Shop Talk: Geoff Pardo, Facet Solutions, Hopkinton
Photo/Christina H. Davis
Geoff Pardo,
president & CEO,
Facet Solutions
Facet Solutions, a medical device company founded in Utah, recently moved its headquarters to an office park in Hopkinton under the leadership of Geoff Pardo, a native of Lexington. The company is currently developing and hoping to bring to market a device called the Acadia Facet Replacement System, which is designed to provide a better alternative than the traditional fusing of vertebrae for lower back pain. Here, Pardo explains his background as well as the company’s outlook given the current economic conditions.
>> How did you end up as CEO of Facet Solutions?
I was with a company called Spray Venture Partners of Newton, which was the first venture capital investor involved with Facet. I played an active role at the board level for several years until early 2007 and the CEO at that time stepped down and I stepped in — in what I thought would be an interim level. I ended up loving it so much that I decided to leave Spray and become CEO permanently. That full transition happened at the beginning of this year.
>> What’s the biggest change moving from VC to being CEO?
The biggest difference is on the people management side. I love venture capital, but it’s a lot like playing baseball. It’s nominally a team game, but it’s also very individual. In running the business here, it’s all about building the team and really effectively managing the team to build value and execute.
>> Why was a Hopkinton a good location for Facet?
We’d already had clinical members of the team actually based in Mendon. I really wanted to locate it in a place that would be convenient to existing team members. This location is also ideal to recruit additional team members. The second reason is cost. Certainly as you get closer to Boston the real estate gets much more expensive. This was a way for us to find a significant amount of space at a reasonable price.
>>Where are you along the approval process for your device?
In March of this year we finished a U.S. pilot study on 20 patients. We received conditional approval from the FDA for a pivotal study which is a much larger study across 30 sites in the U.S. and we’ve just begun to enroll patients. We will enroll and conduct this study over the next several years and then submit for approval. We’re still fairly far from commercializing the technology.
>> How much venture capital investment has the company received?
We’ve raised about $20 million. It sounds like a lot, but actually amongst our peers I think we’re being the most efficient with our capital. We’ve actually progressed to a similar stage as our peers on less money.
>> What’s been the toughest lesson you’ve had to learn as a manager?
From experience in working with smaller medical device companies, the toughest lesson is to make sure that you’ve really hit your proof of concept. I think where a lot of small companies get in trouble is that they think they’re farther ahead then they are. They begin to hire all sorts of people, do all kinds of forward spending and then several months down the line they have a setback and it creates a lot of turmoil amongst their customers and employees.
>> How is the crisis on Wall Street impacting you or are you somewhat insulated?
I think it definitely impacts us indirectly. But we do have enough cash at Facet to continue moving forward and I think we’re in a very good position financially to survive the current turmoil in the markets. I think we’re going to be okay, but of course it reminds you that you want to be very efficient with your capital. n
Online Exclusive:
Geoff Pardo why he loves his job:
An animation, courtesy of Facet Solutions, of how their device works:
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