AHF Podcast
AHF Podcast
The AHF Shark Tank
The AHF Shark Tank
In this episode, Joseph M. Schwab interviews Dr. Charlie DeCook, co-founder of the Anterior Hip Foundation (AHF). They discuss the origins and evolution of the AHF Shark Tank, a platform for orthopedic surgeons and innovators to present their ideas to industry executives. The conversation highlights the importance of learning from feedback, the role of capitalism in innovation, and the shifting focus from implant technology to surgical techniques and tech innovations. They also touch upon the impact of the AHF Shark Tank on the broader orthopedic community and the potential advancements for the 2025 Shark Tank event.
Register for AHF 2025 today by going to:
https://anteriorhipfoundation.com/ahf2025-nashville/
Are you looking to bring an orthopedic product to market? Do you need a place to showcase your business idea in front of top industry executives and potential surgeon customers? Or maybe you just love seeing and hearing new ideas before they really hit the market. Since 2018, the Anterior Hip Foundation has showcased an Innovation Shark Tank session at the annual meeting. My guest today is Dr. Charlie DeCook, co-founder of the Anterior Hip Foundation and the driving force behind the AHF Shark Tank. Charlie, the AHF Shark Tank is perennially recognized as one of, if not the most popular sessions. You were instrumental in its development and you continue to be a driving force behind it. Tell our listeners a little bit about the history of the AHF shark tank.
Charlie DeCook:Joe, thanks for having me on. I'm super excited to be on this podcast with you. I've heard great things about this podcast. I'm looking forward to, speaking with you and talking all about the Anterior Hip Foundation and innovation. But, thanks for having me. And, I guess to answer your question, the shark tank really came about, at a time, obviously when the shark tank was on TV and it was really inspiring a lot of people outside of medicine, orthopedics to, start creating things. And, started to have business mind associated with the Shark Tank. So we thought, this would be a great opportunity for us to bring this into the medical space and specifically the medical device space. And, boy, it is just caught on. The Shark Tank has just been a super popular session, probably for a lot of reasons, but probably most importantly, it's probably inspiring. So there's a lot of budding orthopedic innovators out there, mostly orthopedic surgeons. Certainly there's plenty of non surgeons that, attend the meeting and have innovations. But I think we've geared it mostly towards innovative surgeons that have ideas either early or later on in the process as we take a idea to market. And, it's been super, super overwhelmingly successful over the years. So I'm super excited to talk to you about it today.
Joseph M. Schwab:What I'm interested in knowing, from your perspective, how has the session evolved over time?
Charlie DeCook:Yeah. I think at the beginning, we were just, winging it, so to speak. we were thinking, boy, what are some cool technologies that we have heard of that frankly haven't hit the mainstream yet? We wanted to get the word out about specific innovations we had heard of, or people had approached us about, and we thought AHF would be a great mechanism to do that. And I think over time, what's happened is not only have the products improved, but the surgeons have improved in terms of their presentation styles, in terms of their business models. So as that has improved, we've had to up our game. We had great sharks early on, but now we've progressed towards more seasoned sharks, that really like Mr. Wonderful, so to speak. So we've certainly gathered some incredible ones from, ZimmerBiomet, from Stryker, from DePuySynthes, I guess now J&J MedTech. we've been able to attract some cool sharks and I think that's probably been our best feature over the last few years that we've taken the big three, sometimes the big four or five and brought them all together. and they've given us a huge amount of perspective. most of these folks from industry have been in the, industry for over 20 years, they've literally heard thousands of pitches on innovation and they've helped, create the acquisitions for these companies. So it's given them an incredible perspective. So I think that what's changed the most is probably the sharks. Unfortunately, the host hasn't changed at all, but, the, but the sharks certainly have and the products and the surgeons have changed a ton.
Joseph M. Schwab:So when you get these top execs at, these large companies, was that a difficult sell for them to participate or were they enthusiastic to be involved? Tell me more about that.
Charlie DeCook:I thought at first that there would be pushback. Obviously there's competitive companies, you've got the big three that are always competing together, but they are, have been so cordial, so inviting. I've been shocked at how much that they've wanted to participate. They've eagerly done it every year. I haven't had to beg anyone to do it. In fact, they're eager. They've reached out to me and said, Hey, are we doing it again next year? so there's been a total, Passion around this because I think it gives them also a way for them to speak about their company, how they look at innovation technology, maybe a little bit differently than the other company. And I think you could see that. I think you could see each shark gives a different perspective on, what a Stryker, ZimmerBiomet or a J&J look at when they're looking to acquire a company or a product. so I think they give a different perspective and I think they're eager to share. this is an open industry. there's a lot of different ideas getting thrown around and it's, to me, a very open relationship. So it's been great. They've been very cordial, different sharks don't really bicker at all, although we probably should initiate that this year where they fight back and forth and bid on something. It's too bad we couldn't make this so that they would actually acquire a company at the end of the shark tank. But, it's really a good opportunity, not only for the surgeons that are bringing the products to shark tank, but it's also a great opportunity. for the audience to listen in. So we've literally had hundreds of innovators in the audience, taking notes, learning from this, in the process, as Joe, as we have polls at the end that allow us to really help. Refine the shark tank over time. And I think one of the things we've learned is. We need to keep these presentations relatively short and have plenty of time for the sharks to really start peppering them with questions. So we like to keep it between seven and eight minutes of actual presentation time where they do their quick elevator pitch of their product. And then most of the time is for the sharks to really tear into them and their idea. And they've been very kind to them in the past. I think we've had several products where I would have totally, torn them apart. But, the sharks have been super kind to them. we'll see how it goes this year. we got, one or two new sharks that may or may not bring a, different personality to the table. So we're gonna see, we're gonna see if the surgeons survive the Shark Tank this year.
Joseph M. Schwab:So let's talk a little bit about this year from the perspective of a surgeon entrepreneur, somebody trying to bring a new product to market. Tell me a little bit about why they would want to participate in this. Are they, is it just a, do they want to run the gauntlet to test their idea? Or is this really an opportunity to get them in front of potential customers or maybe it's something else?
Charlie DeCook:Yeah, I think probably the first. And probably the most important reason why a surgeon should bring their innovation to the shark tank is you are going to learn. you are going to learn a lot from these sharks. You're going to learn a lot from the audience when they get questions from the audience about your product and give you a different perspective. the problem when we develop an innovation or a product, we become in love with it. And we only see what's great about it. It's like our Children, oftentimes it is so great for a shark or one of the audience member members of AHF to really give you a totally different perspective and say, Oh, my gosh, my baby is a little bit ugly. Or maybe I need to pivot at this point and change my business model. so I think that's By far, the number one is to really help you improve how you're looking and changing your perspective on your product. That's number one. Number two is, they give helpful advice. these sharks are just giving out free advice to you about what to change, what to tweak, how to change your business model. So this is fantastic for you to get that kind of experience. And I would say third is just the ability to expose your product. Most surgeons that come and bring their product think, this is a great chance for me to expose my product to the public and to these sharks in industry and so they bring a product and then they get to show it. And they get to prove out what they've literally taken years and years to develop. And I think that's why most of these surgeons come to these shark tanks is for that exposure. But I think they leave with a different feeling. They leave with a feeling, my goodness, I've just learned so much more about, about the product that I've been trying to develop. I think that's probably the most exciting thing for me to see is the change because at first it's exposure. I want to expose my product to the market. And then at the end, it's oh, valuable feedback that I can now change.
Joseph M. Schwab:From your perspective, why has it been a priority really for the AHF or for you to work on highlighting this sort of relationship between surgeons, industry and entrepreneurship?
Charlie DeCook:Really, we are in the crux, in the thick of being in the marketplace. We believe in capitalism and we believe that innovation happens as a result of capitalism. So we embrace the relationship between the surgeon and industry. We think as long as things are, disclosed. We think that true innovation comes between the two, between innovation and the surgeon. And we want to facilitate that as much as possible. it's interesting. Industry these days has become very large. and has become very bureaucratic. And I think the big three and certainly other companies in the orthopedic med device space have had a hard time innovating and really bringing our product to market because of all the red tape and bureaucracy that they find themselves in. And we're seeing more and more of these companies looking outside of their companies for innovations. They're looking to acquire companies. And I think AHF's vision was that, boy, maybe we can help facilitate these relationships, facilitate ideas, and facilitate the relationship between the surgeon and the medical device company in a way that probably hasn't been done before.
Joseph M. Schwab:How do you feel the Shark Tank has had an impact on both the growth of the Anterior Hip Foundation, as well as on how other. similar organizations are holding or running their meetings. we've seen over the last couple of years now some copycats come along with, ortho innovation symposiums, and at the Academy in 2024, there was now a way for entrepreneurs to present their ideas to industry. How has that impacted? Do you think the greater orthopedic community?
Charlie DeCook:Yeah, I love it. I love the fact that other, either educational platforms or the Academy or AAHKS are really embracing this idea. listen, imitation is the best form of flattery. And, I wouldn't say we obviously had the first idea of shark tank. We stole the idea of the shark tank to begin with from TV we're certainly not the owners of that, but it does help facilitate that. And we think that the anterior hip foundation is at the core of that, priority. And that is innovation is going to drive things moving forward for orthopedics. it has been from the beginning as we thought through implants and how John Charnley started developing his hip. We've seen that innovation change over time and it's moved away from the implant as we've gotten these incredible implants that last Unbelievable amounts of time we've seen wear that is, unexpected in terms of we've almost reduced or eliminated the wear that we've used to deal with. And now we've pivoted from the implant to technology. And now we're in a totally new realm where we're really trying to improve the surgical technique through technology. And to me, this is more exciting than the implant age. I think a lot of surgeons think, oh, I missed my opportunity to develop implants or have royalties or all that kind of stuff. To be honest with you, I think that was so boring in a lot of respects. There's a lot of surgeons that did incredible work and they did incredible things. And I don't want to call that boring, but for us at this point, that has come and gone. The implant technologies are there. They will make little tweaks over time that I think we're going to see. But I think the real exciting moments now are in tech. And so we're now at the forefront between orthopedic companies, tech and surgeons, and AHF has been able to facilitate that, at the core of AHF is innovation. And that is something we want to facilitate. That's why we highlight the shark tank so much at the AHF this year.
Joseph M. Schwab:Yeah, the, it's interesting when you talk about implants, concepts like metallurgy and, different composite materials that's, those are well established sciences and maybe you're making tweaks on the edges, but how's an entrepreneur getting into tech going to be keeping up with the pace of innovation in areas like AI with different, AI type models coming out every few weeks, if not every few days, and utilizing those in the products that they want to bring to market.
Charlie DeCook:Boy, that's a good point. I think we have to step outside of our industry. orthopedics is way behind the times. Medical devices way behind the times. if you look at Google's and Apple's and Microsoft and, OpenAI, these tech, these companies are so much further along than we are. I'll give a shout out to people like, Beanie at Doc SF. I'll give a shout out to other podcasts that I listen to the all in podcast there's all these different new tech podcasts and Technology firms that we can learn from and incorporate them into the orthopedic med device space I think that's the most exciting thing for me is that we're so far behind the curve that frankly any new innovation you bring is going to be far above what we currently have in orthopedics.
Joseph M. Schwab:speaking of innovation, are there new innovative, developments for the 2025 shark tank that you want to share?
Charlie DeCook:Ooh, that's a good question. we're collecting all the participants now. So if you happen to be listening to this podcast, please, by all means, if you feel comfortable and ready to share and bring public what you have developed, this is the time we are collecting it over the next three months. So I'm not going to reveal any of those that we've decided to, bring on for AHF 2025. I will say there's been a groundswell of unbelievable surgeons and products this year. So we have a, a decision making process and how we decide which products we're going to pick. you'll see on the, website, the ability to submit your product and, or submit your idea to AHF. And then we go through a, a committee that selects those that will be chosen. I think this year we're going to choose six or seven, new products. So it's, become a tight process to get into the AHF but, and the shark tank, but, please submit to the website. I think it would be super helpful.
Joseph M. Schwab:We can put a link to it in the show notes. Charlie, it's been great as always to see you and to talk with you. And thank you for talking, taking the time to talk with me today.
Charlie DeCook:Joe is honored to be with the president of AHF and you've done a fantastic job. Unbelievable. And what a privilege it is to be on this podcast. Super excited to inspire the next generation of surgeon entrepreneurs and innovators. And, we urge you to bring your product to AHF Shark Tank 2025.
Joseph M. Schwab:Registration for the AHF 2025 annual meeting appetite for disruption is open. Go to anteriorhipfoundation. com to secure your spot. And most importantly, Secure your hotel accommodations. The country music awards will be going on at the same time, which means Nashville will be an incredible place to be, but a hard place to find lodging. So again, go to anteriorhipfoundation. com to register or check the show notes for a direct link to the meetings registration page. Join us every Friday for a new episode of the AHF podcast. You can find us in audio form in your favorite podcast app or watch our video podcast on YouTube. Don't forget to like and subscribe and leave us a five star review to help us reach a wider audience. Until next week, this is Joe Schwab reminding you to keep those hips happy and healthy.
