Lessons Learned - Medical Device Development & Early-Stage Startup

It’s been around 2 years since my 1st startup was incorporated and slightly over 1 year since it became a standalone company with full-time employees and dedicated labs. A bit funny to say myself, but I thought that I am pretty good at hardworking and multi-tasking reflecting on my productivity in academia. Well, the last year of my startup journey and commercialization-oriented medical device development taught me hard lessons that I am not enough. Every week has been an intense learning experience with numerous ups and downs, making me more capable and humbler than before. Seeing lots of challenges that could have been avoided if I had been better informed/trained on real-world engineering and the intense educational value of this journey, I thought sharing this experience with younger engineers might be useful. Yes, still, I am kind of academic in my mindset (who knows I will return to university once I redeem myself as a true engineer).

I had a chance to share some of my experience and lessons learned by teaching part of a course at one university where I currently serve as an adjunct faculty member. I wish to share the lecture notes here in case useful for a broader audience.

1. Introduction of Medical Device Development - What Are Medical Devices and Regulations for Them?
2. What’s Difference Between Academic and Industrial R&D? - Chasing 3Ps: Publications, Patents, and Products
3. Regulation-Informed Medical Device R&D - Lessons Learned: From Academic Projects to Commercialization
4. From Basic Science Research to University Spinoff Startup - Bring Research from University Laboratory to Real World

​​Disclaimer. The contents are my personal opinion and do not represent the view of any institution or company I am affiliated/employed. If you find any incorrect information, please feel free to let me know via my email.