Paul Charlebois and Eric Olson are seated across from each other at a white table in a modern office setting. The man on the left has curly brown hair and is wearing a light blue button-up shirt. He is smiling and looking toward the man on the right, who has short gray hair, glasses, and is wearing a dark patterned shirt with a small microphone clipped to his collar. The background is a bright, blurred open-plan office with desks and chairs, creating a soft focus effect behind the subjects. A blue pen and a blurred stack of folders or documents are on the table in the foreground.

Before the Build

Inside the Research That Shapes Better Medical Devices

Welcome to Before the Build, a video series from StarFish Medical that takes you deep into the early stages of medical device development. Each episode reveals how user research, clinical context, and real-world observations guide smarter design decisions—long before engineering begins.

Through firsthand stories and practical examples, Before the Build explores the fieldwork and discovery that help teams identify true needs, avoid costly missteps, and create devices that perform in the environments where they’re needed most.

Designed for medtech innovators, human factors professionals, and anyone interested in the “why” behind great design, these episodes offer valuable lessons you can apply to your own projects.

Enjoying Before the Build? Sign up to get new episodes sent to your inbox.

Subscribe to Before the Build

Watch our latest Before the Build episodes

YouTube video thumbnail

Organ Transplant Logistics in Device Design

In this Before the Build episode, Eric Olson and Paul Charlebois dive into the importance of organ transplant logistics when designing effective medical devices.

Patient-Centered Field Research in Medtech

Eric Olson and Paul Charlebois reflect on the value of patient-centered field research—and how firsthand observation can reframe design priorities and impact outcomes in profound ways.

YouTube video thumbnail

Past Episodes

  • A red defibrillator inside a white wall-mounted cabinet labeled DEFIBRILLATOR. A red arrow points to it, with overlay text reading ‘Locked away?’ in bold black letters on a white highlight.

    Lessons from Real-World Device Testing

    Even the best-designed devices, prepared with careful simulations and usability studies, can behave very differently when used in actual clinical or emergency situations.

  • A medical professional wearing a white coat and blue gloves holds a red cooler labeled ‘Organ Transport.’ Overlay text reads: ‘The call came’ in bold black letters on a white highlight.

    Organ Transplant Logistics in Device Design

    In this Before the Build episode, Eric Olson and Paul Charlebois dive into the importance of organ transplant logistics when designing effective medical devices.

  • A patient lies with eyes closed while a clinician marks dotted surgical lines on her face with a skin marker. The patient wears a surgical cap. Overlay text reads: ‘More than a procedure?’ in bold font on a white highlight box.

    Patient-Centered Field Research in Medtech

    In this Before the Build episode, Eric Olson and Paul Charlebois reflect on the value of patient-centered field research—and how firsthand observation can reframe design priorities and impact outcomes in profound ways.

  • A hospital patient lies in bed with a blurred background of medical equipment; bold text reads “Empathy in Design” across the top.

    Translating Emotion into Empathetic Medical Design

    What does empathetic medical design really look like in practice? Eric and Paul discuss how emotional insight from field research can profoundly impact the design of medical devices

  • A hand holds an iPhone on the left side of the image, with a red curved arrow pointing to a sleek, futuristic medical device shaped like a handheld drill on the right. Above the arrow, a black box with white bold text reads, “Make it like Apple?”.

    Apple Design Influence in MedTech Product Development

    Many clients now request their devices to look and feel like Apple products. But achieving that level of simplicity and elegance is not as easy as it seems.

  • A man in a checkered shirt stands and points to a 3D CAD model displayed on a large monitor. The model shows the internal layout of a device with visible components and structural details in purple and white. To the left of the man, bold black text reads “Why Front-End Research matters,” with a large red arrow curving up toward the screen. The background is a clean white, emphasizing the visual focus on the monitor and text.

    Contextual Inquiry in MedTech: Observe Before You Build

    Paul Charlebois and Eric Olson explore how contextual inquiry in MedTech drives smarter product design. By observing how users interact with devices in real settings, product teams can gather early insights that shape usability, adoption, and safety—long before development begins.