🧩 Issue #125: A CEO's Guide To Navigating The MedTech Maze
Ajay Shah (HMC), the founder of Cytovale, shares his journey to entrepreneurship and his winning strategies for aspiring MedTech entrepreneurs navigating a competitive landscape.
💬 Welcome to issue #125 of StoryHouse Review
Good morning & happy Thursday. In the ever-evolving medtech landscape, turning unexpected challenges into opportunities is a secret ingredient for success.
This week, serial Claremont entrepreneur Ajay Shah shares his journey from a non-commercial career path to entrepreneurship, along with his valuable insights for aspiring medtech innovators. We also spotlight the latest Claremont startups that have emerged from stealth and secured funding. It’s a Claremont world out there. 👇
~ Josh, Miles, Matthew, Pat
👤 Community Spotlight: Ajay Shah & Cytovale
Claremont alum Ajay Shah (HMC ‘06) is a serial entrepreneur and engineer with expertise in cell-based diagnostic technologies. Ajay is the co-founder and CEO of Cytovale – a medical diagnostics company focused on providing a more rapid and insightful way to diagnose fast-moving and immune-mediated diseases. He received his Ph.D from the Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology, where he developed a novel platform for circulating tumor cell isolation under the supervision of Mehmet Toner and Daniel Haber at Massachusetts General Hospital. Before founding Cytovale, Ajay co-founded two other life sciences startups, one of which was acquired in 2012.
In 2023, Ajay led Cytovale to an $80M Series C round, bringing Cytovale’s sepsis test to market. The company recently raised a $100M Series D to accelerate the commercial expansion of its rapid sepsis solution.
Medsider recently interviewed Ajay, where he shared why CEOs should immerse themselves in the problem they’re hoping to tackle, how he nurtures relationships with investors over time, and his opinions on transitioning to entrepreneurship from a non-commercial career path.
Finding Opportunities When Curveballs Come Your Way
There Are Typically No Definitive Answers in Medtech
Ajay started his career as a mechanical engineer. Although he was always close to the world of medicine through his upbringing, he didn’t officially step into it until he made the shift to medical technology.
“There are no right answers in medtech. There might be a few wrong answers, but there aren't necessarily definitive right answers,” Ajay says. Success often comes from navigating the gray areas and being ready to pivot when things don’t go as planned. In his words, “You need to find that opportunity in each curve ball that comes your way and be nimble to capture those opportunities as an organization.”
That’s what his team did in 2020 when Cytovale's FDA clinical study was disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Instead of pausing the study, Ajay and his team pivoted the resources to a study for suspected COVID patients. This was a success in demonstrating the versatility of IntelliSep as a pathogen-agnostic test.
For founders without a commercial background, Ajay advises building a network of trusted advisors. Drawing on diverse perspectives – from healthcare and beyond – has been crucial for him to develop a nuanced understanding of corporate strategy. “Having that diverse base of advisors, and also the ability to distill the essence of the feedback that I'm getting, has been really helpful to me, certainly, as I've navigated that transition,” he notes….
Reflecting on the past decade at Cytovale, Ajay views it as a series of two-year chapters, each with its own goals and milestones. His lesson learned is to prepare for the upcoming chapter during each one as each success lays the groundwork for the next phase. This means intentionally setting milestones and building a network. He says, “I encourage folks to also think ahead. Ask yourself, ‘If I succeed here, then what? And what do I need to know and learn to be ready for that?’”
Key Learnings From Ajay’s Experience
A medtech CEO's first priority is to deeply understand the clinical problem their technology solves. Dive into the physician's perspective, patient needs, and how your product improves overall care. Immerse yourself where your technology will most commonly be used and get insights from those on the front lines early on.
Don’t accept capital from whoever offers it simply because you’re desperate for money. Find investors you can build a company with and make an intentional effort to nurture relationships with them. When you do so, they might eventually contribute to your venture in many different ways, like serving as board members or key advisors.
Capitalize on every opportunity that arises, especially the unexpected ones. Stay agile as an organization to make the most of these moments. Cultivate a network of trusted advisors and harness your technical skills to sift through their advice, identifying and focusing on the core themes that emerge.
Listen to the full episode below. 👇
📣 Claremont Announcements: Joseph DeBruin & Grids
Serial Claremont entrepreneur Joseph DeBruin (PO) is the co-founder and CEO of Grids, which helps startup founders build silicon-valley-grade products without the typical pain and cost of outsourcing.
Joey is currently onboarding initial partners for Grids and is looking for great Claremont startups that might consider outsourcing product work in the future. This could be to ship an initial MVP or get something done without staffing an internal team. Grids can help you scope and source real proposals to compare in a matter of days. If you’re a founder who needs support with an initial product, get in touch with Joey directly at no cost. 👇
🤝 Claremont Introductions: Leah Kreun & Bespoken
Claremont alum Leah Kreun (SC ‘12) is the co-founder of Bespoken Marketing, an agency dedicated to helping early-stage founders tackle growth challenges, from refining go-to-market strategies to optimizing outbound materials. Leah has over ten years of experience in growth marketing and a proven track record of driving business growth and delivering successful projects for various clients, including Thumbtack, Rev.com, and EarlyBird Education.
To support Claremont founders and the Claremont startup community, Leah is offering free 30-minute growth audits where you’ll get:
A full review of your existing materials
Actionable insights and next steps to unlock your next stage of growth
Perfect for founders who are ready to scale but short on time. If you, your company, or anybody else you know is interested, schedule a free audit with Leah below. 👇
💼 Who’s Hiring?: Groundlight, Parakeet Health, & Cabernet
Groundlight AI is a computer vision platform enabling users to interpret images using simple natural language and minimal code, providing instant results to yes or no answers. By combining traditional deep learning, expert human supervision, and real-time optimization, Groundlight simplifies the process of building robust vision solutions. They are backed by Madrona, Greycroft, Founders Co-op, and StoryHouse. Claremont grads Leo Dirac (HMC ‘95) and Avi Geiger (HMC ‘99) are the co-founders of Groundlight, and they are hiring for a Senior ML Engineer.
Claremont alum Jung Park (HMC ‘89) is the CEO and co-founder of Parakeet Health, an AI voice answering service for healthcare practices that automates repetitive phone tasks like appointment scheduling, billing, and general inquiries using GenAI. Parakeet’s founding team includes seasoned healthcare industry veterans (One Medical IPO, Doximity IPO, Epocrates IPO) and skilled technology leaders (Microsoft, Twitter, Rippling, PrimerAI). They are backed by top-tier VCs, including StoryHouse, Canvas Ventures, and CoFound Partners. Parakeet is looking for a Senior/Staff Software Engineer to join their growing team.
StoryHouse portfolio company Cabernet.ai is changing the way investment banks and private equity firms find and execute deals. They help these firms gain insights faster and act more decisively using cutting-edge AI-powered applications. The company is backed by Village Global (Ben Casnocha, Reid Hoffman), 10VC, and StoryHouse. Claremont alum Alex Berman (CMC ‘12) is the co-founder and CPO of Cabernet.ai, and he’s looking for an experienced Senior Data Infrastructure Engineer to join their team. Check out the opening below.
Check out the other ~2,000 open jobs at 280+ Claremont-affiliated companies here on our Storyboard. Plus, create a profile and enter your preferences to get alerted to new job postings relevant to you, be they the 300+ remote jobs, 100+ internships, or 500+ part-time positions available. We’ve published research that shows that Claremont-founded companies that disproportionately hire Claremont talent outperform — so pay attention, Claremonsters!
If any of these roles catch your eye 👀 , apply and mention StoryHouse Review. Or, if you are an employer looking to hire tip-top Claremont talent, fill out this form to have your jobs featured.
🗣️ Conversations on the Interwebz:
This week’s must-watch 📺
Serial Claremont entrepreneur and StoryHouse portfolio founder Sunil Rajaraman (CMC ‘01) recently interviewed with Blueprint to talk about how Hamlet is revolutionizing the real estate space. Hamlet uses AI and human verification to process and distill lengthy discussions into key insights, providing real estate developers and builders with the critical information they need. They also help government affairs teams, land use attorneys, and small city governments by extracting the most important data from City Council and Planning Commission meetings, enabling communities and partners to engage with the issues that matter most to them.
Claremont alum Helane Crowell (PO ‘03) sat down with Marie Forleo to discuss her inspiring journey as the founder and CEO of Saie, a New York-based beauty brand that offers toxic-free cosmetics. Since 2019, Helane has led her startup to an impressive 300% year-over-year growth. She was also recognized on Inc. Magazine’s 2024 Female Founders list for achieving profitability in the saturated beauty market within only four years. In this episode, Helane shared her top lessons to help businesses break into a crowded industry, go viral, and turn massive profits by making a difference.
This week’s Claremont financings 💸
StoryHouse portfolio company Synedgen has secured a $119M partnership with BARDA to advance MIIST305, a groundbreaking therapeutic for treating Gastrointestinal Acute Radiation Syndrome (GI-ARS). This partnership is a major step toward addressing an unmet medical need for countermeasures against radiation threats. Congratulations to the Synedgen Team and former Harvey Mudd Professor Shenda Baker on this incredible achievement. StoryHouse is proud to support a company at the forefront of biotech innovation, tackling challenges in civilian health and national defense.
Congratulations to StoryHouse portfolio company Parakeet Health on the successful launch and their recent $3M seed round announcement. Co-founded by Claremont grad Jung Park (HMC ‘89), Eric Mao, and Aaron Lee, Parakeet offers an AI voice answering service for healthcare practices that automates repetitive phone tasks using Gen AI. StoryHouse is proud to be an investor in helping healthcare organizations improve the patient experience, retain more patients, and reduce administrative costs.
Claremont grad Kurt House (CMC ‘01) is the co-founder and CEO of unicorn KoBold Metals, a mining company that uses artificial intelligence to mine rare earth elements. The company recently secured $491M of its targeted $527M funding round, building on its previous success from its $195M investment from Bill Gates's Breakthrough Energy Ventures, a16z, Bond Capital, and Sam Altman, which valued the company at $1B post-money. With this new round, KoBold is setting its sights on a $2B valuation, positioning itself as a key player in the mining sector.
Congratulations to Claremont entrepreneur and CEO Ajay Shah (HMC ‘06) and his company on their recent $100M Series D round, which was led by Sands Capital. Ajay is the co-founder of CytoVale, a medical diagnostics company focused on providing a more rapid and insightful way to diagnose fast-moving and immune-mediated diseases.
This week’s top listen 🎧
StoryHouse portfolio founder and CEO Jessica Bell van der Wal guested on the Founded on Purpose podcast to share her insights on proactive care, embracing mistakes as a founder, representing women in leadership, and living a life full of purpose and adventure. Jessica and Claremont grad Corey van der Wal (PO ‘07) are the co-founders of Frame, a comprehensive virtual care platform providing patient-centered support to individuals and couples at every stage of the family-building journey.
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🍽️ BTL Snacks:
💸 Beyond A Traditional Loan For E-Commerce Sellers….. Finding the right funding option and partner takes a solid amount of research, patience, and commitment. Claremont alum Eric Youngstrom (PZ) recently authored an article exploring alternative funding options for online sellers beyond just traditional business loans. He also highlighted essential factors e-commerce businesses should consider when evaluating their funding choices. Eric is the founder and CEO of Onramp Funds, an innovative funding provider that supports the growth of e-commerce businesses.
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