The Gap Your Team Cannot See
A MedTech team can spend months developing a product while missing a question that could change its plans. What evidence will clinicians need? Is the regulatory path understood? Who will pay for the product? Discovering a gap late can cost a young company time and money it cannot spare.
The hardest gaps to catch are those a team does not know exist. In their research on self-assessment, Justin Kruger and David Dunning found that people with limited skill in an area can also struggle to judge their own performance in it. Their studies did not examine startups.
Still, their work raises a useful question for founders: How do you identify a gap when you lack the experience needed to recognize it?
Devin Burnell and Daniel Forbes examined 35 university-based ventures in the NSF I-Corps program. In research presented in 2025, they identified several combinations of team knowledge associated with successful commercialization. Each included business knowledge gained through training or experience. The study is small, and its findings are preliminary. It points to a practical need: experienced people who can help teams recognize gaps in their knowledge while there is still time to fill them.
MDM2 is working with Tesoro VC to give teams a structured way to have that conversation. A participating team answers questions about its current state across six areas, including clinical problem validity, regulatory path, and readiness for adoption.
A mentor reviews the answers and materials such as a pitch deck. The mentor and team then discuss the scores and where help may be needed.
Consider an experienced engineering team that knows how to build its device but has little experience gathering customer feedback. A mentor familiar with hospital purchasing might ask what the team has learned from potential users. The mentor might also ask what evidence a Value Analysis Committee would need to review the product.
A capital investment mentor could ask penetrating questions that lead to more nuanced information about the strong market demand for the product. Those questions could uncover a need for coaching or a connection to someone with the right experience.
MDM2 member organizations can offer mentors who will meet emerging companies and tackle problems outside their usual work. That exposure can build their people’s experience and create new relationships. Founders and product development teams get a candid review of where they stand, while there is still time to address gaps before they become expensive.
Teams need not be MDM2 members to express interest. To participate, email info@mdm2.org and ask for Stu Broyles, PhD, Regional Innovation Officer. Access to the MDM2-Tesoro MedTech assessment is by invitation.
