The story of someone about to disrupt a part of medicine.
“What if we were able to invent a technology, basically a new material, that would allow to repair and reconnect tissues without trauma, in an atraumatic manner, in a non-penetrating manner.”
What you're trying to do is big, it is going to take time and we're going to give you time.
20 YEARS IN PERSPECTIVE:
I love the last twenty years, I'm very excited for the next twenty to be honest.
I would have never described myself at the time as an entrepreneur, to be honest. So maybe people see things through you that you didn't even see about yourself when you look in the mirror.
One part of the [INSEAD] journey was to ask myself whether I was really certain I wanted to stay in healthcare and towards the end of INSEAD I was convinced that this was the industry I wanted to stay.
The best way to have an impact is to be with people you know yare gonna be able to contribute.
To be honest, I really love what I do, so I don't necessarily see it as work and because I don't see it as work, I can spend too much time on it, by definition.
MIT [scientists] had invented quite a profound technology in the domain of tissue repair and we decided altogether to start Tissium, which is a medical device company. So this is how I moved from biotech to medical devices.
We have raised a total of 170 million in the last ten years. We did the last fundraising in March 2023, it was between SVB and Credit Suisse, so it was an unusual period.
We build the company from day 0 with a very optimistic mindset saying if it works, it should work in many areas so let's build it, so that when we get there we can replicate and develop multiple solutions for patients. We operate in the space of peripheral nerve repair, where we can reconnect the nerve after a trauma, an accident, together.
We are developing implantable devices. It came from an insight from the MIT at the time, they invented a new material to try to reconnect tissues during surgical procedures.
We are a bit unique in the MedTech space. We are not proven yet in terms of business model. Today we have more than 20 families of patents, which have already generated a 60 or 70+ patents and we keep inventing every year.
ON TOPIC: Start-ups, entrepreneurship, founders, investors
We built Tissium to remain independent, we never build the company hoping to get acquired. You need to identify investors that believe in that vision, because if an investor is hoping to have an exit in the next two years, or 3 years, the discussion will be very different at the board, as someone who tells you “What you're trying to do is big, it is going to take time and we're going to give you time.”
When you build important things, or novel things, it takes time, it doesn't happen overnight. And because it's long, because it's hard, it's always easier to be with someone else, or a few other people.
ON TOPIC: MedTech, disrupt, healthcare, biology, science
You're about to disrupt a part of medicine.
Working with scientists – science is a domain which is, in theory, data driven in the sense that data is at the core of the discussion. Yet, what is a bit surprising, and it took me a certain time, scientists can be somewhat emotional, not on the data, but on the way they perceive their work and the way they try to achieve.
Sometimes scientists try to seek for perfection, which is in reality not achievable and one of the big challenges is, you need to make sure that they move their mindset from perfection to excellence. Because excellence you can reach it, perfection you will never [reach].