Check out our Co-Founder & COO, Jaye Thompson, interview with MedTech Innovator.
What’s the best advice you would give to the startups that were just accepted into the 2020 Cohort? What should they know moving forward in the program?
Budget your time carefully and try to squeeze as much as you can out of the program. In the long run, you’re going to end up a lot further ahead if you fully engage with MTI than you would have if you just looked at your standard to-do list. Really take advantage of the opportunities that MTI can offer you in the next few months.
What separates success from failure in your experience with emerging startups?
Honesty. Many times startups companies are entrenched in their own thinking about the value of their product and where it fits into the market. It may take them much longer to pivot when they need to when they have this mindset. Successful companies are those that really evaluate their product honestly and realistically. Bottom line, rose colored glasses are very dangerous startups firms.
What excites you about working with early-stage healthcare startups?
For over 30 years, I’ve had the opportunity to work with early-stage companies, and their innovation, energy, and the cutting edge science that they thrive on, keeps every day exciting for me. I used to tell my mom that the person that I just got off the phone with might be the next Nobel Laureate, and that’s really the truth. The kind of people that we interact with, they’re really the brightest and the best of this industry, and it is fascinating everyday of the week.
What is your favorite part about being an MTI Sponsor?
I love pitch days. Pitch days are really my cup of tea. I love hearing about the new ventures. I love grooming companies. I hope one day that I’m able to just make a living grooming companies. I think that’s so much fun, to get to interact with these new companies and try to refine their pitches.
How does the relationship with MedTech Innovator advance Proxima’s business goals?
Proxima is focused on helping emerging companies. MTI has introduced us to exactly the kind of companies that we want to work with every day. In addition, because of the screening process that you go through, by the time we interact with them, they’re some of the better companies, some of the brightest and the best that are out there, and so that’s really saved us a lot of diligence work as well. It has been great to work with MTI and to be introduced to such high quality emerging companies.
Where do you see the future of the industry going?
I think that the COVID era has sparked our industry in an interesting way. We’ve certainly seen the Food and Drug Administration here in the U.S.move faster than t ever has, and we’ve also seen them move too quickly. You’ve seen them release products for emergency use and then have to withdraw them because they didn’t meet reasonable expectations of quality. But I think it has taught us that we can move faster and that we can be more innovative, and I don’t think those concepts are going to disappear. I think they’ll be around for along time.
