Industry Ignited Podcast · 2025-12-19 · 38 min
In this Industry Ignited episode, Dr. Leeanne Aguilar interviews Richard Rives Bird, President of Rives Consult , on why breakthrough medical devices don’t succeed on innovation alone - they succeed when founders pair great science with the right commercialization strategy, regulatory pathway, and reimbursement reality. Richard shares how he moved from physics into clinical affairs after a CEO recognized his ability to work with clinicians, and why he pioneered a fractional executive model (before it was mainstream) to give early-stage startups - especially European innovators entering the U.S. - hands-on expertise without the cost of full-time leadership. The conversation delivers a clear, practical takeaway: start with customer discovery and economics (follow the money), define reimbursement and workflow impact early, launch with an MVP and a focused indication for use, and build traction through real sales process learning before handing it to distributors - a playbook Richard uses to “graduate” clients into scalable growth. From FDA pre-subs and faster U.S.
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