The Surgical Robotics industry is a rapidly developing space. On Episode 6 of The Surgibots Podcast I sat down with the President and CEO at eCential Robotics, Stéphane Lavallée, to discuss the importance of partnerships and acquisitions in our industry.
What did you learn from previous acquisitions?
Listen to the companies that can potentially acquire your startup. It's very important to have information on what their vision is, where they want to go, what you need to target, etc. Big companies will usually make acquisitions because they have long term plans, so you need to focus on something which is in their vision, not not totally outside their scope. The more information you can have on their partnerships, the better your relationship will be.
Focus. You have to be very careful when establishing a startup to do one thing. If you’re only doing one thing you need to be the best in the world at doing it. I see startups saying ‘We are going to create a global solution from scratch’. If you want to be acquired, that’s not a reasonable goal.
Build partnerships with key opinion leaders. Surgeons have a big voice, so you have to listen to them very carefully. Their recommendations, including on your technology, will really matter. They have a clear vision of the surgical implications and clinical issues. Have a good discussion about ‘Do you like this technology? Do you prefer that technology?’ It’s really important to create a product that’s based on clinical needs, inspired by the key opinion leaders.
What lessons could you share with other entrepreneurs?
Never give up. It happens so often in the life of a startup - things get hard and you are discouraged. Things don’t work. You might have a problem with the technology, the competition or the IP. You might have no money so you cannot pay the salaries at the end of the month. Sometimes you're really in a hole. There is always a moment where you are discouraged and you want to stop. This is where you need to resist all those pressures and stay alive. It's a question of finding solutions. Don't let the company die, don't give up. It's impossible to have a 100% success rate. Whether you change something significant, you restructure, whatever it is, just continue. It’s that simple.
To learn more about start-up acquisitions in the surgical robotics space, tune into Episode 6 of The Surgibots Podcast here.
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