Gifford has found that having The Foundry act as an incubator was the best method possible to help new ventures get started. Over the cycles of incubation, The Foundry becomes familiar with procedures such as the FDA approval process and clinical trial details.

Robin Bellas, partner at Morgenthaler Ventures, explains the structure of the venture capital firm.

While Morgenthaler funds The Foundry, they are also, in essence, funding each new venture that The Foundry incubates. Bellas and Gifford describe the details of this relationship, including the reasons behind establishing it and how they successfully maintain it.

Hanson Gifford, president and CEO of The Foundry, talks about why the company was founded and what they do to help fledgling companies get off the ground and become successful. The incubation process that The Foundry goes through with each new venture helps these companies increase their chances of receiving funding, he says.

Gifford discusses some Foundry companies that are showing great success rates, including: Concentric, which treats acute ischemic strokes; Emphasis, with a procedure replacing open-heart surgery with an outpatient procedure, First to File, a non-medical project focusing on intellectual property management; and Satiety, which treats morbid obesity.

The Foundry can only fund a certain number of ventures. Hanson talks about the different factors that go into choosing the companies, including market opportunity, and patient and physician opportunity.

Bellas talks about two Foundry companies which utilize new surgical procedures. The first is Thermage, which uses a procedure that stimulates new collagen growth. The second is Xstent, which works with stent implants.

The dot com bubble has changed the way companies are now valued, and their valuations over time. Bellas discusses how valuations are currently determined, and typical financing and return amounts.

Bellas talks about where innovation is currently happening in biotech and medical device companies. The large pharmaceutical companies aren't covering the same innovative ground as the smaller companies, which is a trend seeing in every tech field.

Bellas talks about the growing medical trend of surgery without knives and some of the benefits this has.