I usually send out a newsletter and post it on my blog on Thursday or Friday. Today is Monday. Not only is that a better day to send a business-focused message…but it’s also marking a momentous change for me personally. I’m making a major shift in my career. Instead of AI, healthcare, and cybersecurity, I’m going to focus on direct-to-consumer products. Here’s why.
I have devoted six years to medical device cybersecurity and ten years to regulatory innovation in healthcare. With recent regulatory improvements from the FDA, new guidelines from HHS for hospital cybersecurity, and the lack of major cyber disruptions in hospitals lately, I feel it is time to move on. Those problems are solved. Now, I turn to consumer equipment, where the next wave of regulatory innovation is required.
The NYT has a piece on SawStop, the revolutionary saw technology that stops in a millisecond when it detects a finger or body part. It saves fingers, approximately 3,000 per year. The technology is exclusive to one company, and there is pending regulation to ban any product that doesn’t have finger-saving protection. This piece illustrates the tradeoffs in regulating for public safety and restraining regulation to prevent market failure or innovation depression.
I’m turning from saving patients and profits to saving fingers and financial figures. I hope you’ll celebrate this day with me in good spirits*.
~Shannon, the Optimistic Optimizer
* And in good fun. Happy first day of April!