the UK is having a great conversation with Rob Packard about electronic documentation.
• Maggie in Sweden is getting ready for the switch to MDR.

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Thank you for being part of our Medical Devices Group community!

If you’re looking for work, check out the newly posted jobs here!

Make it a great week.

Joe Hage
Medical Devices Group Leader

P.S. The slides and replay for A Much Easier Way to Access and Use FDA Databases are immediately available. Click here to access.