I'd like to take this opportunity to introduce the new med tech talk host as well as give him an opportunity to share more about his story. I'd like to welcome Jeff Pardo partner at Gilda healthcare. Hi Jeff. Welcome to the MED tech. Talk podcast thanks worry. I'm not sure. I'm totally deserving of that introduction does very nice and I'm really excited to be hosting the show Awesome Jeff. Can you share a little bit about yourself your background and just also how you got into this industry absolutely? You know it's interesting I. It was not a straight LINE GETTING INTO MED tech at Brown University. Where I went I was a history. Major actually. Didn't take a single science class. I took some economics classes but they were a really boring and I really didn't have any interest in it and But I also recognize. That really didn't want to be a history professor and I didn't know exactly where history would take me so I started exploring after graduation. How to get into business in my first job was actually doing oil and gas consulting of all things and other areas. That hadn't really no idea was doing but I actually was born. In Latin America was put on teams that ended up working in Latin American oil and gas and had a terrific experience and that was my entry into business but then my initiation into midtech really began with sympathies and that turned out to be pivotal to my career development. Why is that well? It's funny Cynthia's was at the time. People probably know now that Cynthia was bought by Johnson and Johnson huge acquisition. Like twenty billion dollars. But at the time Cynthia's while it was reasonably large it was still run like a smaller company founder That owned a majority of the company was really able to shape the culture in the way that he wanted to shape it and part of that was in really tight relationships with clinicians In particular he really mandated that everybody spend a lot of time in the operating room working side by side with clinicians. That's actually not so easy anymore to do in the current You kind of regulatory environment. But at the time we were in the operating room all the time and and it may be realized that I wanted to contribute to innovation on a larger platform in effect companies. In many different medical specialties. So is that how you got into? Venture capitalists yeah exactly so I went to Ward and after Wharton I had a chance to work with cardinal partners. A general healthcare venture firm in Princeton New Jersey and then ultimately went to spray venture partners back in my hometown of Boston and Really was lucky in both cases to learn from some amazing mentors and entrepreneurs in their own right brandon hall. John Clark Dan Cole. Kevin Connors all. These people had a tremendous impact on me and it was really an apprenticeship for a business that you can't teach in a classroom. How South at spray was some of the most. I think important experiences for me. In terms of how to get company STAR WE START ABOUT HALF. The companies in our portfolio with the entrepreneurs filed patents in many cases for these companies but one of the more interesting experiences with solutions which we had invested in the CEO. Step down unexpectedly in two thousand seven and actually. I remember Juliet a backer. Who's now longitude? But at the time was with the peak. What approach me and said she was on the board and she said. Do you want to run this company and I was just you know pretty young guy but I said yes and that's an important lesson for me as I got through microbes. Even when you're not sure sometimes just say yes. That thing's usually important learning experiences. Come out of it and that was an amazing experience because we took a product that was still in a prototype stage yet in the clinic in the early clinical trials. We will find it into a very slick procedure. And we brought it into a full-scale pivotal trial and the device itself was working really well But we also endured a lot of funding challenges. Two Thousand Eight to two thousand eleven is listeners to this podcast probably remember was a very difficult time in medical devices in in particular for spying. Pma's and unfortunately we weren't able to complete the project ended up selling Globus in two thousand eleven and it was not a financial success but so many lessons came out of it for me. I'm sure so. What did you do after that I went? I went back to spray for about six months but during that time also was introduced to the folks from Gilda healthcare and I never met anybody from Gilda but got to know them and really appreciated their strategy of jumping into us. Med Tech at a time that a lot of investors had rotated out of the segment. Why is that well in two thousand eight? There was a financial crisis so that was a time. When you saw pullback from a lot of things but also at the time there was a lot of issues with a regulatory frameworks in Med tech. It was pretty onerous or difficult relationship with FDA issues were reimbursement. Were starting to crop up and a lot of Investors were simply hadn't really had the depth of background in Med tech and didn't know how to navigate some of those challenges so they ended up rotating out and guilt a really brought a fresh perspective in they saw the great products had been developed and the ones that were surviving really were worth investing in and so the last nineteen years For me personally has been an amazing journey through all of that you know. Through the ups and downs of medical devices and through seeing now public market emerged for venture back a device companies which really enables some of these companies to stand on their own two feet rather than than sal out to a bigger company in there's also whirlwind of challenges and opportunities the regulatory and reimbursement landscape shifts. Yeah then you're kidding when you said it's not US straight line. That is quite. The journey enjoyed every moment of it. I mean not that there haven't been really difficult times with various companies but really enjoyed every moment. It's incredibly challenging business. But the really what makes the difference or the people in our business and how dynamic people throughout this business are not only the entrepreneurs and investors but the clinicians also that are really on the frontlines implementing what the engineers are companies Do so it's really cool to be around. Inspiring people on a daily basis and that is a great perspective to bring to the MED tech. Talk podcast yeah when I was approached to do this You know it's exciting to think about what you might like to bring out in a podcast like this and for me really is kind of what I been referencing in terms of individuals their stories and my own story knowing that it wasn't a straight line to get here the chance to interview people and hear about their stories the experiences that shaped them as they were growing up as they were getting into med tech And really understand you know what makes them tick the things that they've learned that have made them successful and the really tough experiences. One thing I'd like to do is highlight failures in our business and the ability to come back from failure the ability to turn around situations. That's something that's not celebrated enough in our business. I don't think people sometimes hide from the more difficult experiences or doesn't go on their resume necessarily and I'd like to start to you. Know I have a small role in changing nat in bringing a spotlight to more difficult things because we learn so much from those experiences. So you'll hear me some of the guests that will bring on. The show is really understand. Kind of what? We're situations that they failed in and what came out of that in the hopes that you know people listening to To the show will really be able to grab onto something and maybe it helps them in in the situation that they're in and then we'll also tackle some of the big challenges in the business whether it's reimbursement regulatory commercialization what it means to take a company public but it will really focus on some of the guests that we have lined up