Mark Oreschnick | Evolve Engineering | Fractional Consulting, Leadership, & the Power of Networking

Mark Oreschnick, a MedTech industry leader and the founder of Evolve Engineering, shares his journey of nearly 30 years in engineering and leadership, starting in aerospace before landing in the medical device industry. With a passion for mentoring and helping startups, Mark discusses the importance of right-sizing staff and systems for success. This conversation not only showcases the human side of technology, but also highlights the power of networking and building relationships for personal and professional growth.

Guest links: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mark-oreschnick-82367a8/ | marko@evolve-engr.com
| www.evolve-engr.com | https://www.linkedin.com/groups/14248328/

Charity supported: Feeding America

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

PRODUCTION CREDITS
Host: Lindsey Dinneen
Editing: Marketing Wise
Producer: Velentium

 

EPISODE TRANSCRIPT

Episode 032 - Mark Oreschnick

[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.

[00:00:50] Welcome back to another episode of The Leading Difference podcast. I'm your host, Lindsey and I am so excited to introduce you to my guest today, Mark Oreschnick. Mark is the founder, owner, and president of Evolve Engineering, LLC. With over 25 years working in and leading engineering and operations in small, such as four employees, to large, such as 15,000 plus employees, companies, he has gained valuable experience he will use to complete your project as efficiently as possible. Mark's career has focused on developing products, processes, people, and businesses. Mark, thank you so much for being here. I cannot wait to talk with you all about what you're doing and your background. So thanks for joining today.

[00:01:36] Mark Oreschnick: Thank you. I'm happy to be here.

[00:01:39] Lindsey Dinneen: Wonderful. Well, I would love if you wouldn't mind starting off by sharing just a little bit about yourself and your background and maybe what led you to MedTech.

[00:01:47] Mark Oreschnick: Okay. I've been an engineer and leader for nearly 30 years. I started in the aerospace industry in college, and while I was an intern, I was offered a full time position to work as an engineer for my last year of college. So I did full time school and work, which I think very much set me up for my life in startups because I was sleeping about two and a half hours a night.

[00:02:15] Lindsey Dinneen: Oh my word.

[00:02:16] Mark Oreschnick: So, after that, I just kept having bosses challenge me with a variety of different projects. I've designed and built buildings for two different companies, automated. Equipment doing 16 million packages in four months, shipping out of a company, totally different industry and 20 years ago, coming this Valentine's day, I started the medical device industry. So, I'm coming out of my 20th anniversary right now. And within the medical device industry, I've been in really large and really small companies, both on the operations and manufacturing side and the R&D side. And I'm currently working with my seventh startup. So that's, like I said, the world of startups I've really enjoyed.

[00:03:02] And now I've moved into consulting full time, and I'm working with startups as a fractional CTO. So I'll put together their technology roadmap, help build their R&D team, work with the founder on what I've learned from my experience. What are the good things to do? What are the bad things to do? And how to right size your staff and your systems to be successful.

[00:03:26] Lindsey Dinneen: Oh, that's incredible. Well, thank you for sharing about that. It's so much fun to see how little bits of threads throughout your career kind of interweave, and then all of a sudden they've produced this really cool thing. And that's now you doing this on your own and consulting. And I just love hearing about that. Several things just stood out to me and I'm curious. Okay. So, so you said you sort of set yourself up for success by being like full time college student, full time working at the same time. And then yes-- so can you start by: where did this drive in this passion come from, because clearly your work ethic is astronomical and wonderful, so maybe start there.

[00:04:11] Mark Oreschnick: I would say it comes from my parents. Definitely did not grow up on the rich side. So everything that we had in our lives, we worked hard for. And I learned that if I wanted something, I needed to go out and get it. So, I think that was a good attitude that my parents put into me. And then they also, I won't say over expected things from us, but it was more, if you say you're going to do it, you're going to do it, figure out how to get it done. Just live up to what you say you're going to do. And that I think automatically put a drive behind me to just, all right, and you offered me a full time job. I'll be successful at it, but I'm graduating. So I got to be successful there and I'll just figure out how to make it happen.

[00:04:59] Lindsey Dinneen: Yeah. Yeah. And then you alluded to the two and a half hours of sleep a night. I hope that's still not the case moving forward.

[00:05:08] Mark Oreschnick: No, it's better than that now, but I've had 24 hour days as things come up throughout a career, and it's, you do what you need to at that point for your company and to get things done or you're having a team work extra hard. You get in there, you work with them, make sure that they're getting the support they need and they know you're there for them. So, sometimes it's insane. Other times you get to relax a little bit, but that's also, like I said, the life of a startup, you have your big pushes and then you get to relax for a little while and then you hit your next push.

[00:05:47] Lindsey Dinneen: Yeah, so true. It seems like you have quite a passion for helping startups in particular, and you obviously also have your own entrepreneurial bent and endeavors. And so where did the interest in helping startups in particular come about? Because I know that's a, can be a different skillset in terms of you often wear a lot of different hats and you end up pitching in so many different ways. So, so tell me about your heart with startups and entrepreneurship.

[00:06:17] Mark Oreschnick: Someone who has now become one of my best friends, we, my very first medical device job, I worked with him and when I left to go to another company, we looked for a position for him to join me. There wasn't a good fit, but a couple of years later, he went to a startup, which he had already been in startups previously, and asked me to come over and work with him there. And I came in, I saw that I could do a lot of things to help people. And that's kind of been my career also is how can I help people do things easier, better, just make their life easier. So if I saw a gap where there wasn't someone to jump in, I just jumped in and filled it. And that's what you do in a startup and it just really worked with my attitude of, I get to help a lot of people because, today I'll work on documentation with the quality side, next week I'll go build a fixture for production and whatever was needed at that moment. It let me get that joy of helping people.

[00:07:23] Lindsey Dinneen: Oh

[00:07:23] Mark Oreschnick: And that's ... If you get joy out of everything you do in work, it makes going to work really nice.

[00:07:29] Lindsey Dinneen: That is so true. I love that. That is so true. And so, you know, then you also have the skill sets to be able to help in lots and lots of different ways. And one common theme as I've been doing some of these interviews is that it seems like having that generalist background-- I mean, obviously you're highly specialized as an engineer. You're incredibly incredibly gifted and talented in that way. And you've built that skillset, but then you also have the opportunity to draw from multiple different industries that you've been a part of. So how has those various other kinds of influences in your life maybe contributed to your success now?

[00:08:13] Mark Oreschnick: I would say one of the ways that definitely benefited me a lot was getting into a non technical industry. The industry where I did the packaging automation and built my first building is called Consumer Fulfillment. Literally at that time, you were getting in buckets of mail, manually sorting it, data entering information into a computer, typing in UPC codes, like not technical, not anything like that. But it made me look at that world in a big picture format. And how could I help the process and make things flow from department to department much easier. And I just had to step back and kind of, all right. By making this process easier, I'm helping on the finance side. By making this less labor intensive, we have less workman comp.

[00:09:14] And it was just, what affects each piece of it? And as you kept digging deeper and deeper, you got to learn what the IT group did and how they could change the software to make it better. You'd figure out what the shipping companies are doing. We actually figured out how to load semis and make sure that the addresses were in the order of the post offices that they were going to. So the last bag onto the mail truck was the first bag that they took off. And we built that into our computer system so the trucks could drive direct and never have to backtrack or unload extra things. So it's just, you have to start looking at that big picture and you got to learn about every department to see how they all work together and make sure everyone's efficient, not just your little group.

[00:10:05] Lindsey Dinneen: Yeah. Well, and I love that approach. Being able to look beyond maybe what you feel like is the daily task or the task most important at hand and have that zoomed out view of, okay, this isn't just important for the success of this one department. It affects everybody else. And I love that. So now in your current role and in your current business with Evolve Engineering, you get to have that more eagle eye perspective again. Is that true? So when you're coming in, you're able to help?

[00:10:36] Mark Oreschnick: At the beginning, yes, if it's a new founder, and there tend to be two new founders that I've met lots of. They've, almost all of them have never been in a startup before. So that's a common theme. And they either come from not within the medical device industry or from a very large company within the medical device industry. So changing the mindset and getting real expectations and real realistic goals and budgets is where you kind of start with that. So I work with them to talk about, here's how much you can expect to spend on this project. Here's how long it's really going to take.

[00:11:21] If you're from a big company and you're still having five different computer systems that are managing your inventory and your sales and everything else, we're going to be running on QuickBooks and Excel, and that's what we're going to live by. Because if you want to put those systems in, you're going to hire 20 people to manage those systems rather than 10 people to get the product out the door. And get this design finished. So it's teaching them to just have a total different mindset about everything. And still knowing how all those systems have to work together. But trying to get it down onto the micro, basic scale, rather than going on to buying a great enterprise system, but we're not actually going to sell anything for five years, so we don't really need it.

[00:12:15] Lindsey Dinneen: Yes. Yeah. Yeah. Thank you for sharing a little bit about the two different types of these startup leaders that you're encountering. And I'm wondering, so part of your role, it sounds like, is not just getting into the very specific nitty gritty details of the actual company operations and technology and whatnot, but it's also having a little bit of this even broader range of, how do I help you as the leader develop the skills and priorities that you need to. So it sounds like you're in a, you're in a very Diverse mentorship kind of role in addition to like, let's get down to the nitty gritties, but you're also helping them develop those skill sets. Yeah?

[00:13:00] Mark Oreschnick: Yep. That's my goal is to help them become a good leader of a startup and understand what it takes. And I met with a doctor who had found me on LinkedIn about his company. And I wasn't sure exactly what he wanted, but as we were talking through things, I told him, "if you plan on being the CEO, we are going to figure out what day you fire yourself from that position." I said, we will do it to save money in the beginning, but you're a doctor. Be a doctor. Let's bring in a professional CEO when we get to the point where you stop saving the company money and possibly cost us money." And, he didn't want to be the CEO.

[00:13:43] So it wasn't a conversation that had to be had, but trying to put the mindset of, you're a great inventor, kick me out of my job, become the company CTO, drive development once we get to that point. I'm totally fine with that because it's the best for the company and it'll get us to the sale of the company or commercialization spending the least amount of money and getting there as quickly as we can. So being part of it's, be open, have those conversations with people and do that type of mentorship in the beginning. And if somebody said, "no, I'm going to run this thing until the end, I'm going to be the greatest CEO." I probably know from the beginning, I'm not the one to work with them.

[00:14:29] Lindsey Dinneen: Sure. Yeah.

[00:14:33] Mark Oreschnick: We probably won't gel in the end.

[00:14:36] Lindsey Dinneen: Yeah. And do you find that it's partly because perhaps the idea of, the things that got you to where you are not the same skill sets that are going to get you to the next level? Is it partially just because usually that somebody who comes up with this great idea and has the passion and the vision for the company can really get it off the ground and maybe get those first rounds of investment, but then they might not possess the skill sets to get them to continue growing and scaling. Is that part of it?

[00:15:10] Mark Oreschnick: That's 100%.

[00:15:11] Lindsey Dinneen: Okay.

[00:15:12] Mark Oreschnick: What normally it is and truly that passion in the beginning as the CEO gets your team driven. You get a lot done. It is a wonderful thing. But once you start to look at the commercialization and how do you grow a business, that creativity and passion don't directly translate. Now it's getting into nuts and bolts, black and white, a little more ruthless and you have to do what's right to make the company commercial.

[00:15:43] And the, I think it's lots of times not even ego of the founder. It's the passion. It's their baby, and they don't want to give up control and worry that somebody is going to ruin it. But that's why if you move yourself out, but stay within the leadership role in a different way, you're hand in hand with the CEO and you can move the company forward together rather than having a board kick you out because you're not doing your job and then you've lost all connection to your company.

[00:16:20] Lindsey Dinneen: Right.

[00:16:21] Mark Oreschnick: So I look at it as a, here's a way you can grow and you can learn from that CEO so the next time you do this, maybe you are the person who can take it another step, bring in the new CEO, one step farther down and finally you'll get to be that person who runs the company from start to finish, but you got to learn it. You got to live through it and protect your baby by moving into a different seat.

[00:16:46] Lindsey Dinneen: Oh my goodness. Yeah. What a challenging thing to overcome. So it's helpful that's your perspective from the start so you can help people prepare for that and that this is actually a wonderful thing. It's a growth thing. It's not a demotion. It is not a, you are any less important. You aren't. You're as still as important, but you're just moving into a role that suits you and suits what the company needs. Yeah. That's really interesting.

[00:17:13] Mark Oreschnick: And there are some investors who, if they hear that day one, that you know you're the one to bring it up to a certain point and then you will transfer it that will give them more faith in you because they know that you understand where your skills are and that you need the commercialization person to move the company to sale and they're going to appreciate that.

[00:17:37] Lindsey Dinneen: Yeah. Yeah. And so with your consultancy now, can you tell me a little bit about how that came about? And then I'd also love to hear, because I know that you've started, or co-founded, a very successful networking group in Medical Alley. And I would love, if you wouldn't mind sharing just a little bit about that, because that's a really cool opportunity for people in the area. But I would just love to hear a little bit about your origin story as well.

[00:18:04] Mark Oreschnick: So my origin actually started about eight years ago.

[00:18:07] Lindsey Dinneen: Aha.

[00:18:09] Mark Oreschnick: And the gentleman that I talked about who brought me into my first startup, we were at two different startups and he asked me if I could do a side project for him for his company to help it out. So I started Evolve Engineering.

[00:18:24] Lindsey Dinneen: Okay.

[00:18:25] Mark Oreschnick: And they brought me into interview to see if I was the right guy to do this project for them. And they liked my overall skill set and offered me a permanent position. So I wound up not consulting.

[00:18:39] Lindsey Dinneen: Sure.

[00:18:40] Mark Oreschnick: But it was something that I'd always thought, yeah, someday I'll get into this because one of the things great about startups is doing lots of short term projects. Even if your company lasts for seven years that you're there, you've jumped around a lot in it because that's what the company needed. So the idea of consulting and knowing that I'm going to be jumping around is exciting because you're always doing something new. So that got me hooked.

[00:19:07] Lindsey Dinneen: Yeah. Yeah.

[00:19:09] Mark Oreschnick: And then I was with a startup and I was looking for, what do I want to do next. I knew it was time to be moving out of that startup. And I started researching consulting and got myself connected with a bunch of people. And then another company offered me a permanent position.

[00:19:27] Lindsey Dinneen: Okay.

[00:19:29] Mark Oreschnick: So that postponed me for about another 16 months. And then in late 2022, I made the decision that "No, it's really my passion. I want to get back helping as many startups as I can." And I just dove into it. One of my former employees became my first client. And then another group called me up of a bunch of employees that I used to work with at a different startup, and I started working with them. And then, like I'd mentioned, a doctor called me up, so I have a deal going with that company. And it's all these little pieces just coming together. And right now, I have two different companies that are submitting me for projects that they're just waiting on funding for. And someone that I connected with through this networking group. He called me up and said, "Hey Mark, in, in February, I'm going to need your help on one of my projects." So he used to be the founder of a startup. Now he's doing the exact same thing I'm doing and he's my competitor. And he called me up and said, "I want you to work with me."

[00:20:37] Lindsey Dinneen: Phenomenal.

[00:20:39] Mark Oreschnick: Yeah, it's good competition and those are the people that I still have around me are people I've worked with in the past or met in the past. We don't look at each other as competitors. It's, "You're going to be better at this one than me. So you take it and you'll tell me about one that I'm better at than you." So, so that's got me kind of up to today. And you had mentioned my networking group, which is called The Twin Cities Medical Device Networking Group. I was in a group pre COVID that actually died before COVID. So COVID wasn't the killer, but it made starting a new networking group a real challenge during COVID. I tried bringing the old group back. We had one event and then a new spike, and it died again.

[00:21:32] Lindsey Dinneen: Yeah.

[00:21:33] Mark Oreschnick: So working with one of the startup accelerators that I'm involved with, I went to a medical presentation that they were having a showcase about all of their startups that they were working with, and met a gentleman named Kris Bauerschmidt. And he and I actually already had a call scheduled for the next day through a different networking group and we just happened to run into each other in person. So we started off, we did the call the next day, and I toured his company a couple weeks later. And I brought up, "Hey, I'm thinking about starting a networking group." And he said, "Oh, I'd love to be a part of that, can I help you?" And that was on Thursday, so April 29th, which was a Saturday, I started the group. And it took about 16 days to get up to 100 people.

[00:22:24] Lindsey Dinneen: Wow.

[00:22:26] Mark Oreschnick: About another month to get to 200. And then it started slowing down a little bit. So now we're at eight and a half months since we started it, and we have almost 850 people.

[00:22:38] Lindsey Dinneen: Wow.

[00:22:39] Mark Oreschnick: So it's growing basically a hundred a month.

[00:22:42] Lindsey Dinneen: That's amazing. Congrats.

[00:22:45] Mark Oreschnick: So each month we just post on LinkedIn, "Hey, we're doing a happy hour at this brewery." People come out, get together. We normally have around 70 people show up to each of our events and people sit around and you talk a little bit of business, you know, "Hey, what do you do for a living? What cool projects are you working on?" that type of stuff. And many of these people have now got to the point of, "So how's your son's basketball game last night?" And we've become friends and we're building relationships. Business is going to come out of that naturally because now we've actually built trust in 70 other people that we meet, and really it's probably about 150 people rotate through our events, but there's always around 70 that show up. So this 150 out of 850 is getting to be a tighter network every month.

[00:23:40] Lindsey Dinneen: That's incredible.

[00:23:42] Mark Oreschnick: And out of that, we wound up doing a presentation at startup week, Kris and I, for other people, we did a panel discussion on Networking 101.

[00:23:50] Lindsey Dinneen: Nice.

[00:23:52] Mark Oreschnick: A college brought out their entrepreneur program and we had 20 plus students from that, and it was a total of, like, 80 people showed up to hear us talking about networking.

[00:24:03] Lindsey Dinneen: Nice.

[00:24:04] Mark Oreschnick: And that's one of the keys in the med device industry, or actually in any industry, network, know the people you're working with. If you ever get laid off, fired, you're in transition, you instantly have a group of people to go talk to. But the big thing that we've seen in our group, lots of the people are there really just to help.

[00:24:26] Lindsey Dinneen: Yeah.

[00:24:27] Mark Oreschnick: Much less about, "What can I get out of this," and it's, "What can I do for you?" So, it's really nice that, you know, people are saying, "Hey, let me introduce you to this recruiter. Hey, let me introduce you to this person. They might be able to help with your project." And it's much more of the giving side of things. And it gets kind of funny when you have two people who are both givers, who have are meeting for the first time and trying to talk about something, and both of them are trying to give and neither wants to receive.

[00:24:59] Lindsey Dinneen: Yes.

[00:24:59] Mark Oreschnick: So eventually somebody has to just step out of the zone that they're in and say, "This person's honest and trying to be helpful. I need to accept that."

[00:25:10] Lindsey Dinneen: Yeah.

[00:25:11] Mark Oreschnick: It's quite funny when you start to see these interactions of people who really network on a regular basis and are out there just to meet and help people.

[00:25:21] Lindsey Dinneen: Yeah, that's incredible. And I love that. I love that that's the spirit of the group because I think a lot of times where networking groups can get challenging is it seems to be kind of the opposite. And it's sort of "what can I get from this group" versus "how can I give and contribute," but that's, that's such a part of who you are. In fact, you've recommended a couple of books to me that I have thoroughly enjoyed. And I wonder if you wouldn't mind telling a little bit about maybe how that philosophy has impacted even your own life and the way that you've approached your entrepreneurial endeavors and your networking endeavors. Would you like to share about that?

[00:26:02] Mark Oreschnick: Sure. So, similar to the words that I was just saying.

[00:26:06] Lindsey Dinneen: Yup.

[00:26:07] Mark Oreschnick: I know the book she's talking about right off the bat and that is " The Go Giver" and it's tells the story of how somebody is out there trying to get sales and bugging everyone trying to get leads, trying to just close the deal, worrying about the end of the quarter. And eventually he meets a series of people who talk about being in things for the right reason, and you can't sell something to someone, someone has to want to buy from you. So you have to give them value, and then they will choose to purchase from you, because you cannot force a sale. You can't make somebody sign on that dotted line.

[00:26:54] Lindsey Dinneen: Yeah.

[00:26:56] Mark Oreschnick: So it's all about: connect with people, meet them, figure out how you can help them. Karma's going to come back, help you in the end. And I have definitely seen that in my career, you know, like I'd mentioned earlier, somebody who is a direct competitor of me calling me up and saying, "I want you to work on my project." I was trying to help him find investors at his last company. And I didn't have any stake in the game in that, but he seemed like a really good person doing a good thing. So I wanted to help him.

[00:27:30] Lindsey Dinneen: Yeah!

[00:27:30] Mark Oreschnick: The thing that for me about "The Go-Giver," I read it and I went, "Okay, this reinforces what I've been doing. And here's a few ways I can do it a little bit better and a little more intentionally." So I highly recommend, read the book. The guy who I founded the networking group with, I gave him a copy. He absolutely loved it. He now recommends it out on LinkedIn. The author wound up seeing that we had been recommending it to people and connected with us and commented. So, and I'm actually in another group that has about 230 people, and the first time you meet with the founders of that group, they're going to say, "You need to go by "The Go Giver" and read it." So right off the bat, that's just their first conversation. It's kind of, "If you go forward with this attitude, your business will be successful."

[00:28:22] Lindsey Dinneen: Yeah.

[00:28:22] Mark Oreschnick: And then the other book, it's from the same authors and it's called, I believe, it's "The Go Giver Guide to Marriage."

[00:28:28] Lindsey Dinneen: Huh.

[00:28:29] Mark Oreschnick: And I actually read it while I was on my 10th anniversary with my wife in Napa. And it was again about intention. You can tell your spouse that you love them, you can tell them they're beautiful, all these things, but why are you doing that and making sure you do it with reason and not just because I should say I love you every time I walk out the door.

[00:28:53] Lindsey Dinneen: Yeah. Right.

[00:28:55] Mark Oreschnick: And there are lots of really good tips in it that is just kind of, okay, I'm doing things good, but I can do it better. Here's a way to do it better. And it's the reminder of why you're in your relationship, why you love the other person. And it was a fun book to read. And the fact that I chose to do it on our anniversary weekend was a really good thing.

[00:29:15] Lindsey Dinneen: Nice.

[00:29:17] Mark Oreschnick: It was the right time to reinforce everything.

[00:29:19] Lindsey Dinneen: There you go, folks. Life and business advice all wrapped up into one. It is a great series of books. I recently finished "The Go Giver Leader" too and that's another brilliant book. I was listening to it on audio book and I kept having to rewind so that I could take notes because I was like, there are too many amazing quotable quotes in this book. It's,

[00:29:43] Mark Oreschnick: Yes.

[00:29:43] Lindsey Dinneen: Highly recommend. Yeah. So just out of curiosity, looking back over your life, do you think six year old Mark could have ever imagined being where you are now? Or is this engineering and business and creativity? Has this always been a thread of your life or has this evolved over time?

[00:30:07] Mark Oreschnick: So engineering and creativity, yes. The business side, no. If you would have asked six year old Mark, what he was going to be doing, I actually know the answer from my parents and I was going to be a garbage man.

[00:30:20] Lindsey Dinneen: Yes! Coolest job ever! You get to hang on!

[00:30:25] Mark Oreschnick: I love trucks. I loved big equipment and that part of me has never changed. I am a mechanic. I have two cars in my garage, one up on the lift, one underneath it. I'm always working on something mechanical. And that mechanical side of me, along with the creative side of me has helped me design different devices and keep that vision. And I know how things work on the inside, and now I can design something because I know the different pieces, and I can put them to use for a different reason. So one of my products was an upper arm orthotic that helped people eat and drink and do activities of daily living when they had upper limb weakness from muscular dystrophy. So I was able to watch a lady who couldn't put her, push her glasses up. She put our device on and held a bottle of water for three minutes.

[00:31:19] Lindsey Dinneen: Oh.

[00:31:19] Mark Oreschnick: Another lady went back to painting.

[00:31:22] Lindsey Dinneen: Oh.

[00:31:24] Mark Oreschnick: And she hadn't painted in five years since her injury. So, but it was a completely mechanical nut and bolt type system, my side of it that I worked on, and my brain just knew how to make that stuff work.

[00:31:38] Lindsey Dinneen: Yeah. I love it!

[00:31:41] Mark Oreschnick: That's from when I was a little kid building with Legos and working on lawn mowers and mini bikes, and it's never stopped.

[00:31:49] Lindsey Dinneen: Yeah. Sure.

[00:31:52] Mark Oreschnick: The business side of things, I think it still fits with my analytical brain and, you know, you can have things in columns, things have a right way of doing it. There's a process to everything that just, so that aspect of it fits me, but no, I would have never thought of that when I was a kid.

[00:32:10] Lindsey Dinneen: Sure.

[00:32:10] Mark Oreschnick: It doesn't sound like fun to a six year old.

[00:32:13] Lindsey Dinneen: Okay. Well, I have to nerd out for just a minute because as a, I think I was maybe a little older than six years old, but for one of my early birthdays, it would have had to have been like seven or eight, or actually for Christmas, I asked for a bunch of office supplies, because I am that nerd and so I was like setting myself up to play office ever since I was six or seven. And I would have, I had my little fake phone and my little fake receipt thing. I, it was a blast. So yeah, I, I...

[00:32:48] Mark Oreschnick: And your organization skills have led through to this day.

[00:32:52] Lindsey Dinneen: I know. Yeah. Yeah. All the hard play worked out in the end. It's really paid off. So anyway, you've actually shared a couple of very touching moments, even those last two stories that you shared were really sweet. And I'm wondering if there are any moments like those that kind of stand out to you as reinforcing the idea that, "Hey, you're in the right industry doing the right thing at the right time."

[00:33:18] Mark Oreschnick: Yeah, they're definitely, I remember the first time that I had that moment. I had always thought once I got into medical device that I was in the right field. It fit me really well. It worked with how my brain worked. We have to do all these steps to prove everything because it's a human. We need to do the right stuff because we're dealing with people and we want to save lives, not hurt lives. But the first startup that I was in, we had a whole bunch of patient videos of interviews of patients that had used our, had our device used on them and how it affected their life.

[00:33:54] And the one that I always remember, there was an older gentleman who had bad circulation in his leg and a doctor told him he needed to have a below knee amputation. And he was going to be in a wheelchair for the rest of his life. Luckily he didn't like his diagnosis and he got referred to a doctor who is using our product, and the doctor was able to go in and clear out the blockages in this gentleman's leg and get blood flowing to his foot again. So all of his sores healed, all of the swelling went away. His foot became normal again. And in a very short period of time, he went out, and golfed nine holes, pulling his bag. He walked for nine holes.

[00:34:44] Lindsey Dinneen: Oh.

[00:34:44] Mark Oreschnick: So he went from, "I'm going to have my leg chopped off and be in a wheelchair" to going back to the sport that he loved. And being able to actually walk, not even have to ride a cart.

[00:34:56] Lindsey Dinneen: Wow.

[00:34:57] Mark Oreschnick: That was that moment that's kind of, "Yep, I'm where I belong."

[00:35:02] Lindsey Dinneen: Yeah. Oh my goodness. Thank you so much for sharing that. That's a powerful story and what an amazing testament to the power of medtech and being able to be a part, even play a small part, in those developments and realize that you're impacting lives. Like there's, you hear these incredible stories of, you know, even if it's just one person, which it never just is, but even if it's just one person, you change their life. That's incredible. Yeah, nothing more rewarding.

[00:35:36] Mark Oreschnick: Yeah, I said, that story, I'm never going to forget. I can still picture the guy and this is 14, 15 years ago. So.

[00:35:46] Lindsey Dinneen: I love that. Well, so, so amazing and pivoting completely for fun. Very different. Okay. Imagine you were to be offered the opportunity to teach a masterclass on any subject you want. It can be in your industry. It doesn't have to be, but you're going to get paid a million dollars to do so. What would you choose to teach and why?

[00:36:11] Mark Oreschnick: So it's actually what we've already talked about and it would be networking. My experience with networking is it can have a huge effect on your career from day one. And luckily I've always liked talking to people. So I've been networking as long as I can remember, but people always say, "it's not what, you know, it's who you know." There is a, I'm going to say that should not be a truth. And if you actually live that way, there's a little problem there, because you should get the job because of what you know, and you should not take a job because it's just who you know and you're not qualified. But as long as you are qualified for that position, the who you know is going to introduce you to so many more opportunities, and if you go into all of those relationships trying to figure out how you can help others, people are naturally going to help you.

[00:37:10] But as a student, you know, one of the things from our networking one on one class, we had the student saying, "what do I have to give to people when I'm networking? I'm still in school. I just, I'm about to graduate." During the conversation, ask them the type of people they want to meet at that event. And when you're walking around talking to others, if you meet that person, bring them over and introduce them. You can be their ears and talk to more people for them. You always have something to give no matter what.

[00:37:46] Maybe they have a kid who's thinking about going to school and you could talk to their kid about what school you went to. You always have something. So going out, having that attitude, but every job I have gotten throughout my career, someone has introduced me to that position. My first internship was one of my lab partners in college. " I'm doing an internship. Would you like to meet my boss?" So yeah, I wasn't networking to do that, but we were friends from a class, so it was the who I knew.

[00:38:24] Lindsey Dinneen: Yeah.

[00:38:25] Mark Oreschnick: And every, like I said, every job has been that way. The doctors that found me on LinkedIn, they found me because of my posts about networking.

[00:38:37] Lindsey Dinneen: Nice.

[00:38:38] Mark Oreschnick: So direct indirect, my networking had me meet those doctors and turned into a client.

[00:38:46] Lindsey Dinneen: Yeah.

[00:38:47] Mark Oreschnick: So it's just, it always happens. Go out, meet people, talk to them, learn how to do things out of the goodness of your heart, and it will take you a very long way in your career. And when I think of people you and I both know that we've worked with, how many relationships have those people made throughout their lives that have now become business? It's just always happening. And so, yeah, that would be my courses to, especially with young engineers, young anyone, teach them, "You're getting into industries, start networking, learn the people in your company, learn the people at your suppliers, build your network, be good." And it will help you.

[00:39:34] Lindsey Dinneen: Yeah. And be a go giver. I love it. Yeah. I love that. That's a great idea for a masterclass and it does not surprise me at all that's what you chose.

[00:39:44] Mark Oreschnick: Yeah. So during startup week, I did two classes. It was the networking and "Key Considerations When Starting a Medical Device Company."

[00:39:54] Lindsey Dinneen: Nice. Yeah. That seems accurate. Phenomenal. Phenomenal.

[00:40:00] Mark Oreschnick: Go to your strengths.

[00:40:01] Lindsey Dinneen: Yeah. Yeah. I love it. Yeah. Okay. How do you wish to be remembered after you leave this world?

[00:40:10] Mark Oreschnick: Definitely want to be known as someone who took care of his family because family is obviously important, but within my career, I was the guy that helped. Whatever it was, I figured out a way to help people.

[00:40:25] Lindsey Dinneen: I love that.

[00:40:26] Mark Oreschnick: So.

[00:40:27] Lindsey Dinneen: Yes. Absolutely. Okay. And final question. What is one thing that makes you smile every time you see or think about it?

[00:40:36] Mark Oreschnick: My daughter.

[00:40:38] Lindsey Dinneen: Aww.

[00:40:39] Mark Oreschnick: So, that's an easy one. I have a 17 year old daughter. And I'm the first person to have a female in my family. I'm one of three brothers. My brothers have three sons and then I have the daughter who's the youngest of all of us. So I'm thinking, "Okay, I'm Mr. Mechanical. I love working on things. I love nuts and bolts and stuff." When she was two, she grabbed a screwdriver when I was working on the refrigerator and put it on the screw. So it's kind of, okay, there's my kid. She's definitely mine. And as I've watched her growing up, she has the same analytical mind as me, likes to divide things into even sections, things must be uniform, must be organized. But as she's growing up into a young woman, she is now a member of our church's youth group and she is a mentor to all of the other students. So she goes out and works with other kids and helps them at camp and does confirmation and she's just become a really good person. So looking at her, always smile.

[00:41:57] Lindsey Dinneen: Oh, that's so special. Yes, and you're her up for massive success and sounds like she's just a lovely human, so.

[00:42:06] Mark Oreschnick: She is.

[00:42:08] Lindsey Dinneen: That's incredible. Well, this has been so much fun, Mark. I am so thankful for you and your time today. And, you know, we are so honored to be making a donation on your behalf today to Feeding America, which works to end hunger in the United States by partnering with food banks, food pantries, and local food programs to bring food to people facing hunger. And also they advocate for policies that create long term solutions to hunger. So thank you so much for choosing that charity to support and...

[00:42:40] Mark Oreschnick: Thank you.

[00:42:41] Lindsey Dinneen: Yeah. Well, and thank you so much for everything that you're doing. I just wish you such continued success with your business, with your networking group as you work to change lives for a better world.

[00:42:54] Mark Oreschnick: Thank you very much for having me on. I enjoyed this.

[00:42:57] Lindsey Dinneen: Excellent. And thank you so much to our listeners for tuning in. And if you're feeling as inspired as I am right now, I'd love if you'd share this episode with a colleague or two and we will catch you next time.

[00:43:10] Ben Trombold: The Leading Difference is brought to you by Velentium. Velentium is a full-service CDMO with 100% in-house capability to design, develop, and manufacture medical devices from class two wearables to class three active implantable medical devices. Velentium specializes in active implantables, leads, programmers, and accessories across a wide range of indications, such as neuromodulation, deep brain stimulation, cardiac management, and diabetes management. Velentium's core competencies include electrical, firmware, and mechanical design, mobile apps, embedded cybersecurity, human factors and usability, automated test systems, systems engineering, and contract manufacturing. Velentium works with clients worldwide, from startups seeking funding to established Fortune 100 companies. Visit velentium.com to explore your next step in medical device development.