POSTED BY
Liz Moyles
Michael looks like he should be a sportsman, a professional athlete, or a personal fitness coach. He exudes calmness and looks rudely healthy. When we spoke, I felt guilty that I hadn’t been to the gym for some time, so I ended up running a 10k the next day. Thanks, Michael, for the guilty motivational push you gave me without realising!!!!
Michael loves snowboarding, road biking and weight training. This is an essential part of his daily routine and wellbeing and helps him be as effective as he is both at work and outside of work. He was the Head of “Ride in Pleasure – BMX” for many years and now balances being a CEO and all this with being a lecturer at Management Centre Innsbruck. Wow!
I really enjoyed speaking with Michael and loved hearing about how he, and Gregor and Mark, 2 of the co-founders who started BHS, working in their basement and at their kitchen tables developed the technology which would lead to BHS and a company which now employees 50 people, has the CE mark and is available in over 20 countries.
Here’s what we spoke about ……
- Michael, tell me was Medical Devices your first passion …. was this something you dreamed about whilst at school, or was this something you suddenly found yourself in and committed to?
No, Medical Devices was not my first passion, probably not even my second or third even. My parents were music teachers with zero technical skills and bizarrely I have zero musical skills, but I was always interested in engineering and technology. So, I did a technical education and started to work as Mechanical Engineer at the age of 19.
I started out in a company called Liebherr as a Mechanical Engineer working on construction machinery. After two years I applied for another job at Med-El and found myself developing hearing implants, specifically active middle ear implants. That was quite a mission and super interesting. 18 years later, I am still here in Medical Devices, and I will probably stay here. So, no-, not at all. I never thought about medical devices in my early days.
- You stayed in Engineering for years working at several companies and moving up from being project leader to being Head of Product Development and Manufacturing. What did you enjoy about the roles?
I never cared about my job title, specific role or my career plan as long as the environment was dynamic, stimulating and I found purpose in what I was doing.
This is what I have always done and what I enjoy doing – it’s a mantra or a way of being for me – “do something that matters”. Of course, there have been many things I have enjoyed about my career – I have loved working internationally with a lot of different people in different roles. I have worked on various project where I’ve learned a lot and seen many different things. This now helps me manage the roller coaster of demands which are part of any day .
- What would you say was the biggest learning that prepared you to head up BHS?
There was never “one big learning”, “one big milestone” or “one big achievement” that I could point to , however all those small things have added up. There have been some painful learning and also lots of very positive and enjoyable experiences. What I learned is that perfection can’t be attained – and everyone’s assessment of ‘perfection’ is likely to differ. There will always be a gap to bridge.
I think what has been the most value has been the resilience I have had to develop and my ability to reflect on what has happened. These are probably the biggest takeaways .
- What makes BHS different to other companies in this space, apart from the technology of course?
If we limit ourselves to the field of surgical microscopes, the difference - apart from the technology - is clearly the age and agility of the company. The majority of our competitors are companies that are not just 5x but 100x our size. This obviously gives us a lot of freedom and speed when it comes to innovation, testing assumptions, changing approaches and a whole load of other things.
The size and mindset of the team also means that there are no power or ego games - which can of course happen more easily in large companies. At BHS, it's all about understanding customer needs and satisfying them as quickly as possible.
- So, what happened, where did you start the company from? I heard talk of kitchen tables and basements – is that right?
Yes – that’s absolutely right. After the day job and between the hours of 5pm and 7am there’s a lot of time to think about and work on ideas and prototypes. At some point, there comes a point where if you are really serious and you have a real belief in your idea, have sufficient positive and constructive feedback from respected individuals , that you need to act and step up and demonstrate your belief and commitment. Quitting the (well paid) day job and renting an office straight away would not have been the smartest move, after all , there was always the risk that the idea may not have been welcomed by the market, the timing could have been wrong , someone else could have got to market first or the prototype might not have worked.
When surgeons told us, after testing the early stage prototype, that having a head gesture controlled visualization tool made a lot of sense and that RoboticScope was solving a real problem, the next step was logical : hand in your notice to the day job and never look back.
- How prepared were you as a team for the challenges and hurdles you faced such as fundraising, getting regulatory approval, patents, distribution and commercialisation?
The definition of bad preparation probably sums up our situation when I reflect on it. We all came from a secure paid employment relationship, not one of us had ever founded a startup before, we didn’t know anyone who had done it, either well or badly, and our financial resources were not infinite. Yup – that was probably not the best preparation. But that's what entrepreneurship is all about - turning an opportunity into reality with the resources you have available. No matter how many resources you have available, they are of course by no means sufficient - so you have to find ways to achieve the goal.
I don't think there is any preparation for running your own company - you have to accept that the first few years will be just like that. Plan, implement in small steps, verify and adjust the course at the first given chance if needed. This early insight also helped us a lot.
Of course, it helped tremendously to have already been working in medical devices for 11 years, to have had the experience with quality management and regulatory affairs - and to have carried out major sports projects in our spare time.
What none of us could have prepared for, was the additional complication we faced – launching our product during the pandemic.
- What has been the best moment at BHS for you so far - What are you most proud about regarding your team, the technology, your company?
I really had to think hard and long about if there was ONE big moment and if so what was it – looking back , I think if I had to call it, it was the first big funding commitment we won. This gave us the confidence to quit our day job and start BHS.
- What could the next 12 months hold for BHS?
I would love to tell you all the details, but they are confidential. We have great things in the works and I'm looking forward to when we can present them. But what is certain, and what I am allowed to say, is that we will continue to develop and grow.
- Tell us a little bit about being the Head of “Ride in Pleasure BMX”
Ride in Pleasure BMX was a sports project that I did with some friends in my free time. It was about developing the freestyle BMX scene, building skate and dirt parks and organizing events.
Without knowing it, it was my first start-up - of course it was on a smaller scale and there was no concept of failure as it was a hobby. However, what I learned from running a club was, even if it was informal , that it was an organization, it had employees (even if they were unpaid and had not formal contracts ) , I had to ensure we complied with the laws and that our ‘product’ was good enough to sell to sponsors and event visitors.
Those were great times, and we were able to develop Innsbruck as the BMX capital of Austria, maybe even further afield. We had a reputation. The infrastructure still exists, and the club and events continued to be run by friends after I retired.
- What advice would you give to someone who's looking to enter this space, whether that's a fresh grad straight out of university, or someone looking to transition their career?
First and foremost, I can only say that working in this field is great - regardless of the your functional specialty. It helped me tremendously to work in a large company first and then transition to a smaller company before starting my own company. I have a lot of respect for students who go and set up their own startup straight out of university - I would never even have imagined doing that when I was that !
- Has wanting to help others, led to you taking on the role of a Teacher at the Management Centre of Innsbruck (MCI)?
Yes, wanting to help has definitely something to do with the fact that I became a teacher at MCI. If I can take away the fear of starting up, or even just help to plan the path from idea to commercialization - and of course promote BHS as an employer - then I've achieved my goal.
- Finally, what do you love doing when not in work, perhaps to relax and what song would get you on the dance floor or singing on karaoke?
Outside of work, there are two main hobbies - sport, as mentioned at the beginning, but also cooking and then sipping a good bottle of wine in good company.
Karaoke? Ha! You wouldn't want to hear me singing! But you can listen to what gets me on the dancefloor in our BHS-Technologies C-Level Playlist on Spotify (https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4ySbvC07hyPQTH2HuZVt9B?si=59fd9263192f4aff)
Thanks Michael – I had a listen and that’s definitely funky stuff – would love to see the team partying – have seen some of your social events and they look ‘muchos fun’.
Finally, Michael thanks so much for the great feedback and you have shared here for people contemplating setting up their own start-ups. I know you said you were not necessarily immensely well, prepared for it, but I also know you said, you wouldn’t have changed one bit, because that has made you and the team, who you are today. There’s a lot to be said for that. You have stood on your own two feet and learnt the hard way and that has stood you in great stead.
If anyone wants to learn more abut BHS and Michael and the team, please head over to the website. Very, very cool technology.
