• Dave Ferrera, a founder at RC Medical, is recommending that other medical device leaders adopt a written mentorship standard before any new company gets built.

A rule he applies before the first product sketch

California, USA, Sep 16, 2026, ZEX PR WIRE — Dave Ferrera has helped start several medical device companies over the past three decades, including Blockade Medical, Single Pass, and Infinity Neuro. Before any of those companies wrote a single line of design specification, Ferrera says he sat down with the physician-founder and asked one question: what problem do you see every week that nobody has solved?

That question, he says, should be a written standard for anyone who mentors physician-entrepreneurs, not an occasional practice. Ferrera is now recommending it as a fixed first step for other leaders in the field who work with physicians to build new companies.

What the standard requires

The standard he recommends has three parts.

First, no new company should get funded or staffed until a physician has described the clinical problem in plain language, without reference to any device or technology. Ferrera says this keeps the team from designing a solution before anyone has agreed on what is actually broken.

Second, the physician-founder should sit with the engineering team through early concept review. Ferrera has held engineering and clinical research roles at companies including Microvention and MindFrame, and he says the biggest gap he has seen in medtech is engineers designing in isolation from the people who will use the product in a procedure room.

Third, every new company should name a single point of accountability, one person who owns the decision when the physician’s clinical instinct and the engineer’s technical constraint disagree. Ferrera says without that person, the “no” from either side gets ignored, and the wrong choice gets made by default.

Why he is recommending it now

“I’ve watched good ideas die because nobody wrote down how we were supposed to work together,” Ferrera says. “A standard on paper doesn’t fix everything, but it stops the same argument from repeating at every company we start.”

Ferrera points to his own path through the field as the reason he trusts a written standard over instinct alone. He co-founded Micrus Endovascular and later Blockade Medical, which Balt Extrusion of France acquired in 2016. He was also part of the team at MindFrame, acquired by Covidien/ev3 Neurovascular in 2012. Each company had a different founding team and a different clinical problem, but Ferrera says the companies that moved fastest were the ones where the physician and the engineer sat in the same room from day one.

The benefit he sees for other leaders

Ferrera says leaders who put a standard like this in writing before a term sheet or staffing plan is discussed save time later, when a company is trying to raise money or hire its first engineers.

“I’d rather spend three extra weeks agreeing on the problem than three extra years fixing a product built around the wrong one,” Ferrera says.

He recommends the standard to any leader working with physician-founders, whether the company is already in motion or just starting to take shape.

A personal habit behind the recommendation

Ferrera says the recommendation grew out of his own habit of writing down what worked and what didn’t after each company he helped start. He wrote about the broader idea, that big ideas need a disciplined path from concept to product, in his book Innovation in Translation, published by Advantage-Forbes in 2021. The mentorship standard he recommends is a narrower, more specific version of that same argument: physicians and engineers need a shared structure before they need a shared product.

He says other leaders should revisit the standard with each new company at the six-month mark, to check whether the accountability structure is actually being used or has quietly fallen away.

To read more, visit the website here.

About Dave Ferrera

Dave Ferrera is a founder at RC Medical, a medical device venture studio based in Lake Forest, California, that builds companies with physician-entrepreneurs in the interventional radiology field. He co-founded Blockade Medical, Single Pass, and Infinity Neuro, and formerly served as Chief Technology Officer of Balt Global. He is the author of Innovation in Translation: How Big Ideas Really Happen, published by Advantage-Forbes in 2021. He lives in Lake Forest, California.

• Steve Valdiserri, SVP of Operations at Tally, finished his second Hyrox event on September 5 and is now based in Ashburn, Virginia.

A second Hyrox, and the year isn’t over

Michigan, USA, Sep 16, 2026, ZEX PR WIRE — Steve Valdiserri crossed the finish line at his second Hyrox competition on September 5. His first was in May 2025, and the plan from the start was to compete twice a year, not once.

Hyrox pairs running with functional work stations: sled pushes, wall balls, rowing, farmer’s carries. There is no shortcut through it. You either did the training or you feel it by the second station.

“The gap between my first and second race is the part I care about,” Valdiserri said. “Anyone can show up once. Showing up again, trained better, with the same discipline, is the actual test.”

He is expecting additional photos from the event within the coming week and plans to share them as they come in.

The move to Northern Virginia

Valdiserri is now based in Ashburn, Virginia, in Northern Virginia. The move puts him closer to not only the pace of the healthcare and technology work he does day to day, but also to the founding team of Tally who are all located just outside of D.C. 

“Location changes. The work doesn’t,” he said. “I still train early, I still run operations the same way, and I still expect the same things from myself no matter which city I’m waking up in.”

What stays constant

Valdiserri runs company operations at Tally, the AI and automation layer, and its sister company Accurio Health, the human-led revenue cycle services business Tally is built on. He owns client success and delivery, operational readiness, client launches, and growth. The arrangement is simple in principle: the CEO focuses on strategy and market, and Valdiserri runs the engine underneath it, team, systems, and execution against the plan.

That kind of operating discipline is the same muscle he uses in Hyrox training. Both come down to a plan, a daily commitment to it, and enough honesty with yourself to know when you’re cutting corners.

“Training and operations both punish shortcuts eventually,” he said. “You can hide a weak spot for a while. Race day or launch day, it shows up.”

Why the update matters now

A location change and a second Hyrox finish are small facts on their own. Together they mark a stretch where Valdiserri has kept two commitments moving at the same time: building out operations at Tally and Accurio Health, and staying on his training plan without letting one slip because of the other.

“I don’t separate the two anymore,” he said. “How I show up physically is tied to how I show up at work. If one goes soft, the other usually does too.”

He is already thinking about his next Hyrox date, though he has not set one publicly yet. For now, the focus is steady recovery and getting back into a training cycle.

To read more, visit the website here.

About Steve Valdiserri

Steve Valdiserri is SVP of Operations at Tally and its sister company Accurio Health, based in Ashburn, Virginia. He runs client success, delivery, and growth across both companies, following a career that includes nearly a decade at VillageMD and founding Avanti Strategy Group, a healthcare strategy and advisory practice. He is a competitive Hyrox athlete who trains daily and completed his second event on September 5.

Florida, USA, Sep 16, 2026, ZEX PR WIRE — Florida real estate professional Robert Flores is launching the 7-Day Real Estate Confidence Challenge, a free public initiative designed to encourage people to become more informed about residential and commercial real estate before making major decisions.

The challenge is built around a simple idea that has guided Flores throughout his career: better information leads to better decisions.

“I’ve always believed that informed clients make better decisions,” Flores said. “Taking the time to educate someone is never wasted.”

Rather than focusing on buying or selling property, the seven-day challenge encourages participants to build everyday habits that improve their understanding of local markets, community growth, and the questions they should ask before making important real estate decisions.

“Real estate is rarely just about the property,” Flores said. “There is usually a bigger goal behind every decision. When people understand their options, they can move forward with confidence.”

The challenge comes at a time when housing education has become increasingly important.

According to the National Association of Realtors, first-time buyers represented just 21% of home purchases in 2025, the lowest share since the organization began tracking the data in 1981.

Florida also continues to experience strong demand, with the state’s homeownership rate reaching 66.2% in 2025, reflecting continued interest in owning property across the state.

National housing affordability challenges have also grown. The median price of an existing U.S. home reached more than $408,000 in 2025, making education and preparation increasingly valuable for future buyers.

At the same time, research continues to show that housing remains one of the largest drivers of long-term household wealth and financial stability for many American families.

Flores believes these trends make learning about real estate more valuable than ever.

“People often come into real estate with questions they don’t know how to ask,” Flores said. “My goal has always been to make the process easier to understand.”

The 7-Day Real Estate Confidence Challenge

Day 1 – Learn Your Local Market
Spend 15 minutes reading about recent activity in your local community.

Day 2 – Know Your Goals
Write down why you might buy, sell, invest, or simply learn more about real estate in the future.

Day 3 – Explore Your Community
Visit a neighborhood, business district, or community you have not explored before.

Day 4 – Ask Better Questions
Create a list of five questions you would want answered before making a real estate decision.

Day 5 – Learn One New Real Estate Term
Choose one unfamiliar real estate or commercial property term and learn what it means.

Day 6 – Think Long Term
Write down three things that make a community attractive beyond property prices, such as schools, local businesses, parks, or future development.

Day 7 – Reflect and Share
Review what you learned during the week and identify one habit you want to continue.

“You build credibility one conversation at a time,” Flores said. “The more people understand, the more confident they become.”

Share Your Progress

Participants who want to share their experience are encouraged to post updates using prompts such as:

• Today I learned…

• One thing I never knew about my local real estate market…

• The best question I asked this week was…

• One habit I’ll continue after the challenge is…

For those who prefer to keep their progress private, Flores suggests keeping a simple notebook or journal to record daily observations, questions, and lessons learned throughout the week.

“There is no right or wrong way to participate,” Flores said. “The goal is simply to become a little more informed every day.”

Join the Challenge

Robert Flores invites individuals, families, aspiring homeowners, investors, business owners, and lifelong learners to begin the 7-Day Real Estate Confidence Challenge by completing Day 1 today. No special tools, experience, or real estate background are required—just curiosity and a willingness to learn.

“Business is ultimately about people,” Flores said. “When you help people understand their options, you give them the confidence to make decisions that fit their goals.”

To read more, visit the website here.

About Robert Flores

Robert Flores is a Florida real estate professional based in Flagler Beach and Palm Coast. He works with Palmcoasting.com and serves as Managing Partner at Vellum Capital Partners, where he specializes in residential and commercial real estate, investment strategy, and long-term relationship building. His work is guided by transparency, education, and helping clients make informed decisions while supporting responsible community growth.