Episode 10 · April 8, 2025 · 44m listen · 6,464 words · ~32 min read

Commercialize Your Medtech with Craig T Ingram | Ep. 15 - Full Transcript | The Med Device Cyber Podcast

Read the complete, searchable transcript of Episode 10 of The Med Device Cyber Podcast - expert conversations on medical device cybersecurity, FDA premarket and postmarket guidance, SBOM management, threat modeling, and penetration testing.

Prefer the listening experience? Open the episode page for the synopsis, key takeaways, topics, and Apple / YouTube listen links.

Episode summary

In this episode of the Med Device Cyber Podcast, hosts Trevor Slattery and Christian Espinosa are joined by Craig T. Ingram, a seasoned veteran with 27 years of experience in the MedTech industry. Ingram shares his extensive background, which began with starting his own medical distribution company as a sophomore in college, followed by a tenure at Johnson & Johnson, and a successful career leading multiple venture capital-backed companies. Now a consultant, Ingram focuses on guiding MedTech and healthcare technology companies through the perilous process of commercialization, aiming to prevent them from becoming part of the high-failure statistics that plague the industry. Ingram’s central argument is that the vast majority of startups and small to medium enterprises (SMEs) fail not because of a bad product, but due to low customer adoption, which is a direct result of an ineffective commercialization strategy. He posits that commercialization is more of an art than a science, a nuanced process that many companies misunderstand. According to Ingram, nine out of ten companies he audits lack a cohesive and comprehensive commercialization roadmap, often mistaking sales or marketing plans for the whole picture. He explains that his consulting method involves 'lifting up the hood' of a business to identify the 'kryptonite' in their processes—the key issues that stifle growth and lead to financial ruin. The discussion also delves into the psychology of sales and the shortcomings of the prevalent 'show and tell' approach. Ingram advocates for using 'emotional persuasion dialogue' to help potential customers rationalize their need for a product. When questioned about the role of cybersecurity, often seen as a burdensome expense, Ingram refutes this perspective. He frames cybersecurity as a critical, non-negotiable component of regulatory affairs and, by extension, commercialization. Comparing it to insurance, he argues it is an essential safeguard against malicious actors in an increasingly digital world, not an 'evil' to be minimized. Finally, he critiques the 'move fast and break things' ethos popular in Silicon Valley, stating that unless a business operates in a field where speed is paramount, such as trauma or motorsports, this approach leads to hastiness, ineffectiveness, and ultimately, failure.

Key takeaways from this episode

A high percentage of MedTech and healthcare tech startups fail due to low customer adoption, a problem often rooted in a flawed or non-existent commercialization strategy.
Commercialization is more of an 'art than a science' and requires a holistic roadmap that integrates and goes beyond separate sales and marketing plans.
The majority of small to medium-sized businesses operate without a proper commercialization plan, significantly increasing their risk of failure.
Effective selling uses the 'psychology of selling' and 'emotional persuasion dialogue' to help customers rationalize a purchase, which is more effective than simply listing product features.
Cybersecurity is not a 'necessary evil' but a critical component of regulatory compliance and overall business strategy, acting as an essential insurance policy.
The 'move fast and break things' mindset, popular in tech startups, is ill-suited for most industries and often leads to hastiness and ineffectiveness.
True business success stems from wisdom—the effective application of intelligence—rather than from intelligence or advanced degrees alone.
Investors and business leaders often mistakenly prioritize the product or 'widget' itself, while underestimating the crucial need for a well-defined plan to achieve customer adoption.

Full episode transcript

Trevor: Welcome back to the Med Device Cyber podcast. Joined here by the Blue Goat CEO and the co-host Christian Espinosa. And we have a guest today, Craig. Craig, why don't you tell us a little bit about yourself? Craig: Sure. So, my name is Craig Ingram. Uh, people call me Craig T. Um, I got that nickname nickname a few years ago when I was able to uh speak at a business conference with uh Keyfer Southern and uh, um, Kevin Costner. So, uh, that's how they gave me this little nickname. So it's kind of interesting, but uh 27 years in the Medtech industry I started my own medical distribution company when I was a sophomore in college. And uh, then went to Johnson and Johnson and then started my venture capital supported uh career from back to back to back multiple companies over the years and and recently over the last um, year and a half I have been uh doing Medtech and healthcare technology consulting to companies to help prevent them to be quite honest from going broke. Um, you know, the, the statistics are very, very high for startup and mid stage, small medium enterprise companies have shut their doors just because of low, uh amounts of customer adoption, uh unfortunately, because commercialization is more of an art than a science and, um, unfortunately, the the the the deck of cards are stacked against companies when they uh form and try to commercialize their products and services they offer. Christian: Thanks for the intro. Uh, and it seems like almost everybody had worked it's one of the large organizations. uh, the previous guest on our podcast worked at Johnson and Johnson as well. So it seems like everyone's coming from striker or Johnson and Johnson or something. Craig: Yeah, I mean those are the large strategics, right? So they, they they're the ones that take a gamble on people that don't have a lot of experience, right? To gain that experience. And without those large strategics that that, you know, literally bring in billions and billions and billions of dollars annually, um, very few companies would gamble on somebody fresh out of college or in college, uh even. Christian: Yeah. What, what something you said in the intro is interesting to me because I I would think from a business roadmap perspective, if I'm a startup, I'm getting investors, I would have thought about the customer adoption of, client adoption of my product early on, right? Isn't that part of what investors look at and isn't that something that should be thought of? Because I mean, if you don't understand your total addressable market and how it's going to be used and how you're going to get it to that market, then like you said, you have a pretty high degree of failure, right? Like isn't that pretty typical though when an early startup's road map? Craig: They're going to tell you yes, but just like a car that's not running well and a mechanical look under the hood and start tinkering around with the engine. Um, that's what my company does. We lift up the hood and inspect the engine of the company and we find that nine out of 10 companies do not have a commercialization roadmap or plan. They have a business plan, they may have a sales plan, they may have a marketing plan, but the sales plans and the marketing plans fit into an overall commercialization plan. And very few companies can literally pull one out that they've created and typed out and and is in written format. And yes, that is what investors look at. But when people think of commercialization, they only think of marketing, meaning to let their total addressable market know the products and services they offer, and then selling which unfortunately, the vast majority of sales professionals and even the leadership sales professionals are showing and telling. They're not actually selling and using the psychology of selling to get the potential prospect or potential customer to rationalize why they should own the product or service that's being offered. Christian: so the psychology of selling and I've heard this before, people talk about, you know, the product and the features but they don't really understand like how that solves the problem for the the and look at it through the prospects, you know, lens. And there's some psychology behind that obviously, it's emotional intelligence. Christian: what does that mean? Emotional because I we do social engineering in and in cyber security which is sort of cunning people using some of these techniques. I'm just curious like emotional I think you said emotional persuasion dialogue? Craig: Yeah. So emotional persuasion dialogue has to do with tonality, the words used, and the total framework of the sentence of the questions that are being asked in the conversation that is being um enacted with a prospect, right? Because they're not really a customer until they buy. And once they're a customer, then the goal of that company is to turn them into a client, right? Customers buy once, but clients buy over over and over again. And so, the biggest challenge with effective commercialization is is multifaceted. Number one, there's 10 components of commercialization. The vast majority of chief commercial officers don't know the 10 components. They don't. I've asked them. I've I've asked hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of chief commercial officers, um, which of the 10 which which which component of the 10 commercializations do they struggle with the most. And the vast majority of the time, they you can tell they're very uncomfortable answering that question because they're thinking it's just selling or marketing. But they don't think about regulatory. They don't think about um product design, right? Or or production or alliances and and and partnerships, right? They they don't think of those different components.

1 / 5