Medical Device Playbook
Newport Beach 2026

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.

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.

Alternative Sources of Capital: How and When to Use Venture Debt

In this session, Milo will talk about the different sources of capital used by start-ups, including Venture Debt. He will discuss the different types of lenders in the market, how and when to engage with them, common terms and best practices for negotiating the right deal for the company.

79 Startups, One Question: When Is the Best Time to Exit? Insights from Scott Phillips, CEO, StarFish Medical

Using real-world data from dozens of startups, this session examines how exit outcomes vary across development stages. Scott Phillips shares patterns, surprises, and strategic considerations that can help founders and investors better navigate the path to value realization.