Medical Device Playbook
Newport Beach 2026
May 21, 2026
Maximizing Value in MedTech’s Shifting Market
By Invitation Only – May 21, 2026 – Newport Beach, California. Medical Device Playbook convenes some of MedTech’s most experienced founders, CEOs, investors, and industry leaders for candid, closed-door conversations about building value in a shifting market. In this private setting, leaders who have built, scaled, and exited companies speak openly about the decisions that shaped growth, strategic position, and exit outcomes.
The Decisions that Shaped the Deal
Everyone talks about the exit. Playbook focuses on the decisions that shape it.
Speakers share firsthand experience from real MedTech exits, including the strategic choices and inflection points that built enterprise value long before a transaction was on the table. Guests will hear what strengthened valuation, reduced risk, and positioned their companies for the right outcome.
“I’m blown away by the quality of the speakers and the quality of their talks. It is a wonderful event. I’m very happy I came.
Rafael Ronen, Co-Executive Director of INOVAIT
Candid and Unscripted
We curate Playbook deliberately. From the speakers and guests to the setting itself, we create a space where they can connect and exchange ideas in a forum designed to be different from traditional industry events.
Founders and Leaders
Who’ve Built It
Hear directly from founders, CEOs, investors, and innovators who have created companies, developed technologies, and carried them through to real-world outcomes. These are people who have made consequential decisions and lived with what followed.
Experience Over
Theory
Hear firsthand accounts of the trade-offs, pressure, and turning moments that shaped company trajectories and exit outcomes. The discussion is grounded in lived experience.
A Room of
Decision-Makers
Connect with peers who have faced the kinds of decisions you’re facing, and others who will soon. The perspective in the room spans stages, roles, and outcomes, which raises the level of every conversation.
“One of the best events in MedTech. Amazing insights.”
Who Is Invited?
Medical Device Playbook is invitation-only.
- MedTech founders and CEOs
- Investors and venture capitalists
- Senior executives from established and acquiring organizations
- Industry leaders with deep operating experience
The room is intentionally composed of leaders who carry responsibility for capital, strategy, and outcomes inside MedTech organizations.
Only a select group of industry leaders will receive an invitation. If you believe you belong among this group, apply for an invitation.
“The caliber of the speakers is unique. Real experts, who’ve been in the trenches of medical device commercialization, and have real lessons to give to the community.
Liz Munro, LMC Inc.
Event Details
Location: VEA Newport Beach, A Marriott Resort & Spa
Date: May 21, 2026, 8:30am-6:00pm
Attendance: By Invitation Only
“StarFish is curating the opportunity to put the right people in the room at the same time that hear each other, learn from each other, and network with each other.”
Jeff Silver, President of Jeff Silver Consulting Inc.
If this sounds like a room where you belong,
request an invitation.
Sponsor Playbook
Connect with an invaluable network of the greatest minds and decision-makers in MedTech.
Let’s design a sponsorship plan that maximizes your impact.
Presented by
Sponsor
Sponsor
Supporting Sponsor
Community Partner
Community Partner
Community Partner
For more information, please contact StarFish Medical Marketing.
Sessions
Strategic Pivoting in Early Stage Companies
Stan Lapidus shares his journey as an inventor and entrepreneur in medical technology, focusing on how early-stage companies recognize when and how to pivot. Through real-world examples, he explores how identifying poorly solved problems, asking better questions, and adapting strategy at the right moments leads to breakthrough innovation, stronger market adoption, and ultimately successful exit outcomes.
From FDA Strategies Towards Exit: Building a Regulatory Path That Maximizes Value
The path to an optimized exit begins with regulatory strategy.
With more than 25 years of experience advising medtech companies on FDA pathways, Kristin Zielinski Duggan will share how smart regulatory planning can accelerate timelines, reduce risk, and strengthen acquisition positioning. Attendees will gain practical, real-world strategies to align regulatory decisions with commercial goals and drive stronger exit outcomes.
Breaking Resistance to Build Value: How Adoption Drives Optimized Exits
Innovation alone doesn’t create exit value market adoption does.
Jeff Silver focuses on the critical middle phase of the exit journey: turning breakthrough innovation into real-world clinical adoption. Drawing on decades of experience including the CryoCath/Medtronic story he will unpack how overcoming physician skepticism and systemic barriers directly influences valuation and acquisition outcomes.
The Unobvious IP Playbook: Protecting What Matters to Maximize Exit Value
Not all intellectual property is created equal, and in MedTech, protecting the wrong things can be as costly as protecting nothing at all.
In this session, Paul Conover, Partner at Knobbe Martens, brings nearly 30 years of experience advising MedTech companies on transactions, diligence, and high-stakes IP strategy. Drawing on real-world cases, involving multi-hundred-million-dollar transactions, he will share how to identify and protect the IP that truly drives enterprise value.
Remaking the Carotid Stent Market: The Silk Road Journey to a $1.4B Exit
In this session, Andrew Davis will share how Silk Road Medical navigated the journey from clinical validation to commercial scale through critical strategic pivots that led to a successful IPO and ultimately its $1.4B acquisition by Boston Scientific in 2024. From pivotal trial strategy and regulatory navigation to building a new market category, he will highlight the decisions and disciplined execution that drove enterprise value and a successful exit.
Andrew S. Davis
Speaker Bios
Stan Lapidus
Stan Lapidus is an inventor and entrepreneur. He serves on a number of diagnostics company boards, including Mercy BioAnalytics of which he is chairman. He was the founding CEO of three medical diagnostics companies. Cytyc Corp. revolutionized cervical cancer detection with ThinPrep (over two billion tests), and EXACT Sciences pioneered Cologuard for colorectal cancer detection. Both companies achieved multi-billion-dollar exits. Stan holds 38 patents and was named one of Forbes’ 250 Greatest Innovators.
Ramin Mousavi
Ramin Mousavi is a seasoned medtech executive with a strong track record of driving growth, leading strategic transformations, and executing successful mergers, acquisitions, and exits across the medical technology and digital health sectors. He serves as President, Chief Executive Officer, and a member of the Board of Directors at CathWorks, where he leads the company’s global strategy and commercialization efforts to advance AI-driven cardiovascular care. Throughout his career, he has built and scaled high-performing organizations from early-stage innovation to global market leadership, holding senior leadership roles at Baxter International, Edwards Lifesciences, Panasonic Avionics, and Rockwell Collins. Mousavi brings extensive governance experience, serving on multiple boards, including CathWorks and SpectraWave, as well as nonprofit organizations such as the American Heart Association. He holds dual engineering degrees and an MBA from the University of California, Irvine, and completed executive education at Harvard Business School. He is a recipient of the UCI Lauds & Laurels Award, the university’s highest honor, and a member of the UC Irvine School of Engineering Hall of Fame, and is widely recognized as a leader in the global MedTech community.
Kristin-Zielinski Duggan
Kristin Zielinski Duggan advises companies on FDA regulatory strategy, clinical programs, and compliance. She has deep experience across devices, pharma, and combination products, including diligence for transactions and acquisitions.
Jeff Silver
Jeff Silver is a global marketing and medical education executive with over 30 years of experience bringing innovative medical technologies to market. He has led U.S. and international launches across startups, acquisitions, and Fortune 500 companies, including cardiac ablation devices that transformed the standard of care for atrial fibrillation. Jeff has directed marketing organizations, overseen physician and field education, and developed advanced training solutions from live programs to simulation systems. Known for spotting blind spots in launch planning and mentoring future leaders, he has helped accelerate adoption, reduce risk, and drive successful global introductions of transformative therapies.
Paul Conover
Paul Conover is an intellectual property attorney specializing in medical devices. He has extensive experience supporting startups and public companies through IP strategy, licensing, and acquisitions.
Andrew S. Davis
Andrew S. Davis is a seasoned commercial leader in cardiovascular MedTech, with 25+ years of experience spanning startups, private equity-backed companies, and global organizations. He specializes in defining product strategy, market access, and commercialization plans that transform novel technologies into category-defining therapies while consistently driving revenue growth.
At Silk Road Medical, he helped scale TCAR from concept to nearly $1B in revenue, contributing to its IPO and $1.3B acquisition by Boston Scientific.
Currently Chief Commercial Officer at Procyrion, he is advancing a breakthrough heart failure therapy while leading transformational growth initiatives and advising on M&A. Known for building high-performance cultures and developing top talent, Andrew combines visionary leadership with disciplined execution to scale organizations, accelerate adoption, and deliver meaningful impact for patients, providers, and stakeholders.