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Each year, millions of people in the U.S. require some sort of neurosurgery due to injury, disease, or genetic condition. They often undergo multiple procedures and face long, painful recoveries. This inspired Jesse Christopher to start tinkering with his kid’s toys in his garage, which was the beginning of Longeviti Neuro Solutions.
Speed-to-data determines go-to-market success for medical devices. You need to inform critical decisions with user data, technical demonstration data, and clinical data. We interview med tech leaders about the critical data-driven decisions they make during their product development projects.
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Hey everybody, welcome to
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MedTech Speed to Data Episode 19
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with Longeviti CEO Jesse Christopher.
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Jesse, welcome to the show.
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Thank you Andy for having me.
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It's a pleasure to be here.
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Yeah, it's always great
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to have a Maryland medtech company
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come on.
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So we're going to jump right into it.
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We don't do these long intros, but I thought
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the mission of Longeviti
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was worth repeating here Jesse.
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And maybe I'll describe it
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and then you can really tell us
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what's going on.
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Behind the scenes there, so Longeviti’s
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Behind the scenes there, so Longeviti’s
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mission is to develop
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innovative solutions for complex brain surgery.
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So where did that come from?
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Right it's a mouthful,
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but there's a lot of reasons
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why people will undergo neurosurgery.
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And of course, as we see a market going
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less invasive,
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there are more and more reasons
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still to go in for neurosurgery.
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My background is running the East Coast
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for a Fortune 300 company
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and one of the biggest neuro device companies.
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And it's a really interesting market
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because you are very privileged
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to get into the operating rooms.
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And at some point, you know,
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I realized I'd seen about a thousand neurosurgeries
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and every hospital.
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A lot of neurosurgeons are trained differently
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and have their own protocols and techniques.
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And then you start realizing, okay,
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the companies are leaning on them for innovation.
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How does innovation come?
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And I really gravitated
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towards the path of innovation
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within my last company.
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But it was after really uncovering how slow
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the pace of innovation occurs in neurosurgery
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that got me out of bed.
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I felt compelled to quit my job
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that I still loved.
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It was a great company
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to start Longeviti Neuro Solutions
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and it was a statistic on a TED Talk
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that I heard one in five of us
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in which have verified, one in five of us
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over 65 will have a neurological disorder.
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And I've got three daughters and a wife.
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So you do the math.
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It would be a Greek tragedy
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if I was rich off of stock
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from my last company
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but couldn't solve some of the issues
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that were low hanging fruit.
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So we started Longeviti around
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five years ago now, just over five years ago.
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And, you know, very Americana.
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I quit my job, cold turkey, but on great terms,
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and went into my garage
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and started mixing plastics,
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taking my kids toys apart
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and really completing circuits
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for this next gen of computer
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interface and implants
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that I thought that we needed.
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And so again,
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I'm sure we'll get into a lot of that,
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but that's the evolution
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over the last five years
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of what kind of compelled me to take a risk
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and where we are today.
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Now, fortunately,
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with thousands of patients that have benefited.
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Yeah, no, I mean, that's a lot to unpack there.
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We'll do our best here.
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But Jesse,
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I mean, that's a great story, just to be bold, to
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just kind of stop what you were doing
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and the sales
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relationship management
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you were working on
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and just going all in your garage.
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So, you know, a lot of our audience is,
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either a startup medical device company or,
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a VP of R&D
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who's got that entrepreneurial sort of taste,
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but not necessarily the gusto
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to go and do their own thing.
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So they're doing more of the
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entrepreneurial thing.
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So you quit your job, like describe
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like your first,
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I don't know, month
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or two of of being out on your own.
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What were you focused on?
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Well, you imagine every emotion every day, right.
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You know, did we make the right decision?
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Was it too much
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or are we really going to change the world?
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There's a great quote by,
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I think Margaret Mead
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that, you know, so
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few people have always changed the world.
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So there's things that are motivating every day,
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but also you really up against steep odds.
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And so it takes fortitude
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and it really takes a lot of people around you.
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And I was really fortunate to have built
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an immense amount of trust over my career.
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And we have a saying at Longeviti
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trust is production over time, there's no shortcuts.
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I could jump in front of a bullet
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in front of you and take a bullet,
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and that's a lot of production
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in a very short amount of time
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or can give you exact change at a toll booth
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over 20 years and still develop incrementally trust.
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And it was interesting to see the ability
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of translating and trust into the team
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that we needed.
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So a lot of people came from where I left
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and other institutions to help build Longeviti
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into what it is today.
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And I think that was the most remarkable thing.
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So took some fortitude.
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But you can't just jump into it.
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There's no shortcuts.
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You need to be humble
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and you need to reach out to the people
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that are smarter than you,
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better than you, faster than you,
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and try to convince them to work for nothing.
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Yeah. Okay.
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That's what I was waiting for.
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Like, there's got to be a catch here.
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Work for nothing.
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The other
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kind of background,
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as I was preparing for this interview
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and we met years ago
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and what struck me then,
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and it strikes me again here now is,
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a lot of these startups.
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They'll say we need to go do the I-Corps or,
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you know, understand our market.
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But here you are after probably having dinners
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and buying cocktails
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for the market for years.
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So you're starting out
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well ahead of most startup companies
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that maybe are trying to get
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a better understanding of what the market needs.
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Yeah, and it's interesting.
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So one know your market.
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I mean, I've been in the industry
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this particular market for 20 years
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and you know, it's a daunting one to enter.
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That's probably why
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there isn't much neuro innovation occurring
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because it's very siloed.
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Just statistically, think about it.
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We've got 330 million Americans
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and we're getting older
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and we're able to keep our bodies alive.
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But there's the neurological disorders
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that are costing us more and more in health care.
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So 330 million Americans have about 300,000.
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neurosurgeries is a year.
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The cost of neurosurgery to America
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every year is around $750 billion.
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It's an insane amount of money.
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And we're talking about all the wrapped up
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health care, not just neurosurgery,
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but when you start to unpack the reasons
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why you really see
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an immense amount of opportunity.
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And again,
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you know, it's not for the faint of heart.
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We're a small company, you know, in waters
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with huge mega companies,
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very public, very global and,
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you know, seemingly
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still able to make a difference
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because we're staying in our lane.
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So you're five years in now.
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Are you are you getting revenue from the product?
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I know there's products on your website.
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Oh, yeah.
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So describe the handful of products
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that you have on the market now.
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We’ve released a few products
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over the last few years, the InvisiShunt platform,
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which helps
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house various technologies within the cranium.
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And so InvisiShunt helps with hydrocephalus.
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So think of pressure in the brain.
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Your brain's floating around
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in liquid all the time.
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And so when you have hydrocephalus,
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you have too much liquid,
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you need to get rid of it.
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So they put a drain in and our device
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allows that to be housed within the cranium.
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The outcomes have been fantastic,
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the patient feedback has been great
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and we really pride ourselves
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on leaning into conversations
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with patient advocacy groups like
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the Hydrocephalus Association and allowed them
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to guide our innovation.
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We feel like it would be borderline arrogant
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to tell them what ideas are out there
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that they should be adopting.
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So we really listen to our physicians
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and our patients,
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but they're probably
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the most exciting family of products
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that have come out over the last year
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and a half are the ClearFit implants.
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And so ClearFits are quite literally
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imagine your skull under your skin being replaced
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when it undergoes surgery.
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When you undergo brain surgery
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with a clear window?
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There are a lot of cases
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where we have to reconstruct the skull
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and there's a number of materials
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that you can use that neurosurgeons
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have been using for decades,
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you know, from plastics to metals to titanium's.
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And it's seeing this firsthand.
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In my last career,
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it seemed like a really expensive day
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for the patient in terms of the real estate
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that's exposed.
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And if you're going to go in there,
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why not leave them
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with as much function as possible,
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as much diagnostics as possible?
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And it really led to,
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you know, this concept of Longeviti.
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So most, a lot of our implantable
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functional products are within the ClearFit
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platforms themselves.
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So when I talk about ClearFit,
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you've got two families,
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you've got custom and family
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that can do anything from just be an identical
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skull shape
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or house electrodes and various other components.
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And then you've got ClearFit off the shelf
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which frankly are put in very small sizes, 20
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millimeters to 50 millimeters to allow
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post-operative imaging of the brain.
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And why that's profound.
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And I'm going to get into in a second,
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but imagine this,
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neurosurgeons are the only discipline
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that can't use ultrasound.
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Every other discipline, cardiac
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have been using ultrasound like their stethoscope
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for now decades.
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And just for our audience.
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Jesse, why can't neurosurgeons
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use ultrasound imaging?
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Our brains are protected by the
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attenuation abilities of our skull so we can't
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have the ultrasound penetrate an adult skull.
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Some infants,
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you can certainly use it and certainly neonatal.
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But for the adults, you're relegated CT and MRI,
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which are both costly.
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And for patients,
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the experience is going to a strip mall,
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or down to the radiology department,
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whereas now that post operatively,
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some of these ClearFit recipients
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can use ultrasound.
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It's going into my doctor's office
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while I talk to my doctor,
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while he or she is imaging my brain
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and showing my brain to me and in motion.
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So the things that are really exciting now
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about ultrasound over the last year
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that we've been digging into
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is that unlike CTs,
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you can see, active live brain and in motion
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for the first time we can,
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you know, chronically image a moving brain.
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And so our our collaborators
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across the country, and globe now, have taken this
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and really are doing some amazing research.
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And so I'm going to geek out for a second, too,
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because, you know,
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this isn't your grandmother's ultrasound, right?
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We think of ultrasound as images of babies
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that we're trying to make out inside of the womb
00:09:24:16 - 00:09:26:20
that was my experience as a father several times.
00:09:27:03 - 00:09:28:10
It wasn't until recently
00:09:28:10 - 00:09:30:20
that I understood how far ultrasound has come.
00:09:30:20 - 00:09:32:18
And so you've got to think of ultrasound
00:09:32:18 - 00:09:34:09
as an energy of three frequencies.
00:09:34:09 - 00:09:36:03
The one we're most commonly
00:09:36:03 - 00:09:37:23
familiar with is in the mid-range ten,
00:09:37:23 - 00:09:40:15
I think around ten, and that is the imaging.
00:09:40:15 - 00:09:42:11
Okay, your black and white images,
00:09:42:11 - 00:09:45:00
you see some companies using low frequencies
00:09:45:08 - 00:09:46:17
to ablate tumors.
00:09:46:17 - 00:09:48:23
I’m sorry, to ablate parts of the neuroanatomy
00:09:48:23 - 00:09:50:22
uninvasively, which is fantastic.
00:09:50:22 - 00:09:52:15
So companies like Insightec
00:09:52:15 - 00:09:54:14
are out there doing some amazing work.
00:09:54:14 - 00:09:55:11
You've also got companies
00:09:55:11 - 00:09:57:05
using the high end spectrum,
00:09:57:05 - 00:09:59:01
which now we're doing research with Caltech
00:09:59:01 - 00:10:00:11
because that high end
00:10:00:11 - 00:10:03:17
spectrum gives resolution 5 to 10 times
00:10:04:06 - 00:10:07:10
that of functional MRI, and it's uninvasive
00:10:07:10 - 00:10:08:17
and it's real time.
00:10:08:17 - 00:10:10:09
So what we're saying is
00:10:10:09 - 00:10:12:02
you can actually see with ultrasound
00:10:12:02 - 00:10:15:05
motor function, so thought intention
00:10:15:05 - 00:10:16:12
to move your arms and legs.
00:10:16:12 - 00:10:17:22
And so that's really interesting to now
00:10:17:22 - 00:10:19:12
think of ultrasound for us
00:10:19:12 - 00:10:21:07
as a machine brain interface.
00:10:21:07 - 00:10:23:09
So just talk a little bit more about
00:10:23:09 - 00:10:24:10
maybe your most
00:10:24:10 - 00:10:26:18
interesting application where, you know,
00:10:27:04 - 00:10:28:14
let's just talk about the off the shelf.
00:10:28:14 - 00:10:30:09
I think of them as like windows, right?
00:10:30:09 - 00:10:34:17
It's like a little opening to your brain.
00:10:34:17 - 00:10:37:00
Are these like, epilepsy patients, brain
00:10:37:00 - 00:10:38:19
tumor patients, like I don't know.
00:10:38:19 - 00:10:40:06
What do you, just characterize
00:10:40:06 - 00:10:41:00
that market a little bit.
00:10:41:00 - 00:10:43:08
And then describe the ultrasound application
00:10:43:08 - 00:10:44:15
a little bit more for that patient.
00:10:44:15 - 00:10:46:22
So it’s good to understand the market itself.
00:10:46:22 - 00:10:49:06
So there's 300,000 patients getting surgery
00:10:49:06 - 00:10:50:05
every year around.
00:10:50:05 - 00:10:53:04
So it's got 70,000 are hydrocephalus.
00:10:53:04 - 00:10:54:18
Those patients for Longeviti
00:10:54:18 - 00:10:56:05
can receive an InvisiShunt
00:10:56:05 - 00:10:58:03
and sometimes that's accompanied with a window.
00:10:58:03 - 00:10:59:00
So that
00:10:59:03 - 00:11:01:09
excuse me, that window will allow a physician
00:11:01:21 - 00:11:03:06
to follow the catheter
00:11:03:06 - 00:11:04:20
with ultrasound down into the brain
00:11:04:20 - 00:11:07:16
imaging and see the ventricles change.
00:11:07:16 - 00:11:09:06
They can actually watch the CSF,
00:11:09:06 - 00:11:10:14
which is that fluid that your brain
00:11:10:14 - 00:11:11:14
is floating in,
00:11:11:14 - 00:11:13:06
flow through the catheter and drain out
00:11:13:06 - 00:11:15:16
and make sure that was a successful case.
00:11:15:16 - 00:11:16:19
So that's one application
00:11:16:19 - 00:11:18:09
for a large swath of patients.
00:11:18:09 - 00:11:20:05
Another one is for tumors.
00:11:20:05 - 00:11:21:11
Some of our physicians now
00:11:21:11 - 00:11:23:19
in Israel, and New York are placing this window
00:11:23:19 - 00:11:25:14
because for your minute, for your
00:11:27:04 - 00:11:28:18
your benign tumors and
00:11:28:18 - 00:11:30:02
your meningiomas.
00:11:30:02 - 00:11:32:15
Those come back around, I think, 90%.
00:11:32:15 - 00:11:33:14
You're going to check my math
00:11:33:14 - 00:11:35:23
90% of the time in the exact same location
00:11:35:23 - 00:11:37:19
and 85% over 25 years.
00:11:37:19 - 00:11:40:09
So if you have a window here for early detection,
00:11:40:09 - 00:11:43:13
you can monitor these, you know, benign tumors.
00:11:43:18 - 00:11:44:18
There's an advantage there.
00:11:44:18 - 00:11:45:13
And a quote
00:11:45:13 - 00:11:46:13
that we hear all the time from
00:11:46:13 - 00:11:48:15
physicians is time is tissue.
00:11:48:15 - 00:11:49:16
And so that's another thing
00:11:49:16 - 00:11:51:04
that we're really interested
00:11:51:04 - 00:11:52:12
in is a lot of trauma
00:11:52:12 - 00:11:53:22
facilities are using our windows
00:11:53:22 - 00:11:55:16
so they can see blood afterwards.
00:11:55:16 - 00:11:57:15
It takes sometimes even,
00:11:57:15 - 00:11:59:18
in the best facilities, a couple of hours,
00:11:59:18 - 00:12:01:17
to get a patient down to a CT scanner,
00:12:01:17 - 00:12:02:17
to get those images,
00:12:02:17 - 00:12:04:01
to get a radiologist to read them,
00:12:04:01 - 00:12:06:02
and then back to the physician or the staff.
00:12:06:10 - 00:12:08:20
You know, sometimes you can actually just,
00:12:08:20 - 00:12:09:22
now, our physicians
00:12:09:22 - 00:12:11:08
will at least start with an ultrasound
00:12:11:08 - 00:12:12:05
if they have the ability
00:12:12:05 - 00:12:14:05
and they can still get the CT scan.
00:12:14:05 - 00:12:16:09
But that frontline imaging really can help a lot,
00:12:16:09 - 00:12:18:09
especially when a patient has minutes to hours.
00:12:18:09 - 00:12:20:04
Is the procedure, the implant,
00:12:20:04 - 00:12:22:08
always associated with some sort of
00:12:22:08 - 00:12:23:12
intervention,
00:12:23:12 - 00:12:25:00
or is it can it sometimes
00:12:25:00 - 00:12:27:04
just be you aside from the shunt,
00:12:27:04 - 00:12:27:19
you know,
00:12:27:19 - 00:12:29:09
can it be used like purely for like, hey,
00:12:29:09 - 00:12:30:18
we're just going to study you now.
00:12:30:18 - 00:12:32:12
So it's interesting you say that,
00:12:32:12 - 00:12:34:01
we do have a lot of interest
00:12:34:01 - 00:12:36:21
in an extra dural implantation.
00:12:36:21 - 00:12:39:01
And so what our window allows is diagnostics
00:12:39:01 - 00:12:41:08
of the brain fairly un-invasively.
00:12:41:08 - 00:12:43:15
So some facilities are starting to talk about
00:12:43:15 - 00:12:44:23
an outpatient procedure.
00:12:44:23 - 00:12:46:17
You don't actually need to expose the brain.
00:12:46:17 - 00:12:47:16
It's covered
00:12:47:16 - 00:12:50:16
by a leather type of membrane called the dura.
00:12:50:16 - 00:12:52:18
And the dura is fairly tough and robust.
00:12:52:18 - 00:12:55:02
So if you can expose the,
00:12:55:02 - 00:12:56:14
you know, small incision in the skin,
00:12:56:14 - 00:12:58:15
remove a small window of bone, replace this
00:12:58:15 - 00:13:00:12
very strong implant that gives you a window,
00:13:00:12 - 00:13:01:09
put your skin back
00:13:01:09 - 00:13:03:01
and the patient recovers very quickly.
00:13:03:01 - 00:13:04:20
It's an outpatient procedure.
00:13:04:20 - 00:13:06:01
So some of those technologies
00:13:06:01 - 00:13:07:16
I've mentioned early on about this,
00:13:07:16 - 00:13:09:23
the spectrum of ultrasound,
00:13:09:23 - 00:13:11:20
that’s where we're doing a lot of research right now.
00:13:11:20 - 00:13:15:01
It might be a value proposition for a patient
00:13:15:01 - 00:13:16:14
to go in and get a window, so they can
00:13:16:14 - 00:13:18:11
then receive one of the two high
00:13:18:11 - 00:13:20:03
or low end frequencies of ultrasound,
00:13:20:03 - 00:13:23:02
either for motor function or to ablate,
00:13:23:02 - 00:13:24:03
a part of the brain
00:13:24:03 - 00:13:25:10
that otherwise they couldn't get to,
00:13:25:10 - 00:13:27:07
which would be a lot less invasive
00:13:27:07 - 00:13:28:18
than actually go surgically remove
00:13:28:18 - 00:13:30:19
that part of tumor or that motor dysfunction.
00:13:31:14 - 00:13:32:09
Does that make sense?
00:13:32:09 - 00:13:33:19
It does.
00:13:33:19 - 00:13:36:06
Let me take a step back.
00:13:36:06 - 00:13:37:18
As a founder CEO,
00:13:37:18 - 00:13:40:13
It is very important
00:13:40:13 - 00:13:44:18
that we were very respectful and diligent
00:13:44:18 - 00:13:46:10
on the patient
00:13:46:10 - 00:13:48:01
and understanding the circumstances
00:13:48:01 - 00:13:49:17
in which they're undergoing surgeries.
00:13:49:17 - 00:13:51:03
And we really, as a young company
00:13:51:03 - 00:13:53:12
need to listen to what's already happening.
00:13:53:12 - 00:13:54:01
And, you know,
00:13:54:01 - 00:13:56:05
these disorders are already teaching us so much.
00:13:56:14 - 00:13:59:03
But to your point, we do think that in the future
00:13:59:03 - 00:14:00:01
there is a scenario
00:14:00:01 - 00:14:01:13
where you could be getting these windows
00:14:01:13 - 00:14:03:17
and probably should be getting these windows
00:14:03:17 - 00:14:05:02
for various other technologies.
00:14:05:02 - 00:14:07:11
And that’s what makes it so fun right now for us.
00:14:07:11 - 00:14:08:22
There's so much opportunity,
00:14:08:22 - 00:14:10:13
with just even this one technology,
00:14:10:13 - 00:14:11:12
let alone all these others,
00:14:11:12 - 00:14:12:17
we don't have time to talk about it.
00:14:12:17 - 00:14:14:09
Yeah, I mean, you're,
00:14:14:09 - 00:14:15:19
in some ways to think about it
00:14:15:19 - 00:14:17:17
sort of decades ahead of
00:14:17:17 - 00:14:19:20
the pharmaceutical applications
00:14:19:20 - 00:14:22:03
for neurodegenerative diseases or,
00:14:22:03 - 00:14:23:22
you can see a future where, hey,
00:14:23:22 - 00:14:25:16
you've got these biomarkers,
00:14:25:16 - 00:14:29:01
you might be at risk for some future disease.
00:14:29:01 - 00:14:30:16
Let’s start some sort of low,
00:14:30:16 - 00:14:32:10
you know, low frequency
00:14:32:10 - 00:14:33:20
ultrasound therapy or
00:14:33:20 - 00:14:36:02
something like that is kind of maybe where
00:14:36:02 - 00:14:37:11
what you're envisioning in the future.
00:14:37:11 - 00:14:38:02
Is that right?
00:14:38:02 - 00:14:40:08
Yeah, and I hate to bucket it in one
00:14:40:08 - 00:14:41:00
because there's probably
00:14:41:00 - 00:14:42:09
about a dozen different projects
00:14:42:09 - 00:14:44:09
already underway with various institutions
00:14:44:09 - 00:14:46:07
and some of the best institutions in the world
00:14:46:07 - 00:14:49:13
from, you know, Penn and Hopkins to USC, Caltech,
00:14:50:04 - 00:14:51:03
across the country.
00:14:51:03 - 00:14:52:18
And we're starting to work with children
00:14:52:18 - 00:14:54:09
now, which is very exciting
00:14:54:09 - 00:14:56:04
and near and dear to most of us.
00:14:56:04 - 00:14:58:01
On the executive team, we're all parents.
00:14:58:01 - 00:14:59:04
How do you manage
00:14:59:04 - 00:15:00:17
all these different initiatives?
00:15:00:17 - 00:15:01:23
It sounds like you've got,
00:15:01:23 - 00:15:04:20
you know, on market, off the shelf platforms,
00:15:05:04 - 00:15:06:04
you've got research
00:15:07:14 - 00:15:09:06
relationships and partnerships
00:15:09:06 - 00:15:12:03
and I'm sure a bunch of other sort of DARPA
00:15:12:03 - 00:15:13:08
or something like that, you know,
00:15:13:08 - 00:15:15:05
upfront sort of R&D, like
00:15:15:05 - 00:15:17:12
how do you manage all that?
00:15:17:12 - 00:15:18:12
And these are all important.
00:15:18:12 - 00:15:19:23
I can see your vision here
00:15:19:23 - 00:15:21:09
as you're describing it,
00:15:21:09 - 00:15:22:12
but I also kind of
00:15:22:12 - 00:15:23:17
want to ask the question like,
00:15:23:17 - 00:15:25:02
how do you manage to
00:15:25:02 - 00:15:26:03
kind of run the company
00:15:26:03 - 00:15:28:09
when you have all these different sort of
00:15:28:09 - 00:15:29:08
things going on?
00:15:29:08 - 00:15:31:09
You know, it's really important
00:15:31:09 - 00:15:32:09
for a young company
00:15:32:09 - 00:15:34:20
and a lean company like ours to have focus.
00:15:34:20 - 00:15:35:19
So although
00:15:35:19 - 00:15:37:15
you might hear me talking about a lot of things
00:15:37:15 - 00:15:39:16
our executive team is pretty focused on,
00:15:39:16 - 00:15:40:11
you know,
00:15:40:19 - 00:15:43:17
two or three major initiatives per year.
00:15:43:17 - 00:15:45:18
And this year it's just overwhelmingly
00:15:45:18 - 00:15:47:07
to teach the market ultrasound
00:15:47:07 - 00:15:49:02
and focus on our core products, grow revenue,
00:15:49:02 - 00:15:51:18
so we can support all the other R&D.
00:15:52:02 - 00:15:53:17
The good news too is it's exciting.
00:15:53:17 - 00:15:55:09
So a lot of our collaborators,
00:15:55:09 - 00:15:57:01
frankly, are eager to do the work
00:15:57:01 - 00:15:59:14
and if we can allow them to work at their pace
00:15:59:14 - 00:16:01:20
because of that and it doesn't set us back.
00:16:01:20 - 00:16:04:23
But there's the traditional setbacks.
00:16:04:23 - 00:16:06:22
I mean, as I'm sitting here as a CEO,
00:16:06:22 - 00:16:08:14
there's probably a half dozen projects
00:16:08:14 - 00:16:09:16
we can't fund right now.
00:16:09:16 - 00:16:12:11
And just the Sophie’s Choice of our,
00:16:12:11 - 00:16:14:03
you know, of our economy.
00:16:14:03 - 00:16:16:00
Real quick on that.
00:16:16:00 - 00:16:18:20
So clearly executive focused certainly helps.
00:16:19:15 - 00:16:21:01
And those other ones are out there,
00:16:21:01 - 00:16:22:20
but you're not kind of working on them actively.
00:16:22:20 - 00:16:25:06
But can you just talk a little bit more?
00:16:25:06 - 00:16:26:01
We don't talk about this
00:16:26:01 - 00:16:27:10
enough on the podcast about,
00:16:27:10 - 00:16:30:01
you know, you're on the
00:16:30:01 - 00:16:31:15
frontier of this market.
00:16:31:15 - 00:16:33:04
So it seems like a lot of your work
00:16:33:04 - 00:16:34:13
is educating,
00:16:34:13 - 00:16:36:16
or teaching the market about ultrasound.
00:16:38:13 - 00:16:40:09
What are you actually doing there?
00:16:40:09 - 00:16:43:05
So it's twofold and that's a great point.
00:16:43:05 - 00:16:45:23
It's probably the biggest
00:16:45:23 - 00:16:48:04
task at hand for the for the company,
00:16:48:04 - 00:16:49:12
is not only training ultrasound,
00:16:49:12 - 00:16:51:00
which ironically internationally
00:16:51:00 - 00:16:52:03
our neurosurgical community
00:16:52:03 - 00:16:53:15
is a little more familiar with,
00:16:53:15 - 00:16:54:13
but in the United States, we have
00:16:54:13 - 00:16:56:02
CT scanners, MRI's everywhere.
00:16:56:02 - 00:16:57:12
So there's less of a need.
00:16:57:12 - 00:16:58:23
But when you start looking at
00:16:58:23 - 00:17:00:19
the numbers behind patient transports
00:17:00:19 - 00:17:02:04
and what it means to move a patient around
00:17:02:04 - 00:17:03:12
just to get an image versus
00:17:03:12 - 00:17:04:21
doing it at the bedside
00:17:04:21 - 00:17:07:00
again, the costs and the adverse events
00:17:07:00 - 00:17:08:13
associated are overwhelmingly
00:17:08:13 - 00:17:10:08
in favor of keeping the patient
00:17:10:08 - 00:17:12:11
where they are and getting real time imaging.
00:17:12:11 - 00:17:14:07
So, you know, how do we do that?
00:17:14:07 - 00:17:15:19
We teach the ICU team.
00:17:15:19 - 00:17:17:06
So after our surgery,
00:17:17:06 - 00:17:19:08
the whole team that takes care of this patient,
00:17:19:08 - 00:17:20:10
we will go in and we'll do an
00:17:20:10 - 00:17:22:06
in-service, will bring in a GE unit
00:17:22:06 - 00:17:24:00
we've hired some great people from GE.
00:17:24:00 - 00:17:26:04
We've got a good relationship with GE actually,
00:17:26:12 - 00:17:27:12
so we'll go in and
00:17:27:12 - 00:17:29:09
co-train them on how to manage these patients.
00:17:29:09 - 00:17:31:02
What are the protocols?
00:17:31:02 - 00:17:33:09
What are the first things you're looking at?
00:17:33:09 - 00:17:35:07
Midline, skull base, ventricles?
00:17:35:07 - 00:17:37:21
Is there blood, you know, completed checklist.
00:17:37:21 - 00:17:38:15
But it's really interesting
00:17:38:15 - 00:17:39:03
to watch this
00:17:39:03 - 00:17:42:03
grow grassroots from Hopkins to NYU
00:17:42:03 - 00:17:43:06
and some of these other hospitals
00:17:43:06 - 00:17:45:04
that are really writing the protocols
00:17:45:04 - 00:17:46:10
at Mount Sinai, for example,
00:17:46:10 - 00:17:48:00
they're doing some amazing things with,
00:17:48:00 - 00:17:49:07
you know, blood evacuation.
00:17:49:07 - 00:17:53:07
And so we're sitting back and kind of watching,
00:17:53:07 - 00:17:56:12
watching our our physicians lead us to the right
00:17:56:12 - 00:17:57:21
place responsibly.
00:17:57:21 - 00:18:00:14
So these are, you mentioned like protocols.
00:18:00:14 - 00:18:01:07
These are
00:18:01:07 - 00:18:03:21
the physicians that have patients of your
00:18:03:21 - 00:18:06:04
of Longeviti’s with implants
00:18:06:04 - 00:18:08:05
that they can now study longer term, basically.
00:18:08:12 - 00:18:10:13
Right, and so we have probably three fold,
00:18:10:13 - 00:18:13:00
we've got our Longeviti Initiative Education,
00:18:13:00 - 00:18:14:09
which is on brand.
00:18:14:09 - 00:18:15:11
And, you know, our have
00:18:15:11 - 00:18:17:17
our industry enough is very regulated.
00:18:17:17 - 00:18:20:00
So there's only so much we can do and say
00:18:20:00 - 00:18:21:03
there's,
00:18:21:03 - 00:18:23:02
you know, courses like the one I'm at today
00:18:23:02 - 00:18:24:06
and frankly, I'm talking to you
00:18:24:06 - 00:18:25:12
from the Big Island in Hawaii
00:18:25:12 - 00:18:27:12
from the Western Neurosurgical Society meeting,
00:18:27:12 - 00:18:28:05
where you've got
00:18:28:05 - 00:18:29:22
some of the most brilliant physicians
00:18:29:22 - 00:18:31:12
and neurosurgeons in the world
00:18:31:12 - 00:18:32:21
getting together once a year
00:18:32:21 - 00:18:34:00
in a friendly environment,
00:18:34:00 - 00:18:35:23
talking about what they're working on,
00:18:35:23 - 00:18:37:08
what their life's work is on.
00:18:37:08 - 00:18:38:22
Can we implant T cells?
00:18:38:22 - 00:18:41:02
should we be doing this one procedure invasively?
00:18:41:02 - 00:18:42:11
And it’s very interesting
00:18:42:11 - 00:18:45:05
to see the real controversy today and, you know,
00:18:45:21 - 00:18:48:19
and civil way of having these conversations.
00:18:48:19 - 00:18:51:13
And let's face it, too, I mean,
00:18:51:13 - 00:18:52:06
there's a lot of risk
00:18:52:06 - 00:18:53:21
sometimes to having these open dialogs
00:18:53:21 - 00:18:56:05
and this community needs a safe place
00:18:56:05 - 00:18:56:20
to have that.
00:18:56:20 - 00:18:57:11
And so, you know,
00:18:57:11 - 00:18:58:23
we sometimes this industry feel
00:18:58:23 - 00:19:00:14
very privileged to be able to be at places
00:19:00:14 - 00:19:01:21
like this, to listen to that
00:19:01:21 - 00:19:03:11
and to see if we're on the right track
00:19:03:11 - 00:19:05:03
or if we're listening to what they have to say.
00:19:05:03 - 00:19:09:11
So, you know, supporting and partnering with,
00:19:09:16 - 00:19:10:08
you know,
00:19:10:08 - 00:19:12:07
these education societies that already meet
00:19:12:07 - 00:19:13:08
is another great way
00:19:13:08 - 00:19:15:04
to really further the education.
00:19:15:04 - 00:19:17:17
And then lastly is really macro economically.
00:19:18:01 - 00:19:19:22
We're working with large facilities
00:19:19:22 - 00:19:21:00
like North Wealth in New York
00:19:21:00 - 00:19:23:07
that has 26 hospitals, Hopkins,
00:19:23:07 - 00:19:26:07
Kaiser to understand, you know, follow a dollar
00:19:26:20 - 00:19:29:02
as that patient goes through the hospital system,
00:19:29:02 - 00:19:31:10
let's follow the dollar that follows them.
00:19:31:23 - 00:19:33:01
And it's a lot easier
00:19:33:01 - 00:19:34:17
said than done in some cases
00:19:34:17 - 00:19:36:14
takes years, even within an institution
00:19:36:14 - 00:19:38:05
that wants to do it, so.
00:19:38:05 - 00:19:38:22
But those are kind
00:19:38:22 - 00:19:40:14
of the three pillars of education we look at.
00:19:40:14 - 00:19:42:05
That's real, there's a lot of work there.
00:19:42:05 - 00:19:43:07
So, you know,
00:19:43:07 - 00:19:44:22
it brings it back to,
00:19:44:22 - 00:19:48:18
the name of our podcast, which is Speed to Data.
00:19:49:05 - 00:19:51:09
And as you're talking, it's
00:19:51:09 - 00:19:52:14
maybe a better way to frame it
00:19:52:14 - 00:19:54:01
with you is sort of
00:19:54:01 - 00:19:58:05
like the marathon of kind of educating
00:19:58:05 - 00:20:02:04
and slowly getting data to be able to kind of
00:20:02:04 - 00:20:03:16
point to that killer app
00:20:05:02 - 00:20:08:02
that will, skyrocket sales, I would imagine,
00:20:08:08 - 00:20:10:04
of your implants.
00:20:10:04 - 00:20:11:15
Yeah, there's a couple of things
00:20:11:15 - 00:20:13:03
now that we think will do that.
00:20:13:03 - 00:20:14:12
We're already seeing early indications
00:20:14:12 - 00:20:16:12
and we've been grateful for physicians,
00:20:16:12 - 00:20:19:12
frankly, tweeting out and posting on social media
00:20:19:12 - 00:20:21:02
some of the amazing images they're getting.
00:20:21:02 - 00:20:23:14
So there's a good grassroots groundswell.
00:20:23:14 - 00:20:24:18
But to your point,
00:20:24:18 - 00:20:27:08
we also expect there'll be some some real,
00:20:27:08 - 00:20:29:17
you know, step ups in terms of adoption.
00:20:29:17 - 00:20:32:01
When we have certain standards and indications,
00:20:32:16 - 00:20:33:03
we're hopeful
00:20:33:03 - 00:20:35:10
for an additional reimbursement code
00:20:35:17 - 00:20:36:21
to come next year.
00:20:36:21 - 00:20:40:09
And we've got some great partnered physicians
00:20:40:09 - 00:20:42:01
that are explaining the value proposition
00:20:42:01 - 00:20:43:16
of being able to ultrasound at any point,
00:20:43:16 - 00:20:47:03
any time, as well as some research
00:20:47:03 - 00:20:49:05
that will point to statistical significance
00:20:49:05 - 00:20:50:15
around things like the InvisiShunt.
00:20:50:15 - 00:20:51:22
And so once we feel like these
00:20:51:22 - 00:20:53:09
things are out there again,
00:20:53:09 - 00:20:56:10
we'll continue to see, you know, step ups.
00:20:56:10 - 00:20:57:04
But to your point,
00:20:57:04 - 00:20:59:13
I mean, we're in it for the grind.
00:20:59:13 - 00:21:01:15
I think Ray Lewis being from Baltimore,
00:21:01:15 - 00:21:03:01
the last time we won a Super Bowl,
00:21:03:01 - 00:21:06:21
that was our motto is, embrace the grind.
00:21:06:21 - 00:21:08:04
And, you know, for a company
00:21:08:04 - 00:21:09:21
that started in a garage
00:21:09:21 - 00:21:11:15
that has, you know, really
00:21:11:15 - 00:21:12:21
bootstrapped its funding
00:21:12:21 - 00:21:15:06
and made it through a pandemic, been able to grow
00:21:15:06 - 00:21:17:02
and now is internationally selling,
00:21:17:02 - 00:21:18:21
we know what that means.
00:21:18:21 - 00:21:20:06
And so every day we get out of bed
00:21:20:06 - 00:21:21:15
and we're embracing the grind.
00:21:21:15 - 00:21:22:21
We know it's not going to be easy.
00:21:22:21 - 00:21:23:21
And all of the things that I mean,
00:21:23:21 - 00:21:26:03
you heard me talk about, we take seriously.
00:21:26:03 - 00:21:27:21
We don't want to fall on our face
00:21:27:21 - 00:21:30:05
and we want to be very respectful to the patient.
00:21:30:05 - 00:21:31:01
At the end of the day.
00:21:31:01 - 00:21:33:14
I guess, what do investors ask?
00:21:33:14 - 00:21:36:16
Because you are doing quite a bit of market,
00:21:36:16 - 00:21:38:21
you know, education here
00:21:38:21 - 00:21:40:21
and is sort of like a tech, you know,
00:21:40:21 - 00:21:42:15
sort of like a non-med device tech company
00:21:42:15 - 00:21:43:16
where like you're building
00:21:43:16 - 00:21:45:23
this platform, it’s going to take a long time.
00:21:46:07 - 00:21:48:13
Like what kind of questions do investors ask
00:21:48:19 - 00:21:50:06
and how do you answer them?
00:21:50:06 - 00:21:51:20
Yeah, it's a great question.
00:21:51:20 - 00:21:55:02
We are very fortunate to have a very supportive
00:21:55:02 - 00:21:58:19
investor group through our,
00:21:59:02 - 00:21:59:21
and considering
00:21:59:21 - 00:22:00:21
the size of our industry,
00:22:00:21 - 00:22:02:05
smaller rounds
00:22:02:05 - 00:22:04:07
and we're also very fortunate to have revenue
00:22:04:15 - 00:22:06:08
so we have
00:22:06:08 - 00:22:08:05
path to profitability for a young company
00:22:08:05 - 00:22:10:10
in this space is very difficult.
00:22:10:10 - 00:22:12:14
But we also recognize there's
00:22:12:14 - 00:22:13:21
a lot of opportunity for growth.
00:22:13:21 - 00:22:15:11
So as I sit here talking to you,
00:22:15:11 - 00:22:16:16
our board and myself
00:22:16:16 - 00:22:18:15
are contemplating really accelerating.
00:22:18:15 - 00:22:19:15
What we already know is,
00:22:19:15 - 00:22:22:03
is this possible in pockets that we're
00:22:22:03 - 00:22:22:23
seeing success.
00:22:24:00 - 00:22:25:10
So, you know,
00:22:25:10 - 00:22:27:12
that's kind of where we sit
00:22:27:12 - 00:22:28:16
and how we look at it
00:22:28:16 - 00:22:29:19
and how we have our discussions.
00:22:29:19 - 00:22:31:15
So it's kind of out of both sides of your mouth,
00:22:31:15 - 00:22:33:22
but very transparent, you know, hey, look,
00:22:33:22 - 00:22:35:17
we might have another pandemic,
00:22:35:17 - 00:22:37:17
so we've got plan B in our back pocket.
00:22:37:17 - 00:22:39:21
We also know that there's a lot of opportunity.
00:22:39:21 - 00:22:41:10
These are real value
00:22:41:10 - 00:22:43:19
propositions for patients all over the world.
00:22:43:19 - 00:22:45:06
And we're seeing it firsthand.
00:22:45:06 - 00:22:47:12
We can't unsee what we've seen now.
00:22:47:12 - 00:22:49:23
So, you know, how do we treat both of these?
00:22:50:12 - 00:22:51:08
You know, and it
00:22:51:08 - 00:22:53:22
and it takes really having multiple plans,
00:22:54:05 - 00:22:55:19
you know, good communication with your board
00:22:55:19 - 00:22:56:17
and your executives.
00:22:56:17 - 00:22:57:21
and so I feel like that's
00:22:57:21 - 00:22:59:08
where my particular role
00:22:59:08 - 00:23:01:12
is this most important?
00:23:01:12 - 00:23:02:11
I need to be the connective
00:23:02:11 - 00:23:03:19
tissue between our investors
00:23:03:19 - 00:23:05:03
and our executive team.
00:23:05:03 - 00:23:06:18
And together, we need to translate
00:23:06:18 - 00:23:07:13
as an executive team
00:23:07:13 - 00:23:10:17
to our employees what the vision is.
00:23:10:17 - 00:23:13:14
But the investors look,
00:23:13:21 - 00:23:14:16
you know, the pandemic,
00:23:14:16 - 00:23:16:18
they want to make sure that we're not, you know,
00:23:16:18 - 00:23:18:00
imploding, which fortunately
00:23:18:00 - 00:23:19:23
we grew, you know, about 50% during,
00:23:19:23 - 00:23:20:20
which is encouraging.
00:23:20:20 - 00:23:21:18
But, you know,
00:23:21:18 - 00:23:22:05
we're very
00:23:22:05 - 00:23:24:02
we give a quarterly newsletter
00:23:24:02 - 00:23:25:17
proactively to our investment group,
00:23:25:17 - 00:23:27:14
which I think satisfies
00:23:27:14 - 00:23:29:02
a lot of questions that otherwise,
00:23:29:02 - 00:23:30:19
if you're not hearing from a private company,
00:23:30:19 - 00:23:32:06
you know, public companies you can hear about.
00:23:32:06 - 00:23:34:14
But we try to fly a little under the radar
00:23:34:14 - 00:23:35:20
and most of our posts
00:23:35:20 - 00:23:37:17
are, you know, within health care.
00:23:37:17 - 00:23:39:09
Yeah, I like staying ahead of it
00:23:39:09 - 00:23:40:23
from a communication perspective,
00:23:40:23 - 00:23:42:09
particularly with your investors,
00:23:42:09 - 00:23:43:03
it's a smart move.
00:23:44:12 - 00:23:46:19
So you mentioned just the word vision
00:23:47:05 - 00:23:49:22
and on your home page,
00:23:49:22 - 00:23:52:09
there's a picture of one of the implants
00:23:52:09 - 00:23:55:08
that has a battery, a circuit board
00:23:55:17 - 00:23:57:09
and some sort of antenna
00:23:57:09 - 00:23:59:20
and some sort of connection to the brain.
00:23:59:20 - 00:24:04:04
Are you up to talking about what that actually is?
00:24:04:04 - 00:24:06:01
Yeah. So I'm glad you brought it up.
00:24:06:01 - 00:24:06:12
And I encourage
00:24:06:12 - 00:24:08:05
anybody who listens to go and see it.
00:24:08:05 - 00:24:11:01
It's really easy then to understand
00:24:11:01 - 00:24:13:04
what you and I have been talking about
00:24:13:04 - 00:24:14:22
in a snapshot. Right.
00:24:14:22 - 00:24:16:21
And so that image, you see
00:24:16:21 - 00:24:18:06
one of the projects we worked on,
00:24:18:06 - 00:24:19:18
it wasn't intended for a patient,
00:24:19:18 - 00:24:20:16
but it was really flexing
00:24:20:16 - 00:24:21:23
some of our engineering muscles.
00:24:21:23 - 00:24:23:15
And to date we've got seven patents
00:24:23:15 - 00:24:24:22
and I think 33 underway,
00:24:24:22 - 00:24:27:00
and I have to check my math on that.
00:24:27:00 - 00:24:27:12
But, you know,
00:24:27:12 - 00:24:29:09
it's really about the implantability
00:24:29:09 - 00:24:31:20
and the conversion of the cranial plasticisty,
00:24:31:20 - 00:24:34:12
your bone, your cranium into a functional,
00:24:35:08 - 00:24:38:12
you know, apparatus, batteries, apps,
00:24:38:22 - 00:24:41:06
various function, medicine delivery,
00:24:41:06 - 00:24:43:21
you know, stimulation, recording.
00:24:43:21 - 00:24:44:11
And so what
00:24:44:11 - 00:24:47:12
you see there, that's actually an infrared camera
00:24:47:12 - 00:24:50:03
to look at brain and blood flow
00:24:50:03 - 00:24:52:06
because there's no light in the brain.
00:24:52:06 - 00:24:53:07
So there's a tiny light,
00:24:53:07 - 00:24:54:10
there's an infrared camera
00:24:54:10 - 00:24:56:04
and the whole thing is completely autonomous
00:24:56:04 - 00:24:59:06
and it can emit through an antenna to an app
00:24:59:06 - 00:25:00:00
what it's seeing.
00:25:00:23 - 00:25:02:16
There's a number of projects that,
00:25:02:16 - 00:25:04:20
you can basically imagine implants,
00:25:05:05 - 00:25:06:11
power and function.
00:25:06:11 - 00:25:08:05
That's what we need, right, form, power,
00:25:08:05 - 00:25:10:22
and function is what we consider at Longeviti.
00:25:10:22 - 00:25:12:09
Form and power, really,
00:25:12:09 - 00:25:14:09
we consider our our strong suits.
00:25:14:09 - 00:25:16:05
We realy look for function
00:25:16:05 - 00:25:18:05
and have had some great collaborations.
00:25:18:05 - 00:25:22:09
So again, you know, from pressure flow
00:25:22:09 - 00:25:24:01
diagnostics, we've got various
00:25:24:01 - 00:25:26:06
partnerships out there that we're just proud of.
00:25:26:06 - 00:25:27:19
So that image is repeated
00:25:27:19 - 00:25:29:23
in several different projects underway
00:25:29:23 - 00:25:31:14
and there's also patients with other devices
00:25:31:14 - 00:25:32:21
that look like that in them.
00:25:32:21 - 00:25:35:08
So there's RNS device out on the market
00:25:35:08 - 00:25:37:18
that's a fantastic device for epilepsy.
00:25:38:03 - 00:25:40:15
Some patients won't have bone to anchor it too.
00:25:40:15 - 00:25:42:02
So how is that
00:25:42:02 - 00:25:43:16
within a cranioplasty to implant for them?
00:25:43:16 - 00:25:44:18
And the electrodes will come out
00:25:44:18 - 00:25:46:13
underneath, into the brain.
00:25:46:13 - 00:25:47:15
Therefore, when the patient
00:25:47:15 - 00:25:49:03
then has to get a battery replaced,
00:25:49:03 - 00:25:50:18
they don't actually have to have their
00:25:50:18 - 00:25:51:18
brain exposed again.
00:25:51:18 - 00:25:54:00
They've got a little compartment, like a toy car
00:25:54:00 - 00:25:55:16
where they pop up the plastic,
00:25:55:16 - 00:25:56:15
replace the battery,
00:25:56:15 - 00:25:57:20
and then close the skin over top.
00:25:57:20 - 00:26:00:12
And there was a much less invasive procedure.
00:26:00:12 - 00:26:01:21
So the surgeon would actually have
00:26:01:21 - 00:26:03:22
to make an incision to open it up right?
00:26:03:22 - 00:26:04:19
Right.
00:26:04:19 - 00:26:06:17
And so that's not a commercial product.
00:26:06:17 - 00:26:08:07
That's just like the concept.
00:26:08:07 - 00:26:10:06
So that particular one is a concept,
00:26:10:06 - 00:26:12:04
but we have various products like that
00:26:12:04 - 00:26:13:03
that have been implanted.
00:26:13:03 - 00:26:14:12
And again, there's
00:26:14:12 - 00:26:15:21
a number of different functions out there.
00:26:15:21 - 00:26:16:21
So I'm not trying to
00:26:16:21 - 00:26:18:09
beat around the bush to just, you know,
00:26:18:09 - 00:26:19:06
literally, you know,
00:26:19:06 - 00:26:21:09
different disorders and different needs
00:26:21:09 - 00:26:23:10
that are required from various research
00:26:23:10 - 00:26:25:08
and non research collaborators.
00:26:25:08 - 00:26:26:18
So we do quite a bit of work
00:26:26:18 - 00:26:28:14
in the drug delivery space
00:26:28:14 - 00:26:30:09
here at Key Tech working with,
00:26:30:09 - 00:26:31:22
you know, AstraZeneca, BMS
00:26:31:22 - 00:26:34:16
and you know, body worn infusion pumps and
00:26:35:17 - 00:26:39:11
there’s a lot of talk about design for clinical trials.
00:26:39:23 - 00:26:41:07
So I guess when you're talking
00:26:41:07 - 00:26:43:23
about these various applications and concepts
00:26:43:23 - 00:26:45:10
the first step has to be,
00:26:45:10 - 00:26:47:02
you know, creating a,
00:26:47:02 - 00:26:49:14
a clinical device for use in trials
00:26:49:14 - 00:26:51:04
is that what you're you're targeting?
00:26:51:04 - 00:26:53:03
Or is it kind of animal studies?
00:26:53:03 - 00:26:54:10
So the interesting thing,
00:26:54:10 - 00:26:55:22
it depends on the product, right?
00:26:55:22 - 00:26:57:14
So for our ClearFit product
00:26:57:14 - 00:26:59:12
line were cleared for implantation
00:26:59:12 - 00:27:02:13
and to have ultrasound
00:27:02:21 - 00:27:03:19
passing through it,
00:27:03:19 - 00:27:07:07
which is a pretty broad clearance from the FDA.
00:27:07:07 - 00:27:10:09
So we can frankly skip animals in a lot of cases
00:27:10:09 - 00:27:11:19
because there are thousands of patients
00:27:11:19 - 00:27:13:11
walking around with ClearFits
00:27:13:11 - 00:27:14:08
in their heads today.
00:27:14:08 - 00:27:15:07
And a lot of volunteers
00:27:15:07 - 00:27:16:19
have come out and allowed us to
00:27:16:19 - 00:27:17:18
to map their brain
00:27:17:18 - 00:27:19:03
or to look at various anatomies
00:27:19:03 - 00:27:20:16
or the physicians sort of
00:27:20:16 - 00:27:22:19
normal follow up are giving us the data
00:27:22:19 - 00:27:24:10
so we can learn more about it.
00:27:24:10 - 00:27:27:20
So a lot of our research is in IRBs right now
00:27:27:20 - 00:27:29:23
and in active cases,
00:27:29:23 - 00:27:31:21
there are the more technical you get,
00:27:31:21 - 00:27:33:16
the more batteries, the more function,
00:27:33:16 - 00:27:35:01
the more long term we're looking.
00:27:35:01 - 00:27:37:05
So there are some really exciting projects.
00:27:37:05 - 00:27:39:07
Perron Genomics is a great collaborator of ours
00:27:39:07 - 00:27:40:06
and so we're really excited
00:27:40:06 - 00:27:41:17
about what they're working on.
00:27:41:17 - 00:27:43:04
And there's a number of other partnerships
00:27:43:04 - 00:27:43:23
with BlackRock
00:27:43:23 - 00:27:46:08
and other companies out west.
00:27:47:00 - 00:27:49:06
You know, it's important for us.
00:27:49:06 - 00:27:52:05
We look at the functional platform
00:27:52:05 - 00:27:53:16
that you see in that picture
00:27:53:16 - 00:27:56:13
as kind of like our F1 team.
00:27:56:13 - 00:27:57:23
Ford has an F1 team,
00:27:57:23 - 00:28:00:17
they don't sell the F1 car to everyone, but
00:28:01:04 - 00:28:04:05
trying to make it more efficient, faster, leaner
00:28:04:05 - 00:28:07:21
and in performance enhanced as possible
00:28:08:10 - 00:28:09:12
spins out innovations
00:28:09:12 - 00:28:12:14
that we then see in the Ford Taurus or the F-150.
00:28:12:14 - 00:28:14:03
And that's what we've seen at Longeviti.
00:28:14:03 - 00:28:15:17
So while we work on these projects,
00:28:15:17 - 00:28:17:08
some of which might not see the light of day,
00:28:17:08 - 00:28:19:23
some might really help the masses.
00:28:19:23 - 00:28:21:06
The innovations alone from
00:28:21:06 - 00:28:22:09
problem solving are already
00:28:23:13 - 00:28:24:12
being seen in the market.
00:28:24:12 - 00:28:26:03
So from ultrasound to the envision
00:28:26:03 - 00:28:27:19
housing of technology.
00:28:27:19 - 00:28:30:13
And we're encouraged to then
00:28:30:13 - 00:28:32:08
internally to keep working on this.
00:28:32:08 - 00:28:33:21
As long as we have the revenues
00:28:33:21 - 00:28:36:07
to reinvest in this R&D,
00:28:36:07 - 00:28:37:15
we know that will then spin
00:28:37:15 - 00:28:39:22
out of the low hanging fruit of innovation.
00:28:39:22 - 00:28:41:16
It doesn't have to be the holy grail
00:28:41:16 - 00:28:43:11
of a complete headectomy.
00:28:43:11 - 00:28:45:22
And now you can replace, you know,
00:28:45:22 - 00:28:47:00
your entire brain.
00:28:47:00 - 00:28:48:18
So you mentioned the ultrasound.
00:28:48:18 - 00:28:51:11
Again, just being clear with the ClearFit.
00:28:51:11 - 00:28:52:09
So just
00:28:52:09 - 00:28:53:14
we touched on it earlier,
00:28:53:14 - 00:28:55:20
but just for our audience,
00:28:55:20 - 00:28:59:13
it's only imaging or is it ultrasonic therapy?
00:28:59:13 - 00:29:01:15
So it's ultrasound.
00:29:01:15 - 00:29:03:17
It's ultrasound signals.
00:29:03:17 - 00:29:06:22
So that can be any ultrasound.
00:29:07:17 - 00:29:10:21
If the ultrasound is indicated for imaging,
00:29:10:21 - 00:29:12:11
then it can be used for imaging.
00:29:12:11 - 00:29:15:05
If it's indicated for ablation,
00:29:15:05 - 00:29:18:01
it can be ablated. It's an ultrasound image.
00:29:18:01 - 00:29:19:03
And now we've done studies
00:29:19:03 - 00:29:21:16
to show the attenuation and what's happening
00:29:21:16 - 00:29:23:06
to tissues to understand,
00:29:23:06 - 00:29:24:04
you know, the safety nets.
00:29:24:04 - 00:29:25:04
But just to put a perspective,
00:29:25:04 - 00:29:26:21
ultrasound used directly on the brain,
00:29:26:21 - 00:29:28:04
sometimes intra operatively.
00:29:28:04 - 00:29:30:19
So it's a very safe imaging modality.
00:29:30:19 - 00:29:32:11
It's just using literally Doppler
00:29:32:11 - 00:29:33:22
and sound waves to
00:29:33:22 - 00:29:37:09
to to hear and see and convert that into signals.
00:29:37:09 - 00:29:39:21
All right, quick pivot.
00:29:39:21 - 00:29:42:05
And again, this is an educational podcast.
00:29:43:05 - 00:29:44:18
Jesse, we're looking for some advice
00:29:44:18 - 00:29:48:23
that you might provide to startup companies like yours
00:29:48:23 - 00:29:52:18
maybe not in your space, but interacting with FDA.
00:29:52:18 - 00:29:54:02
What do you,
00:29:54:02 - 00:29:56:05
and generally regulatory bodies,
00:29:56:05 - 00:29:57:17
what do you recommend for that?
00:29:57:17 - 00:29:58:21
You know, it's changed
00:29:58:21 - 00:30:01:05
since I started Longeviti before the pandemic.
00:30:01:05 - 00:30:03:15
And so my advice today would be lean in
00:30:04:15 - 00:30:07:22
the people that we've worked with at the FDA
00:30:07:22 - 00:30:09:04
have been very receptive
00:30:09:04 - 00:30:11:12
to concerns and questions.
00:30:11:21 - 00:30:12:18
And we've seen that
00:30:12:18 - 00:30:13:22
not just from our own experience,
00:30:13:22 - 00:30:15:09
but other companies in our space
00:30:15:09 - 00:30:16:06
that we've been talking to.
00:30:16:06 - 00:30:18:05
So certainly as of late,
00:30:18:05 - 00:30:19:01
they really take,
00:30:19:01 - 00:30:22:07
you know, enabling innovation safely, seriously.
00:30:23:03 - 00:30:25:01
And so my advice to them,
00:30:25:01 - 00:30:27:06
younger companies would be approach them.
00:30:27:18 - 00:30:28:11
I'm not saying
00:30:28:11 - 00:30:29:20
necessarily go sit down about your
00:30:29:20 - 00:30:32:00
specific product for a
00:30:32:00 - 00:30:33:14
pre-submission, but there
00:30:33:14 - 00:30:34:14
are a number of
00:30:34:14 - 00:30:35:14
venues that you can go
00:30:35:14 - 00:30:38:00
and have conversations with people from the FDA.
00:30:38:00 - 00:30:39:02
So I highly encourage
00:30:39:02 - 00:30:40:12
one of which we took advantage
00:30:40:12 - 00:30:41:20
of was a preceptorship up.
00:30:41:20 - 00:30:44:02
So the FDA had a preceptorship
00:30:44:02 - 00:30:44:23
with Johns Hopkins,
00:30:44:23 - 00:30:47:10
which would send out individuals from the FDA
00:30:47:16 - 00:30:49:03
to startups like ours,
00:30:49:03 - 00:30:51:06
but not in the same market.
00:30:51:06 - 00:30:53:09
So we would have someone from gastrointestinal,
00:30:53:09 - 00:30:55:11
you know, division.
00:30:55:11 - 00:30:56:15
But to learn, you know,
00:30:56:15 - 00:30:58:08
the trade offs of decision
00:30:58:08 - 00:31:00:10
making we were making as a young company
00:31:00:10 - 00:31:02:12
so that they can then go back and talk about it,
00:31:02:12 - 00:31:03:09
how do we make it easier?
00:31:03:09 - 00:31:05:06
Which I thought was very encouraging.
00:31:05:06 - 00:31:06:09
It gave us a great insight,
00:31:06:09 - 00:31:07:06
and it let us know, too,
00:31:07:06 - 00:31:09:00
that there's people behind the FDA
00:31:09:00 - 00:31:10:11
and they're very human.
00:31:10:11 - 00:31:12:09
Most of them there to help.
00:31:12:09 - 00:31:14:04
Yeah, I hadn't heard of the preceptorship,
00:31:14:04 - 00:31:14:23
but that makes sense.
00:31:14:23 - 00:31:17:03
You kind of want this sort of unofficial meeting
00:31:18:01 - 00:31:19:17
with the regulatory body that’s
00:31:19:17 - 00:31:21:20
kind of off the books, maybe
00:31:21:20 - 00:31:22:11
so that you can
00:31:22:11 - 00:31:23:15
you make sure your plan is sound
00:31:23:15 - 00:31:25:12
before you go back in there formally.
00:31:25:12 - 00:31:27:05
Another question for you, Jesse.
00:31:27:05 - 00:31:30:23
So what, you know, being an entrepreneur,
00:31:30:23 - 00:31:32:08
like if you were to go back
00:31:32:08 - 00:31:36:12
and start this again,
00:31:36:12 - 00:31:39:02
what do you think you would do differently.
00:31:39:02 - 00:31:40:06
Man,
00:31:40:06 - 00:31:42:14
so many things just went through my head.
00:31:42:14 - 00:31:45:09
You know, I heard a prior,
00:31:45:09 - 00:31:47:03
from one of our first investors
00:31:47:03 - 00:31:50:05
and it still holds true, hire slow, fire fast.
00:31:50:20 - 00:31:52:09
Our success is really determined
00:31:52:09 - 00:31:53:16
by the caliber of people
00:31:53:16 - 00:31:55:00
we've been able to bring on board.
00:31:55:00 - 00:31:56:07
And we've been successful
00:31:56:07 - 00:31:58:12
because we brought amazing people on board.
00:31:59:11 - 00:32:01:07
And there's still been a couple of instances
00:32:01:07 - 00:32:04:15
where we took too long to bring someone on,
00:32:04:15 - 00:32:06:10
but I had identified them
00:32:06:10 - 00:32:07:04
in several instances
00:32:07:04 - 00:32:09:05
where we didn't have the quite the right fit.
00:32:09:13 - 00:32:11:00
And I think those things lingering
00:32:11:00 - 00:32:13:01
also set us back disproportionately
00:32:13:01 - 00:32:14:16
because of the size of our company.
00:32:14:16 - 00:32:15:15
And it's very delicate
00:32:15:15 - 00:32:18:08
and to talk about on a podcast.
00:32:18:08 - 00:32:19:18
But I'll just say generally,
00:32:19:18 - 00:32:21:20
don’t be afraid to overly vet the people
00:32:21:20 - 00:32:23:19
you're bringing onto your team.
00:32:23:19 - 00:32:24:18
And don't be afraid
00:32:24:18 - 00:32:26:19
if you know it's not a good fit
00:32:26:19 - 00:32:28:16
to have that difficult conversation.
00:32:28:16 - 00:32:31:00
I call it the “are you happy” conversation?
00:32:31:00 - 00:32:33:19
Because if a person is not engaged in a startup,
00:32:34:07 - 00:32:35:20
they're not going to get engaged
00:32:35:20 - 00:32:37:18
and it's only going to linger.
00:32:37:18 - 00:32:40:08
And that can really have a significant impact
00:32:40:08 - 00:32:42:09
when your team is really stretched in bandwidth.
00:32:42:18 - 00:32:45:15
So your culture and your team is so critical
00:32:45:15 - 00:32:47:16
early on. I can't emphasize that enough.
00:32:47:16 - 00:32:50:03
Yeah, I mean, I've found just in the handful of years
00:32:50:03 - 00:32:51:07
I've really been focused on
00:32:51:07 - 00:32:52:12
building the biz dev team
00:32:52:12 - 00:32:54:11
and some of my teammates are on the line here.
00:32:54:11 - 00:32:56:01
So they're going to
00:32:56:01 - 00:32:57:05
they're going to hear this, but,
00:32:57:05 - 00:32:58:10
you know, think things evolve.
00:32:58:10 - 00:32:59:08
That's like one thing
00:32:59:08 - 00:33:00:10
when you're in the hot seat
00:33:00:10 - 00:33:01:07
and it's like
00:33:01:07 - 00:33:02:22
you need to place these bets
00:33:02:22 - 00:33:04:14
and you don't know
00:33:04:14 - 00:33:06:04
what four years is going to look like.
00:33:06:04 - 00:33:07:15
And, you know,
00:33:07:15 - 00:33:08:23
I try to look for like people
00:33:08:23 - 00:33:11:19
with leadership qualities who, you know, are,
00:33:12:12 - 00:33:14:02
you know, can can wear a lot of hats,
00:33:14:02 - 00:33:16:20
but also know how to focus and get shit done
00:33:17:08 - 00:33:19:00
when things like need to get done.
00:33:19:00 - 00:33:20:17
And and then six months later,
00:33:20:17 - 00:33:22:14
when things kind of pivot a little bit,
00:33:22:14 - 00:33:24:11
you have to kind of, change course,
00:33:24:11 - 00:33:26:01
but you're generally heading
00:33:26:01 - 00:33:27:00
in the right direction.
00:33:27:00 - 00:33:27:23
That's what I look for.
00:33:27:23 - 00:33:30:05
But I'm only running a handful of folks.
00:33:30:05 - 00:33:31:09
I'm not running a full company.
00:33:31:09 - 00:33:34:03
So I recognize the challenge where you sit, where
00:33:35:15 - 00:33:36:21
where you really need to kind
00:33:36:21 - 00:33:38:07
of build out a org chart.
00:33:38:07 - 00:33:40:09
And they're very specialized,
00:33:40:09 - 00:33:42:02
you know, roles you need to fill.
00:33:42:02 - 00:33:43:01
But to that point,
00:33:43:01 - 00:33:44:12
what I found as a father,
00:33:44:12 - 00:33:46:01
as a manager, as a director,
00:33:46:01 - 00:33:50:19
and as a CEO, that, you know, intrinsic value.
00:33:50:19 - 00:33:52:12
And well,
00:33:52:12 - 00:33:53:10
let me just say, as a father,
00:33:53:10 - 00:33:54:16
free will is a bitch, right.
00:33:54:16 - 00:33:55:08
You know,
00:33:55:08 - 00:33:58:10
making someone do something is almost impossible.
00:33:58:10 - 00:33:59:23
You need them to want to do it.
00:33:59:23 - 00:34:01:23
And so that gets back to what it makes you
00:34:01:23 - 00:34:03:13
maybe a good father is probably
00:34:03:13 - 00:34:04:20
what's going to make you a good manager
00:34:04:20 - 00:34:06:02
and maybe a good CEO,
00:34:06:02 - 00:34:08:13
because you need to hold people accountable
00:34:08:13 - 00:34:09:02
on the mission,
00:34:09:02 - 00:34:09:19
but you need to understand
00:34:09:19 - 00:34:10:16
where they're coming from
00:34:10:16 - 00:34:13:04
and make sure that they're a good fit for them.
00:34:13:04 - 00:34:14:21
And because if it's not a good fit for them,
00:34:14:21 - 00:34:15:23
you're never going to
00:34:15:23 - 00:34:17:03
the second you turn your back
00:34:17:03 - 00:34:18:07
or the second you can't, you know,
00:34:18:07 - 00:34:19:10
do a certain thing.
00:34:19:10 - 00:34:21:18
You can't expect them to do it just on their own.
00:34:22:05 - 00:34:23:09
But I'll say that, you know, that,
00:34:23:09 - 00:34:25:13
the core tenets of good management.
00:34:25:13 - 00:34:26:05
Like I said,
00:34:26:05 - 00:34:28:11
I feel like the laws of physics to me,
00:34:28:11 - 00:34:30:22
very simple and scale,
00:34:30:22 - 00:34:33:04
humble, hardworking and hungry,
00:34:33:04 - 00:34:35:07
how are people that people like to work with
00:34:35:07 - 00:34:36:17
that are hardworking and smart
00:34:36:17 - 00:34:38:07
and you've got a great team
00:34:38:07 - 00:34:39:14
once you hire them, don't lie,
00:34:39:14 - 00:34:41:06
don’t cheat, don't steal.
00:34:41:06 - 00:34:42:09
It's simple enough.
00:34:42:09 - 00:34:43:18
Those are fireable offences.
00:34:43:18 - 00:34:45:05
This shouldn't be an excuse to do this
00:34:45:05 - 00:34:46:13
if you hire the right people.
00:34:46:13 - 00:34:48:07
But then, look, you know, to your point,
00:34:48:07 - 00:34:50:05
change happens and should happen.
00:34:50:05 - 00:34:51:08
So you need to have a very
00:34:51:08 - 00:34:52:23
transparent, supportive team
00:34:52:23 - 00:34:55:11
so you can weather those things together.
00:34:55:11 - 00:34:58:01
If sales are down, it shouldn't be on
00:34:58:01 - 00:34:59:02
one person's shoulders.
00:34:59:02 - 00:35:00:12
If they're doing everything they can
00:35:00:12 - 00:35:01:19
and executing the strategy,
00:35:01:19 - 00:35:02:07
it should be,
00:35:02:07 - 00:35:05:15
how can we help this person get better resources?
00:35:05:15 - 00:35:07:07
So when it comes down to it,
00:35:07:07 - 00:35:09:17
it's, you know, humble, hardworking, hungry,
00:35:10:02 - 00:35:11:14
don't lie, don't cheat, don't steal.
00:35:11:14 - 00:35:13:15
And then after that, it's just regular,
00:35:14:00 - 00:35:15:07
predictable communication.
00:35:15:07 - 00:35:17:20
So every year, in fact, next month's,
00:35:17:20 - 00:35:19:05
when we have our meeting,
00:35:19:05 - 00:35:20:07
I get a wall calendar
00:35:20:07 - 00:35:22:01
and we put every single society meeting,
00:35:22:01 - 00:35:24:13
every conference, every executive meeting,
00:35:24:13 - 00:35:25:11
every weekly meeting,
00:35:25:11 - 00:35:26:11
every team’s meeting,
00:35:26:11 - 00:35:28:03
everything we possibly can think of
00:35:28:03 - 00:35:29:00
on one calendar.
00:35:29:00 - 00:35:30:20
So we can see it as a visualization
00:35:30:20 - 00:35:31:08
and understand
00:35:31:08 - 00:35:33:01
when our real crunch times
00:35:33:01 - 00:35:34:08
are going to be throughout the year.
00:35:34:08 - 00:35:36:01
But that also then sets the expectation
00:35:36:01 - 00:35:37:01
for the entire team
00:35:37:01 - 00:35:38:04
that then waterfalls down
00:35:38:04 - 00:35:40:04
is that we're running out a clock here.
00:35:40:13 - 00:35:42:04
And also it helps our collaborators
00:35:42:04 - 00:35:43:03
that know, you know,
00:35:43:03 - 00:35:44:02
we've already got our whole year
00:35:44:02 - 00:35:45:23
planned our budgets planning
00:35:45:23 - 00:35:47:23
now you know, two of my favorite quotes are
00:35:47:23 - 00:35:51:09
“If you fail to plan, you plan to fail.” Right.
00:35:51:09 - 00:35:53:00
Is that Eisenhower or somebody like that?
00:35:53:00 - 00:35:54:17
And then “Everybody has a plan
00:35:54:17 - 00:35:56:09
until they get punched in the face.” Right.
00:35:56:09 - 00:35:57:20
You know, we've heard these a lot of times.
00:35:57:20 - 00:35:58:22
That's Mike Tyson.
00:35:58:22 - 00:36:00:04
So these are both true. Right.
00:36:00:04 - 00:36:02:00
And so I try to remind my team, yes,
00:36:02:00 - 00:36:03:00
we're making this plan.
00:36:03:00 - 00:36:04:15
Yes, we're making a wall calendar every year.
00:36:04:15 - 00:36:06:22
And some year there might be a pandemic
00:36:06:22 - 00:36:08:00
that's completely erases it.
00:36:08:00 - 00:36:10:00
But that exercise
00:36:10:00 - 00:36:11:07
forces us to work through things
00:36:11:07 - 00:36:13:12
and sets a really comfortable environment
00:36:13:12 - 00:36:15:04
for us to openly talk
00:36:15:04 - 00:36:16:05
about the struggles
00:36:16:05 - 00:36:17:20
and obstacles in each department
00:36:17:20 - 00:36:19:08
or person's place.
00:36:19:08 - 00:36:21:13
So, you know, the communication and
00:36:22:09 - 00:36:24:01
the openness to talk about change to
00:36:24:01 - 00:36:25:11
your point is really critical.
00:36:25:11 - 00:36:29:07
Yeah, it's also helpful to have those like
00:36:30:02 - 00:36:31:15
challenging conversations
00:36:31:15 - 00:36:33:12
when things aren't going well,
00:36:33:12 - 00:36:36:04
when everyone knows like that higher level
00:36:36:04 - 00:36:37:01
like plan.
00:36:37:01 - 00:36:38:18
I feel like that's really important
00:36:38:18 - 00:36:39:06
because otherwise
00:36:39:06 - 00:36:40:22
people feel threatened or, you know,
00:36:40:22 - 00:36:42:16
they just, at least that's how I operate.
00:36:42:16 - 00:36:44:13
I want everyone to kind of know what's going on.
00:36:44:13 - 00:36:46:16
So when it's just like, okay, this one little,
00:36:46:23 - 00:36:49:00
little cog isn't working well,
00:36:49:00 - 00:36:50:10
there's a larger wheel happening.
00:36:50:10 - 00:36:51:13
This cog is important.
00:36:51:13 - 00:36:52:11
Yeah, you know, it's funny
00:36:52:11 - 00:36:54:13
you said that, because by being transparent
00:36:54:13 - 00:36:56:05
and putting the obstacles out in the open,
00:36:56:05 - 00:36:57:20
you can help people save face
00:36:57:20 - 00:36:59:19
that otherwise, it might linger.
00:36:59:19 - 00:37:01:13
And there's a funny statistic
00:37:01:13 - 00:37:03:06
I heard about driving,
00:37:03:06 - 00:37:04:03
nine times out of ten,
00:37:04:03 - 00:37:05:01
when somebody cuts you off,
00:37:05:01 - 00:37:05:23
it's for a reason
00:37:05:23 - 00:37:07:06
that they might not even see you.
00:37:07:06 - 00:37:08:19
But nine out of ten times
00:37:08:19 - 00:37:10:03
we think that person's doing it
00:37:10:03 - 00:37:11:11
because they just want to cut us off
00:37:11:11 - 00:37:12:20
and be a jerk, right?
00:37:12:20 - 00:37:13:11
So as a company,
00:37:13:11 - 00:37:14:22
we try to, you know, get ahead of that.
00:37:14:22 - 00:37:15:15
And, you know,
00:37:15:15 - 00:37:17:02
there's a bunch of humans here
00:37:17:02 - 00:37:19:00
and we really want to respect their lives, too.
00:37:19:00 - 00:37:21:12
Yeah, so one other follow up question to your comment
00:37:21:12 - 00:37:24:04
about regular predictable communication.
00:37:24:04 - 00:37:25:12
And one of the things that,
00:37:25:12 - 00:37:26:05
you know, as Key Tech
00:37:26:05 - 00:37:27:21
continues to grow,
00:37:27:21 - 00:37:29:09
we're trying to solve and I'm curious
00:37:29:09 - 00:37:31:08
how you're doing this just
00:37:31:08 - 00:37:33:14
I mean, there's like communicating the plan,
00:37:34:03 - 00:37:36:10
but then there's like all this information
00:37:36:10 - 00:37:38:06
that's coming into your organization,
00:37:38:06 - 00:37:39:16
you know, daily
00:37:39:16 - 00:37:42:13
that decisions are made, you know, all around.
00:37:43:00 - 00:37:46:13
How are you disseminating information, technical
00:37:46:13 - 00:37:48:15
information, insights from UPenn and,
00:37:49:00 - 00:37:50:18
you know, wherever else, Northwell, and,
00:37:50:18 - 00:37:51:23
all these places
00:37:51:23 - 00:37:53:16
that could affect some phone call
00:37:53:16 - 00:37:54:17
you're about to make.
00:37:54:17 - 00:37:56:02
You know, at four in the afternoon.
00:37:56:02 - 00:37:57:22
You know, that's my nightmare, is not being able
00:37:57:22 - 00:37:59:15
to keep up. The industry we're in
00:37:59:15 - 00:38:00:21
and the size of our company is
00:38:00:21 - 00:38:03:08
fairly mismatch. There's a lot happening.
00:38:03:08 - 00:38:05:07
And so I wake up every morning, you know,
00:38:05:07 - 00:38:06:07
what's happening that
00:38:06:07 - 00:38:08:09
I need to know, that our team needs to know,
00:38:08:09 - 00:38:10:20
and visa versa, that we need to communicate.
00:38:10:20 - 00:38:12:06
We try to just, you know,
00:38:12:06 - 00:38:14:07
again, overly communicate
00:38:14:07 - 00:38:16:00
on all the platforms that you see.
00:38:16:00 - 00:38:17:19
We've got a really good support
00:38:17:19 - 00:38:19:15
group of physicians that keep us informed.
00:38:19:15 - 00:38:22:15
So from texts, to reading articles, you know,
00:38:23:12 - 00:38:24:17
from Pitchbook, frankly,
00:38:24:17 - 00:38:26:10
Pitchbook is one of the best
00:38:26:10 - 00:38:28:12
applications that we pay for as a company.
00:38:28:12 - 00:38:29:12
It's an investor tool,
00:38:29:12 - 00:38:30:19
but it gives you a really good insight
00:38:30:19 - 00:38:31:19
into the private markets.
00:38:31:19 - 00:38:32:10
So every morning
00:38:32:10 - 00:38:34:01
I start off looking at Pitchbook.
00:38:34:01 - 00:38:35:14
What are you looking for in Pitchbook?
00:38:35:14 - 00:38:38:15
I monitor two groups, I monitor the investors,
00:38:38:15 - 00:38:40:05
in the neurosurgical
00:38:40:05 - 00:38:41:15
who's investing in neuro tech.
00:38:41:15 - 00:38:43:16
And I'm also monitoring those companies and
00:38:43:16 - 00:38:45:20
and what they're doing so you know
00:38:46:19 - 00:38:48:18
who's got recent FDA clearances,
00:38:48:18 - 00:38:50:01
who's buying who,
00:38:50:01 - 00:38:52:12
who's moving internationally,
00:38:52:12 - 00:38:55:12
what research programs have just been launched,
00:38:56:09 - 00:38:57:07
who got fired?
00:38:57:07 - 00:38:59:04
You know, it's informative.
00:38:59:04 - 00:39:00:17
So not to put a plug for Pitchbook,
00:39:00:17 - 00:39:02:21
but I find a valuable, certainly for raises too.
00:39:02:21 - 00:39:03:11
It's not cheap.
00:39:03:11 - 00:39:04:06
Or for a young company
00:39:04:06 - 00:39:07:05
going through rounds of funding,
00:39:07:19 - 00:39:08:23
you kind of have a leg up
00:39:08:23 - 00:39:10:08
as opposed to companies that don't.
00:39:10:08 - 00:39:11:13
It's the tool that we found
00:39:11:13 - 00:39:13:09
most of the VCs are using anyways.
00:39:13:09 - 00:39:15:05
So the state of Maryland
00:39:15:05 - 00:39:16:14
so you mentioned that you're on this
00:39:16:14 - 00:39:17:21
life sciences.
00:39:17:21 - 00:39:19:11
Is it the Life Sciences Advisory Board,
00:39:19:11 - 00:39:20:06
is that right?
00:39:20:06 - 00:39:21:12
That is right.
00:39:21:12 - 00:39:23:20
Can you talk a little bit about what that is
00:39:23:20 - 00:39:25:21
and what some of those initiatives are,
00:39:25:21 - 00:39:27:19
and how you're partaking in that?
00:39:27:19 - 00:39:29:18
Yeah, it's a great group,
00:39:29:18 - 00:39:31:17
as you know, through its name.
00:39:31:17 - 00:39:34:15
It's trying to foster, both the economies
00:39:34:15 - 00:39:35:22
and the technical skill
00:39:35:22 - 00:39:37:17
sets of our local community
00:39:37:17 - 00:39:39:05
in the areas of health care.
00:39:39:05 - 00:39:42:01
So Maryland is health care rich
00:39:42:01 - 00:39:44:10
from literally having a NIH and the FDA
00:39:44:10 - 00:39:45:09
government facilities
00:39:45:09 - 00:39:49:01
Walter Reed in that state or adjacent to the,
00:39:49:09 - 00:39:49:17
you know,
00:39:49:17 - 00:39:51:05
the first academic teaching
00:39:51:05 - 00:39:52:14
hospital in the country,
00:39:52:14 - 00:39:54:07
Johns Hopkins, to,
00:39:54:07 - 00:39:55:14
you know, other great facilities
00:39:55:14 - 00:39:56:18
like the University of Maryland.
00:39:56:18 - 00:39:58:12
So it’s a fantastic state
00:39:58:12 - 00:40:00:17
and a great fishbowl for its size
00:40:00:22 - 00:40:02:14
and frankly, proximity.
00:40:02:14 - 00:40:03:21
We've really benefited from it
00:40:03:21 - 00:40:05:05
as a company at Longeviti,
00:40:05:05 - 00:40:06:00
which was why
00:40:06:00 - 00:40:08:00
I was really turned on to this ecosystem.
00:40:08:00 - 00:40:09:09
I wanted to learn more,
00:40:09:09 - 00:40:11:01
and the Department of Commerce had this program,
00:40:11:01 - 00:40:12:07
which was fantastic.
00:40:12:07 - 00:40:14:22
So, you know, we meet quarterly
00:40:14:22 - 00:40:16:06
and there's several initiatives.
00:40:16:06 - 00:40:18:14
You know, interestingly, coming out of COVID,
00:40:18:14 - 00:40:19:17
a lot of it was out of whack.
00:40:19:17 - 00:40:21:22
But mostly it's around job creation.
00:40:21:22 - 00:40:25:10
It's around tapping into the generational education
00:40:25:10 - 00:40:26:15
that we have here.
00:40:26:15 - 00:40:28:15
How can we take kids from Baltimore City,
00:40:28:15 - 00:40:30:02
plug them into the communities
00:40:30:02 - 00:40:31:09
and really teach them trades
00:40:31:09 - 00:40:32:17
that are relevant locally
00:40:32:17 - 00:40:33:16
with all the health care
00:40:33:16 - 00:40:35:05
that's going on, from the hospitals to
00:40:35:05 - 00:40:36:09
the industry to government.
00:40:37:08 - 00:40:39:11
And there's various programs from tax incentives.
00:40:39:11 - 00:40:40:17
One is which is fantastic
00:40:40:17 - 00:40:42:10
is the Bitsy, actually I,
00:40:42:10 - 00:40:43:08
I got a bite my lip,
00:40:43:08 - 00:40:45:12
I think we're still doing the Bitsy.
00:40:45:12 - 00:40:47:05
But it's been a great tax incentive
00:40:47:05 - 00:40:48:09
that we benefited from,
00:40:48:09 - 00:40:50:00
which essentially gives investors
00:40:50:00 - 00:40:52:09
who invest in Maryland based companies
00:40:52:09 - 00:40:53:16
half of their investment back.
00:40:53:16 - 00:40:55:17
So look into that if you haven’t
00:40:55:17 - 00:40:57:20
whoever's listening. Yeah.
00:40:57:20 - 00:41:00:15
And so again from proximity to just welcome this
00:41:00:15 - 00:41:02:15
we like to state that the board
00:41:02:15 - 00:41:04:22
the Life Science Advisory Board is well run.
00:41:04:22 - 00:41:05:17
You've got
00:41:05:21 - 00:41:07:22
individuals that are executives from, you know,
00:41:07:22 - 00:41:10:21
Fortune 100 companies to startups like myself
00:41:10:21 - 00:41:12:18
and non-executives, frankly.
00:41:12:18 - 00:41:14:10
So it's a really good mix of people
00:41:14:10 - 00:41:16:03
that are volunteering their time
00:41:16:03 - 00:41:17:00
because they care.
00:41:17:00 - 00:41:19:10
The projects are fairly robust too,
00:41:19:10 - 00:41:21:20
good analysis and workshops
00:41:21:20 - 00:41:24:11
on understanding our local landscape.
00:41:24:11 - 00:41:26:14
How many bio jobs do we have
00:41:26:14 - 00:41:27:16
and why aren't we hiring them?
00:41:27:16 - 00:41:29:14
Oh well, it's because nobody knows that
00:41:29:14 - 00:41:31:05
they're actually trained in bio skills,
00:41:31:05 - 00:41:33:10
like let's teach them what that means.
00:41:33:10 - 00:41:33:22
It’s the same thing
00:41:33:22 - 00:41:36:03
as automotive industry a lot of time
00:41:36:03 - 00:41:38:11
so let's let's talk about that
00:41:38:11 - 00:41:39:23
so you know those types of conversations
00:41:39:23 - 00:41:43:04
really uncover through our,
00:41:43:04 - 00:41:44:14
you know, our own anecdotes
00:41:44:14 - 00:41:45:16
what we might as a team
00:41:45:16 - 00:41:46:22
do to help the state.
00:41:46:22 - 00:41:50:08
Yeah, we don't have much exposure to more of the,
00:41:50:14 - 00:41:53:14
I guess the bureaucratic is not the right word
00:41:53:14 - 00:41:55:15
but you know, like the life science,
00:41:56:10 - 00:41:57:15
the advisory board type of things.
00:41:57:15 - 00:41:58:14
I mean, certainly we,
00:41:58:14 - 00:41:59:09
you know, TEDCO,
00:41:59:09 - 00:42:01:18
and you know, we're obviously active in Maryland.
00:42:01:18 - 00:42:03:13
So, I need to read up on it
00:42:03:13 - 00:42:04:14
to see if there are some events
00:42:04:14 - 00:42:05:13
we should consider.
00:42:05:13 - 00:42:08:12
I would say that they're very eager
00:42:08:12 - 00:42:09:14
and there's some great programs.
00:42:09:14 - 00:42:11:06
And being Maryland based
00:42:11:06 - 00:42:13:01
not to get to Maryland focused on your podcast.
00:42:13:01 - 00:42:14:15
But you know like every state,
00:42:14:15 - 00:42:15:17
we would all benefit
00:42:15:17 - 00:42:18:01
if these groups could get together quicker.
00:42:18:10 - 00:42:20:16
It's all too often,
00:42:20:16 - 00:42:21:23
I've found out myself
00:42:21:23 - 00:42:23:03
there's a group working on something
00:42:23:03 - 00:42:25:07
we totally were synergistic for
00:42:25:07 - 00:42:27:05
but didn't meet for three years after that.
00:42:27:05 - 00:42:29:09
How can we speed up these introductions?
00:42:29:09 - 00:42:30:02
So in Maryland,
00:42:30:02 - 00:42:32:12
you know, I hope that they're able to do that.
00:42:32:12 - 00:42:33:09
And I encourage everyone
00:42:33:09 - 00:42:35:04
to kind of continue
00:42:35:04 - 00:42:37:03
their engagement with the Maryland Life
00:42:37:03 - 00:42:38:07
Science Advisory Board, if they could.
00:42:38:07 - 00:42:40:01
I mean, you guys came came out of nowhere.
00:42:40:01 - 00:42:42:04
And I feel like that's a common,
00:42:42:04 - 00:42:44:05
common theme, which is, you know,
00:42:44:05 - 00:42:45:05
I feel like every year,
00:42:45:05 - 00:42:47:07
every six months, you're starting to see,
00:42:48:21 - 00:42:53:07
acquisitions and large investment sums
00:42:53:07 - 00:42:55:20
going to these companies that are in our ecosystem.
00:42:55:20 - 00:42:58:01
So it's great to see.
00:42:58:17 - 00:42:59:19
Going back to the marathon, it's
00:42:59:19 - 00:43:00:14
definitely a marathon
00:43:00:14 - 00:43:01:18
and you know, we're nowhere
00:43:01:18 - 00:43:02:22
near some of those other hotbeds.
00:43:02:22 - 00:43:05:14
But appreciate your work there, Jesse.
00:43:05:14 - 00:43:07:06
Yeah, indeed. It's a great team.
00:43:07:06 - 00:43:09:17
So, you know, I think we're about out of time.
00:43:09:17 - 00:43:10:01
You know,
00:43:10:01 - 00:43:10:20
I really appreciate you
00:43:10:20 - 00:43:14:04
coming on, Jesse, and sharing your story
00:43:14:15 - 00:43:16:14
and, you know, some of the challenges
00:43:16:14 - 00:43:17:15
you've had to overcome
00:43:17:15 - 00:43:20:21
and whether it's hiring or focus.
00:43:20:21 - 00:43:22:03
And I really appreciate
00:43:22:03 - 00:43:23:12
so some of those takeaways.
00:43:23:12 - 00:43:26:03
I'm just going to kind of share my highlights
00:43:26:03 - 00:43:27:14
while you're on the line.
00:43:27:14 - 00:43:29:20
One thing that really jumped out at me, the,
00:43:31:02 - 00:43:33:06
physician advocacy
00:43:33:06 - 00:43:35:09
on this podcast, we're always talking about
00:43:35:09 - 00:43:37:23
talk to the user, talk to the, you know,
00:43:38:07 - 00:43:40:03
just focus on the end user.
00:43:40:03 - 00:43:42:02
I don't think I've ever mentioned
00:43:42:02 - 00:43:43:03
the word patient.
00:43:43:03 - 00:43:45:14
And I think that I mean, sometimes the patient
00:43:45:14 - 00:43:48:01
is the end user for sort of home devices, but.
00:43:48:01 - 00:43:49:18
That's how we consider it.
00:43:49:18 - 00:43:51:10
Yeah, you're definitely a sales guy
00:43:51:10 - 00:43:53:13
and you got to keep the patient happy.
00:43:54:18 - 00:43:56:04
I thought that was really, really insightful
00:43:56:04 - 00:43:56:22
and definitely something I'm
00:43:56:22 - 00:43:57:15
going to, you know,
00:43:57:15 - 00:44:00:06
start falling into my vernacular more
00:44:00:06 - 00:44:01:11
and just talk about the patient
00:44:01:11 - 00:44:03:19
and the physician at the same time.
00:44:04:13 - 00:44:06:16
The other the other takeaway, I think, was
00:44:07:13 - 00:44:10:11
just this this whole window into a whole universe
00:44:10:11 - 00:44:11:08
that you're opening up
00:44:11:08 - 00:44:14:14
with diagnostics of the brain and time is tissue.
00:44:14:14 - 00:44:16:14
And there's there's got to be countless
00:44:16:14 - 00:44:18:18
different sort of initiatives you could pursue
00:44:19:08 - 00:44:19:23
kind of a fan
00:44:19:23 - 00:44:20:19
just kind of seeing where
00:44:20:19 - 00:44:22:01
that where that ends up for you.
00:44:22:01 - 00:44:23:19
And hopefully you can get some,
00:44:25:00 - 00:44:26:15
you know, some big partnerships
00:44:26:15 - 00:44:28:15
with either global pharma
00:44:28:15 - 00:44:29:20
or some of these universities
00:44:29:20 - 00:44:31:01
to really accelerate some of that
00:44:31:01 - 00:44:33:16
because people are struggling.
00:44:33:16 - 00:44:36:14
I mean, like people are getting older and,
00:44:36:14 - 00:44:40:00
there's definitely a need for better diagnostics
00:44:41:04 - 00:44:44:00
and not just like saving the hour
00:44:44:00 - 00:44:46:11
to wheel someone to an MRI or CT,
00:44:46:11 - 00:44:48:22
but like getting it faster and I’m sure ultrasound,
00:44:49:04 - 00:44:50:07
I don't know the details
00:44:50:07 - 00:44:53:14
of the resolution and specificity of ultrasound
00:44:53:14 - 00:44:55:09
versus MR and CT,
00:44:55:09 - 00:44:56:15
but, you know, all that,
00:44:56:15 - 00:44:58:21
I'm sure is, is heading in the right direction.
00:44:59:11 - 00:45:01:00
Well, thanks. It is exciting. Yeah.
00:45:01:00 - 00:45:03:07
Yeah, the preceptor thing
00:45:03:07 - 00:45:05:16
also I hadn't heard about so definitely going to,
00:45:06:01 - 00:45:07:16
you know, throw that out to, you know,
00:45:07:16 - 00:45:10:00
the startup companies that me
00:45:10:00 - 00:45:11:19
and other people of Key Tech are,
00:45:11:19 - 00:45:12:23
you know, interfacing with.
00:45:12:23 - 00:45:15:12
And then also some of your insights about,
00:45:16:07 - 00:45:19:08
you know, like leadership and communication and,
00:45:20:07 - 00:45:21:11
you know, just consistency
00:45:21:11 - 00:45:23:07
was the word that kind of jumped out at me.
00:45:23:07 - 00:45:27:15
Jesse of, you know, there's no excuses
00:45:27:15 - 00:45:30:06
if you have to report out ahead of,
00:45:30:06 - 00:45:32:19
stay ahead of that bad news or or good news.
00:45:32:19 - 00:45:34:18
So again, I appreciate your your insights.
00:45:34:18 - 00:45:35:10
This is not
00:45:35:10 - 00:45:37:06
intended to be sort of like a TED talk
00:45:37:06 - 00:45:38:18
or anything like that, but
00:45:38:18 - 00:45:40:13
we're trying to like, you know,
00:45:40:13 - 00:45:41:15
bring it full circle here
00:45:41:15 - 00:45:42:17
at the end of these episodes.
00:45:42:17 - 00:45:44:12
And I feel like your episode
00:45:44:12 - 00:45:45:05
at a most kind of
00:45:45:05 - 00:45:47:15
had a lot of like good insights I think
00:45:48:18 - 00:45:50:13
for people trying to do what you're doing.
00:45:50:13 - 00:45:52:08
And I appreciate the summary too
00:45:52:08 - 00:45:55:00
because I do think my personal experience
00:45:55:00 - 00:45:56:14
has been well rounded.
00:45:56:14 - 00:45:57:21
I don't want anybody who,
00:45:57:21 - 00:46:00:09
you know, reads about us to think that I
00:46:00:15 - 00:46:02:22
or any founder should be doing it all.
00:46:02:22 - 00:46:04:05
It's quite the opposite.
00:46:04:05 - 00:46:06:04
So, you know, hopefully that came through.
00:46:06:04 - 00:46:07:08
There are some very,
00:46:07:08 - 00:46:08:01
you know,
00:46:08:01 - 00:46:09:16
laws of physics type of management
00:46:09:16 - 00:46:10:14
that can apply to everything.
00:46:10:14 - 00:46:11:05
But outside of that,
00:46:11:05 - 00:46:12:18
you really need some great people around you.
00:46:12:18 - 00:46:13:23
Which you know.
00:46:13:23 - 00:46:15:06
Well, again, thanks for your time, Jesse.