Albert Yuan - Conkay Medical

[00:00:00] Albert Yuan: Then two years later, they came and told me Albert, we we're closing the site down. And we need you to move to Maple Grove, Minnesota. And I knew my wife would kill me. She hates cold weather. And so I was just like, I don't want her being mad at me every winter. I didn't know what I was going to do. They were like, Albert you've got to leave, right? We're closing the site now. And literally, two weeks after that, I was in San Francisco for my brother in law's wedding reception. You know how hilly San Francisco and so my father in law decides to leave the wedding reception, goes down and blocked his car.

[00:00:38] And on his way back up, he started feeling something he never felt before. He had shortness of breath, fatigue, chest pains, like he just couldn't go up that hill. It ended up taking him like over an hour to get back to the reception to tell us what happened. And, as it, as it turned out, he had valvular regurgitation symptoms.

[00:00:55] And that, at that moment, a light bulb went in my head like, maybe this is a sign that I should start my own, just do my own thing

[00:01:05] ​

[00:01:05] Giovanni Lauricella: Hi, everyone. This is the MedTech Startup Podcast, and we are in San Francisco, or the Bay Area, for the MedTech Strategist Innovation Summit.

[00:01:16] today we're gonna actually talk about a hardcore product development story and a real true founder story for some hard tech.

[00:01:23] Let's jump into it. Albert, thank you so much for being here with us today. And today, what we like to do on the MedTech Startup Podcast is get inside the minds, the hearts, and the guts of entrepreneurs just like you. And it's a wild journey, an intense startup story. And I know that you have that.

[00:01:41] You're still really in the thick of it. And that's the story that we're going to tell today. But before we get there, we want to know, who are you? Where are you from? How have you built your life? All the way leading up to the point where you founded Conkay Medical Systems. And then we'll jump into that story.

[00:01:56] Who are you?

[00:01:57] Albert Yuan: First of all, thank you so much for allowing me to be here. With, having this opportunity to talk to you. This is great. Yeah. My name is Albert Yuan. I'm CEO and founder of Conkay Medical Systems. And, I'm a first generation Chinese American. I was born in Texas.

[00:02:11] In good old Kingsville. A small town outside of Texas A&M College Station. That's where my dad went to school. For grad for graduate school. I moved to San Jose when I was five years old, my sister was born, I spoke Chinese at home, and so I had to learn English.

[00:02:25] Giovanni Lauricella: That was your first language?

[00:02:26] Albert Yuan: That was my first language, yeah. So I grew up in a time when there was, I was probably like one Asian kid out of the thirty two students moved to Fremont when I was about seven years old, and I've lived in Fremont ever since, ever until, all, all the way until college and I think something happened junior year that really pushed me My grandfather actually had a stroke, a debilitating stroke and so he ended up passing away from that shortly after.

[00:02:51] And that same year, my mom actually had a tumor that burst inside her and my dad had to rush her to the hospital in the middle of the night they ended up taking out her kidney part of her liver, her pancreas and so I was super thankful that she survived. And it's because of her that pushed me towards wanting to work towards the

[00:03:10] medical space. At the time I didn't know if I wanted to go into pre med or something else. But I didn't know I loved building things. And so at the time so when I applied for it to college I ended up going to UC Davis. And chose bio-systems engineering at the time, and outdate myself, but there wasn't bio medical engineering major but there was this major called bio systems engineering where you basically took all mechanical engineering classes, all biology classes.

[00:03:35] And I got to specialize under biomedical engineering and also specialize in the pre med. And so I was taking every single class, 24 units a quarter, which is a lot for quarter school, quarter system school. And nobody told me this, but You shouldn't take, you shouldn't go do intramural sports, like four intramural sports a quarter.

[00:03:53] It's not good for your grades. So my grades were not good freshman year. And I tried applying for an internship while I was at Davis. I tried applying to all the big companies. Like Abbott, Genentech, all these other companies. And I couldn't get in using my grades. And one of the things they told me about was, Albert, why don't you try to get some more lab experience?

[00:04:12] And that your grades aren't good. Show me that you can prove your grades your sophomore year and then, maybe get an internship, get some lab experience. And so my sophomore year I applied, actually it was probably one of the worst jobs I ever did was I was like, okay I'll get some lab experience.

[00:04:27] I got a job at the ag building, grinding helping the soil analysis lab. And so they gave me these chunks of clay, I had to grind up clay in this, in the greenhouse. In Davis, California, which is like 110 to 115 degrees in the summer.

[00:04:42] Giovanni Lauricella: Wow. And. Like Texas.

[00:04:44] Albert Yuan: Yeah. And so it was like, yeah, but it was good, it was a good lab experience.

[00:04:50] And then from there, I got an internship at a biotech company.it was a startup, six people startup, is where I first got the taste of working in a startup. And they wanted an engineer who could validate their equipment and at the same time help them with DNA extractions. And also, it was a fruit biotech, or a plant biotech company.

[00:05:10] And so I got to go pick melons in the, at a farm. I got to be really good at picking fruits because of that experience. And they ended up offering me a full time position which helped me, pay for junior and senior year of college. And so I loved it.

[00:05:27] Giovanni Lauricella: So it also taught you the price of money back then too when you were paying for your own college.

[00:05:30] Albert Yuan: Yeah. It did. And it, it was a great experience. I loved working at this startup. I was the seventh employee. It was like a family, like I remember one of my fondest memories was our CEO invited us over for Christmas dinner at their house. Oh. And he made, and he is Italian, he made it was the best Italian food I've ever had.

[00:05:49] And I remember this long table that we all sat at. It was great, and just growing up in that time and also just going through that experience and then the experiences I had with my mother, my mom, having her her kidneys and all those, things taking out because of the tumor.

[00:06:04] Yeah. It just I think, instilled in me that, that mentality of okay It's great to just work hard and push and keep going. I ended up working a year after college. And then decided, you know what, I feel like I don't know enough. So I decided to go to grad school. I went to Cal Poly San Luis Obispo for grad school.

[00:06:22] And I specialized in biomedical engineering along with biomaterials, materials science. And then right after college, my first job was at AVID. As a manufacturing engineer.

[00:06:32] Giovanni Lauricella: So you went from startup to big corporate?

[00:06:34] Albert Yuan: Yes. I thought working in a big company would be a good choice to go because I would see multiple products and I'd be able to get the full breadth of medical device space.

[00:06:45] And so I worked in manufacturing for two years and realized, I preferred R& D. Because I love, Be able to create things and be creative and just solve problemsYeah, and so I went in stance And my manager at the time he like he was like Albert.

[00:07:01] Yeah, we love you We'd love to have you on the R& D team And yeah, I transferred over in R& D ever since. Ever since. Yeah and then shortly after that Abbott purchased Guidant. Okay. And so I was transferred over to Guidant and my boss left to another startup, which later I found out was Guided Delivery Systems.

[00:07:18] And so after working a few years at Abbott on stent design and catheter design and balloon catheters he brought me over to Guided Delivery Systems. I worked several years as a lead R& D engineer there on their main delivery system.

[00:07:33] Giovanni Lauricella: So this is your first true medical device startup at this point, and then now you're jumping into structural heart, and you're committed to R& D.

[00:07:41] Albert Yuan: Yep.And I love that experience as well. Just as a small, tight knit R& D group. And then from there, my boss left. And so I was there for a few more years. He went to Angie's Score. And then shortly after, he brought me over to ans score as well, and he became a mentor. A mentor of mine.

[00:07:57] I always, I would always message him up now and just be like, Hey, what do you think of this? Yeah. His name's Peter Johanson. So Peter, if you're listening to this,

[00:08:05] Giovanni Lauricella: shout out to the mentor.

[00:08:06] Albert Yuan: Yes. So thank you Peter. And yeah, so I went to work, went to Angie's Score. Then after that I went to Cordis.

[00:08:13] Actually I had an opportunity to go to Shockwave, which ended up doing. Very well, as I think back Huh, was that the right choice? I would have been the sixth employee at Shockwave, actually. But at the time, I just had my daughter. And I was like, I need something more stable.

[00:08:31] And yeah.

[00:08:32] Giovanni Lauricella: Life gets in the way in a good way.

[00:08:33] Albert Yuan: Yes, exactly. And it was a good thing, so I said, Okay, I'll go Cordis. And, to be honest, Going Cordis, I don't think, was a bad decision. I ended up managing the R& D team on the balloon catheter side. And J& J at the time owned Cordis, and they ended up selling Cordis to Cardinal Health.

[00:08:50] And because of my time at Cordis, they actually got rid of all their first generation manufacturing equipment. And as being a catheter engineer, I was like, you know what, I've had ideas about potentially starting my own company. And so I ended up asking hey, can I take some of this equipment?

[00:09:09] And I figured, hey, it doesn't hurt to ask, right? And they were like, yeah, we're going to donate a lot of this stuff anyways or throw it away. And so I went in the lab and started tagging everything I wanted. Not knowing that, I would end up starting a company and using this equipment later on.

[00:09:23] But I just said, who knows, right? And so I ended up gathering a lot of equipment, stored it on my shelf in my garage for years. And that's actually the equipment I use to start Conkay later on. But after quarters, before I even started Conkay, I, after quarters, I went to Claret Medical, which developed a device for cerebral protection or stroke protection during power procedures.

[00:09:45] Giovanni Lauricella: That's C E P D, Cerebral Embolic Protection Devices.

[00:09:49] Albert Yuan: Yes, exactly.

[00:09:50] Giovanni Lauricella: That mitigates What was it? Calcium deposits flying off of during tavi?

[00:09:56] Albert Yuan: Yeah. Debris just coming off during TAVI procedures. It captures in the filter that could go into the head, that could go in the head could potentially cause a stroke.

[00:10:04] Yeah. And yeah, so I went there and I didn't know at the time, but they wanted also a next generation device. And and I had told you I look. Building things they saw. It was like in a month period. I came out with five different prototypes and they were like, this is the most prototypes I've ever seen, like churn out from anybody.

[00:10:19] Yeah. And so I, yeah. And one of those ended up working. Oh, wow. And so we, and and at the time, which I didn't know Boston Scientific was interested in acquiring a company and they ended up coming over and had me demonstrate this prototype that I built which ended up, being great and that they loved it.

[00:10:37] And about six months after working at Claret, they acquired a company.

[00:10:42] Giovanni Lauricella: Oh, so you were only there for six months and then you guys acquired it? Yeah. Oh, wow. Okay.

[00:10:46] Albert Yuan: So I got acquired and then I started managing a team in Maple Grove, Minnesota. So I was traveling to Minnesota a lot. Got to endure the cold weather there.

[00:10:56] They got acquired, and then two years later, they, they came and told me Albert, we we're closing the site down. And we need you to move to Maple Grove, Minnesota to manage the team there. And

[00:11:06] I knew my wife would kill me. She hates cold weather. And so I was just like, I don't want her being mad at me every winter. So I said, yeah, I can't, and honestly, I didn't know what I was going to do. They were like, Albert you have a couple months, to decide what you want to do. You've got to leave, right?

[00:11:25] We're closing the site now. And literally, two weeks after that, I was in San Francisco for my brother in law's wedding reception. And my father in law, you know how hilly San Francisco is, and there's a lot of hills. And so my father in law decides to leave the wedding reception, goes down and blocked his car.

[00:11:42] And on his way back up, he started feeling something he never felt before. He had shortness of breath, fatigue, chest pains, like he just couldn't go up that hill. It ended up taking him like over an hour to get back to the reception to tell us what happened. And, as it, as it turned out, he had valvular regurgitation symptoms.

[00:11:59] And that, at that moment, a light bulb went off in my head like, Hey, I've had this idea for a long time for valvular regurgitation. Maybe this is a sign that I should start my own, just do my own thing maybe. And just, and and I've always wanted to do my own thing. It's just, with kids and all that, it's just all time for it, right?

[00:12:20] And, honestly, it's still a lot, it's still, having kids still takes up a lot of my time, but but, I was like, you know what, let's do it. I talked to my wife, and being the supportive wife that she is, she was like, oh, yeah, let's do it. And so I dusted off all the equipment I had in my garage, stored from the Cordis days, and then built my first prototype.

[00:12:42] And then started my own company, and I called it ConKay. And the reason why it's called ConKay is actually named after my kids, Connor and Kaylee. And the idea of starting the company was about family. It's about family, it's about all the other, all my friends families and their parents and people.

[00:12:58] And this disease affects a lot of people. It's 1 in 10, and as adults, the age is 65 and over. We're talking about 10 percent of, A sizable population. A sizable population that has this. And, it could be your parents, it could be my parents, it could be any of our parents, right?

[00:13:13] Yeah. Who are in that age group. And I was like, yeah, this is going to be about family. I called it Conkay. And then started the company. And, I didn't have a lot of money, and we had to make a lot of lifestyle changes and stuff like that. But But we, yeah I had to go out.

[00:13:28] I was like, you know what? I gotta make this work. I really believe in this idea. So I reached out to my network of friends, and I was just like, hey, you guys you guys work at different manufacturing companies. Do you have any extra shafts that you need thrown away? I'm looking for something around this size.

[00:13:43] And then, luckily, someone would be like, yeah. We don't need the shaft. Do you want it? I'll send it to you. And so I started collecting free samples from different people. And I was able to build my CAD. I bought a 3D printer. To print my handles. And I just started building my first prototype. And I was able to show that it worked.

[00:14:02] And did what I wanted to do. And with that prototype I was able to get my first investment. And that was like a 200, 000 investment from two investors. Angel investors that, were like, yeah. Love this.

[00:14:15] Giovanni Lauricella: So now that you've got a prototype 200, 000 before we go any further, and now we know how you even got the name, which is amazing.

[00:14:25] So family, huge purpose to go drive and build something based on your history of big companies, small companies, and we'll get into it. But what is Conkay Medical Systems? What is the technology? Where was it? Where is it today? You mentioned that you already have 2, 000, or 200, 000 in, but where are we in terms of status today with all that?

[00:14:47] Get on that podium and tell the world what Conkay Medical Systems is.

[00:14:50] Albert Yuan: At Conkay Medical Systems we're developing a device for valvular regurgitation. Which is a disease where people have leaking heart valves. And as I mentioned, it affects about 10 percent of the population ages 65 and over.

[00:15:02] And Essentially what happens is as you get older, your body tries to compensate all the clogged arteries, and the heart gets bigger, increases in volume, so you can pump more blood through your body. But when it does that, your valves enlarge as well, to the point where they don't close properly anymore.

[00:15:17] Now there's a backflow of blood, which can cause fatigue, chest pain, and severe cases of death. And yeah, and that's exactly what my father in law experienced. And that's what we're tackling, and I started off on the Mitral side, and I remember applying to, this one accelerator program that totally turned us down because they were like, no, there's too many companies on the Mitral side, you're not gonna, you're not gonna do well, your company's gonna fail, blah, blah, and and I was like, alright, I'll take that with a grain of salt, I'll think about it, and then literally a week later I went to a conference called TBT which is created by the same folks who have TCT. And, I'm, and at the time I was like, you know what, first thing I need is to get some advisors on my board, on my advisory board. And I remember emailing these physicians beforehand and none of them replied.

[00:16:06] They're like, probably thinking, who is this guy? Random guy messaging me. And so I said, okay, I'm gonna go to this conference, I'm gonna look up all these. And I'm going to introduce myself the minute they're done with their sessions, so I could, see if I can get some feedback from them.

[00:16:21] And little did I know, they ended up loving the device. The first four physicians I talked to all wanted to be scientific advisors of mine, so I signed them up right away. And one of them, it's Dr. Safakar, who's one of the most famous physicians in the short term heart valve space, and then Dr. Jamie McCabe. I also signed up Dr. Hamel Goddard, Dr. Ahmet Bora, and and so there's, there's some famous, prestigious physicians for interventional cardiology, and so yeah, and at that point they told me, Albert, your device tackles all the limitations on the tricuspid side, and so I switched gears and went to the tricuspid side, started focusing on that, and

[00:17:02] Giovanni Lauricella: so feedback from the market in this regard, physician market, actually. encourage you to switch from the left side to the right side of the heart?

[00:17:10] Albert Yuan: Yeah. Okay. Interestingly. And as it turns out, there's no FDA approved product on the tricuspid space. And the device is currently in clinical trials on the tricuspid side where all devices borrow from the mitral side.

[00:17:21] They were really designed for the mitral side at the time. And and what that meant was they were only treating a very small subset of the population because the tricuspid valve actually is a lot larger than the mitral. I'll just give you some numbers on the mitral side, severe cases, a valve can get about 55, 60 millimeters in diameter by dilating.

[00:17:41] On the tricuspid side, severe cases can get up to about 80 millimeters in diameter. So it's a big difference and a majority of patients, about 66 percent of them have large valves which cannot be treated right now with the current devices in clinical trials. And as it turns out, our device, our technology can treat up to 80 millimeters in diameter, like we have these arms that kind of expand out and it's a one size fits all device that can go down from, so I could treat small valves to large valves and with one single device and our device also avoids pacemaker leads, which these other devices were not designed to do because they're all devices borrowed from the mitral side.

[00:18:18] buT it just so happened that the design that I came up with avoids pacemaker leads and also compatible with intracardiac echocardiography. Basically known as ICE imaging. So a physician can track an ICE imaging catheter through a device, park it right above the valve, as they treat the valve on the tricuspid side.

[00:18:34] And imaging is a huge issue. Because all the devices currently use the traditional TEE, transesophageal echocardiography for imaging, which gives you very blurred images of the tricuspid valve. So it makes it difficult for the physician to see, and then therefore increases procedural time. And and I didn't even know about that, it just so happened I designed this, thinking, trying to make it as flexible and easy to use for a physician on my tool, not knowing that, hey, this covers all my limitations on trichotestoside as well. And yeah and it worked out, and that's what we're focusing on now.

[00:19:07] Giovanni Lauricella: And beyond the 200, 000 end to date, where are you with raise now, and what does that look and feel like?

[00:19:13] Albert Yuan: Yeah. So right now we've raised about 1.1 okay million. Our target was originally one and a quarter, but we've raised it to one and a half.

[00:19:21] Okay. Probably because we just want to increase our runway, especially with the economy and all. And so we're about 400,000 away from closing.

[00:19:27] Giovanni Lauricella: You started this as a one man band, but where are you today with that?

[00:19:31] Albert Yuan: Yeah, so yeah, and that's the other thing was I did this all by myself, for a while.

[00:19:36] I would say for. About three years, I was all by myself. I did have a lot of friends that kind of mentored and helped out along the way. And that was difficult, to say the least. I'm always jealous of other companies with co founders. I'm like, oh, that'd be great if I could just pass off this to somebody else to work on that.

[00:19:53] And, it got to a point where I really had to balance everything. I had to focus on the fundraising, make sure I got to the bare minimum amount that I needed to keep going. And then everything else on would be just icing on the cake. And then switch over to the technology and progress that and keep that going.

[00:20:09] I had to save money along the way, to do all that. I bought sheep parts from the local butcher so I could do testing on the bench. And, and my wife hates it because I have eight sheep parts in the freezer in my garage. And my children, it's just like sheet parts. Yeah it's, but you gotta do what you gotta do, right?

[00:20:26] And then we had to change our lifestyle as well to save money. Yeah, it's it's, it's definitely been a journey. And now we've actually hired a full time engineer in August, at the end of August. So that's helping me right now is either hiring an engineer or using the money to get an office space.

[00:20:42] But we've decided to hire an engineer because, we felt like that was, It's probably more worth, worth the time and cost and help out with the development. And the extra hands. And the extra hands, exactly. And I have a CFO as well who works part time who helps out on the finance side.

[00:20:55] So at least that, the finance stuff I can pass off to him now as well. But yeah.

[00:21:01] Giovanni Lauricella: So we've talked about your journey of getting there in terms of your career. You've had the big company experience, the startup experience, the previous structural heart experience. And then even the acquisition experience with Claret into Boston Scientific.

[00:21:16] You purposely talked about family being the driver for starting this. It was ironic enough that you bought the equipment without even knowing what it was going to be used for, that it was sparked by a family initiative. So now we know why you started the company, what the company is doing today.

[00:21:30] But it's a, it is a true entrepreneur story, right? You could have easily gone into another Big company or joined another startup and after Boston Scientific and you didn't, and you decided to start a company then and there. So imagine you could be talking to a room full of yous from three and a half years ago, or a room full of engineers that are in Edwards Life Science, Boston Scientific, Medtronic, Abbott, and they're showing up to work every day.

[00:22:00] And maybe they're listening to this podcast or watching it. And they have ideas, just like you did. And they didn't have the opportunity to go tag a bunch of equipment to go throw in their garage and not know where it was going to be needed or when it was going to be needed, but imagine you could speak to all those people who are on the cusp or have a desire to be an entrepreneur doing what you've done and are doing now.

[00:22:23] What don't they know about what it truly takes to be an entrepreneur? What is that mindset shift of showing up to an habit, which you have done before, or a big company, or even another startup company where you're one of several or many at this point, but what's that mindset shift of that to doing what you did?

[00:22:43] What's the lifestyle shift from that to what you're doing now? And I'm sure a lot of people watching and listening to this right now are thinking, Okay, I've never raised money before. I'm an engineer somewhere. He raised a million plus dollars at this point? Like, how? Yeah. What is that? I can't even imagine. I haven't raised 10, 000 before. I've spent 10, 000, but I've never raised a million. Tell about that entrepreneurial story. What don't they know? What's that mindset, that lifestyle? What are they giving up?

[00:23:13] Albert Yuan: Yeah. First of all, I feel like if you have an idea and you believe in it, I always believed in trying versus not trying, because you never know, and that's why I went into this. Now, yeah, there are definitely lifestyle changes. We had to save a lot of money. Put it this way, my wife, who's a teacher, makes more than I do. And we all know about teacher salaries here in the states.

[00:23:34] and we loved, we used to love going out to eat, and so one of the big changes we did was like, Japanese food is our favorite food, and so we used to go eat Japanese maybe once a week. We probably have done that only three times in the last, maybe, three years. Oh, wow. So we, and it's expensive, and so we just don't go eat Japanese anymore unless it's a special occasion or something like that.

[00:23:55] And we buy bulk foods now. Like, whenever something's on sale, we buy multiple packs of steaks, and then put it in the freezer. It's, we just gotta save our money, we try to limit our trips as well. My last big trip was to Hawaii and Maui back in January and it's sad to hear about what happened in Maui too after we went.

[00:24:14] But, it was, yeah, it just, it's a big shift in your lifestyle, but, at the end of the day, if you believe in your product, you believe that it's gonna be able to help a lot of people and you have a supportive family, a very supportive wife. Who's okay with being the breadwinner right now it's okay.

[00:24:31] You're willing to give sacrifice and do those things to, to make it work.

[00:24:36] Giovanni Lauricella: And I don't want to be redundant, but the, we understand the why you started. You certainly have the background to take that leap, right? So the big company, the small company, then the forced exit where it's like you got a couple weeks to make a decision.

[00:24:48] What do you want to do with your life? So I get that. point where you're like, okay, now's the time, especially with the support from back home, which is huge. Also, based on your father in law's value level of education, father in law, right? Yeah. Yeah, so that was the reason why you took the foray and also being with Guided Delivery System, you had that structural heart experience, but Did it ever cross your mind to do anything but getting into hard medtech, like transcatheter heart valve design, as well as just creating the whole system, the transcatheter itself, the actual implant itself, that's really hard medtech, it's a PMA guaranteed regulatory path.

[00:25:33] Big clinical studies, 100 to 150 million raised to even get, that's what people have been saying in the industry about what it's going to even take to exit possibly, or get to commercialization. Is that the family driver, or did it ever cross your mind to do anything else besides valves?

[00:25:47] Albert Yuan: Yeah, good question, and to be honest, no.

[00:25:50] That was it. When I saw what happened to my father in law, and also being in the space and knowing that there's a huge need for it I wanted to do it right away. There wasn't a a second that I said no, maybe some, like I was, there wasn't even a second where I hesitated, it was just, I want to do it.

[00:26:07] And I, I think part of my personality is also how my parents instilled in me to always push for the limits, challenge myself, and nothing is ever good enough. I was born in a very traditional Chinese family. My parents were always like, nothing, like nothing was ever good enough, I never got praised for it.

[00:26:24] Being successful at anything really when I was a kid. My, like for example, it would be a B plus in class and my father would be like, No, that's not good enough. You need an A. I come back with an A minus and he's no, that's not good enough. You need an A. Come back with an A. He's no, you should be getting an A plus in the class.

[00:26:39] And it's and it's that mentality and I was growing up in that.it's and I was always trying to prove myself. I remember in kindergarten, or in elementary school, they had a PE competition or something to see like how many pull ups you could do, or like an exercise competition.

[00:26:54] I remember the football player did 12 pull ups one year, and I was like, and I was like the shortest, most scrawniest kid in class, the only Asian kid, and I was like, I could beat him. And as I went in I think for Christmas, I asked my dad Hey, can I get a pull up bar? And I got a pull up bar, and then in the following year, and I just started working my butt off, and then the following year, I had 14 pull ups. And the guy had 12, and I was just like, and then I was like, yes! And it's just that, I think, mentality, and that drive to always be better. Really. I think, helped me go in this direction too, just because it gave me the confidence I needed.

[00:27:31] Hey, I can do this, and I like challenges, and I know there's a huge need, and I might just go for it.

[00:27:38] Giovanni Lauricella: Yeah. Going back to that metaphorical room of engineers that you're speaking to, and the three and a half year old self from ago if we get to the business side, the emotional entrepreneurial psychology we covered, But I want to get to the business side and the tactical mechanics of it.

[00:27:56] If we now know what it means to give up and what type of childhood and adulthood and always constantly pushing yourself that kind of should be burned inside of you to be able to get through all the grind of an entrepreneur's journey, what are the actual tactical learning lessons that you've learned?

[00:28:11] For example, you work for an Abbott, you work for Medtronic, you work for a startup at your employee number 7 to 15, whatever it may be. No one teaches you except what you're supposed to be doing, right? That's what you should be doing. But you show up to this business, and all of a sudden you take that leap of faith to become an entrepreneur, and not only are you building a transcatheter mitral valve, which is your technical focus, but you have to wrap a business around it.

[00:28:38] If you could speak to your three and a half year old self, if you could speak to this entrepreneurial room who has ideas, But they haven't taken that leap of faith because they don't know what they have to get involved with. What have you learned on the business side? What are some of those challenges?

[00:28:53] What do you have to do to start a business? What didn't you know three and a half

[00:28:56] years ago that you know now?

[00:28:58] Albert Yuan: Yeah, it's funny you ask that because I was talking to my wife about that last night. I went back and I'm like, yeah, I'm going to be talking to Giovanni tomorrow, and these are the things we're going to be talking about.

[00:29:06] And she actually brought up a good point. She was like, That reminds me of this video that I, so she's a coach for new teachers in her district. And, there's actually a video called, Letter to Me on My First Day of School. Or First Day of Class, or something like that. It's on YouTube, and I actually watched the whole thing, she played it last night for me.

[00:29:26] And, it reminds me exactly what you're asking about. And I think one of the biggest things is, I always tell students that mentor, and I've mentored over 20 students to date. I just love mentoring. I always tell them, like, when you're working, especially in a big company, take advantage of the fact that you're in a big company.

[00:29:44] Try to ask questions, if you have time, go into the clean room, to other lines that you're not managing, and ask about it. Talk to the operators. What, how, what works, what doesn't work. Expand, just expand your knowledge as much as you can. And I felt because of that mentality, for me, it helped me in lots of different areas.

[00:30:04] Now, one area specifically that wasn't, or I knew nothing about really, was the business side. And so going and starting this company, it was about, how do I start the company? What do I have to do to make it from an LLC to a corp, and then fundraising. I knew nothing about front row. I've never pitched in my life.

[00:30:24] I'm actually a pretty shy guy, even though people don't think that, but I'm actually a pretty shy guy, and I don't like to talk in front of people. And and this experience has gotten me to talk on stage in front of hundreds of people just staring at you, and it's it's a different experience.

[00:30:42] I remember my first pitch deck, and I didn't even know how to put together a pitch deck. I didn't know what a pitch deck was. I had to look it up online, and my very first pitch deck, I sent to my sister who works for, I think she's part of the business development group or the Google Global Partnership Group.

[00:30:56] So she sees pitch decks all the time. And so I sent it to her, I was like, hey, can you just take a look, let me know what you think. And I remember she texted me, she was like, Albert, we need to get on a Zoom call. And I was thinking, I was like, It's not bad, huh? So we get on a Zoom call and I heard her, I was doing it like, Albert, you gotta change all this.

[00:31:15] This is not good. And and I had that engineering mindset going into it, and I was like, okay, I realize you gotta put on your marketing cap. And add more images, and make it more visually, nicer. It's a new feeling.

[00:31:30] Giovanni Lauricella: Speaking on the pitch deck. You've raised 1. 1 to date. Yeah, you had that first 200, 000 check from reaching out to your immediate network Yeah, that was from one first angel investor.

[00:31:41] Albert Yuan: That was from a combination of two.

[00:31:42] Giovanni Lauricella: Combination of two. Yeah, okay So you had a pre seed round. Pre seed round. So you had a couple people come into That was simply reaching out to your friends and family and people and just pitching that story or maybe the next former colleagues.

[00:31:53] Albert Yuan: It was to a former colleague actually so a former colleague of mine at Cloret knew that I was starting my own thing and so when he asked about it, it just so happened he had a friend that just sold his company.

[00:32:06] And he wanted to get into the medtech space because it was his way of giving back to the community. And it just worked out. It's, I call it luck, it was just knowing the right people at the right time, and and they wanted to invest.

[00:32:17] Giovanni Lauricella: Getting to the next 900,000 from that 200 to get you to 1.1.

[00:32:23] Yeah. Where has your luck been in terms of the style of investor that you've reached out to? How have you amassed that? What, what has failed, what hasn't worked? And what kind of investors are you talking to be able to get that success?

[00:32:34] Albert Yuan: So we've all, we, all of our investors have been angel investors. And then the last year during Covid, we had family and friends family and friends round.

[00:32:42] And so we have some family and friends. Who have invested in the company as well. But I think one of the biggest things I've learned is about growing your network. Reach out to as many people as you can. You never know where things go. I, honestly, I have my daughter's friends, families that have invested now as well.

[00:32:59] Which I would never, and I'm not the type to go out and tell people like, Hey, would you want to invest in me? It's, it was all just organic conversations. People are like, Oh, what are you doing? And people become interested and then all of a sudden they're like, We want to invest.

[00:33:11] How do we get, become part of this? And but yeah, everything has been private angel investors or family and friends today.

[00:33:18] Giovanni Lauricella: And I know that you've also, we're here right now in San Francisco once again at the MedTech Strategies Innovation Summit. Paul Grant, I saw him earlier this morning. And the 2023 cohort has been presenting, I think there was an award given last night.

[00:33:34] Yeah. You were part of MedTech Innovation. You're one. Yes. As we segue towards the end of this whole discussion, and this has been an amazing journey of entrepreneurship and really getting inside that psychological mess of what it takes to take that leap what have accelerators given you? What accelerators have you joined?

[00:33:53] Do you recommend them to this metaphorical group of engineers listening in when they do start their companies? Let's talk about accelerators. What have they given you?

[00:34:01] Albert Yuan: Yeah, I've been so fortunate to be able to be part of several accelerated programs. I got into MedTech Innovator last year I was part of the 2022 cohort.

[00:34:10] And then at the same time, shortly after I got into the American Heart Association Empowered program. And then this year I got into the UCSF Roseman Institute program. And, I've been very fortunate. MedTech Innovator is one of the biggest accelerated programs in the world. I think last year they had 1, 050 applicants, companies that applied, and they sell it to 46 companies.

[00:34:31] That was more than 46. And, to be honest, I never give myself credit for anything I really do. It's probably that mentality that I got from my parents. But, getting into programs like MedTech, UCSF Roseman, even the American Heart Association program It confirmed along the way that, hey, I'm on the right track, like I must be doing something right to get into these prestigious programs.

[00:34:53] And I'm just so fortunate. So thank you to Paul, Christine Winoda for allowing me to be part of these programs. It's been amazing. They offer mentorship, so Edwards Life Sciences was my mentor last year and there's, I still see them as a mentor, so thank you, Brian Lowry, Virginia Giddings.

[00:35:11] Thank you. It's just, yeah, it's it's been amazing. And then I think, also, being able to connect with other consultant groups like regulatory groups and quality groups that's been very helpful as well. And just, the biggest thing is just network, building your network, the connections. Meeting other CEOs who are in the same position as you, or CEOs who have gone through the same experiences as you.

[00:35:37] And providing feedback and support that way and just being able to help each other grow and help each other increase our chances of success. It's, I think it's a huge thing and I would definitely recommend it to anybody who's wanting to start a company.

[00:35:50] Giovanni Lauricella: Two small last questions.

[00:35:52] First one is just in general, we haven't touched on it yet, but once again, you are innovating in transcatheter heart valves. You started off in mitral, you're now in tricuspid. Yeah. In general, the heart valve space, for anyone who's even peripherally aware of it, you can call it a fairly crowded space.

[00:36:07] Is it repair? Is it replacement? Is it left side of the heart? Is it right side of the heart? Is it pulmonary? Is it aortic? What would be And whether it's Structural Heart or other crowded spaces that are challenging, what would you tell this room of entrepreneurs or engineers thinking about being entrepreneurs about no matter how crowded, no matter how challenging, no matter how difficult the technology may be, do it anyways if that's what you want to do.

[00:36:33] Albert Yuan: The biggest thing is if you believe in your product, go for it and push hard and I think with the, my, The mentality that I grew up with, and what my parents instilled in me. I always love challenges, and I'm always going to give it all my all to to do the best that I can.

[00:36:51] And I think you just gotta know yourself, and you gotta know your product. I think you know your product the best. If you think you really believe that it's a game changer, do it. And prove to everybody that, it is a game changer. I think Also, at the same time, when I mean know yourself, also know your strengths and weaknesses as well.

[00:37:12] A lot of people may think, oh, Albert's just a first time CEO, but I know my weaknesses. And I am not scared to go out and talk to other CEOs, successful CEOs, who have, who have had experience in this space, who can provide advice. And and I do just that. And part of the reason why I pulled my CFO in was because I don't know the finance side of it.

[00:37:30] Oh, and he has told companies before, and so that's why I pulled him in. And then I've also talked to others, CEOs as well. I just talked to the CTO of imperative Care at device talks just a few weeks ago. And then we met during TCT, and I was just like, hey, do you have any tips that you can give me?

[00:37:48] Because honestly, you don't know what you don't know, unless somebody tells you like, hey, these are things to watch out for. And so I'd say. Go for it. If you believe in yourself and you believe in your product, do it. And prove to everybody that it's the right, you made the right move. And don't be scared because at the end of the day, like to me, I'm like, hey, I wouldn't have learned any of this if I didn't even try.

[00:38:10] Giovanni Lauricella: Last question, different way of asking it. Once again, to all those listening in and watching in. Why shouldn't you become an entrepreneur if that's not your right path? Meaning, knowing what you know about being an entrepreneur today, if you had to tell the rooms you shouldn't be an entrepreneur if you don't want to do this, and this, what would that be?

[00:38:35] Albert Yuan: The biggest thing that I learned is, you gotta have thick skin, you have to be okay with rejection, because you will be rejected.

[00:38:43] A lot. I think that's what makes it challenging, is finding investors that believe in you, right? And you will be rejected. I mentioned, I applied to one accelerator program my first year in and was turned down. They didn't believe in me. And, you gotta have thick skin, you gotta believe in yourself, and at the end of the day, you take, it's not that you brush it off, but you learn from what They're concerned about, right?

[00:39:07] And you look at yourself and say, Hey, are those things that, first of all, is it true? And secondly, can it be wrong? Can they be true, right? If it is something that's possibly true, then what can you do to improve that and change that concept that what's the word? Change that perception, right?

[00:39:25] And if you're not a person Who is okay with taking rejection, then I would say definitely don't do it. Or if you like to be, if you don't want to take risks cause it is a risk starting your own company. Cause I am sacrificing a lot from a family perspective, from financial perspective.

[00:39:41] Don't do it.

[00:39:43] Giovanni Lauricella: We couldn't have ended on a more entrepreneurial note than that. This is. The MedTech Startup Podcast where we just got inside the mind, the heart, and the guts of this awesome MedTech entrepreneur. Albert Yuan, founder and CEO of Conkay Medical Systems. Thank you so much for being here today.

[00:40:02] Albert Yuan: Thank you so much. Appreciate it.

[00:40:04] Giovanni Lauricella: Thank you for sharing your story. Now we all know what it truly means to get into really hard MedTech, which MedTech is hard by itself, but you're doing some of the hardest MedTech and you're doing it from scratch. So thank you again for coming.

[00:40:16] ​

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