If you know me, then you know surgical robotics is my sweet spot, so there was no way I was missing SRS2026! There's a moment at every conference where the story tells on itself. For me, that was at the pre-conference investor sessions on Wednesday. Dr. Vip Patel showed a telesurgery case performed more than 1,500 kilometers away with just 51 milliseconds of latency. This is great from a conceptual or humanitarian perspective, but what about real life? What about: Licensure?

You Sold the Hospital! Now the Real Work Begins. One of my favorite memories from my time as a clinical specialist went something like this. My phone would ring. "Hey Rob, good news. We sold a robot." "Awesome. Where?" "Hospital X." "Nice. When do they want to launch?" "Tomorrow." "...Tomorrow?" "Yep." My facial expression after I get the news of an urgent launch so the capital rep can recognize revenue before the end of the quarter. That was usually the extent of the handoff

Your Product Doesn't Speak for Itself. Neither Does Your Website. One of the biggest myths in MedTech is that great technology sells itself. It doesn't. If it did, hospitals would be full of incredible products that nobody's ever heard of instead of products backed by companies that built strong commercial engines. The reality is much less satisfying. The moment a hospital stakeholder can't immediately explain what your product does, why it matters, and why they should care,

Stop Calling Every Hospital a Prospect. They're Not. One of the fastest ways to waste a year after FDA clearance is convincing yourself every hospital is a prospect. They're not. Some hospitals move quickly. Some move slowly. Some have physician champions who can push a new technology through procurement in a matter of months. Others have enough internal politics to turn a simple pilot into a multi-quarter project. And yet one of the most common mistakes I see in early-stage

The Part Where Enthusiasm Meets Reality and Reality Wins A pitch deck. A sales rep you hired three weeks ago. A pricing slide that got thrown together the night before a board meeting. A VP of Commercial who starts next month. A shiny new logo the leadership team spent four months arguing about. And, naturally, a LinkedIn post announcing your FDA clearance with enough fire emojis to trigger a smoke alarm. Congratulations. According to a shocking number of MedTech startups, yo

FDA clearance is not the same thing as commercial readiness. In Step 1 of the MedTech Recovery Program, we break down why clinical data, KOL strategy, study design, and early site selection often fail to translate into real U.S. adoption. Learn how successful MedTech companies build commercially relevant evidence before entering hospital systems, Value Analysis Committees, and skeptical physician workflows.

FDA clearance is not a commercial strategy. It's permission to start building one. That distinction matters more than most international MedTech founders realize until they've already arrived in the U.S. market, pitch deck in hand, expecting momentum. What they find instead: Clinical skepticism Procurement committees Reimbursement walls Hospital IT And Decision-makers with zero emotional investment in their technology. Clearance doesn't protect you from any of that. Over the