Startup Pearls from Dr. Simpson, Father of Interventional Cardiology

Last week I had the honor to meet Dr. John Simpson at the US-Japan Medtech Frontiers event.

He’s credited with inventing and commercializing the first over-the-wire balloon catheter used for percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA).

This single idea created the field of interventional cardiology as we know it today.

Of course, there’s a little more to his story thats worth mentioning. Over the course of his renowned medtech career, Dr. Simpson has founded and successfully exited companies like

• ACS and DVI (both acquired by Eli Lilly (NYSE:LLY))
• CVIS (acquired by Boston Scientific (NYSE:BSX))
• Perclose (sold to Abbott (NYSE:ABT))
• Lumend (acquired by Cordis)
• Fox Hollow (acquired by ev3 which now part of Medtronic (NYSE:MDT)).

Simply put, he is a legend in the space and he isn’t showing any signs of slowing down. He currently serves as the Executive Chairman of Avinger (NSDQ:AVGR), where he and his team are developing a portfolio of unique cardiovascular products aimed at solving the challenging space of peripheral artery disease.

And supposedly he just started a new venture a few weeks ago.

So here are three key lessons I got to learn from him. The last one is by far the most important.

Small Markets Can Be Big Opportunities

Early in his career, Dr. Simpson tried to get investors to fund his work in peripheral vascular market.

Everyone said the market was too small and not worth pursuing.

That market is worth $9.02 billion in 2017.

Dr. Simpson shared that a market could be small for many reasons.

It could be that a the existing technologies were simply not good enough or that the market hasn’t been activated.

Just because a market is small doesn’t mean that there isn’t an opportunity.

2. Perseverance Trumps Inventiveness

Through the many companies and teams he led, there were many hard times that fell upon Dr. Simpson.

In his mind, what made those companies successful was not merely being “innovative” although he did stress the importance of that.

It was that they hit obstacles and persevered in finding a way around them.

When he and his team presented the idea of the balloon catheter for coronary angioplasty, people thought he was crazy. It was known that you use balloons to INDUCE things like stenosis, not treat it.

They persevered despite the major obstacles and doubt that they faced. This single invention saves millions of lives every year.

The ability to focus, drive, and find a way to solve your way out of problems is what separates great teams from mediocre ones.

3. Make Time for Family

This was one slide that stood out the most to me.

Dr. Simpson put up a slide of his wife and jokingly said “I know she hates when I do this but I have to share.” He went on to tell the audience how remarkable his wife was in supporting him and the family.

I was moved by this so I went up to meet him after his talk.

We hit it off right away and turns out he’s from West Texas just like myself.

I asked him about his wife and shared that I just got married myself. I wasn’t interested in advice about entrepreneurship or business. I wanted life advice from a man who seems to have been through it all and made it out on top…..way on top!

“You have to find a way to have some balance. Make time for your family because its really important.”

As he spoke I could see pain in his eyes as my question seemed to flash memories in his mind at that very moment.

“Is it even possible?” I replied back. “Can you actually achieve balance?”

He smiled and said “Im not sure, but you have to try.”

Im grateful that a man of his stature and success took time to have such a personal moment with me and create a short yet powerful mentorship moment for me.

Thank you Dr. Simpson.

Omar M. Khateeb is a Silicon Valley-based marketer that develops digital strategies to guide healthtech companies and increase technology adoption as they adapt to newly connected markets.

He currently serves as the Director of Growth at Potrero Medical, a predictive health company that is developing the next generation of smart sensors and artificial intelligence.