Why Focusing on Pain Killers is Imperative for Medical Device Startups

Daniel Hawkins is the President and CEO of Shockwave Medical. He began his career in marketing and business development roles for Advanced Cardiovascular Systems, otherwise known as ACS, which is now part of Abbott Vascular. Following ACS, he held senior roles in general management, marketing, and business development with a number of private and public companies.

Daniel started the marketing department at Intuitive Surgical where he guided product feature development for the da Vinci Surgical Robot and developed key foundational marketing strategies for the company. He has also held senior leadership and/or founder roles with Endologix and Calibra Medical, which is now part of J&J. Daniel has an MBA from Stanford, a BS in economics from Wharton, and is a named inventor on over 100 patents and applications.

Interview Highlights with Daniel Hawkins

• How his early upbringing gave rise to his entrepreneurial spirit.

• Why focusing on pain killers is imperative for medtech startups.

• Daniel’s early experiences at Intuitive Surgical and some of the most important lessons he learned commercializing the first surgical robot.

• A question every medtech entrepreneur should ask themselves, “Does your product have natural pull?”

• The importance of removing complexity and constraints when making key decisions.

• How Daniel and his team came up with a concept for applying Lithotripsy to arterial plaque.

• Daniel’s approach to raising money for Shockwave and how he was able to convince early investors during a tumultuous economic time.

• Daniel’s favorite business book, the CEO he most admires, and what he’d tell his 30-year-old self.