12 Nov 2026 06:00
Episode 287 | MTI Leadership Pod #3: "The L-Chain" | How Six Medtech Founders Create & Bring Value
What does it take to turn a frustration from the bedside into a device the world will actually buy? In this first special episode of our MedTech Innovator miniseries, Lindsey Dinneen sits down with the "L-Chain," one of MTI's 2026 leadership pods (and the winner of the Most Valuable Pod Award), for a candid roundtable on value, focus, and founder grit.
Meet Dori Jones of AcQumen Medical, building the first non-invasive blood flow monitor for babies and children in the ICU after her own son was hospitalized at four months old; Abbey Azar, RN of Lenneuro, a 20-year bedside nurse whose SnapCath makes vascular lines shower-proof so patients can live at home without fear of dislodgement; Dr. Rhodel Dacanay of Nevent, an anesthesiologist on a mission to end retained guide wires for good; Dr. James Stone of Cannulight Technology, whose light-up IV sensor is already in the hands of combat medics in Ukraine; Dr. Kentaro Hayashi of HICKY, developing an implantable, wireless stimulator to treat central sleep apnea in heart failure patients; and Sahar Jalal of Lucentia, a rocket scientist building "the mammogram of the heart" to catch disease in the half of patients whose first cardiac event comes with no warning.
They get real about why the hospital paying the bill rarely cares as much as you do, how to say no to five good use cases so you can win with one, why the Radar Forum felt like Shark Tank but turned out to be a school of fish all swimming in the same direction, and the advice they'd give anyone thinking about taking the leap into medtech startup life. If you're building in medtech, or thinking about it, this is the peer group conversation you need to hear.
Thank you to our sponsors: Ward Law, Wheelhouse DMG, and JumpStart Inc.
