Episode 34: Dr Alastair Darwood on Selling a Startup in FY1, Licensing Medical Device IP Instead of Building Companies, and Why He Never Runs the Businesses He Creates

Episode 34: Dr Alastair Darwood on Selling a Startup in FY1, Licensing Medical Device IP Instead of Building Companies, and Why He Never Runs the Businesses He Creates

What happens when a medical student sells a surgical robotics startup before finishing FY1 — and then spends the next decade inventing devices he deliberately never runs? In this episode, we speak with Dr Alastair Darwood, a medical doctor with a bioengineering PhD who has built a career as an inventor and entrepreneur across medical devices, consumer hardware, and cycling technology. From orthopaedic robotics to analgesic masks to e-bikes, Alastair's playbook is always the same: invent, validate, license — then move on to the next problem. • 🔬 How he founded Prometheus Surgical as a medical student, raised £170k, and sold it to De Souter Medical in FY1 — the robot is now in use on patients as the Solito • 🫁 Building a low-cost ventilator during COVID with Red Bull Advanced Technologies — and why the project was shut down just as it started working • 🚴 Co-founding Scarpa, an e-bike electrification company with £14M raised and products now stocked in 70 UK shops — without touching the business side • 😷 Licensing an analgesic mask to Intersurgical that is currently in clinical trials at St Mary's — patient-controlled inhalational anaesthesia for procedures that don't need a GA • 🤖 Why AI has turned invention into Lego bricks — and how a project that would have taken a year now takes three weeks Alastair's story is a masterclass in finding your unfair advantage, building a playbook around it, and having the discipline to hand everything else to someone else. Follow us on: 🗞 Substack [https://outofprogramme.substack.com/] 💼 LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/company/outofprogramme] ▶ YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/@OutOfProgramme] 🎧 Listen on: Spotify [https://open.spotify.com/show/1ZbQCk6B9ongfOvKFCxIdx] | Apple Podcasts [https://podcasts.apple.com/ie/podcast/out-of-programme/id1791647812]

Episode 33: Dr Guy Northover on Leading CAMHS Digital Transformation, Managing Conflict of Interest as a Clinician-Founder, and Why the NHS Needs Senior Leaders to Start Companies

What happens when a Consultant Psychiatrist, NHS Digital Exemplar leader, and GIRFT national lead decides the only way to truly fix children's mental health services is to leave the NHS and build an AI startup? In this episode, we speak with Dr Guy Northover, Consultant in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Chief Clinical Information Officer at Berkshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, and co-founder of Anathem — an AI company that has reduced frontline mental health admin burden by 61%. * 🚗 Why he quit A&E, bought a Land Rover, and drove to Ghana to work out what he actually wanted from medicine * 🏥 How Berkshire Healthcare became one of only seven mental health trusts to achieve Global Digital Exemplar status — and was already COVID-ready before the pandemic hit * 📊 His work as GIRFT National Clinical Lead for CAMHS, and how data alone helped halve the number of children admitted to inpatient units nationwide * 🤖 Co-founding Anathem with a chance conversation at a children's hockey match — and why a 61% reduction in admin burden is changing whether clinicians stay or leave the NHS * ⚖️ The uncomfortable reality of managing conflict of interest as a senior NHS leader running a startup in your own specialty — and why it's worth navigating anyway * 💡 Why senior clinicians make the best founders — and how vibe coding with Lovable has made him a one-man product team Guy's story is a compelling case for why the NHS needs its most experienced leaders to take the entrepreneurial leap — not despite their seniority, but because of it. Follow us on: 🗞 Substack [https://outofprogramme.substack.com/] 💼 LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/company/outofprogramme] ▶ YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/@OutOfProgramme] 🎧 Listen on: Spotify [https://open.spotify.com/show/1ZbQCk6B9ongfOvKFCxIdx] | Apple Podcasts [https://podcasts.apple.com/ie/podcast/out-of-programme/id1791647812]

Episode 32: Dr Meenakshi Jhala on Why Clinicians Make the Best Investors, Building a Clinician-Led Angel Syndicate, and How to Break Into Healthcare VC

What happens when a GP trainee with zero finance knowledge decides to break into healthcare VC — and ends up co-founding a clinician-led angel syndicate? In this episode, we speak with Dr Meenakshi Jhala, NIHR Academic Clinical Fellow at King's College London, Chief of Staff at Syntax, and co-founder of Tiny Ventures and DX Capital — a clinician-led angel syndicate dedicated to funding the innovations healthcare actually needs. • 🩺 Why guideline-driven medicine felt like being a tomato in a greenhouse — and what made her look beyond clinical training • 📈 How she broke into healthcare VC as a fifth-year medical student with no finance background, conducting due diligence at Rise Asset Management • 🤝 The relationship-building philosophy that unlocked every role she's ever had — and why 100% of her work has come through connections • 🚀 Building Tiny Ventures as an accelerator for aspiring investors and launching DX Capital to fund what clinicians know actually matters • 🧠 Why doctors can't just be badge collectors — and the difference between execution and ambition • 💡 How she balances clinical practice, research, a startup, and an angel syndicate without attaching emotion to any of it Meenakshi's story is a masterclass in curiosity, execution, and building a career that's genuinely yours — not the one the system designed for you. Follow us on: 🗞 Substack [https://outofprogramme.substack.com/] 💼 LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/company/outofprogramme] ▶ YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/@OutOfProgramme] 🎧 Listen on: Spotify [https://open.spotify.com/show/1ZbQCk6B9ongfOvKFCxIdx] | Apple Podcasts [https://podcasts.apple.com/ie/podcast/out-of-programme/id1791647812]

Episode 31: Dr Dom Pimenta on Why NHS IT Systems Fail, Building AI That Actually Helps Clinicians, and the Gap Between Innovation and Implementation

What happens when a cardiologist realises NHS IT is failing patients — and decides to build an AI clinician that actually listens? In this episode, we speak with Dr Dom Pimenta, a former NHS cardiologist who left clinical practice to co-found Tortus AI, an intelligent ambient voice interface for clinicians backed by Entrepreneur First and Khosla Ventures. * 🏥 Why Dom's Catholic upbringing and childhood obsession with death led him to medicine — and why he eventually left * 🧠 The frustration of watching NHS IT systems fail clinicians and patients, and the moment he decided to build something better * 🔧 How Entrepreneur First helped him pivot from doctor to founder, and the reality of raising venture capital as a clinician * ⚖️ The ethics of AI in healthcare — why "human-in-the-loop" matters and what Dom learned from deploying AI in live clinical environments * 📈 What Tortus AI actually does, how it works, and why ambient voice interfaces might be the future of clinical documentation * 🎯 Dom's advice for clinicians considering the leap into healthtech entrepreneurship — and what he'd do differently Dom's story is a candid exploration of what it takes to leave a secure clinical career, bet on yourself, and build technology that might actually fix the system you left behind. Follow us on: 🗞 Substack [https://outofprogramme.substack.com/] 💼 LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/company/outofprogramme] ▶ YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/@OutOfProgramme] 🎧 Listen on: Spotify [https://open.spotify.com/show/1ZbQCk6B9ongfOvKFCxIdx] | Apple Podcasts [https://podcasts.apple.com/ie/podcast/out-of-programme/id1791647812]

Episode 30: Dr Rishi Das-Gupta on the journey to becoming an NHS Trust Chief Innovation Officer and Scaling System Change Across South London

What happens when a doctor spends a decade at McKinsey, returns to the NHS, and creates a Chief Innovation Officer role from scratch? In this episode, we speak with Dr Rishi Das-Gupta, former Chief Innovation Officer at Royal Brompton Hospital and now CEO of Health Innovation Network South London and DigitalHealth.London. He shares how he went from covering the whole hospital overnight as a junior doctor to reshaping how the NHS adopts technology at scale. • 🏥 The one-in-four on-call rota that showed him what the NHS was getting wrong • 🧮 Why he left medicine for McKinsey — and why two years became ten • 🧠 Building a US healthcare practice and lessons from data-rich industries • 🔧 Returning to the NHS after a decade away and creating a Chief Innovation Officer role • ⚖️ Why implementation beats strategy — and making change happen inside hospital systems • 📈 The future of NHS digital transformation and why he's optimistic about what's next Rishi's story is a masterclass in leaving medicine, gaining industry perspective, and returning to transform the system from within. Follow us on: 🗞 Substack [https://outofprogramme.substack.com/] 💼 LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/company/outofprogramme] ▶ YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/@OutOfProgramme] 🎧 Listen on: Spotify [https://open.spotify.com/show/1ZbQCk6B9ongfOvKFCxIdx] | Apple Podcasts [https://podcasts.apple.com/ie/podcast/out-of-programme/id1791647812]