By Steve Fleck
June 17, 2010

For me, the best way of defining a “Eureka” moment is when the idea or concept is realized; it seems so simple and elegant in hindsight that it’s hard to imagine why it wasn’t obvious to begin with. Our team at ClearCount certainly has had many of these moments over the years when faced with various challenges. However, the most fundamental “Eureka” moment that enabled all the others, and certainly my most memorable, occurred when we received our first investment, coming out of the MBA program at Carnegie Mellon University.  While I had faith in ClearCount’s technology from the start, this moment validated for me that there was a market for this new product.

Like all moments of its kind, there was an intense period of thought leading up to the final discovery. For me, that consisted of trying to answer some fundamental questions such as:

• Will hospitals be accepting of cutting-edge RFID technology applied to a problem as mundane as sponge counting?
• Is there a model that will make this business work?
• How big of a problem is this anyway?
• Will others share my same vision of RFID tracking as a platform technology in the hospital?

Business school taught me that you don’t want to be a new technology looking for a problem to solve. Successful new ventures always arise from a true market need.  With no competitors in this newly defined space of “automated sponge counting,” and with little experience in the field, it was a somewhat daunting task for a first-time entrepreneur to answer these questions with any degree of confidence. Hindsight withstanding, it was not at all obvious as I completed my MBA that the project I had worked on for three semesters would get an opportunity to launch as a real company, let alone become as successful as it has over the last five years.

Going Under the Microscope
The key to answering those fundamental questions both for myself and others, and to uncovering the “Eureka” moment, was a series of business plan competitions that rounded out my final year in graduate school. These competitions were open to teams from schools around the world, many of which were led by seasoned entrepreneurs. The competitions were judged by world-class business leaders and investors, and many offered substantial cash prizes as well as investments in the winning ventures.

Over the course of my final semester, I entered several of these competitions. The preparation was intense, taking weeks to hone both the written plan and oral presentation. Despite the preparation, each presentation consisted of a litany of difficult questions, with judges prodding and poking holes in every aspect of the business plan. “Your technology will never work. The FDA would never approve it. The supply chain logistics are too complicated.”  With each new presentation, I refined my pitch, but more importantly I began to filter the valid concerns from the extraneous noise. 

By the end of the semester, I was preparing for the two largest business plan competitions in the country. With many trial runs at smaller events, and having pitched in front of more investors than many “real” CEOs, I was more ready than ever. ClearCount placed second and first, respectively, in the Moot Corp and Rice Business Plan Competitions in 2004.  Through these events, I met even more individuals interested in helping with advice, some of whom became investors in our early round.

Through this process of “trial by fire” I heard every possible reason to give up on my business.  But more importantly, I met some very insightful and experienced entrepreneurs, business leaders, and medical professionals who were able to directly or indirectly lead me to the answers I was seeking.

I was finally able to say without a doubt that there was a market for RFID sponge counting. I was introduced to a number of physicians and hospital administrators who could attest to the need for the product. Moreover, I saw the light bulb go on for many individuals when I explained how RFID sponge counting is only the first step, and that RFID tracking of surgical instruments and other items provided a huge area for growth in ClearCount’s future. While many “Eureka” moments occur for people when they have the initial idea for the technology application, mine was related instead to the moment when I realized, “hospitals might actually buy this product!”

Finally, I had the validation I needed in order to know with confidence that ClearCount could succeed in the marketplace. Shortly after these competition successes, I was able to close our first seed-round investment and officially start the business, capping off the “Eureka” moment.  While it seems obvious in retrospect that the market needs a technological solution to overcome the human performance barrier in the OR, it’s not always so obvious when you are the first in your space to contemplate a new product. 

Steven Fleck is the Cofounder and Chief Technology Officer of ClearCount Medical Solutions Inc.  ClearCount has developed and deployed the world’s first FDA-approved RFID-based platform for patient safety inside the surgical operating room. Steven previously worked for Boehringer Laboratories, a medical device manufacturing firm in Philadelphia, in product development where he was responsible for several new products from conception to commercial release.