Why MedTech Launches Stall After Clinical Buy-In

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0:00 In MedTech, the difference between a good quarter and a great one isn't always the product. It's the friction standing in the way. Broken sales cycles, misaligned teams, deals that stall at the finish line. Every leader feels it, and the best ones know how to remove it. Welcome to Zero Friction, the podcast where we go inside the minds of MedTech's top commercial leaders to uncover the real barriers they face, the decisions they make, and the systems they build to keep the revenue moving. I'm your host, Terry Coutsolioutsos. Let's remove some friction.

Well, welcome, folks, to Zero Friction. This is Terry Coutsolioutsos, and I have a wonderful guest with me today, Tad Hartlaub. He is the managing director and co-founder of MedVance Marketing, and he brings a tremendous amount of experience to the table today. He promises to bring us great stories about startups and getting to market with their friction points. And so, with that, Tad, I'm going to go ahead and hand it over to you so you can give us a little background on yourself, as well as MedVance.

Sure. Sure. Thank you, Terry. Um uh as you mentioned, I've got a little over 20 years in medical device marketing and product management, focusing on innovation and product launches primarily. Uh I've worked at Pfizer, Hospira, McKesson, so some of the uh Fortune 500 companies in those roles. And during that time, I've launched about 30 different medical device products, and actually have seven medical device patents myself. And how I got into this was actually two of my brothers are physicians, and uh I was initially in college in pre-med, and uh my brothers and I invented a flexible shave biopsy device, basically a flexible scalpel, and licensed it through WARF, which was a tech transfer, the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where I was going to school. And uh the bug bit. I decided I loved product management, developing products in the clinical space to go ahead and provide better treatment options for clinicians and better outcomes for patients. So, switched my major. I got a bachelor's degree in in business administration, and then the corporate path. Just recently, several years ago, with two

Other people, started uh MedVance Marketing. And I have the strategic focus uh and and connections in the industry. And then the other co-founders, Carissa Moran, who is a digital marketing expert or excuse me, is a creative expert. And then Kelsey uh Koff, who is digital marketing. And so, the three of us work We have a a few part-time people and and others that come in as needed for our clients to go ahead and help support our marketing efforts. Um and and what we do is we're really a full-service concierge marketing service focusing on biotech and medtech. Um and what we do is we we we try to bridge that gap between innovation and clinical acceptance, which is critical. And I'm sure you're aware of the challenges and the friction points that can that can come with that in marketing, specifically with medtech and biotech also. So, what we do is we help create compelling stories and really go ahead and convey the value proposition of those products from a clinical perspective for our clients.

3:17 That's great, Tad. And so, you know, you've got sort of a like on your team, you've got a different verticals of specialty that you you know, offer to your customer, which is great. What is your sort of your customer profile? So, who is typically the the companies that you work with today? Sure. Most of our clients are coming out of incubators, university incubators, private Oh, wow. Okay. And then startups that just hear about us again through the primarily the incubators. So, um we have a medical school here in in the Chicago area that has referred several clients to us and and they're typically startups or engineering team that has come up with a new innovation in the the medtech or the biotech space and they're looking for somebody to be able to bring that that marketing and acumen and and really conveying the value proposition again to the clinicians and being able to go ahead and position that to get traction both in the marketplace as well as as I'm sure everyone knows when you have a

Startup there can often be funding issues and so it's to be able to go ahead and also help them create the necessary information to be able to get investments to help their business establish and grow. Yeah, I'm sure you find yourself threading the needle quite a bit in the startup uh environment in terms of funding and how much money you have to do X, Y, and Z and um all the unknown things that sort of fall from the sky as well, right? So tell me a little bit so you you go after these sort of these startup companies or these incubators.

When do you typically get involved with their marketing process? So when do they when do they typically raise their hand and say, "Okay, I'm far enough through through my either my development process or my regulatory process that now I feel like I need to engage a marketing agency." Well, we like to start as early as possible. One of the key areas that is often missed is what's called the market fit analysis. So they're developing a new technology, a new device and it's really understanding how that ties into the market need and the workflows for for the clinicians that would use that product. And so what we do is we want to make sure that that we we understand that at a deeper level, help them understand that so that as they're developing and doing the FDA required clinical testing or or human factor testing that they're building that testing around extrapolating that that value and understanding that more.

5:51 Because if they do if they find out early that say as an example in this industry there is more left-handed people than than right-handed clinicians. I'm just making something up here. And so as they move forward they have to keep that in mind as they do the testing and then that helps them create the the marketing materials and be more effective at launch. Okay. Um so where do you where do the challenges tend to fall in place for you and them? Like where do you where do you really find the friction points where things kind of get stuck?

I think it's that value proposition and really understanding what the what the what the key value is. And a lot of the times I think because they have a product that a clinician can use they think it's going to be successful. And it can be but often they need to understand the economic impact. So they need to understand not only the clinical acceptance of the product but they also need to go ahead and understand the other stakeholders at a facility. So it would be the CFO. It would be the C-suite that are looking at the the the numbers. So they're looking at they provide not only better outcomes but is it cost is it efficient? How can it be positioned to show a financial benefit to the facility too? So it's really understanding all of the stakeholders in the process and making sure that their marketing material and their communications are geared around touching all of all of the stakeholders.

And that's what happens in these value you know assessment committees and things like that. So I'm sure that a lot of these startup companies are not prepared and they don't understand always. They think that they have this great little tool that actually has a wonderful clinical application, right? But if it doesn't translate into a better outcome or a shorter length of stay or a higher reimbursement arena then hospitals have lots of sort of complexity that they built into new technology adoption. I actually write about this quite a bit where, you know, hospitals have actually designed the complex system of actually getting new technology offered into the system with multiple stakeholders. And if it's a big healthcare system, you have to have multiple hospital presidents sign off on new technology. And so, I'm sure there are many times when these smaller incubators aren't really prepared on how to handle the complexity of that, let alone just have the messaging down the right way. Sure. actually got to go execute on that and figure out how to to get through those

Committees. Exactly. Well, one prime example is this was towards the end of my corporate career before I started MedVance, but there was a company and I was the product manager, so I'm in charge of the marketing basically for this product that was a lighting system that would go in the OR and would would reduce HAIs, hospital-acquired infections. So, it would reduce the hospital-acquired infections can uh cause tens of thousands of fatalities each year in the hospital. And so, they want to be able to reduce that as much as possible. So, they came up with a system, but the system cost was about $30,000 per OR, and so operating room. And so, they ran into challenges. It was a great technology. The surgeons liked it, the operating room managers liked it, but the C-suite was looking at the cost per operating room, and maybe they had six or eight operating rooms, so they're looking at potentially quarter to a half a million dollar spend. And all of a sudden, it runs into different competing

9:13 Priorities. It's delayed years and and cuz they need a new MRI machine or a new X-ray machine or or something else. So, what what we did is we looked at, "Okay, if that's the challenge, what can we do? We understand that the clinicians and the operating room personnel, they want they see the clear value in it, but what can we do from a business perspective, the other stakeholders, to address their concerns. So, what we did is we actually came up with a leasing option to be able to reduce the cost so it didn't hit the capital expenditure of the facility and could be covered by the operating rooms operational budget at Yeah, $500 a month per OR and they were able to absorb that and cover that under their budgets and so it was faster to get the technology integrated into the facility and it was addressing the the burden and and the challenge, the friction point that the operating room managers were having and it was very effective.

That's awesome and you've always again just being in healthcare and you know, I can remember the days when you could walk something into a hospital and have it used on the same day and you know, those days are way long gone, right? And so, you know, now there's and the wonderful thing is I actually just read the other day where CMS with product approvals are going to be lining up a linear path with the FDA regulatory process where theoretically there's money that comes out the door when you get approval. That's the other friction point that I've always found with new technologies is that you get the clinical buy-through, you get the the regulatory pathway to get approved and then you have an approval of a brand new technology, but then there's no money.

Yeah. Right? And so, you know, a lot of times in healthcare there's no money there from a reimbursement perspective that adoption capability drops significantly or that ramp up time takes a lot longer to get there because, you know, historically Medicare wants to see a year's worth of data and then they say, "Okay, we'll consider this for next year in terms of putting it into our So, you might be waiting 18 months, you might be waiting 23 months. Mhm. So, you know, how how do those incubators and those startups tend to handle that type of friction when they come to market because, you know, they have a great pathway, they get approved.

You built a wonderful story as a marketing agency, right? But then you get to market and then then there's all those other friction points that kind of happen. How do you How do we bang through that part? Do you Do you help them get through some of those messaging pieces or How do you How do you help them there? Uh one of the key ways to do that is uh to find champions in the industry. So, clinical champions, key opinion leaders, those that are on the lecture circuit or are known in the industry. If you can get them on board and you can number one, you can show them the clear clinical value proposition of the device and then they become a champion for you and can help guide and direct. So, That's true.

12:13 A board of advisers maybe, a clinical board of advisers. We often rec- recommend the companies have two to three clinicians that are known in the industry, have written articles, have been published and and have not necessarily a following, but they have a reputation as being honest purveyors of of the information. Um and of course with the Sunshine laws, you have to be careful uh about that balance. So, often you just come up with a donation type of thing where you you might compensate them for their time at donation to a charity that that they believe in. So, there are ways to do it effectively and with the voice of those champions, it it it really helps, you know, grease the wheel as it were to be able to get market adoption. Right. So, how long's the company been in on the market again like Med- Med Advance? Uh we've been on the market for almost 3 years now.

3 years. So, tell me like what's the what's some of the most interesting circumstances that you've sort of taken upon yourself to get to market? Sure. I I would say one of the ones we're working on now, there's a university again in the in the Chicago area that actually they have a research arm and the research arm started developing testing for immunology, primarily around reproductive immunology. So, that was their primary focus and they grew. They became world-renowned because of their testing and the results of their testing, the accuracy of it and and the actual results that went back to the clinician.

And so, in a in a period of I mean, it's it's probably been a 15 to 20 years, but they have grown with no marketing effort because they're part of the university and they're got 300 clients, excuse me, in 40 different countries. And so, what they wanted to do is they said, "Hey, wait a minute. Not only reproductive immunology, but we've also got other immunology aspects. So, they can look at at deficiencies and and nutrition, vitamins." One of their most recent ones is a new B1 testing. And B1, if you're deficient in it, can cause a lot of problems, including something called berry berry, which you hear about in third world countries, but can also affect people in the US. So, they wanted to be able to reach out and start focusing more on the other immunology testing and be able to branch out from just reproductive. So, but they're part of the university, so they really didn't understand the market, how to market to clinicians. And so, we've been working

With them for about a year now and we've been focusing primarily on the research-based and the accuracy of the testing of the lab. And then we've been doing outreach through email campaigns, social media. We're revamping their website and making it much more dynamic and engaging. And so, it's a multi-pronged approach. And then we'll be with them uh you know, and basically as their what we call their fractional marketing group moving forward. So, we'll be their go-to marketing group. We'll provide the creatives, the digital marketing, and the strategy moving forward. And they can use us as much or as little as they need, but they're able to go ahead and uh and do that. And they like it because it's actually more cost-effective for them in the long run, too.

15:29 Sure. So, they probably get the experience of a full-blown marketing team, number one, right? You know, and they can use that expertise efficiently, too. So, and so when you're you're you're building out a whole new system for them, new websites, new channel delivery, you help them build their ideal customer profiles, I'm sure of all those things. So, that's got to be somewhat very refreshing to especially university. My guess it's a very technical, very clinical team. And so the marketing piece is probably not you know, something that they're used to doing. Exactly. As a matter of fact, I think that's been one of the areas that, you know, we've had to really try and and cuz we have to rely on them for the actual clinical and the scientific information and then to be able to convey that in proper format for the other clinicians. So, we kind of become almost a communication liaison between once you develop the testing and then being able to look at that, you know, what what are the the the clinicians and

The clinics that are their current customers and will be their future customers. What are their friction points? What what are the challenges are they having? And then one of the approaches we take it it sounds it's an acronym. Of course, there's a lot of acronyms and and and the scientific There is. There's some in marketing, too. So, we go with what we call the attire principle, which is awareness, trial, acceptance, and repeat. So, the first thing is we want to create that awareness piece so they understand the value proposition from a clinical perspective. And then we want them to try it. So, one of the things we're doing, they come out with a new test, we'll typically offer a free test to a facility so they can actually experience it, see what it is, the robustness of the testing, the accuracy of it, and then the the the results, too. And then, you know, once they've tried it, hopefully they've accepted it, we build that that relationship with them, and

Then just repeat. Continue to go ahead as new tests come out, we've got an established customer for them, client, and we can go ahead and and build that relationship. So, you build a process, and then it's rinse and repeat, and you go from there. Exactly, yep. And most of the effort, of course, is in that awareness piece and getting them to the trial and acceptance. So, that's where most of our work comes in. That's awesome. Um so, you really remove a lot of friction from like small companies and incubators that probably don't have that marketing experience anyhow. So, that's pretty exciting. Tell me like when you founded this business 3 years ago, let's talk a little bit about MedVance itself. Um what friction points did you have in building your business?

18:03 And cuz that's always a fun thing to to talk to founders and and co-founders about is, you know, bringing something to market, and it's all yours, right? And you're pretty much the chief everything officer, no matter what happens. So, tell me a little bit about as you incubated MedVance, and what went well, what were some of the biggest challenges, and you know, how did you become so successful so fast? Well, initially, we started in the dentistry because my most recent position was in in dentistry. It was dental injection systems. And when we started in dentistry cuz it was the most recent, most of the the startups there have a have a big challenge trying able to get get capital. So, it's simply because most of dentistry is out of pocket. Some is covered by insurance, but most is out of pocket. So, the cash constraints are extremely tight. And so, there were challenges around that. So, we would work with them to try and go ahead and build that docket, a portfolio of

Information that they could then go ahead and try and raise capital with. But, uh there were some challenges around that. Now, we've moved more to the the medtech and the biotech side, where there is more funding available and so we're able to go ahead and build that portfolio and a packet of information for them to be able to raise investments. There's more money, to be honest with you, in in medtech and biotech than there was in dentistry. And then what we found is, you know, because of my first experience working at the tech transfer at the university, I really saw the value in that and, you know, there's typically engineers or uh biomechanical engineers or doctors who develop these technologies and they're very good at what they do and they know the value of the technology and the innovation, but often it's translating that into the marketing materials is where they where they have challenges. So that's where we're able to go ahead and bring our team to bear and go ahead and and create

Those materials, create a very clear communication piece and value proposition that then can be incorporated into their marketing program and and uh and then launch from there. That's pretty cool. How do you go find your customers then? Do you typically just, you know, look at that university setting that you're at in Wisconsin? Is that typically where you spend most of your energy? Are you, you know, how do you go acquire new incubators or find new incubator pathways? Yeah, usually through the universities is the best the best approach. Most schools, universities have tech transfer or have an incubator. So and and of course their their goal is a lot of technologies are developed by staff, teachers at the universities and so they're able to go ahead and we're able to help them kind of develop the business, develop the primarily the marketing and and and go ahead and do that. So they they can work on the the the technology, advancing that, getting it through the FDA system, getting it approved and then

21:02 We're able to go ahead as they build that company to go ahead and do that. And that's what the universities, specifically the incubators, typically do. And we're able to be a resource for them because they want it to be successful, the university, because they usually have some skin in the game, and they want to make sure that it's going to be successful. So, we're able to to help and support them in that effort. That's great. That's pretty cool. Tad, you know, um as we we kind of wind things down, I do have a question that I typically ask every guest, all right?

And I'll I'll lean you in and give you a little warm up so you can think about it for a few seconds. I don't totally catch you off guard, but if Tad were to go talk to his 18-year-old self, you know, I don't know how many years ago, but if you could go back to when A few. A few. A few years and go back and talk to your 18-year-old self, what would be the number one piece of advice that you would give yourself when you're 18 that you as you've gone through and become an experienced person and professional, you know, what would you give that advice to yourself so that you you'd have a better route than you than maybe what you took today?

Yeah. I think I've always been a a a dreamer, always had ideas, always looked at solutions. I love One of my patents was for a medical device in dentistry that actually allowed for better dental x-rays. And I learned about it by going in and spending time in in a in a dental operatory and watching procedures and noticing a challenge when the x-ray was taken. And so, there could be some confusion, they may have to retake some x-rays. Everybody has mud on their face, you know, dentists are very tight in their timelines, and so they have to push back patients, it could cause all kinds of issues. So, really looked at what we could do to go ahead and and improve that process. And so, developed a new a new system around it. And what I really enjoyed was that that dreaming, saying there has to be a better way.

There's got to be a solution that can be if if we just think about it and we get the right people in the room to go ahead and and solve this problem. And I think when I was 18, I had a lot of those, but of course, you know, parents have a tendency to well, focus on that which is going to put, you know, food on the table and more than real. And so, keeping my head as as my parents would say sometimes in the cloud, uh and they were always yelling for me to keep my feet on the on the ground, but being able to find that balance earlier and then being able to really go with it more. Um yeah, I didn't get my first patent until I was in my 80s and it would have been nice to to start that a little bit earlier. Well, you know, that's such a great story, by the way, and it's not a very typical answer to the question that I asked and it's it's

23:46 Really, you know, a wonderful thing and I love the fact that you said, you know, head in the clouds, but keep your feet on the ground and there's a balance to that and I think, you know, that's a wonderful piece of advice to anybody, by the way. And so, with that, Tad, I think I'm going to kind of circle up and exit out and give you a huge thanks for being here today, number one. Really great to hear about your your professional background, what you're doing at MedVance. It sounds like it's terrific work and it's really the delivering a lot of purpose and intent with companies that don't have your expertise and frankly, if that marketing effort's not really done exceptionally well, the likelihood of the adoption of that technology is not going to be very high. So, kudos to you and the team and thank you so much for being here today.

Thank you, Terry. I greatly appreciate your time in being able to discuss marketing in the MedTech sector. It's uh it's a fascinating time, that's for sure. Thank you. Take care. That's a wrap on Zero Friction, the show built around one simple idea, remove the barriers and the revenue will follow. If today's conversation was valuable, please subscribe and share it with somebody who needs to hear it. That's how we will grow this community. I'm Terry Coutsolioutsos, just a architect powered by AI. Come find me at my website myrevRX.com and let's talk about what friction is costing you and your organization. Until next time, keep removing the barriers and keep the revenue flowing.