Preparing Your Med Tech Company for Acquisition

There is a misconception among many healthcare entrepreneurs that starting a fast-growing company will one day lead to a strategic buyer appearing at your doorstep with a sizable check in hand.

In reality, the vast majority of healthcare and life sciences exits to industry leaders result from long-term relationships that have already created sustained value for both the startup and the acquirer. By the time of an actual acquisition, the conversation is no longer about potential synergies but rather about how an acquisition will leverage an existing successful partnership and amplify the creation of new value.

Join Orthogonal for a webinar on how to prepare your med tech company for an eventual acquisition. You’ll hear from seasoned industry pioneers and experts, including Christian Johnson, founder and CEO of ScoutMedix, and David Van Sickle, co-founder of Propeller Health — which was acquired by ResMed — who will share case studies and hard lessons learned from their own experiences sitting on both sides of the table, as an entrepreneur and as an industry leader.

You will learn:

• How to play the long game when working with industry leader to create win-win partnership scenarios around business and medical synergies
• How to successfully engage in a long-term strategic partnership conversation, and how it differs from pitching to potential investors or customers
• Actionable lessons learned that you can immediately take back to your own firms and apply to create new value

Agenda:

1:00pm CT | Opening remarks

1:05pm CT | Main program

2:30pm CT | Virtual networking with the speakers

3:00pm CT | Program concludes

A BOUT THE SPEAKERS

Christian Johnson

Foudner & CEO of ScoutMedix

Christian Johnson is a med tech and digital health consultant committed to global, purpose-driven and strategic innovation and entrepreneurship devoted toward advancing the health and well-being of people and the planet. This mission is shaped by Christian’s collective experiences traveling and working across the U.S., Europe, Asia Pacific and Latin America. He’s provided clinical care in rural Nicaragua, conducted research in the Peruvian Amazon and worked in 15 countries with various stakeholders on projects related to medical devices, digital health, sustainability, social enterprise and nonprofits.

Since 2014, Christian has delivered a TEDx Talk, hosted a TEDx event, been published on Forbes.com, been honored as 2017’s 100 “Best & Brightest MBA’s” and been honored with global accolades, such as a certificate of appreciation from the Lord Mayor of Perth, Australia. He has spoken at a wide range of conferences including the Pacific Rim Summit, the BIO World Congress in Montreal, the BIO World Congress in San Diego, NASA Space Apps Challenge and LEAP Foundation.

David Van Sickle

Healthcare Executive and Strategic Advisor

David Van Sickle has more than 15 years of experience developing and commercializing digital health technologies. He was the co-founder and CEO of Propeller Health, a digital health and therapeutics company dedicated to improving the management of asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. In 2019, the company was acquired by ResMed, where David continued to lead the business until stepping aside in 2021 to become an entrepreneur in residence.

Since 2022, David has been advising and consulting part-time for various startups and organizations and currently serves as non-executive director at Closed Loop Medicine, a UK-based company working on personalized dosing for high-value medicines.

David received his PhD in medical anthropology from the University of Arizona in 2004.

Randy Horton

Chief Solutions Officer, Orthogonal

Randy Horton is chief solutions officer at Orthogonal, a software consulting firm that improves patient outcomes faster by helping med tech firms accelerate their development pipelines for software as a medical device, digital therapeutics and connected medical device systems. Orthogonal makes that acceleration happen by fusing modern software engineering and product management tools and techniques (e.g., agile, lean startup, user-centered design and systems thinking) with the regulated focus on device safety and effectiveness that is at the heart of med tech.