Customer Discovery for Medical Device Companies

What this episode covers

Kari Haab, Partner at Cantilever Business Partners and former VP of Product Strategy at Aquaro Histology, explains the critical importance of customer discovery in medical device development. She argues that startups must validate user needs and market fit before prototyping, warning against the 'bias of technology' where engineers build solutions without verifying the actual problem. Haab details how to conduct effective interviews, emphasizing the need to understand the entire customer ecosystem—including users, purchasers, and distributors—rather than just the end-user. She provides specific guidance on avoiding common pitfalls like confirmation bias and insufficient sample sizes, advocating for 50-100 interviews to confirm business viability.