Shaun Bagai | CEO, RenovoRx | Revolutionary Cancer Treatment, Startup Success, & Medtech Mentorship

Shaun Bagai is the CEO and Director of RenovoRx, and a seasoned MedTech leader whose path began with a Silicon Valley startup internship that ultimately pulled him away from medical school and into building life-changing technologies. Shaun shares how early experiences in clinical research, physician training, and commercialization—from Medtronic to multiple high-growth startups—shaped his leadership philosophy around mentorship, hiring for “fit,” and balancing empowerment with accountability. Shaun reflects on legacy, values-driven leadership, and why networking rooted in genuine curiosity can become one of the most powerful tools in a MedTech career.

Guest links: https://renovorx.com/contact-us/ | https://www.linkedin.com/in/shaun-r-bagai/  

Charity supported: ASPCA

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 072 - Shaun Bagai

[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 am delighted to introduce you to my guest, Sean Bagai. Sean has served as Chief Executive Officer and Director since 2014 of RenovoRx. Prior to joining, he led global market development for HeartFlow, Inc from 2011 to 2014, which included directing Japanese market research, regulatory payer collaboration, and key opinion leader development to create value, resulting in a company investment to form HeartFlow Japan. During his tenure at HeartFlow, he successfully orchestrated their largest clinical trial to date and contracted HeartFlow's first global customers. In addition, Sean has launched innovative technologies into regional and global marketplaces in both large corporations and growth phase novel technology companies. Sean is a graduate from the University of California Santa Barbara with a Bachelor of Science in Biology / Pre-med.

All right. Well, thank you so much for being here, Sean. I'm so delighted to speak with you today.

[00:01:54] Shaun Bagai: Thanks for the opportunity. I really appreciate it.

[00:01:55] Lindsey Dinneen: Of course. Well, I'd love, if you wouldn't mind starting off by just telling us a little bit about who you are, what your background has been like, and what led you to MedTech?

[00:02:07] Shaun Bagai: I really appreciate the question 'cause it's really my background and kinda the early part of my journey that landed me where I am today. I actually did an internship at a medical device startup company in Silicon Valley between what would've been college and med school. And while I was applying to med school, my goal was to get some experience in the industry, in a medical technology space, and then go out to med school. And the founder of my company and CEO really advised me not to go to med school once I got in to become, someday an entrepreneur like his own self. And I ended up following his footsteps with the goal of, just like he, did build companies that really make a major impact on medicine.

[00:02:44] Lindsey Dinneen: Wow.

[00:02:45] Shaun Bagai: So from, yeah, so from that early kind of intro to medical technology and learning what an entrepreneur could do in building new therapies and technologies, I ended up running clinical research at that company once I declined med school. We exited to Medtronic where I learned the sales side of things. So, this physician founder CEO along with my mentor, said, look, if you want to build and run companies, you have to really understand what the market's like and how you get a product into the hands of physicians to treat patients and what it takes to really sell the product.

So I spent a couple years flying around the country training physicians on the technology that I learned as a proctor-- which I've done in every company that I've worked with and for-- then went on to sales for about five years and launched Medtronic's first drug coated coronary stent as a sales representative. And then transitioned out of Medtronic after several years, cutting my teeth on the big company dynamics and the sales revenue aspect of it to a startup company called Ardian, which developed a new way to treat high blood pressure using a device.

There I led physician training, transitioned them from clinical research into commercial in Europe. We exited to Medtronic for about a billion dollars and went on to another startup company to help develop their market. And really that was a disruptive technology in how to assess coronary artery disease in leading international market development. They hired me about 15 years prematurely to commercialize them, so I helped them with physician training, market development in Japan, clinical research and left to join RenovoRx where I took over 11 and a half years ago. That company actually went public for about 2.5 billion this last year. So, and all three of these technologies have really already made a major impact on patients, and I feel that RenovoRx, this has probably my biggest one yet in terms of major impact.

[00:04:26] Lindsey Dinneen: Yeah. Okay. So I can't wait to dive into that, but there's a lot before that too to talk about. So, when you were growing up, was medicine and science always a huge interest to you or did that develop later on?

[00:04:41] Shaun Bagai: You know, it's funny you asked 'cause I've done a lot of interviews and that question has never come up. So I've gotta, I've gotta pause for a second. It's interesting. My, my background was really business oriented growing up. I loved business. I loved the idea of how you get something marketable. As a very young child, I had very embarrassing stories of trying to sell things as a kid that I used to bring back from India, for example, like bouncy balls or crocheted place mats or whatnot.

But then sustaining a football injury in high school, I found that physicians couldn't treat me. And I learned that there's gotta be a different way to treat patients. And I arrogantly thought, "Well, I could be a better doctor than you guys and someday treat young athletes like myself." So, my passion went immediately and complete a hundred percent into become a physician to help patients. So that kind of transitioned me to being med school bound from the age of about 15, and didn't look back until I got into med school and got pushed back to business. And now I get the best of both worlds.

[00:05:37] Lindsey Dinneen: Yeah, no, absolutely. So you have so many diverse experiences with a bunch of different companies and you know, everything from it sounds like a quite the small team to obviously these huge enterprise type companies. What are some of the key lessons you learned along the way that help you in your current role?

[00:05:58] Shaun Bagai: I think the biggest aspect I've learned along the way, and what I'd definitely tell the younger entrepreneurs, is to be very open and receptive to different ideas. Also look for mentorship and leadership examples. And I've been lucky throughout my career, I've been able to identify leaders who are not perfect because no one is, but I found skill sets and activities and thought processes that I wanted to emulate, and I feel like I've been successful because I've been able to take the best of those and also look for mistakes and weaknesses and to see how I could either surround myself with people to fulfill my lack of strengths in areas and or improve on myself to help be a better leader by emulating them.

[00:06:37] Lindsey Dinneen: Yeah. And speaking of leadership, as you kind of grew into all of these, you know, more and more responsibility laden roles, were there any moments along the way where you kind of just had these learning curves of, you know, either witnessing something that you were like, "Oof, I don't wanna do that." Or the opposite of it sounds like you had maybe some really great mentors in your life that showed you perhaps a better way of doing things. But in terms of your overall leadership strategy, how did the various good, bad, and ugly shape how you show up as a leader?

[00:07:16] Shaun Bagai: You know, that's a four hour discussion probably, but, but to, to tackle some of the high notes that I learned, it's --and I continue to always learn-- the biggest challenge we face as leaders is trying to find out what makes people work in the right fit for your organization. And as, as you mentioned aptly, I've worked for very large and small teams, big companies, small companies, and not everyone's fit for those positions. You have very talented, enthusiastic, passionate people that could really flourish in a big company structured environment and would die in a startup company.

And vice versa. You have very structured people that cannot understand the idea of progress ahead of process in small companies as well, and finding that balance of trying to get the best out of what someone likes to do and what their fit is. And further really identifying if you can align their passions and their career goals, what the company's goal is, you find the dynamite employee.

So I try to find that balance has been difficult and challenging. My biggest challenge I think, in learning curve for me was trying to have both the non micromanaging skillset and then also the oversight and ability to let people run and to be successful and grow and learn and make mistakes. And then teach them from the mistakes, they'll become stronger leaders under you as well.

[00:08:32] Lindsey Dinneen: Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. All right, well, bringing us to the present day, what does your company do? What are the innovative solutions that you're providing? Because I know you are on the cutting edge of a lot of really amazing technology.

[00:08:48] Shaun Bagai: Yeah, it's been very exciting. We are finding a different way to treat cancer patients, and if you think about therapeutics in general, we as a medical industry and society have really looked at, "Okay, how do we kill a tumor? How do we prolong life?" And a lot of times we forget that there's a patient that's harboring that tumor and maybe the life isn't really worth it when you beat them up with chemotherapy every day and they're on a couch, not eating, not spending time with family. And what we've developed invented and really built out now commercial with a clinical research program as well, is how to localize therapies such that you don't have the systemic toxicities, but you do have the effect for patients live longer. And tumors that really don't behave well when it comes to cancer therapy, like pancreatic cancer is where we spent the bulk of our time so far.

[00:09:31] Lindsey Dinneen: Okay. And then can you talk a little bit more about what makes your approach so innovative?

[00:09:39] Shaun Bagai: It's really by accident like most great medical are. It's a physician who had an idea based off a single patient where he saw a challenge. And Dr. Ramtin Agah, the founder of the company, had a pancreatic cancer patient, and as a cardiologist his cardiac patient had pancreatic cancer and had a bleeder. And he scrubbed in with a radiologist to treat the bleeder and found that there's no good device to isolate segments around the pancreas because of the way the anatomy is. So what differentiates us is it was after an unmet need first, and then came the device technology and then clinical data, and now adoption where tumors like pancreatic cancer tumors don't have high blood flows posing them not susceptible to chemotherapy and not a good target for local delivery. So he developed and invented this therapy and technology to really get high doses of chemotherapy in these types of tumors in a manner and mechanism that's very different than we've ever seen before. And that's looks like it's being successful.

[00:10:34] Lindsey Dinneen: Wow, that's amazing. So you have had some clinical validations, clinical trials as well? Yeah?

[00:10:41] Shaun Bagai: Yeah, we did. Yeah, for sure. We did a phase one two trial initially in pancreatic cancer, non-metastatic. We found that patients that are expected to live between 12 and 20 months, let's say, or even narrower these days, about 14, 15, 16 months-- our patients were living over two and a half years and we were starting to push survival where many patients were 3, 4, 5 years since diagnosis. Since then, we've launched a phase three trial based on that, and that's wrapping up enrollment soon. And based on the success of the therapy and technology in terms of toxicities, a lot of physicians have said, look, we want to treat patients today with this. And given that the device is FDA cleared, we've now begun to commercialize the device component for physicians to use at their discretion, where we're starting to see benefit for patients across the spectrum.

[00:11:25] Lindsey Dinneen: Wow, so, so this is a very highly targeted-- it's able to get right to the source, right, so that there, it kind of helps to-- like you mentioned, there are some cancers that are much harder to treat by just sort of your, well, more standard practices with chemotherapy. So can you explain a little bit more about how it works in terms of the delivery?

[00:11:50] Shaun Bagai: Yeah, think about tumors like pancreatic cancer tumors as cities with freeways next to them with no off-ramps. And that's one of the biggest issues is that when we think about tumors in general, we think of a ball of blood vessels with a lot of tumor cells. So blood supply gets there, they feed the tumors, but it also creates a, you know, off ramps or a highway to the tumors where chemotherapy reaches.

Other tumors like pancreatic tumors, glioblastoma or brain tumors, non-small cell lung cancer bile duct cancer, uterine tumors, many others, they don't have this large blood supply. So it's like there's a freeway going next to a tumor and the chemotherapy doesn't see that tumor. So the way we've developed our technology, it's a double balloon catheter based system, so it's minimally invasive. It goes in through the patient's leg artery. And the patients are-- it's not a full surgery. It's more of a minimally invasive, same day outpatient procedure where the device isolates blood flow next the tumor, and uses pressure to force the chemotherapy to leave the vascular system to then bathe and saturate the tumor with chemo.

So again, if you think about that freeway without an off ramp, we basically are forcing and creating and finding these micro channels like an off ramp to actually access the tumor. And this is where all our patents lie as well. So we developed this whole new method and mechanism of delivery of drugs and chemotherapy.

[00:13:07] Lindsey Dinneen: That is amazing. So I'm sure that there are probably many stories as you've done this and just throughout your whole career. But are there any moments that really stand out to you as kind of affirming for you that, "Wow, I am in the right industry at the right time."

[00:13:26] Shaun Bagai: I, I've luckily been validated with that thought process my whole career. As as a son of Indian parents, many say, "How did you not go to med school once you got in? Were you a disappointment to your family? Do you regret not gonna medical school and becoming a physician?" And I've been very lucky that I spent my whole career successfully helping technologies treat patients.

The first moment was my first job going from declining med school through running clinical research and being the lead physician proctor, I used to fly around the country and teach doctors how to open up leg arteries that otherwise would be amputated. And by with this new technology, it was great to see how great patients were doing because of our technology. And every company I've worked on since has had that same effect on patients. So luckily, it's been always along the way, and very luckily, it was very early in my career to validate this this was the right pathway.

[00:14:13] Lindsey Dinneen: Yeah. You know what you've mentioned too at the beginning that it sounds like a huge passion of yours, and maybe it has always been the case, but is making a difference in people's lives, being a part of companies that are, you know, actively improving and helping save lives. And so, I'm curious too, where did that passion come from? Was that part of that sort of, "I'm gonna be a physician, I'm gonna, you know, I'm gonna do this whole thing, I'm gonna save the athletes," but then, you know, kind of evolved from there? Or is that more deep seated?

[00:14:46] Shaun Bagai: You know, it's interesting, I think it evolved along the way. I've always tried to be a helpful person in general, just as a human being. The, again, the, I think the initial idea was I wanna help patients because they couldn't help me as an athlete. So orthopedic surgery or cardiology were kind of the two i ideas or areas I wanted to specialize in when I thought the med school route. And then it was a matter of, I love the science, I love the technology, I love the medical science as well, and I love the business aspect of it. So I learned that there's this whole industry called medical technology that allows you to do all of that. And after seeing the benefit to our patients as a young clinical researcher, I really got the the addiction to trying to find ways to treat patients better.

[00:15:29] Lindsey Dinneen: Yeah. Well, and I think I'd be curious to know too, 'cause I think, you know, that passion also comes from probably some core values that you hold that have sort of guided you. And I would wonder too is with, as having had such a diverse amount of really cool industry experience, what are some things that have been the guiding lights as you've gone around, you know, just things that you come back to as core values for how you wanna show up in the world?

[00:15:59] Shaun Bagai: It's a very interesting question. I think one of the most interesting books that I have opportunity to be exposed to is "True North" and it's basically CEO's paths on aligning values with the company values and goals and making sure that that what you're doing is the right way to do things and the right thing to do. Often people can misstep as leaders in taking shortcuts and how you treat people. And there are no shortcuts. It's the hard work, it's the lead by example. It's putting in the late hours and demonstrating this is how you get things done. So I think that's probably a biggest part of making sure you align well with the company goals and having those values in place.

And also how you treat people. We have a lot of leaders who are not the nicest people to their employees. I'm not gonna name any current companies, but, we all hear stories, they all exist. And I find that back to the, one of the original ideas is that when you align yourself and when you actually care about the people you work with and like the people you work with, they work harder and you work better as a team.

And at the end of the day, all of us who work hard spend more time working than with our families and loved ones. And you want to actually make that fun and challenging and interesting and successful and it's almost like a second family, the people you work with. And it's important to keep that in mind 'cause people lose that a little bit.

[00:17:12] Lindsey Dinneen: Yeah. Well, and I wanna go back to something you said too because this is actually a timely, interesting topic because of something that recently happened that I heard, and, you know, basically it was this idea of, if the personal goals aren't aligned with the company goals, they're not really worthwhile. And I was really struck by that comment and I was surprised by it because I don't feel that is true. Basically, to your point, part of it is you are spending, you're a hard worker, right? And so you're motivated to come in, you know you're doing things that matter. So it makes sense that you're going to have sort of, what would we call it, sort of innate personal goals that would hopefully align with the company's goals? But I'm curious, as a leader yourself, when you're helping your team maybe even develop or nurture those kinds of personal goals, how do you help them succeed both, you know, personally and professionally themselves, but then for the company so that as a whole, we are successful?

[00:18:13] Shaun Bagai: I, I believe honestly, that's easier to do in a smaller startup type company than the large organizations. And the reason is because people who choose these types of companies have really strived to learn and grow, be exposed to, they're passionate about what they're doing 'cause it is so hard to be successful and there's always risk. And so I feel like building, running, working with and for companies that are kind of in a growth smaller phase, it almost weeds out the wrong types of people in terms of their ability to be passionate and work hard enough for that common goal.

Because pretty quickly, and I've heard this before, and we've gone through this with our own companies, "This is too much work." And I've got someone else who was working 90 hours a week because they were so passionate about what we're doing with patients and they were touched by cancer. We've had cancer patients in the company, we've had family members with the cancer, so I feel like by nature you almost weed out the people that aren't the right fits.

And there's also personal goals, and you know, people always have selfish motives at the core in certain areas, but being in a small company, you can identify where someone like to grow. And being in a small company, everyone does everything. In large siloed companies, you kind of miss that. And some people like that. They like the control, they like the punch and punch out, which is great. But when you're trying to build a small organization that's growing and pivoting and shifting, people like that fast-paced environment, and that's how I got lucky in how I grew. I got to do everything as a young, you know, post undergrad where I did clinical research and clinic, preclinical research and marketing and a little bit of sales and physician training, and that really allowed me to spread my wings and everyone I've mentored and guided and worked with feels the same way.

[00:19:48] Lindsey Dinneen: Yeah. Yeah. I love that perspective. I think you touched on something that's really key is the alignment of goals in the sense of, we all know we're striving towards the same things, like we all want our patients to be healthier and live longer, better lives, you know, or what, whatever the mission statement is, per se, but being aligned and having that shared passion makes such a difference. So, okay, pivoting the conversation a little bit, just for fun. Imagine that you were to be offered a million dollars to teach a masterclass on anything you want. It can be within your industry, but it doesn't have to be. What would you choose to teach?

[00:20:28] Shaun Bagai: You know, it's I used to think about that question when I was younger and thought "I have no talents."

[00:20:31] Lindsey Dinneen: Oh, no.

[00:20:33] Shaun Bagai: Yeah. But I've learned over the years that the things that make me successful are the ones that you don't think about. At least I didn't think about forefront. I think networking is probably the biggest piece, is really thinking about people who can have a positive impact and influence, and keeping in touch and not judging people, not dismissing people, not holding grudges. And you find along the years that you end up collecting a lot of interesting people that could be helpful for you down the road or you could help connect them. So I like connecting other people who can help people.

And it's amazing. Throughout my career, I come back and I remember a fellow in Germany, I worked with my first company and he was in town for a conference. Fast forward 15 years, I'm like, "Hey, Dr. Naber, I'm in town. Why don't we meet? What are you up to these days?" "Oh, I'm working with this company called HeartFlow, and we have a new medical technology on looking at coronary artery disease. What are you up to?" "Oh, I'm the head of the hospital system in Frankfurt."

It's like, wow, a lot's changed in 15 years and all of a sudden he became one of our biggest investigators and it's, and it wasn't because I thought I'd get something out of him. It's just I like keeping in touch with people and who knows where your path cross, and I've been able to connect other people to other people in the same regard. So, I remember I gave a talk about nine years ago on, on how I got to become a CEO of this company and I had this kind of Brady Bunch PowerPoint presentation. "Well, this person got me a job as an intern at this company. I met this doctor here. I met this company there," and there was like this spider web of how I got here. And it's amazing how all these people had an impact on my life at some point or another. And a lot of my team members are the same thing. It's amazing how many people you end up knowing if you're friendly, nice nonjudgmental, don't hold grudges, and people learn, grow, mature, change careers, and it's good to really treat everyone well and it comes back.

[00:22:12] Lindsey Dinneen: Yeah. Could not agree more, and oh my goodness, I was just thinking about, yeah the, also the fact that, you know, as, as large as the industry is, it actually is also very small, so people know each other and so you also need to be cognizant of that as you're interacting. But I'm curious, just real follow real quick follow up to your point, what would be your advice for somebody who feels a little bit, maybe awkward or they're introverted, so it's a little bit harder to start those conversations. What would be a piece of advice for somebody who might either be new to networking or just not be comfortable with it very much?

[00:22:52] Shaun Bagai: It is interesting 'cause I've been an extrovert mostly, but I'm also shy, which is oxymoronic. And I've got team members who have no problem walking up to, let's say a famous CEO or person and saying, "Hey, I'm i've got a question for you." And I think it's a matter of trying to break outta your comfort zone and ask questions because I find that most leaders do like to give back and do like to mentor. And a lot of them are very intelligent and a lot of 'em think a lot of themselves. And people like to talk and to teach. So, and that's more often the case than not.

So for someone a little bit shy or trying to break into that idea is finding the right mentors and asking questions. People like to talk usually. And using that and being confident there, and also understanding that you may get blown off. You may get a no, you may get, you know, and not being disgruntled and going after it again and again, even though it's, it's difficult sometimes, but just to push yourself forward and be out there.

[00:23:47] Lindsey Dinneen: Curiosity and persistence. I like it. There you go. There we go. All right. And how do you wish to be remembered after you leave this world?

[00:23:59] Shaun Bagai: You know, I think about one of my first mentors, Dr. Josh McElroy. He has made an impact on medicine-- yeah, get emotional when I think about it-- that's mentored so many young people and built so many technologies that helps patients, and leaving this world having an impact on medicine where I help build therapies and technologies that made an impact for generation lives to come is really important.

[00:24:23] Lindsey Dinneen: Yeah. And that's a beautiful legacy. Yeah. All right. And then final question. What is one thing that makes you smile every time you see or think about it?

[00:24:33] Shaun Bagai: You know, I think it's the comradery with my team at work. And it's interesting 'cause the best days I work, it doesn't matter what's happening. If we're aligned and we have the same mission and we are pushing for the same direction. When you have 10 people wrong go about in the same direction, it feels amazing. And that's something that I really enjoy. And of course, it's not gonna be like that every day, every minute. And the challenges are always big and there's always, especially with an intelligent senior staff, there's always disagreements and arguments. But being open-minded and aligning and they, we always come around and align, those are the things that really make me smile.

[00:25:08] Lindsey Dinneen: Yeah. That's great. That's awesome. Well, this has been a fantastic conversation. I really appreciate your time and your insights. I really appreciate, especially you going a little bit deeper into, yeah, kind of, kind of the lessons learned and what makes you tick and your passion for this industry and your current role.

And we're so honored to be making a donation on your behalf as a thank you for your time today to the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, which is dedicated to preventing animal cruelty in the United States. So thank you for choosing that organization to support and we just wish you continued success as you work to change lives for a better world.

Shaun Bagai: Thanks for the opportunity, Lindsey.

Lindsey Dinneen: Thank you also to our listeners for tuning in, and if your feeling is inspired as I am right now, I'd love it if you'd share this episode with a colleague or two and we'll catch you next time.

[00:26:01] 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.