From Zero To Hero: The Meteoric Rise Of A Medical College Dropout To Startup Millionaire
I reported recently on my medical device patent blog that the current regulatory and venture capital market is hindering leapfrog innovation in the medical sector. I am happy to report that while this may be the case several of my clients have revolutionized their industries, earning giant pay checks after selling their startup and related intellectual property.
One of these major success stories belongs to Alexander Gomez, who doggedly pursued an idea related to laparoscopic surgery when just about everyone around him told he was crazy. He dropped out of medical school to solve a clumsy method used by surgeons he encountered during brief spells as a surgical technician:” Surgeons, operating in chilly operating rooms, were performing laparoscopic surgery which caused the camera lens to fog up when it was inserted into the warm body. “To counter this, they would dip the scope in a bucket of water to defog it. Our hospital was small and dated, so I assumed we were using an archaic method.”
After several years of effort and perseverance he developed a product that became the standard tool used in most U.S. hospitals. He ended up selling his startup for over $100 million. It’s an inspirational story for entrepreneurs and first-time inventors who wonder whether they can make a profit off their idea. Read about it on The Patent Professor Blog and contact me if you would like further details about his journey and whether your particular idea has merit.