In this interview, Quentin, NobleReach Scholar and data scientist at FDA, sits down with his mentor, Mike, a senior commercialization advisor and venture capitalist with decades of experience in the healthcare startup sector. Quentin took this opportunity to learn more about Mike’s extensive career journey, gathering wisdom that might help others navigate mission-driven careers.

Career Background

Quentin: Hi Mike, let’s set the stage because you’ve had a pretty amazing career in healthcare and innovation.  Can you walk us through the highlights?

Mike: I’ve been a venture capitalist at the Inova Health System in Northern Virginia, managing a $150 million fund. We made two dozen investments from pre-seed through Series C level. But most of my career has been as a multi-time CEO for 25 years. I’ve led everything from university spinouts to internationally publicly traded companies, with three successful exits and over $125 million raised. I’ve commercialized companies from zero to $20-30 million multiple times, gaining extensive experience with FDA, Medicare, and reimbursement challenges. Before that, I worked with Big Pharma (Merck and Glaxo), and my degree is in microbiology.

Mission-Driven Work

Quentin: How did you find your way into mission-driven work?

Mike: I’ve been in mission-driven work from day one. Healthcare is inherently mission-driven – you’re trying to reduce suffering, eliminate disease, improve quality of life. You’re making life more meaningful, enjoyable, and saving lives. There’s money to be made creating disappearing apps for teenagers, but healthcare has global impact on the human race, potentially forever, because everyone builds on the discoveries made today.

Career Advice for Students

Quentin: How would you approach getting into this field if you were starting over today?

Mike: I started with Big Pharma right out of college, which taught me structure and discipline, but also showed me what I didn’t like about large organizations. I wanted to get into startups sooner. For those looking to enter entrepreneurship, understand that without experience in large organizations, you may have a blind spot about what scale and structure look like. Actively seek council and education to fill that gap.

If you’re in a large organization but yearn for more or feel smothered by bureaucracy, understand that startups are exhilarating but challenging in different ways. Ensure you have an insatiable appetite for learning, because you’ll need it.

Mentorship

Quentin: Can you share moments where you benefited from mentorship?

Mike: Unfortunately, I wasn’t fortunate enough to have a mentor until my first CEO job at 39, when my chairman became my first professional mentor. Before that, my wife became my coach – I’d bounce ideas off her to see if they passed a sniff test.

Learning from Mistakes

Quentin: Were there mistakes you made early in your career that taught you important lessons?

Mike: In startups when I was young, I was chasing shiny objects, trying to make an impact and build companies. But I lacked good oversight or strategic mentoring to help me step back and get a better 360-degree view. I often got lost in the weeds, focusing tactically on execution without taking a breath to ensure we were going in the right direction. I needed to better measure accomplishments and failures in real time to pivot more quickly. These were newbie mistakes, and without resources to check my thinking, it was trial and error.

What Makes Technologies Successful

Quentin: What separates technologies that make real-world impact from those that don’t?

Mike: Interestingly, it’s not about the science, technology, or innovation – it’s about the people. Great people do great things and can turn mediocre inventions into amazing, life-changing solutions. There’s so much great science and technology out there, but most rot on shelves because there’s not enough talent and teams to make them reality. In healthcare, it’s a Herculean task to get even incremental innovations to market. Until you get a team bought into a singular vision and mission, nothing’s real. Innovations are like ideas – they’re a dime a dozen. The game-changer is talent.

Finding Great Teams

Quentin: How would you find these teams and talent as a student today?

Mike: Become adept at understanding people and talent. Improve your EQ and understand how people act in team environments, under stress, and when facing adversity. Focus on behavioral questions in interviews. Understand yourself, your strengths and weaknesses, but also try to understand what makes potential teammates tick. When a team gels, amazing things happen. With today’s tools – social media, internet, AI – you can learn faster and get up to speed in a fraction of the time it took people like me.

Advice as a Mentor

Quentin: Is there advice you always give to those you mentor?

Mike: It varies case by case, but there are common themes. For those entering startups, understand the grit and resilience required. Work-life balance doesn’t really exist in startups, but you can effect change on a global scale. In healthcare specifically, I explain to teams that you have to wake up every day committed to excellence. Someone on this planet is waiting for your innovation to save their life or improve quality of life. Feel that urgency and greater calling, and rise above the adversity of the day, week, month, and year.

What Success Feels Like

Quentin: What does it feel like when you succeed and bring that potentially global impact?

Mike: Most people who succeed at saving and changing lives remain unknown – they live and die with only loved ones, friends, and coworkers knowing their impact. There are so many unsung heroes in healthcare making daily differences. It feels great to know you’ve made an impact, even if you’re in the shadows. As a venture capitalist, I see people who made fortunes in tech ultimately turning to healthcare, seeking meaningful impact beyond software that made them wealthy. Healthcare is incredibly complex and challenging, sometimes soul-crushing, but the satisfaction is profound.

What Makes Someone Worth Mentoring

Quentin: What qualities make you think someone is worth investing in as a mentor?

Mike: Stay humble and modest – it enables better clarity in accepting counsel. Be coachable. Absorb advice, understand it, and apply critical thinking. Show grit and resilience – don’t give up when things get tough. Hard work matters; we pick hard work and grit over traditional intelligence in startups. Have an insatiable desire for learning – you never stop learning, and the pace of change accelerates daily. Finally, be well-rounded. Don’t just focus on your field – understand other things, whether it’s ancient Roman history, food science, or philosophy. Being well-read makes you interesting and improves pattern recognition, helping you connect dots across disparate situations.

Final Thoughts

Mike: Seek counsel and mentors if you can. Many people want to pay it forward as life becomes more complex and change accelerates. Read widely, listen to diverse opinions, and don’t be close-minded. Also, seek out ground truth—with AI hallucinating and other challenges, it’s becoming harder to find your North Star and understand what’s actually true.