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?

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