Tiger BufordYour Orthopedic Industry Expert (free today)

How to innovate in a mature ortho space like shoulders ?

20 Oct 2025 · 1 min

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In this conversational excerpt, a speaker (Speaker A) expresses the desire to launch a shoulder-focused medical device company, acknowledging a deep personal history in shoulder orthopedics and a backlog of ideas. They highlight the perceived saturation of the North American shoulder implant market, noting roughly 35 shoulder products from major players, which makes it difficult for a newcomer to convince established companies to adopt a new technology. The discussion then shifts to Shoulder Innovations, a company known for its inset glenoid product and a recent $100 million public offering. Speaker A recounts a 16‑year relationship with Shoulder Innovations, describing how the firm has expanded its portfolio, raised substantial capital, hired sales teams, and deployed consultants, positioning itself as a potential blueprint for entering the shoulder space—though perhaps not by replicating its exact approach. Tiger Buford prompts for clarification, and Speaker A emphasizes that Shoulder Innovations' strategy involves significant fundraising and market play rather than a single product focus.

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I, I kick around all the time that I just want to start a shoulder company. I've got such a history in shoulders, and I know that I've got 100 other ideas waiting for me, you know. Maybe, maybe I get there before Globus makes their own and they need to snatch it up because then they can play in the shoulder market. But man, that's a hell of a bet to go after, you know, trying to put that sort of, you know, effort and money behind some sort of space where you could just find it, you know what, actually it's saturated. There's 35 shoulders on the North American marketplace and every big player's got one and you don't have something good enough to convince one of the players to buy yours as the next generation. Yeah. So I don't know.
Yeah. But how do you— that's really good. That's well said. How do you explain Shoulder Innovations? I mean, all they have is this inset glenoid, and they're going public for $100 million.
So they don't just have an inset glenoid.
Yeah. Educate me.
So I, I actually have known Shoulder Innovations going back 16 years. I met them before Gunther did anything else with them. It's actually through Mike DeVries is how I got synced up with Sonoma back in the day. So, I think they've done a nice job of expanding their portfolio and creating the sort of thing that has some appeal, but they're paying their way to play. I mean, they've raised tons of money. They're hiring salespeople. They've got consultants everywhere. And I think they're doing some good stuff. So, I guess maybe that is a blueprint for me that there is a space to do something in shoulders, just maybe not exactly the way that they do it.