Brent Lavin | Principal, Ironwood Medtech Partners | Insights on Medtech Leadership, Commercial Strategy, & Industry Impact

Brent Lavin, principal at Ironwood Medtech Partners, shares how he helps early-stage medtech companies build commercial strategies from concept through commercialization and exit. Brent reflects on his path from electrical engineer to launch expert, including lessons learned after seeing how overbuilt product features can complicate V&V and FDA review, and why founders must make early decisions with the end in mind. He discusses common startup pitfalls, the importance of pairing technical innovation with a strong commercial plan, and practical leadership insights on hiring “the right seat,” delegation, and setting clear standards while allowing teams flexibility in execution. 

 

Guest links: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brent-lavin/

Charity supported: Save the Children

Interested in being a guest on the show or have feedback to share? Email us at theleadingdifference@velentium.com. 

PRODUCTION CREDITS
Host & Editor: Lindsey Dinneen
Producer: Velentium Medical

 

EPISODE TRANSCRIPT
Episode 084 - Brent Lavin

[00:00:00] Lindsey Dinneen: Hi, I'm Lindsey and I'm talking with MedTech industry leaders on how they change lives for a better world.

[00:00:09] Diane Bouis: The inventions and technologies are fascinating and so are the people who work with them.

[00:00:15] Frank Jaskulke: There was a period of time where I realized, fundamentally, my job was to go hang out with really smart people that are saving lives and then do work that would help them save more lives.

[00:00:28] Diane Bouis: I got into the business to save lives and it is incredibly motivating to work with people who are in that same business, saving or improving lives.

[00:00:38] Duane Mancini: What better industry than where I get to wake up every day and just save people's lives.

[00:00:42] Lindsey Dinneen: These are extraordinary people doing extraordinary work, and this is The Leading Difference.

Hello, and welcome back to another episode of The Leading Difference podcast. I'm your host, Lindsey, and today I'm delighted to welcome as my guest Brent Lavin. Brent is currently principal at Ironwood Medtech Partners, where they help build the commercial logic into medtech startup innovation from concept through commercialization and exit. As an engineer turned launch expert, Brent has helped commercialize 20+ 510K PMA products and led the buy side of four M&A transactions, so he knows what buyers value beyond the science. With a diverse background from GE Healthcare to C.R. Bard to BD to now leading Ironwood Medtech Partners, he thrives on helping early-stage companies navigate the complex healthcare landscape and build successful companies.

All right. Brent, welcome to the show. So glad to have you here today.

[00:01:39] Brent Lavin: Yeah, great to be here. Thanks so much for the invite. I appreciate it.

[00:01:42] Lindsey Dinneen: Absolutely. Well, I'd love if you would start by just sharing a little bit about yourself, your background, and what led you to medtech?

[00:01:50] Brent Lavin: Yeah. So, I'm Brent Lavin. I live here in Phoenix, Arizona. I've recently founded Ironwood Medtech Partners, which is my company helping early-stage medtech. But I spent nearly 20 years in strategic medtech, and so I originally came to the industry through the engineering function. I was an electrical engineer in product development and innovation. And after three or four years of that, decided I wanna move over into what was, what is traditionally product management.

And so, through my MBA program and then starting with GE Healthcare, I've spent the last 20 years at this intersection of R&D innovation, strategy, business development, and marketing. And so, really great run. Have been on the buy side of several M&A transactions, and I try to bring all of that experience to the early stage so that, you know, companies as they start out, can be building for the future. And so, it's been a great journey in medtech, and I've loved it so far.

[00:02:46] Lindsey Dinneen: Yeah. Okay, so, so many things to ask about, but I'll, I'll start here. So, all right, so you're sa- you know, as you, you mentioned building towards the future and especially with these young startups that might not have a lot of experience in that particular kind of environment, or they're leading their company for the first time. What are some of the things that you see that maybe are pitfalls to avoid? Just, just like maybe some of the things that you've seen startups struggle with a little bit, and how can we help them mitigate those risks?

[00:03:17] Brent Lavin: Yeah, there is a lot there, but let me just start by saying there is no linear path, and it is a very circular, ongoing process as you work through those early stages. And we call it the fuzzy front end for a very good reason. And sometimes you need to go down paths to realize that's not the right path, and you need to be comfortable with that.

But at the end of the day, one of my goals is to help early-stage companies build with the end in mind because whether you acknowledge it or not, you're making decisions today that are ultimately gonna affect how you commercialize in the future. And so at least being able to make those decisions with your eyes wide open and understanding the trade-offs that are going on. And so for somebody that's been at the very end of that process, I, I can help inform, you know, those early stages so that you make priority decisions and trade-offs, you know, with full-scale information.

[00:04:17] Lindsey Dinneen: Okay. Yeah. Well, I, I love the fact that you highlighted it's not a linear path, and there are a lot of things that go into, of course, the success of a startup. I'm wondering, in, in your role now, what are some of the areas which you see successful startups really thrive in as they're working with, with somebody like you to help make them successful from the start?

[00:04:42] Brent Lavin: Yeah. Thanks for that question. I love working with early-stage founders that are passionate about their technology but especially those that realize where they may need to supplement their technical background with more of a commercial mindset. And so the, the people that work, that I work best with, are open to inputs and consideration of other options as they go through that process because you know, the, the famous saying, "What got you here is not what's going to get you there." And so while technical innovation is, is key that may not lead to an acquisition if you can't tie it to a strong commercial plan.

[00:05:22] Lindsey Dinneen: Mm, mm-hmm. Yeah, so actually this is an area that I'm very curious about even in your own journey is, so you started off with that technical background as an electrical engineer, and I'd love to hear a little bit more about that as well. But maybe if you don't mind sharing a little bit about the transition or the learning process of going from that as a really good base to also being able to understand the full life cycle and how to make something succeed.

[00:05:47] Brent Lavin: Yeah. Well, let me kind of go back to those engineering days and talk a little bit about how I made that pivot from engineering into product management. And to be honest, I didn't know exactly what I was doing at the time, but a-as an engineer, I was working with a product development team where we were creating a project. I was at a s- a contract design manufacturing company, and we were working with an outside company that owned a patent for a laboratory blood culturing instrument.

And so we were their engineering partner, and what I saw firsthand was unfortunately, this customer at the time did not have full insight into the workflow and how the device was used in practice. And so as an engineering team, we frankly overbuilt many options into the product in order to try to s-satisfy everybody. And that seemed attractive at the time, but ultimately when we got to V&V, verification validation, and the FDA review process, it was a real struggle to get this on market.

Now we ultimately did, but the epiphany for me was, I am really good at understanding engineering trade-offs and working with engineering teams to go through the process of evaluating different options. But I also really like working with customers and understanding what moves the needle and what's the difference between a nice to have and a need to have. And so, it was that kind of experience firsthand that led me to say, "I wanna operate at this intersection and really operate in both sides of that equation."

And so ultimately I decided I needed to get an MBA in order to do that. So I left a, a good paying engineering job right after I got married and we moved to Madison and I got my MBA and then, you know, that ultimately led to GE Healthcare and, and then, you know, continued career in medtech. So thanks for asking that question.

[00:07:43] Lindsey Dinneen: Yeah. Well, okay, so your leadership journey, of course, has, has evolved over time as, as often happens, and, and you've gone from leadership positions within other organizations to, of course, now leading your own. And I'd love if you'd just share a little bit about that journey of, of growth and discovery, maybe some, you know, lessons learned along the way.

[00:08:06] Brent Lavin: Yeah. So, let's talk a little bit about kind of my formal leadership in the, you know, corporate structure and organization. I would say, we were chatting beforehand that, you know, I really moved through slowly at the beginning of my leadership from one person to three people to five people. And as an ambitious person, I always felt like that was too slow. And so, but I think it was those foundational aspects of working very closely one-on-one with people, hiring, deciding who to hire, selection, onboarding having crucial conversations about performance management and how to put people in the right seat to be successful, all occurred when my leadership span was frankly smaller than probably I was hoping it would be.

But at the proper time, my leadership expanded very quickly from five to seven and ultimately 22 people within about an 18-month period. And if I had not had those slow steps along the way, I don't think I would've been ready for that and I, I would've struggled. And so, even though my ambition was high, the pace was just right in order to be successful in that.

Now, to your second part of the question of, you know, how do you then transition to this, this new role? That has been a learning experience, and I'm not sure I have it mastered but it is all about influence. And so, you know, leadership, even in a formal organization, while you can be connected on the org chart, ultimately boils down to influence.

And so my goal is to influence early-stage companies to understand the trade-offs that they're making and hopefully help them chart the best path forward for the goal that they have, you know, individually. Every company is built differently, and so I try to channel what their goals are into my recommendations.

[00:10:02] Lindsey Dinneen: Absolutely. So you mentioned something that is brought up often, but I think it's a concept that would be worth diving into, and that's the concept of the right seat, and I would love if you would share a little bit more about your philosophy behind that and how, as a leader too, if you know that there's perhaps somebody who's a great fit for your organization but isn't in the right seat, how do you help make that happen?

[00:10:29] Brent Lavin: Yeah. So this is back to the seminal Jim Collins book. You know, get the right people on the, on the bus and then get them in the right seat, correct? And so I always tried to select the person first and then find the opportunity. And there are times where you need to pivot people. So let me tell a, a quick anecdote about, you know, a situation where we had somebody on my team, and this person had progressed through different product management roles, but this person also had a project management background and was really passionate about project management and brought those skill sets to product management.

But they are different, and that... Her passion was in project management, and so I knew of some upcoming and different opportunities in the organization that would be very project management focused and that, that position was not even on the org chart at the time. But as I had discussions and, and understood that that was becoming a reality, then I turned and, and offered that to the, to the person and ultimately they, they took that new opportunity. And so, it's really understanding really their long-term goals as well as, you know, their strengths, their natural strengths. Not just where they're operating, but what their natural strengths are, and then sometimes even creating an opportunity for them.

[00:11:51] Lindsey Dinneen: Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah, and so, okay, so, so you've had kind of, a really cool opportunity to get a really good look into some of these startup companies who, you know, their founders might not be in a place where they're able to necessarily hire a whole bunch of people right away. How can you come in and support them when they're, say, like really young, maybe pre-seed, trying to figure out what the next right step is and, and able to sort of help lead them also in that transition of, you know, perhaps single founder to also a leader of a company?

[00:12:32] Brent Lavin: Yeah. That's a great question, and I'm early in that journey, right? And so, maybe not some specific examples around that, but certainly again, you know, leadership is influence. And you know, I try to understand as a leader of people in a, an organization what everybody's goals are, personal and professional goals are, and then match, you know, again, what I can do to, to their, to their interests.

And so when you talk about, you know, early stage CEOs, sometimes it's just a matter of listening as an unbiased outside observer who has no money in the company. And so, it can just be providing perspective from years of experience and asking insightful questions, you know, even before there's a relationship, a business relationship, between, you know, my company and theirs.

And the goal is to help everybody be successful. Like, I'm a passionate medtech leader that wants, you know, th- these innovations to reach market. And so, people have lifted me up along the way, and if, if I can do that just in, in conversations and mentorship, certainly willing to do that and have done that.

But as, you know, a CEO transitions then into seed and Series A, just providing, you know, again, leadership perspective from, you know, my corporate experience can be helpful. Because ultimately people are not gonna do things exactly the same way that you've done them as an individual contributor, and you have to become comfortable with allowing people, giving people the, the guardrails, and then allowing them to operate in their own style to achieve the results that you've laid out for them.

[00:14:20] Lindsey Dinneen: Hmm. So yeah, and th-that's been something that's been talked about quite a bit is that art of delegating, and how do you give your people the right guardrails without making it so narrow that it feels like you're kind of micromanaging, but you ha- you have to maintain culture and brand, you know, like tone in the way that you speak. So, what are some strategies or tips that you might have for, for a leader who is in the position, needs to delegate? This is maybe a first time. It's a little bit hard to let go of the baby, as it were. So, so how do you help them navigate that?

[00:14:55] Brent Lavin: Ye- yeah, I, I would go back to my own experience where, you know, I probably didn't do this the best the very first time that I had people on my team and was delegating. And I would say that most high achievers struggle with delegation for the first time because people are going to do things in a different way than you did. And I tried to teach my way, but as I grew and expanded and got, you know, mentorship and, and learned through that process, I started to go f- you know, higher o- on the ladder to, you know, values and culture and expectations, to your, to your point before. So, as a leader you have to be consistent and just unending in your communication of expectations, values, and standards, and then hold people to those.

And so I, I say this often. I live in South Chandler, Arizona, and Scottsdale is maybe 40 minutes away. You know, a new leader would say you know, "You gotta go up the 101, you need to take Exit this and that to get to the coffee shop." Where as I grew more comfortable and confident, I would say, "We're gonna meet at this coffee shop in Chandler." And if they wanted to take surface streets and hit all the stoplights, so be it. And so you gotta become comfortable with that. But at the same time, our standard is "We're gonna meet at this coffee shop at 11 o'clock sharp, and I expect you to be there."

[00:16:26] Lindsey Dinneen: That's a great analogy. I love the way you put that. Thanks for sharing it. Yeah, that's-- and that's a really interesting way of thinking about it, is there's, there's many avenues to getting something done correctly and to meet those expectations that you set forth, but there can also be room for creativity on how that's done, how that's accomplished.

[00:16:46] Brent Lavin: Yeah. You know, one of the team values that, that I had with my most recent team was around this idea of, of play to win. And you know, over time, I actually adjusted that with some feedback and some further, you know, kinda study on leadership toward striving for excellence. And so I think the play to win was a little bit narrow in that you can't always control everything around you.

And winning is an outcome that may be dependent on some other factors that, that you can't influence. And so that was a little bit narrow and, and too outcome-focused. But strive- striving for excellence was something that we could talk about daily, and you may not win, but as long as you strive for excellence in whatever we're asking you to do, like that's the standard. And so, that became a lot more robust, I would say, in the conversations that we had around setting and ensuring expectations.

[00:17:45] Lindsey Dinneen: Yes, I love that. Excellence over perfection, especially for those of us who are what I would fondly refer to as a recovering perfectionist. So.

[00:17:53] Brent Lavin: Mm-hmm

[00:17:54] Lindsey Dinneen: I love that.

[00:17:56] Brent Lavin: Yeah, it's a present tense recovering, right? Because we're never fully recovered. But...

[00:18:01] Lindsey Dinneen: That's right. That's right. Absolutely. No, I love that. So just out of pure curiosity, when you were, say, I don't know, seven, eight years old, could you have possibly imagined becoming an engineer and/or doing what you do now, which is so much even more robust?

[00:18:18] Brent Lavin: Oh my gosh, Lindsey, I love this question, because I couldn't, you know? I didn't. I grew up in small town USA and you know, I, I was really focused on it, you know, being the best at any single sport I could play. I, I was just a ball kid and, and but I loved entrepreneurship. And it's funny you say this because I think in high school, you know, they have those like, "What are you gonna do when you grow up?" I wanted to own a sports bar. And yeah, so like I wanted to help serve good food and, and just have a lot of TVs around and and be an entertainment spot.

But I just kind of had that entrepreneurial, you know, itch. And so I, I pretty well knew I was gonna be an engineer just because I was good at technical things, and I loved it. Like, it wasn't work to me. But I didn't even understand what medtech was. And I was 22 years old in my first engineering job. I was six months into the job, and I ended up in the ER on the weekend, and excruciating abdominal pain. And they ran a CT scan, and they found the problem, they relieved the symptoms, they sent me home, and they said, "You need to see the surgeon on Monday morning."

Not really understanding what was going on, but I distinctly remember being in that surgeon's office the next week and seeing the axial image of the CT scan on the light box, like the physical light box back then. And I was fascinated. I was fascinated that they chopped my body like a loaf of bread, and within about 30 seconds they could identify the issue.

And you know, the surgeon said, "Y- you have this recurrent diaphragmatic hernia, and you're gonna be in surgery in two days." And so I was not scared. I was more fascinated than anything, and that is what crystallized, you know, my need to get into, to medtech. I didn't even know it existed, but I said, "I wanna go do that."

And if you fast-forward about five years, there I was working for GE Healthcare, you know, the maker of those CT scanners. And so, I think medtech is really hard. It is not the most glamorous industry. So we all need that why, and for me, again, that Monday morning in the surgeon's office is my why.

[00:20:31] Lindsey Dinneen: Hmm. I love that. Yeah, and I love that that's your why, and sort of a follow-up question to that then is, are there any moments that stand out to you along your journey being in medtech that particularly reinforced to you, since making that decision, say, that you are in the right place at the right time?

[00:20:52] Brent Lavin: Yeah, and, and I don't mind talking about this. I'll tell this other story. About 12 or 13 years ago, I ended up learning that I had an autoimmune condition, and if you fast-forward, I, I was on some pharmaceuticals, and I've recovered, and I'm all back to normal, but I still live with that. But you go to today, and there are neuromodulation solutions that are addressing autoimmune conditions. And so we're now giving patients a choice between a device-based intervention and a pharmaceutical intervention or a pharmaceutical treatment.

And I did not love those pharmaceuticals. They, they had certain side effects and I didn't wanna be on them the rest of my life. Now, I've weaned off of most of them, but patients today are getting an option for a device-based intervention, and so that's what medtech is about. And so when I hear stories of like th- like this, I'm like, "I'm exactly in the right place." And so, there's so much opportunity for us to innovate and impact pa- impact patient lives whether that's ourselves, you know, our family members, or people we may never meet.

[00:22:03] Lindsey Dinneen: Yeah. Yeah, thank you for sharing that story. That's-- it's incredible to see. I think one of the best parts about being in the industry is getting to feel hope on a daily basis, yeah? 'Cause there's always something new coming out. These, like you said, medtech is really hard. There are a lot of really tough days, sometimes very not glamorous, and you just... if you have that why, that helps pull you through those days. But I really love what you touched on there of how those innovations that are coming through, that is reason for hope and just optimism again, especially in a, in a world that needs that really badly.

[00:22:45] Brent Lavin: Yeah, I think it's easy to be cynical about healthcare. But I guess I choose hope. And yes, we have some structural things that we need to work through. Yes, we have a reimbursement climate or regulatory structure. But to me, that's just a great puzzle, and the, the innovations that do have an impact, not only on healthcare patients, but also economics, are the ones that are gonna win. And so I don't mind that it's a high bar, you know? And so, that just means that we need to all be a little bit better, 1% better, and continue to make a difference.

[00:23:20] Lindsey Dinneen: Yeah. No, that's, that's so great. I really love that. Okay, so pivoting the conversation a little bit just for fun. Imagine that you were to be offered a million dollars to teach a master class on anything you want. It can be within your industry, but it doesn't have to be. What would you choose to teach?

[00:23:41] Brent Lavin: Yeah. I love that you asked this question, and I could go a lot of different directions. I, I think I'm gonna say, you know, I would love to teach the process of structured customer insights. And so I'm thinking back to the whiteboard of an early stage and then throughout the con- the, the journey of a company. But I think there's a big gap between asking questions to learn and asking the best questions that can ultimately influence your business decision. And so it's not only what you're asking, it's how you're asking it, why you're asking it, and then doing the proper follow-up during the conversation in order to learn the true insight.

And so I love baking and I love barbecue, maybe back to my, you know, sports bar dreams. But I think there's a big difference between following the recipe of a baking, you know, process, and doing barbecue, which is very process-oriented and no two things are the same. And so I think we need to approach customer insights a little bit more like barbecue, where you definitely have a goal and a process, but you're willing to adjust and make the changes as you learn in order to affect, you know, the business decisions.

[00:25:06] Lindsey Dinneen: Hmm. Yeah. Okay. I really like that. I also like the illustration of the barbecue analogy. That's, that's fun. So okay, so I do have to ask a follow-up question then. So how did this skill set come about for you? Is this something that you, you learned, say, during observations? Or how did you develop this, this masterclass, shall we say?

[00:25:28] Brent Lavin: Yeah. I, I think it's, some of it's through my own kind of learning in having conducted just hundreds of physician interviews. And I think, again, early in my career, I used to go through a questionnaire step by step and, and I'd get to the end and I'd have a report, but I may not have the insight. And I think as, again, as I became more comfortable with that process, I would, I would take U-turns or I would take the fork in the road, depending on where the physician was going, and continue to learn maybe not something that was on my roadmap, but something I still needed to learn.

And then as I became in- came into leadership, I, I think I just saw it again with early product managers that wanted to follow a recipe and wanted to check a box toward customer insights rather than, again, truly getting in the customer's shoes.

I think one of the most fun things of my job in upstream and innovation marketing is when I can interview enough physicians about a particular narrow procedure or product concept, if I can interview enough of them, s- typically between 20 and 30, depending on how complex, and I can start to think like them. And that's the ultimate of a product manager, is to think like the physician.

Again, it all depends on how complex the procedure is and whatnot, and we should always be striving to learn. But when you can achieve this secondary kinda personality that mirrors what you've heard from all of these conversations, there's nothing better.

[00:27:10] Lindsey Dinneen: Really cool. Okay, excellent. Thank you All right. And then how do you wish to be remembered after you leave this world?

[00:27:19] Brent Lavin: Wow. I haven't thought about this in a while. I think, how do I wanna be remembered? Obviously, you know, for my family by, like, leaving, you know, a good family legacy, and also just, I showed up. I just put my shoulder down, did the best I could, certainly wasn't perfect. But I tried to just do the best with what God gave me, and it happens to be in the medtech world right now. And I think I'm uniquely gifted for where I'm at. But I still wanna make more impact over, you know, the next couple of decades.

[00:27:55] Lindsey Dinneen: Mm, mm-hmm. Yeah, absolutely. Okay, and then final question. What is one thing that makes you smile every time you see or think about it?

[00:28:06] Brent Lavin: Yeah, I, I guess I gotta just go back to my family right now. I got four teenagers, you know, and we're just in an awesome period of life, and I was traveling last week, and just being able to come home, you know, see my wife, see the kids, can't help but smile. So, you know, my two boys are twins, are graduating high school, and those days are, are kinda short, so I'm just trying to soak up every minute of that right now.

[00:28:30] Lindsey Dinneen: That's wonderful. I love that. Well, this has been a really great conversation, Brent. Thank you so much for joining me today. We are so honored to be making a donation on your behalf as a thank you for your time today to Save the Children, which works to end the cycle of poverty by ensuring communities have the resources to provide children with a healthy, educational, and safe environment. So thank you so much for choosing that charity to support, and also thank you for continuing to work to change lives for a better world. I'm grateful for you and for your impact on the industry.

[00:29:07] Brent Lavin: Well, thanks for this conversation. I've really enjoyed it, and I, I can't wait to continue to stay in touch.

[00:29:11] Lindsey Dinneen: Absolutely. Thank you so much.

[00:29:14] Dan Purvis: The Leading Difference is brought to you by Velentium Medical. Velentium Medical is a full service CDMO, serving medtech clients worldwide to securely design, manufacture, and test class two and class three medical devices. Velentium Medical's four units include research and development-- pairing electronic and mechanical design, embedded firmware, mobile app development, and cloud systems with the human factor studies and systems engineering necessary to streamline medical device regulatory approval; contract manufacturing-- building medical products at the prototype, clinical, and commercial levels in the US, as well as in low cost regions in 1345 certified and FDA registered Class VII clean rooms; cybersecurity-- generating the 12 cybersecurity design artifacts required for FDA submission; and automated test systems, assuring that every device produced is exactly the same as the device that was approved. Visit VelentiumMedical.com to explore how we can work together to change lives for a better world.