A Roadmap to Serial Medtech Entrepreneurship

In the heart of Orange County, SinglePass, a fresh startup in medtech, is on the cusp of disrupting the way we conduct deep tissue biopsies. At its helm is Bill Colone, a serial entrepreneur with a track record of successfully leading companies like Spinal Singularity and Endomed. 

Bill has been in the industry for over 40 years and holds a degree in Chemical Engineering from Arizona State University. But his true calling has always been product development and entrepreneurship. Over four decades, Bill has earned 13 U.S. patents for medical devices and has even served on the ASU Advisory Committee for Chemical and Materials Engineering.

What's more remarkable than Bill's lengthy experience is his far-reaching network. Bill explains, "When you do anything for so long, you create a lot of relationships. If you've done a reasonably good job, some folks like you, and they proactively reach out." These connections don't wait around gathering dust; they become a source of "deal flow," as Bill likes to put it. People come to find Bill for what they know he’s good at, and Bill consistently delivers. For instance, a hand surgeon he worked with 15 years ago now refers physician friends with product ideas to Bill, serving as a constant pipeline for new opportunities.

SinglePass was founded thanks to Bill’s thick Rolodex. Three years ago, Bill reconnected with Dave Ferrera, a former colleague who said: "Hey, you get deal flow for peripheral vascular, I get deal flow for neurovascular. Why don't we do something together?" Around that time, they connected with two interventionalists who had a good idea, and that was the inception of SinglePass. "We formed a company with the physicians as co-founders, raised the first batch of money, and now we believe we're close to the end, three years later," Bill shares. Although SinglePass is currently a 28-month-old company, which is relatively young compared to most startups in the medical device space, Bill and his team are already getting ready to exit.

So what is this great idea? Biopsies usually involve inserting a large, hollow needle into a patient to extract a tissue sample. Post-procedure, patients are monitored to ensure that they are not bleeding internally — an aspect that has never been guaranteed. This is where SinglePass comes in. "We simply go in after the tissue sample is removed, cauterize the tissue with this really clever new device, and the doctors can do it by ultrasound to ensure there's no bleeding before they send the patient to the recovery room and send them home," Bill elucidates. The device has already shown promising results. In case studies involving 60 patients, SinglePass effectively prevented bleeding in lung, liver, or kidney biopsies.

"There's zero downside other than the cost of the device," he adds, pointing out that the technology effectively rules out the risk of internal bleeding post-biopsy. It's a straightforward yet transformative solution that promises to increase the safety and efficiency of biopsies around the world.

On the regulatory front, SinglePass has received verbal approval for its CE mark in the EU and is close to commercialization. It has been a fast-paced journey for Bill: "We expect to be commercial in the U.S. in January 2024," he reveals. He further expects that SinglePass will be acquired before the end of next year and isn't slowing down a bit: "Company number two is already a year in the making, and company number three is already months in the making. So there's two more lined up right behind us.”

Key Learnings From Bill’s Experience

• Your network is an extension of your company. You can leverage it at every stage — from idea to development, to launch, and even to exit. 

• The venture studio approach has proven to be lucrative for Bill's multiple startups. Maximizing the use of limited funds, effective outsourcing, and planning for an early strategic exit can be more profitable than the traditional venture model. 

• Grounded in realism and continuous feedback, Bill has a systematic approach to being a serial entrepreneur: keeping risk at a minimum while utilizing capital extremely efficiently and strategically keeping the end goal in mind.