In this riveting episode of the Global Medical Device Podcast, Etienne Nichols brings together the dynamic leaders from Greenlight Guru: David DeRam (internally known as DD) and Pall Johannesson.
Together, they embark on a journey through the chronicles of Greenlight Guru and SMART-TRIAL (now Greenlight Guru Clinical), exploring its growth, trials, and moments that defined its course. The conversation is sprinkled with heartfelt personal anecdotes, emphasizing the brand's commitment to unwavering quality and the pivotal shifts during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The trio delves into the intricate dance of nurturing a thriving work culture in the MedTech arena, especially amidst the waves of the changing remote work landscape. They share profound insights into navigating the maze of regulations in the medical device sector, underscoring the critical importance of resilience—captured by the evocative term "alligator blood"—to thrive in such a challenging environment.
Drawing the curtain back on the transformative world of medical technology, this episode is a deep dive into the role of mindset coaching, poignant patient stories, and the horizon of MedTech. With glimpses into AI's impending role and technological leaps, interwoven with light-hearted tales of branded socks, Etienne, DD, and Pall craft a narrative that underscores the core values and vision that propel Greenlight Guru forward.
Watch the Video:
Listen now:
Like this episode? Subscribe today on iTunes or Spotify.
Some of the highlights of this episode include:
- A deep dive into why thriving in MedTech hinges on a fervent love for the mission, an unwavering dedication to the community, and an undying drive to champion quality of life.
- The compelling origin story of Greenlight Guru, birthed from an unmistakable need to provide robust backing for medical device professionals.
- The courageous pivot of SMART-TRIAL (now Greenlight Guru Clinical): How they chose to scrap months of effort and boldly embrace the future with cutting-edge technology.
- The resilience shown by Greenlight Guru during the COVID-19 storm: A seamless evolution from traditional office environments to adaptive global remote workspaces.
- How, even in a virtual setting, Greenlight Guru maintained a palpable culture that not only kept the team connected but resonated profoundly with customers.
- The blueprint for businesses in a post-COVID world: Understanding that adaptability and innovation aren’t just trends, but necessities for survival and growth.
- An exploration into the challenges and opportunities presented by regulatory shifts: For the forward-thinkers, these aren't mere hurdles, but potential goldmines.
- Why the term “Alligator blood” embodies the very resilience and fortitude required to chart the tumultuous waters of the MedTech industry.
- The secret sauce of MedTech success: A strategic focus on investing in individuals defined by their grit, fiery passion, and boundless ambition.
- A heartening reminder that MedTech’s real impact goes far beyond just technology—it's about making profound, tangible improvements in the quality of life.
Links:
Memorable quotes:
"You have to fall in love with the space and the community and the patients, and the concept that improving the quality of life is everything if you're going to be successful here." - David DeRam
"We all have almost unlimited capacity. We can do pretty much anything that we want to do... It comes down to are we going to quit or are we not going to quit? We know what to do... Which is why we invest in Mindset coaching. We talk a lot about energy, we talk a lot about intention, and we built our team on that culture." - David DeRam
Transcript:
Etienne Nichols: Welcome back to the Global Medical Device Podcast. I'm super pumped to get to talk to DD and Paul. Today we're going to be talking a little bit about the past, the present, and the future. That's kind of the. The theme that we've chosen with.
We're about to celebrate 10 years. And so, I don't know what that means specifically to, to, to you, DD and Paul. I'd love to hear. Hear those thoughts, but if we look back at the past of where Greenlight Guru and.
And Greenlight Clinical has come from, can I wonder if you could share some moments that, that you look back on with, with. With good, good feelings and maybe some bad ones? Maybe we could go both directions and, and DD, maybe we could start with you.
David DeRam: Yeah. Etienne, it's 10 years. Is. Is kind of amazing to think it's been 10 years. They say the days are long, but the years are short. It's just kind of FL.
Etienne Nichols: Run.
David DeRam: I think what.
What came to mind for me as you were talking was just the. The start of Greenlight Guru. And, you know, for. For three years, this guy named John Spear would chase me around and find me in dark alleys, and this guy would just show up everywhere that I was.
And he had this concept that there just is not a system out there to help medical advice professionals to do what they do.
And he was passionate about it. He had that crazy look in his eyes, and, and he described it for me.
We actually did a trade show together, and the people that came to see us had the same crazy look. And their eyes, they were foaming at the mouth a little bit.
Cause there just wasn't a system to do what they needed to do.
And I told John, you know, I'm really tied up right now, but if you had the right team, nothing could stop you from this opportunity. It's. It's all there. It's all aligned. There's a massive need for this.
That's kind of how the whole thing got started. That's what, that's what I thought of when you started talking about 10 years.
Etienne Nichols: That's really cool. And Paul, I know we've sort of converged in the last year or so with, with.
With your origin story. So, we have converging origin stories. I'm curious what your take is.
Pall Johannessen: Yeah, absolutely. So, you know, it's actually, in a funny way also.
Exactly. Almost ten years since we founded what formerly was known as Smart Trial.
And, you know, it. It all started with, luckily, a couple of pretty naive guys that if they'd known what was up ahead, they would probably never gotten started.
And, you know, but they, you know, me and obviously Yoan and our co-founder, Jan, we stuck to it and started making medical device software, but then kind of zeroed in on this idea with enabling MedTech companies to generate clinical evidence regardless of where they were in their life cycle.
And, you know, that's really, you know, how we ended up really becoming successful and then ultimately, you know, joining the green light guru family last year.
Etienne Nichols: It's really cool. I love hearing those founder stories, especially the.
And I'm gonna, I'm gonna ask you a question about things that maybe could have collapsed or fallen apart. And I get mixed results when I'm at conferences and I say, what's your favorite failure?
Some people like, rather not talk about it, and that's fair.
But if, I wonder if you'd be willing to share a moment maybe when everything could have collapsed and how you steered through, maybe a piece of advice you could give to other, other people who may be going through that phase.
Paul, do you want to start?
Pall Johannessen: Yeah, I'll start. Yeah. So, we had one of our first collaborations relating to, you know, generation of clinical evidence was with another private company. And, and very early on we started discussing things like IP and intellectual property, and we actually ended up not doing the collaboration with them and.
Which probably was the best thing that never happened, because if it had, I'm not sure we would be sitting here.
But because it didn't, we actually ended up deciding to, you know, completely start from scratch.
So, the code that my co-founder, Yon, spent months on writing, we looked at him, we said, well, Yon, you're not a software engineer. He said, yes, I'm not a software engineer, but I have an idea on how we should be doing this instead of, you know, the way we were doing it in the beginning with a lot more robust technology that's going to ensure us to really scale this thing.
And so, we actually took about three months of. Three or four months of real hard work and threw it down the drain.
And then we started over. So, you know, definitely a pivot for us there to start building on more modern technology than we had started with. And I don't think we would have done that if we had continued the collaboration with the, with the first partner so, wow.
Etienne Nichols: Well, thanks for sharing. That's. That's really good. DD, what are your thoughts when you look back?
David DeRam: Yeah, it's. A lot of things came to mind, but the one that really popped up this early was that Covid moment. You're. It's the spring of 2020, and you got a bunch of people in the office, and we worked really hard to build a fantastic culture. Everything that we did was about culture. It was about this togetherness. We were all together, same office. You could shake somebody if they did something really, really good. You could shake them if they did something really bad. And we had this team and this bond, and we were all trying to figure out, well, how long are we going to be gone?
And there was, like, a little pool that we ran, and the really crazy people were saying, like, we're probably going to be gone for, like, three or four weeks.
And I said, guys, I don't. I don't think we're going to be back in here until June. You know, it's. It's going to be a little bit of time. And as this Covid thing started to roll out, we had to really reimagine and rethink what an elite culture looks like, and how are we going to get this magic team and this bond and this togetherness that we've been able to build.
And, you know, that was really. Everything could have collapsed at that point, I think, if we. If we weren't thinking about the business in a completely different way.
Etienne Nichols: That's a really good point. In 2022, was it last year? The years are starting to run together a little bit, but true quality. When we had our first annual event and all our customers came together, it was kind of an interesting test to see whether or not you had accomplished that mission of keeping that togetherness.
And a lot of the feedback was, wow, if I run into one member, I've run into the entire team. Because you're so connected and so. So similar in the way you approach customers.
So, I think that might be a good testament to. To how you accomplish that.
But curious what. What you think the key was, though. A lot of people are struggling with that remote, and we don't have to go down this path too far. But.
But how to achieve that togetherness through remote culture.
David DeRam: I think it's really interesting, and I think we're. We're right at the infancy of this new way that people work. You can call it distributed culture. You call it remote culture.
I like to call it zoom culture. We work on zoom. You Know, everybody is suddenly on zoom.
Etienne Nichols: Yeah.
David DeRam: So, there's a lot of innovation that's going on in terms of how do you get people together physically when you get them together.
Do they work around teams? Do they work around objectives? There's a lot of, I think, really innovative thinking that's going on around how to best build a culture. And there is some thinking too, around is it required that people have to get together, or can you build relationships through zoom or online or distributed or remote?
So, I think some of the steps that we've taken have just been through our DEIB efforts, making sure people feel heard, making sure that people feel that they belong.
Got a really, really high score in terms of how people feel like they belong here.
So, I think all that comes into play, but it's. It's not one thing, it's everything.
Etienne Nichols: Paul, you want to add anything. I know you. So, you're being on the other side of the ocean. It's especially important as well.
Pall Johannessen: Yeah, absolutely. You know, I think Didi just hit it right on the head. Right. Like, it's. It's very important to, I would say, embrace this new way of working and where. It's early days for us, but I do think we.
We've actually managed to continue to grow through the new way of working. I couldn't help thinking back to Covid, but I might come back in terms of what, you know, a pivotal moment as well in the business.
But.
And. But, you know, it forced us to rethink the way we work, rethink the way we collaborate. So, I think it's good.
Etienne Nichols: Yeah.
So, let's jump.
We are servicing the MedTech industry, and so we have to think about medical device regulations and specifics to that. So, I'm curious, if you look back, I don't know the historical. And DD, maybe we could start with you.
Is there any regulation that stands out that, you know, this was almost insurmountable or. Or something you faced that really had to change the way you approach things?
Anything come to mind?
David DeRam: Week one, I want you to picture.
I want you to picture four people sitting around a table and the concept. The topic of part 11 comes up, and our CTO is getting his first taste of what validation looks like in. In our world.
And his next two words were, I quit.
Now, I want to be clear that he was kidding about that, but there's a little bit of truth in every joke.
So, we developed this concept that. I took a deep breath and leaned back and I stood. Look, it's pretty clear that this is a really, really difficult industry.
There’re difficult regulations. They're changing constantly. There's a lot of complexity.
Clearly, we're going to have to have some toughness. And I said, have you seen this rounders movie where they say, teddy, put the kid away? And he said, I can't. The kid's got alligator blood.
And I looked up alligator blood in the Urban Dictionary, and it's the people who are able to withstand the endless psychological blows. They're resistant to the endless psychological blows, but then they're also competitive enough to continue to pound away when they're ahead.
And alligators are tough. They've been around for 70 million years. I can't wrap my head around that. But they're made out of combat armor. They bite like crazy.
It just really. It resembles what you have to have to be a part of this industry and to be a part of this company.
And I don't know, after 30 years, I think the smart, tough people, they. They tend to survive; they tend to win.
And that, that really came about as part of that Part 11 regulation that, that we were all kind of scratching our heads trying to get our.
Get our thoughts around from day one.
Etienne Nichols: Those of you who aren't seeing video, you can't see behind Deedee, there's this. There's this picture of an alligator that says alligator blood underneath it. And interestingly enough, I don't know if I ever told you this, that phrase is one of the reasons I was attracted to Greenlight Guru in college.
I had to give a talk on in biology. And one of the things I found was if you drop cancer cells into alligator blood, it will destroy them. And it's just one of those unbelievable things.
And my wife and I would joke about having alligator blood, and when I came across, I'm like, no way. A company that demands it. That's fantastic.
But, Paul, I want to hear from you. What are your. What are your.
Do you have a story that met a regulation? May have trip tripped you up?
Pall Johannessen: I'm not necessarily. Not so much tripped us up, but, you know, when we were. When we were honing in on what to really focus on which vertical to kind of really, you know, drive against medical device being one of them.
And I think this is around 2017 or 2016, 17.
You know, the European Union started publishing its first drafts on the medical device regulation and how they were going to start demanding clinical evidence from medical device companies.
And, you know, we had been doing clinical research, you know, clinical trials, and then this regulation comes out. That says, well, guess what? Claiming equivalence or basically looking at something that's already on the market and saying we're just the same is not going to be an option anymore.
You're going to have to really document and prove that your device does what you say it does. It's not. And again, I'm not saying that the other devices don't, but it's really put focus and emphasis on generating clinical evidence.
And that's where we had this moment where we're like, okay, this is going to not only change the way these companies think, but also how they work and what's going to be required of them and they're not going to see it coming.
So, this is our chance to really make a dent in the universe and assist these companies with producing, you know, better medical devices and make sure that they stay on the market.
Because alongside those first publications was, you know, people in the industry were saying, well, this is going to. We're not going to have any devices; we're going to have hospitals without medical devices.
And then ultimately, you'd see that, you know, the MDR, of course, push a couple of times and, and some of those changes, you know, had us, you know, somewhat questioning if we had made the right choice in the beginning, but, but ultimately we stuck to it and definitely the right call in hindsight. But, you know, everything in hindsight is, is easy to call.
Etienne Nichols: So, you both reference regulations that, that maybe they popped up and made things a little bit more difficult for some companies.
And it's a continual thing.
IND the industry is still moving, still changing. We have QMSR, we have cybersecurity changes, we have AIML coming on the, on the horizon.
How do you stay ahead or how do as a company keep one step ahead of all of these different things that, that could cause other companies’ upheaval or maybe not awareness.
David DeRam: And we've seen an awful lot of change at the end, haven't we? Like, even in the last five years.
Etienne Nichols: Oh, yeah.
David DeRam: So, for me, where I immediately go here is we have a team of what we call gurus, and our gurus are tuned into the heartbeat of the industry.
It's a daily thing for us. This isn't something that happens in annual planning and we start to think about quality and regulatory.
We're working with our customers and our partners every single day. We're learning, we're developing insights, we're developing strategies. So, it's sort of like breathing for us.
I love that answer. Yeah, yeah, I think that's the advantage. You get too when you're not in, you know, manufacturing and aerospace and cannabis and when you're not in a bunch of industries and you're tuned into the heartbeat of this industry, it becomes a part of who you are.
Pall Johannessen: Exactly.
I can just echo that. I would say that one of the key things I think to DD's point is we don't only hear about the regulation, we are somewhat also a part of shaping the regulations with our views of the industry, all of our partners, the ecosystem around. Greenlight Guru.
We have so many touch points with what's going on that we live this thing. We're not only reading about it somewhere or writing about it somewhere. We are living it every day.
Etienne Nichols: So, thanks, that's a really good point. It's something I think we as an industry forget about that we have the ability to make that feedback to the FDA and I know that's not what you're referencing necessarily, but just with the ecosystem we built, it's far reaching.
Just kind of, kind of pivot a little bit to think about the team, the internal team you mentioned, the gurus.
There's lots of different teams inside. Greenlight Guru, Greenlight Guru, clinical quality.
What's some non-negotiable traits you look for in building those teams? And I don't know, whoever wants to start.
David DeRam: Go ahead, Paul.
Pall Johannessen: You want me to start? Okay.
So, I, I've always had this saying that we would only hire pilots, right.
And there are a number of traits behind hiring pilots. So, the difference between a pilot and a passenger is that the pilot can actually sit behind the wheel land the plane or take off the plane and steer it where the passengers typically are just there for the ride if you like.
So, you know, on our little plane, we, there's only room for pilots is what I used to say. So, there weren't any passenger seats. We threw them out and then they were only pilot seats.
And the traits of a pilot is, you know, not only striving for excellence and knowledge and quality, but also, they typically want to be at the best at what they do.
I haven't met any pilots like, yeah, I just, you know, get around. Right.
Like pilots want to be the best, they want to be the best in what they do.
So, I think that's a trait that I would typically look for in a team member is the ambition to be the best.
And not only that but having the grit to also do it.
So, you know, you know, ambition and grit.
Etienne Nichols: I would say that's really cool. My brother was a pilot when I was, I get into his car as a teenager, and he was.
Instead of listening to music, he listened to the call signs, everybody. I couldn't understand it, but he was so obsessed with flying. And I think that's kind of speaks to your point.
People who are so obsessed with the medical device industry or what we're doing, that's a really good point, to hire pilots. Didi, what about you?
David DeRam: This one really hits the nerve for me because when we built the business, we wanted to build something special. We wanted to build an amazing place to work, was one of the core tenants that we built the business on.
And 32 years into the software industry, the more I see and the older I get, I think it's about smart, passionate, tough people in reversal order.
So, this toughness just. My belief is that we all have almost unlimited capacity.
We can do pretty much anything that we want to do.
And then you combine that with the amount of access to information. Most of the answers are just kind of out there now.
So, it comes down to, are we going to quit or are we not going to quit? We know what to do. We know what we've got to do.
And so, what I've seen with this alligator blood concept is there's just some people who are just going to continue through when it gets hard, and then there are some people who prefer not to. There's a certain amount of sacrifice that's required to build what we built here, to build something that's truly magic and truly amazing.
So, for me, as we build our teams, we're looking for tough people with a lot of passion who are really smart and can kind of take down some of these problems.
I think it's just about how much. How much can you do before you stop moving forward? Which is why we invest in mindset coaching.
We talk a lot about energy, we talk a lot about intention, and we've built our team on that culture.
Etienne Nichols: That's really fantastic.
I remember coming and starting and experiencing the mindset coaching at one point as a medical device guru, working with these different customers, you had high demands. I realized this is going to require a step jump.
I thought it was good, but it's going to require a step jump. And reached out to one of our mindset coaches. It was fantastic. So, I'm glad you highlight that.
So, let's go ahead and go one step deeper. So, we're talking about building out the team, but we also, of course, the ultimate goal is to improve the quality of life.
Can you share a story where our platform has helped make A real life medical impact.
DD, I wonder if you'd have one you want to share.
David DeRam: There's so many, you know, we do our roadshow, and our customers turn back on us, and they talk about why they do what they do. And invariably you'll, people will cry when they hear these stories.
They're, they're so passionate and they're so heartfelt and authentic.
A lot of entrepreneurs get into medical device because they're trying to solve a specific problem that maybe affected them, their friends, their family.
And the one that comes to mind for me is Spark Bio. Daniel Powell is the CEO. He came in and talked to our team, and he told us about when somebody's coming off of opioid addiction as an adult, you will hear them say that they were certain they were going to die.
So, they're not trying to get high, they're not trying to find their next drug.
It's their in. So, they're suffering.
And what his device does is it sits on the back of the ear and provides a stem neurostim that allows you to reduce the effects of the withdrawal symptoms from the opioids.
And that was amazing. But then he started talking about the babies.
You know, the clinical trials that they were running through with the babies who from now imagine if an adult feels like they're going to die when they're coming off, imagine what a baby feels like. And he talked about the screams that a baby makes, like you'll never forget it.
You know, he's been there on the front lines and seen this. And he described what happens when a baby's going through withdrawals.
I think the most exciting thing for me, you know, the clinical trials went really well.
When they were going to remove these devices from the hospital, the nurses were like, over my dead body. If you've ever been in the hospital for a serious event, the nurses are your, they're your champions, right? They're the ones that are just sticking up for the patients. And they would not let them take these devices out of the hospital because of the good that they did for the babies.
Imagine the difference between the babies can get relief in 60 minutes versus three weeks of methadone and you're trying to bring the baby off, you know, chemically off of this dependency versus 60 minutes and the amount of suffering that the nurses have to see.
So, as you see, this device now come to market and provide an increase in the quality of life of adults, of babies, infants.
That's remarkable. And we've got had to remind my team, you know over a thousand customers moving quickly to 2,000 current customers who are doing the same thing. So, our impact, our mission of improving the quality of life is everything to us.
Etienne Nichols: That's really, really powerful. Paul, what about you?
Pall Johannessen: I really think that's the story. Right. Like, like Didi mentioned. Right. We've worked with so many medical device companies, really having an impact on people's lives all around the globe that, you know, I think we stick to the spark story. It's a good story.
Etienne Nichols: Yeah, it's easy to forget in the moment we're dealing with, oh, I'm making software, I'm doing this, or whatever, and lift your head up and look at who you're actually impacting that makes such a difference.
That's really cool.
So, we talked a little bit about the team, a little bit about the history and the, the, the patients that we're trying to impact.
There's a third component here that we have to talk about, and that's the actual technology that we're utilizing to help improve the quality of life. I'm curious.
We already mentioned some of the changes from a regulatory standpoint, but how has technology evolved or how are you seeing technology evolve and trying to keep up with these advancements?
David DeRam: Yeah, my backgrounds in technology, and the tech's always evolving. I think when we came to market, our tech was really, really amazing.
And we've had to continue to make investments in the tech. And just like we talked about earlier, it's like breathing for us.
You're going to see some fantastic updates coming from the way our software operates, the way that it's used, the scale that it can roll up to.
And then when you start to add in the AI, the artificial intelligence, the machine learning technology that is going to become a standard, integral part of a medical device company just in their daily life.
That is really exciting because that data can be used to make decisions. It's not about storing data; it's not about compliance. It's not about, you know, just the basics of blocking and tackling.
But that can actually, that technology, which we've been investing in for over five years now, significantly, that technology is going to make a big dent in how a company innovates and makes decisions and what they're able to bring to markets. Once again, it all rolls back to that mission of improving the quality of life.
Etienne Nichols: And I, I'm just gonna speak just for a moment to the, to what he's hinting at. So those of you listening, if you're interested, you can check out the show Notes and I'll send you, or I'll give you a link to what we're calling the digital guru, which is you can get a snapshot of what we're doing.
We mentioned the guru of medical device gurus, who are professionals and can help you get your product to market. But you can't really scale that very easily. But what if we gathered all of that knowledge and put that into an artificial, an AI platform and offered you that digital guru? Check it out. I'll put a link in the show notes.
You can feel free to check that out, but I don't want to take up your airtime. Paul, what about you? I know you've seen a lot of changes in technology as well.
Pall Johannessen: Yeah, absolutely. I think especially Covid pushed clinical studies, right?
You know, all of a sudden, from one day to the other, you couldn't do clinical trials in the hospital, right? There was, you know, nobody could get in. There was one task and one task only, and that was Covid.
And that, you know, spun off a series of events, one of which being more remote, you know, data collection, if you like.
Some people call it decentralized clinical trials, other people refer to it as hybrid clinical trials, where you try to move the study out of the clinic and into the patient's home.
And, you know, we've seen a big shift in technology towards that. And of course, we've built technology to support that, for example, with electronic data, you know, consenting for, you know, electronic signatures for the informed consent and, you know, other items that enable or facilitate these types of studies.
And then on top of that, again in the launch of the Greenlight Guru MedTech suite, combining the quality management system and the clinical data capture tool in one and the same suite is just going to enable us to spur even further towards what you would see medical device companies need at any given state, at any given time in their life cycle from a software component. And then, of course, infusing that, as Didi mentioned, with our artificial intelligence engine is really exciting. And what's going to literally spur us.
Etienne Nichols: Forward, that consolidation is super exciting. I know a lot of people who have already used one or the other, whether clinical quality or our academy, I know they're really excited about that.
So, it's exciting times for sure to be in the MedTech. So, I'm curious a little bit more. If we go back to our challenges question, when we think about scaling up, becoming more global, how do you see some of these? Obviously, there are opportunities, but what are the challenges in going from a startup to More of a global player.
David DeRam: There's never a shortage of challenges at the end; I would say just a combination of people and process challenges.
So early on, you're doing things that don't scale. You're trying to figure out the business, the market, the customers, the team.
Then you get to scale, and your systems have to take over, and your systems have to be one of your star players.
Then you add lots and lots of people.
Inevitably, you're going to have this messiness that comes along with this. We'll call it the law of large numbers.
And then add on top of that that people are extremely unpredictable.
That's a pretty good recipe for a cake that's just that it's just full of challenges and it's part of the fun of building a big company.
Etienne Nichols: Cool. I think that's a good perspective to look at as fun. Paul, what about you?
Pall Johannessen: Yeah, I would agree.
And then just to sprinkle on top of that, the fact that we're a global team, right.
We are based in multiple time zones all around the world.
As we've alluded to before, we're a zoom first company. So, we've got people, you know, when some of our staff is waking up, the other half's going to bed and like, we're overlapping at weird times of the day. And not that that's a challenge, but that's an opportunity as well.
And of course, to make, you know, make sure we utilize that to the best of our abilities.
But yeah, I would agree that there's no shortage of challenges as we continue scaling and growing this thing. And, you know, the demand is just so big for products that can really, you know, again, move medical devices, you know, safely, securely and in a fast manner through the. Through the hurdles and to the patients.
Etienne Nichols: So that's a really good point. I mean, if, if one team is going to bed and the other one is waking up, this, this is a global company now that never sleeps.
So that's one way to look at it.
I love that. You guys must have planned your analogies. Didi built a cake, and you sprinkled on top of that. My kids would approve.
So, when you think about us versus them, the competition, maybe we talk about being a global company and focusing on moving MedTech forward. How do you see us differentiating when everyone else is singing?
We will get you compliant. We will get you to that point.
David DeRam: One of our core values is true quality.
And I, I think true quality changes everything.
If you think about restaurants or businesses or products or even people, everything has a Vibration. I, I think of quality as a vibration of a, of a given level.
So, my, my favorite example here is when you're a kid and you have to cut the grass.
For me, I had to cut the grass before I could go anywhere. And I, I just remember this viscerally. I would just wait until the last possible moment and then do a really, really bad job.
And you looked at it, and you just knew that there was something wrong. You're like, hmm, that's not good.
But the one time you decided you were going to do it right, you, you did it perfect and then you cross cut it and you cleaned everything up and you swept off the driveway and you were proud of it and you looked at it and it kind of glowed a little bit and you wanted to lay down on it.
You were attracted to it. You know, it's like going to a, go to a sporting event and see the perfect grass. You just want to go lay down in the outfield.
Quality is attractive and it has a vibration. Just like a great restaurant, you know, you want to be there. The menus are clean. There's just the little things that a great restaurant does.
And I think when we infuse true quality into all aspects of our business, that's the competitive differentiator. It's real, you can taste it, you can feel it. Tn you said when you rolled up here, you said, oh, I'm going to clearly have to level up here.
There's a lot going on and this is going to require more of me. And that's the exact reaction that we want from our team, is that we're always pushing quality, we're always pushing harder.
How much better can we be? You can always be better; you can always improve.
So, when you talk about differentiation, I think true quality does that.
What do you think, Paul?
Pall Johannessen: I completely agree. And I think to continue with the sprinkling analogy, you know, we were just, we're just never going to give up, right?
We're just, we're never going to give up. We're going to continue to push the boundaries of what true quality is and means.
So, every time we get to a point, we're like, hey, we've got this.
Just going to shake our heads and say, no, we have to continue to improve.
And that's on all fronts. That's product to people, that's, you know, our own knowledge, skills, technology, you know, everything.
And so, I think that's how we're gonna continue to differentiate ourselves is the push.
Etienne Nichols: Well, what about the future?
So, we've Talked about.
We've come, we've come a long way. We've talked about the beginning, we talked about what we are and what we're, what we're going through right now. But what about the future?
Can you give us a five-year snapshot to where Greenlight Guru is headed?
Didi, do you want to start us off?
David DeRam: I'd love to.
The way that I think about it is even more of who we already are, which is the number one provider of solutions for MedTech companies.
And then we lean into our mission. Our mission is everything to us. So more of improving the quality of life through more products, serving more companies, different size companies, more customers, and then more patients impacted by Greenlight Guru and then more of our team that is living a very high quality of life by being a part of this true quality and being a part of this energy.
All those combine to give a really clear vision for our five-year snapshot.
Etienne Nichols: Oh, what about you?
Pall Johannessen: Absolutely. That I would be singing the same song. Right. You know, we are going to continue again, like I said before, the push.
We're going to make sure that we can, you know, assist as many medical device companies as absolutely possible within the next five years and make a true impact to patients in the world.
Etienne Nichols: So that's fantastic.
I wasn't sure I'd be able to get to these questions. These are my own personal, selfish questions. I guess I'm curious about how you as leaders have grown over this 10-year ride. I mean, it's you, you don't, you don't go 10 years leading a company like these that you've led without changing in some way.
I'm curious if you could pinpoint or describe a change that you've experienced. Paul, do you want to start?
Pall Johannessen: Yeah. It's interesting, right, because when you think 10 years and then you think just one year, even just the last year, it's been immense in terms of personal growth, professional growth.
But if you think 10 years back when we founded the company, I was literally a kid, even I cannot even like, that's not an analogy. I was not very old.
So obviously, you know, I've grown up with this business tremendously and I've learned how to work with, you know, fantastic people, how to see what people are good at and really make sure that we had pilots on the plane and not passengers.
And I think that's how I've grown and will continue to. Right.
It's a never journey that's never going to stop.
Etienne Nichols: Yeah. Can I ask one more question about that? If you look back on that. Is there something you could have done to, uh, we talked about the step jump. Um, you're, you're, you're looking at 10 years now if you look. Oh, if I'd said this or done this could have, could have accelerated even more.
Pall Johannessen: Not really. I, I'm, you know, and this is like, this is also just back to the way I think, I don't really think. And like, oh, I should have done that a month ago or a year ago or a day ago because I, we just can't change it.
Would I be doing it faster the next time around? Definitely. Like, would I grow fast? Like, continue to accelerate my growth? Absolutely.
And, but no, I don't really think that.
There's a lot of mistakes that had to be made for us to get here and a lot of you know, a lot of wins that had to be won for us to get here.
So, I don't think that I would be able to do, like, I can't even come up with anything because I, my mind's always looking forward.
Etienne Nichols: Fine wine takes time. Yeah, no, that's good. Deedee, what about you? How have you changed? Would you say, oh, I love what.
David DeRam: You said about, you know, I was a kid or 10 years ago. Think about how long 10 years is. Like, it's just say you're 12, maybe you're playing with like a Superman doll at 12.
At 22, you might be married with kids.
You know, that's 10 years.
Isn't that amazing to think like, how much shift there could be in 10 years? Or the mindset of a 22-year-old versus a 32-year-old. Like 10 years is a lot.
So, it's definitely been a ride. There's been a lot of sacrifice that's been required to get to this point. And I, I was telling Paul earlier this morning, they just don't give away opportunities like what we have here. Like companies like this.
They don't just pop up.
I'm even more convinced. What I've learned is I'm even more convinced of the value of a great culture of people, about caring about people, about developing people.
Take a group of what did we say earlier?
Smart, tough, passionate people, all playing together with a ton of trust. That trust is a huge word for us.
And then complete commitment, that you've got a magic team and how could it get any better than that? So, I, I think that's what I've learned is the culture drives results, but it also creates the experience.
Etienne Nichols: So, reflecting back on that, I'm curious What would be one piece of advice you'd give to a newer entrepreneur? Whether it's in the building, out of software for the MedTech space, or an entrepreneur in the MedTech space.
Do you have any piece of advice? Maybe just one stands out.
Paul, I see you looking off into the distance.
Pall Johannessen: Yeah.
Where to start? No, it's, I, I think you know.
So back to what Didi was just saying, right?
You have to put faith in the people you have around you. Nobody can build a company that really makes a dent in the universe single handedly.
Any company's always been built on teams and on great people.
So, you have to make sure to really lean in and put the trust and the faith in great people around you.
Etienne Nichols: Didi, what about you? What piece of advice you'd give?
David DeRam: The one thing I've learned being in this space is that people who are in this space really care.
They're really committed to the patients.
You cannot be in this space and kind of spin out of some startup and try to put some VC model together and hope that it's all going to work and be really financially or fiduciary oriented.
I think to be in this space and to be effective, you have to fall in love with the space and the community and the patience and the concept of improving the quality of life I think is everything if you're going to be successful here.
That's good.
Etienne Nichols: So, we kind of shift gears a little bit here if we look towards our fans because Greenlight Guru actually has a lot of fans, a lot of people who love the company, love the, love what we're doing and we love them as well.
You know, it's a mutually mutual relationship. What's a frequent or maybe a favorite question that you've gotten from users of the platform or those who've experienced the brand?
DD, do you want to start? Do you have something, something popped to mind?
David DeRam: You mentioned earlier the true quality conference, you know, the being able to connect with so many customers there.
The favorite question that I get is what you guys do is amazing.
Can I come work there?
Do you have a spot for me?
And that's a tough one.
But in general, the answer is, well, come on then.
But it's not easy.
This is not an easy team to crack the lineup and to get it in or to be a high performer here.
It's not easy. But come on then, if that's what you'd want, then let's do this. Come on then.
Etienne Nichols: That's good. Paul.
Pall Johannessen: Yeah. I've been privileged enough to Do a number of trade shows and conferences in the last 12 months.
And the typical question is, are you a sock manufacturer?
How do you make all those socks and why do they look different?
We give away socks at every trade show with a Greenlight Guru brand.
Everybody loves them and everybody wants them. So, the typical question is, where do you make those things?
And. And. And how many can I take? Because I want to take, like, 10. 10 pairs for my team. So, I would say that that's probably my favorite question is how many socks can I take?
Etienne Nichols: You know, that's funny. You talk about you make great socks or you make great this. Some people look at us as a media company. Some look at us as. As a sock provider, you know, and.
And it really goes back to your team. If you hire people who are the best at whatever it is they're doing, everything they produce is going.
So, it's just kind of funny that you bring up the socks. I love that.
David DeRam: I don't know how that started, but that's real.
Pall Johannessen: It is, absolutely.
Etienne Nichols: I actually think I've. Yep. I've got some on right now.
David DeRam: Okay.
Etienne Nichols: I won't show them. Nobody wants to see my feet. I want to ask one last question, and this is more of the legacy question, so we'll let this be our last question. How do you want Greenlight Guru quality Green Light guru clinical. How do you want Green Light guru as a brand to be remembered?
Paul, do you want to start?
Pall Johannessen: Yeah, I'm probably going to steal DD's thunder. I think there's only one. One real answer to that, and that's true quality.
David DeRam: My answer would be, if you're talking about legacy, wow. They really improve the quality of life.
You know, we. And we put our money where our mouth is. We've actually invested in a community here and built an elite facility for athletes to try to make their way into college and to serve some of the people who would not normally have that opportunity specifically to improve the quality of their lives.
So, if a hundred years from now, people say greenlight Guru, really improve the quality of people's lives, that's what we're looking for. That's our mission.
Etienne Nichols: Absolutely. We want to move MedTech forward and improve the quality of life. Thank you both. I really appreciate you spending time and kind of going through, even putting up with my questions about what your favorite failures and things like that were.
So, I really appreciate your time.
All right.
David DeRam: That was a lot of fun. Thank you.
Etienne Nichols: We'll let everybody get back to it. Take care, everybody.
Thanks for tuning in. To the Global Medical Device Podcast. If you found value in today's conversation, please take a moment to rate, review and subscribe on your favorite podcast platform. If you've got thoughts or questions, we'd love to hear from you.
Email us at podcast@greenlight.guru.
Stay Connected for more insights into the future of MedTech innovation. And if you're ready to take your product development to the next level. Visit us at www.greenlight.guru until next time, keep innovating and improving the quality of life.
About the Global Medical Device Podcast:
.png)
The Global Medical Device Podcast powered by Greenlight Guru is where today's brightest minds in the medical device industry go to get their most useful and actionable insider knowledge, direct from some of the world's leading medical device experts and companies.
