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MassMedic's Allen: Guiding entrepreneurs.
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The Massachusetts Medical Device Industry Council (MassMedic; Boston) has launched a new business coaching program designed to increase the number and sustainability of early-stage medical device companies in New England by linking start-up companies with expert mentors. The free program, MedTech IGNITE—an acronym for Inspiring Growth in New Innovative Technology Enterprises—will be tested during the first year on between four and six partnerships.
"The chief areas of focus will be helping the entrepreneurs to hone their business models; create effective strategic business plans; and develop concise, compelling business cases to engage investors, board members, and company leaders," says Laura Allen, executive director of MedTech IGNITE. "We expect that our ability to leverage the collective strength of the wisdom and expertise embedded in the thriving device industry in Massachusetts will help to not only accelerate the development curve for medical technology start-ups, but to spin out stronger, better companies."Allen says the program is the first of its kind in the United States to focus on medical technology start-ups. As such, the program's leaders drew from a number of program models when determining the ultimate shape of the MedTech IGNITE program.
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MassMedic's Sommer: Industry leaders stepping up.
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"We have benchmarked the best models in the nation to design the IGNITE program," says Tom Sommer, president of MassMedic. "We are particularly excited about the early engagement of leading device company CEOs who are eager to support this initiative and to share their knowledge and wisdom with up-and-coming companies."
The first roster of coaches for the program includes Doug Adams of Solx; Mike Dempsey of Radianse; Don Freeman, formerly of HydroCision; Shai Gozani of NeuroMetrix; Read McCarty of Hawaii Medical; Stuart Randle of GI Dynamics; and Amar Sawhney, president and CEO of Confluent Surgical. Charles Johnson of Choate, Hall & Stewart will serve as chairman of the board of MedTech IGNITE.
"Having led a few successful medical device companies in addition to developing a number of cutting-edge medical technologies, I now appreciate what it takes to be successful in the medtech industry," says Sawhney. "I'm thrilled to have the opportunity to share my experience and help guide the development of new, promising medtech companies."
Although the program will accept only four to six entrepreneurs in its first year, Allen says additional support for entrepreneurs who may not be accepted into the program during the initial round will be provided via workshops and seminars. Such programs will focus on such topics as financing strategies, building management teams, navigating FDA approvals, and others.
"Coaches and entrepreneurs will be paired based on the specific industry and domain expertise held by each available coach and the needs of the entrepreneur," she says. "The exact structure of each partnership will be left to the discretion of the coaches and entrepreneurs."
As part of the program, MedTech IGNITE will provide business plan and presentation templates and tools to serve as guidelines for each coach-entrepreneur partnership. Some customization and additional resources will be provided by the coaches.
"When the coach and entrepreneur feel that the business model and case presentation are ready for prime time, the entrepreneur will present his or her idea in front of a customized panel of industry experts that will include representatives from the financing, corporate and patent law, regulatory, and marketing arenas, among others," Allen says. "The panelists will provide constructive feedback on the business model and case presentation, in addition to suggesting additional resources for the company."
Constructive feedback and suggestions for additional resources supplied by the panelists will be adopted into a forward-looking, year-long strategic plan for the company, developed by the entrepreneur and coach, Allen says. Once the revised plan has been finalized, the coach and entrepreneur will decide on their level of involvement going forward, which could range from closing their relationship to quarterly check-ins to the coach becoming an investor or adviser in the company.
Those interested in learning more or submitting requests to participate in MedTech IGNITE can do so at www.medtechignite.com .
© 2007 Canon Communications LLC
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