With a deep background in medical device engineering and product management, Mara McFadden’s career has spanned industry giants like Johnson & Johnson and Philips Healthcare. She has also taken some interesting turns, including a detour into consumer tech.
After graduating as a mechanical engineer from the University of California at Berkeley, Mara found herself in Johnson & Johnson’s innovative Global Operations Leadership Development program — a fortuitous start providing her extensive business exposure. From there, she moved on to their Cordis division, which allowed her to learn the world of endovascular stent manufacturing.
After earning an MBA from the Tepper School of Business at Carnegie Mellon University, Mara transitioned into a product management role at Philips Healthcare. The position gave her the opportunity to manage a global P&L and launch various products, thus honing her skills in the business side of medtech.
Mara then pivoted to a consumer products startup called 4Moms. This presented Mara with the perfect chance to dabble in entrepreneurship. She built their product management group, led multiple commercial launches,s and garnered a lot of direct-to-consumer business experience. It was a rewarding venture, yet Mara felt the draw of medtech, where she could create products that had the potential to save lives. Turning back to the medical device space, she advised a few small startups and worked with a medtech incubator, where she met her co-founder, with whom they started Endolumik.
Endolumik’s flagship product is a gastric calibration device that uses near-infrared light to improve visualization in the GI tract during surgery. A simple yet ground-breaking tool, Endolumik promises to enhance precision and safety in patient care. And according to Mara, it’s only the tip of the iceberg.
Endolumik’s first device was granted FDA 510(k) clearance in March 2023. Now, Mara and her team are preparing for U.S. commercialization, while continuing to execute their product development roadmap.
Key Learnings From Mara’s Experience
- Fail fast, fail often, and fail inexpensively. Don’t obsess about perfection during the prototyping phase. Your first iterations are bound to have flaws, but there are also valuable lessons in each phase of testing.
- The success of your startup greatly depends on what kind of culture you cultivate. Build a supportive, enthusiastic, and passionate environment with a customer-oriented approach to everything you do.
- You need to understand the numbers from the perspective of your investors when it comes to fundraising. Focus on capital partners who are comfortable and have experience in your industry. You’ll save time and energy by making sure your investors align with your company’s vision.
Mara, co-founder and CEO of Endolumik, graduated as a mechanical engineer from the University of California, Berkeley. She further developed her business acumen during her MBA at Carnegie Mellon University and in various leadership positions with renowned healthcare companies such as Johnson & Johnson and Philips Healthcare. Mara co-founded Endolumik, developers of an innovative fluorescence-guided esophagogastric calibration system.
Learning From Imperfections and Documenting Everything
In the vibrant world of startups, no two journeys are the same, but the challenges we face can be surprisingly similar. In our interview, Mara encourages an essential mindset shift – embracing imperfections and capitalizing on failure.
As she recalled the early alpha and beta prototypes at Endolumik, she admitted: "We wanted to make sure that every dollar we spent was tied to a meaningful milestone." But getting there isn’t always picture-perfect, as their early prototypes were far from flawless. Yet each one served as a stepping stone to the next phase of the company’s development.
"Prototypes aren't supposed to be perfect,” she notes. “Don't let the fear of failure hold you back. The goal is to fail fast, fail inexpensively, and learn from each and every iteration."
This ethos is an empowering concept and is critical when trying to overcome the fear of failure that often holds entrepreneurs back. As a CEO, you’re bound to face failures. The best way to handle them is to shift your perspective from dreading them to welcoming them as cost-effective teachers and recognizing their role in your learning process.
Another crucial aspect of the growth process is documenting everything. "Gathering and documenting the heck out of your requirements so you have a really clear definition of what good looks like really helps everything down the road go much smoother," Mara explains.
Relying on Customer Feedback and the Importance of Team Culture
Drawing from her formative experience at 4Moms, Mara recognizes the mistake of assuming you know your target market like the back of your hand. It’s a trap that could lead any founding team off the beaten path. "It can get so tempting to think that you know everything that you stop checking in with your end users and your customers," Mara warns. Being overconfident and veering away from market data was a hard lesson for her at 4Moms. Staying close to your customer base and listening to their voices is a fundamental tenet of product development and start-up growth.
In addition to her customer-centric approach, building an inclusive and enthusiastic team culture is a must in Mara’s leadership approach. Reflecting on her spirited young group at 4Moms, Mara sheds light on the power of a vibrant, collaborative environment in driving growth.
You need to foster a supportive and energetic company culture that empowers employees and encourages people to truly go above and beyond their normal job function. “It was a really fun environment where people were volunteering their time and effort, and it really felt like we were building something special," Mara recounts, hinting at a balanced cocktail of energetic hiring and enthusiastic onboarding.
In essence, the formula for start-up success, as gleaned from Mara's experience, isn't a tangled knot. It's about staying engaged with your customers and allowing their voices to shape your path forward while simultaneously nurturing a dynamic culture within your team.
Making Smart Choices in Fundraising
When you’re looking for economical fuel for your venture, it’s easy to get swept up in the roller coaster ride of emotions. But during this process, do your best to take a prudent and strategic approach.
Mara has learned the hard way that fundraising isn’t just about securing capital, it’s about securing the right capital. "You've got to do the math. You've got to know your multiples. You have to understand that you can't raise too much, or your startup won’t be attractive for anyone else down the road," she notes. Overcapitalization might seem alluring but could ultimately dilute the value proposition for future stakeholders.
More importantly, she advises a targeted pitch focusing on investors with proven interest and expertise in your field. "You really do have to do your homework and find people who are comfortable investing in your space," Mara counsels. This advice isn’t just about efficiency; it’s also about building meaningful relationships with investors who can provide more than just capital.
The right investor brings industry insight, strategic guidance, and a deeper understanding of the specific challenges in your sector. Mara cautions against a broad, undiscerning pitching strategy: "You'll often hear advice to just shotgun and pitch, pitch, pitch. Your time is your resource to waste." Investing time in prescreening potential investment partners to ensure a good fit is always a good idea. To do so, you also need to understand your deal size and your place in the broader ecosystem.
By keeping the fundraising round targeted, startups can attract investors who offer strategic perspectives along with initial capital. She reiterates: "It's honestly a waste of time (if you approach the wrong investors) because you have to do so much education about the landscape and the risk profile and the timelines." In short, in fundraising, as in many aspects of business, quality trumps quantity.
With a deep background in medical device engineering and product management, Mara McFadden’s career has spanned industry giants like Johnson & Johnson and Philips Healthcare. She has also taken some interesting turns, including a detour into consumer tech.
After graduating as a mechanical engineer from the University of California at Berkeley, Mara found herself in Johnson & Johnson’s innovative Global Operations Leadership Development program — a fortuitous start providing her extensive business exposure. From there, she moved on to their Cordis division, which allowed her to learn the world of endovascular stent manufacturing.
After earning an MBA from the Tepper School of Business at Carnegie Mellon University, Mara transitioned into a product management role at Philips Healthcare. The position gave her the opportunity to manage a global P&L and launch various products, thus honing her skills in the business side of medtech.
Mara then pivoted to a consumer products startup called 4Moms. This presented Mara with the perfect chance to dabble in entrepreneurship. She built their product management group, led multiple commercial launches,s and garnered a lot of direct-to-consumer business experience. It was a rewarding venture, yet Mara felt the draw of medtech, where she could create products that had the potential to save lives. Turning back to the medical device space, she advised a few small startups and worked with a medtech incubator, where she met her co-founder, with whom they started Endolumik.
Endolumik’s flagship product is a gastric calibration device that uses near-infrared light to improve visualization in the GI tract during surgery. A simple yet ground-breaking tool, Endolumik promises to enhance precision and safety in patient care. And according to Mara, it’s only the tip of the iceberg.
Endolumik’s first device was granted FDA 510(k) clearance in March 2023. Now, Mara and her team are preparing for U.S. commercialization, while continuing to execute their product development roadmap.
Key Learnings From Mara’s Experience
- Fail fast, fail often, and fail inexpensively. Don’t obsess about perfection during the prototyping phase. Your first iterations are bound to have flaws, but there are also valuable lessons in each phase of testing.
- The success of your startup greatly depends on what kind of culture you cultivate. Build a supportive, enthusiastic, and passionate environment with a customer-oriented approach to everything you do.
- You need to understand the numbers from the perspective of your investors when it comes to fundraising. Focus on capital partners who are comfortable and have experience in your industry. You’ll save time and energy by making sure your investors align with your company’s vision.
Mara, co-founder and CEO of Endolumik, graduated as a mechanical engineer from the University of California, Berkeley. She further developed her business acumen during her MBA at Carnegie Mellon University and in various leadership positions with renowned healthcare companies such as Johnson & Johnson and Philips Healthcare. Mara co-founded Endolumik, developers of an innovative fluorescence-guided esophagogastric calibration system.
Learning From Imperfections and Documenting Everything
In the vibrant world of startups, no two journeys are the same, but the challenges we face can be surprisingly similar. In our interview, Mara encourages an essential mindset shift – embracing imperfections and capitalizing on failure.
As she recalled the early alpha and beta prototypes at Endolumik, she admitted: "We wanted to make sure that every dollar we spent was tied to a meaningful milestone." But getting there isn’t always picture-perfect, as their early prototypes were far from flawless. Yet each one served as a stepping stone to the next phase of the company’s development.
"Prototypes aren't supposed to be perfect,” she notes. “Don't let the fear of failure hold you back. The goal is to fail fast, fail inexpensively, and learn from each and every iteration."
This ethos is an empowering concept and is critical when trying to overcome the fear of failure that often holds entrepreneurs back. As a CEO, you’re bound to face failures. The best way to handle them is to shift your perspective from dreading them to welcoming them as cost-effective teachers and recognizing their role in your learning process.
Another crucial aspect of the growth process is documenting everything. "Gathering and documenting the heck out of your requirements so you have a really clear definition of what good looks like really helps everything down the road go much smoother," Mara explains.
Relying on Customer Feedback and the Importance of Team Culture
Drawing from her formative experience at 4Moms, Mara recognizes the mistake of assuming you know your target market like the back of your hand. It’s a trap that could lead any founding team off the beaten path. "It can get so tempting to think that you know everything that you stop checking in with your end users and your customers," Mara warns. Being overconfident and veering away from market data was a hard lesson for her at 4Moms. Staying close to your customer base and listening to their voices is a fundamental tenet of product development and start-up growth.
In addition to her customer-centric approach, building an inclusive and enthusiastic team culture is a must in Mara’s leadership approach. Reflecting on her spirited young group at 4Moms, Mara sheds light on the power of a vibrant, collaborative environment in driving growth.
You need to foster a supportive and energetic company culture that empowers employees and encourages people to truly go above and beyond their normal job function. “It was a really fun environment where people were volunteering their time and effort, and it really felt like we were building something special," Mara recounts, hinting at a balanced cocktail of energetic hiring and enthusiastic onboarding.
In essence, the formula for start-up success, as gleaned from Mara's experience, isn't a tangled knot. It's about staying engaged with your customers and allowing their voices to shape your path forward while simultaneously nurturing a dynamic culture within your team.
Making Smart Choices in Fundraising
When you’re looking for economical fuel for your venture, it’s easy to get swept up in the roller coaster ride of emotions. But during this process, do your best to take a prudent and strategic approach.
Mara has learned the hard way that fundraising isn’t just about securing capital, it’s about securing the right capital. "You've got to do the math. You've got to know your multiples. You have to understand that you can't raise too much, or your startup won’t be attractive for anyone else down the road," she notes. Overcapitalization might seem alluring but could ultimately dilute the value proposition for future stakeholders.
More importantly, she advises a targeted pitch focusing on investors with proven interest and expertise in your field. "You really do have to do your homework and find people who are comfortable investing in your space," Mara counsels. This advice isn’t just about efficiency; it’s also about building meaningful relationships with investors who can provide more than just capital.
The right investor brings industry insight, strategic guidance, and a deeper understanding of the specific challenges in your sector. Mara cautions against a broad, undiscerning pitching strategy: "You'll often hear advice to just shotgun and pitch, pitch, pitch. Your time is your resource to waste." Investing time in prescreening potential investment partners to ensure a good fit is always a good idea. To do so, you also need to understand your deal size and your place in the broader ecosystem.
By keeping the fundraising round targeted, startups can attract investors who offer strategic perspectives along with initial capital. She reiterates: "It's honestly a waste of time (if you approach the wrong investors) because you have to do so much education about the landscape and the risk profile and the timelines." In short, in fundraising, as in many aspects of business, quality trumps quantity.
