Thesis

The project was born from a sobering clinical observation: certain chronic conditions act as “silent killers.” These pathologies often remain invisible until they reach a catastrophic stage, largely because their progression is overshadowed by more overt comorbidities like cardiovascular distress or metabolic instability.

Over the past two years, there has been incredible progress in the ability to collect data specifically indicative of this underlying disease state. My vision was to develop a medical-grade monitoring solution, available as either an implantable or a high-fidelity wearable, capable of tracking specific biomarkers to map the progression of the condition in real-time.

By leveraging AI to analyze these daily readings, we aim to identify “prognostic indicators”: subtle physiological shifts that predict clinical deterioration weeks before a patient manifests any outward symptoms.

Validation

This idea came straight from experts in the field. A doctor I know personally is a top researcher in Israel studying this field, and she is the one to bring up this pain point to me. From there, we set out to find the right solution together, along with a CTO I brought along. While our initial idea was based on several clinical studies (most of them published by our medical partner herself), we explored further and also sought robust external validation by interviewing ten leading nephrologists and three top hospital executives. Their feedback was unanimous: the patient pain point was authentic, and the clinical value of the data was immense. 

We even started testing out what the physical device might look like –  we built a “quick and dirty” MVP using off-the-shelf components sourced from AliExpress, and contacted a pre-clinical studies lab. 

Finally, this rigor was reinforced by governmental recognition; we secured a significant grant, receiving the maximum funding available in our category, which validated the technical novelty of our device.

Why it didn’t progress

1. Team dynamics: This is the biggest issue we’ve faced, and it spans across a few challenges:

• Founders dynamics: Our partnership with our medical founder wasn’t made clear through a solid partners agreement. While there are different models for bringing in a medical expert – a co-founder, an advisor, a board member – we weren’t clear on our expectations from her, which in turn caused many misunderstandings between the 3 of us. For obvious reasons, the doctor we partnered with did not have the capacity to lead this full-time, which caused misalignment between the partners, ego battles and disappointment all around. Since we were extremely dependent on her, there was no way around it once things started going down-hill, and we essentially had to let go of the venture. 
• Co-founders relationship: I was the “connector” between our medical partner and our CTO. They did not have a prior relationship, and we did not spend enough time on building one as a group. As a result, many things had to go through me, which resulted in inefficient communication and misunderstandings. Since things were already tense, this added another layer of mistrust to the team. 

2. Regulation: As with any medical startup, regulation is always a huge hurdle in the process. Since our medical partner was a hospital employee, another layer of complexity was added, as the hospital itself has a commercial branch that had to approve the use of IP and essentially get involved in our process. 

Insights

1. Choose Your Team Wisely: Even the best of friends sometimes fail as co-founders. Don’t base your business on a personal relationship, and make sure you’re aligned from day one on your expectations and equity share. 

2. Beware of the”Part-Time” Founder: If a co-founder has a high-status day job they refuse to leave, they aren’t truly a co-founder, they are an advisor. An extreme asymmetry in commitment will eventually poison the culture, breed resentment, and kill execution speed.

3. Regulatory Strategy is the Venture: In MedTech, regulatory requirements aren’t just a checklist; they dictate the entire pace and requirements of your PoC. The whole team needs to be aware of these constraints at all times. I highly recommend forming a group of high-level advisors or engaging in peer-to-peer learning early on to navigate this landscape.

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