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Dr. Mani Menon

๐Ÿ‘ค Person
366 total appearances

Appearances Over Time

Podcast Appearances

BackTable Urology
Ep. 189 Legends of Urology: Origins of Robotic Surgery with Dr Mani Menon

Prostate cancer was the furthest from the company's viewpoint. They had no idea that this would work, but I wanted to try it. And he said, sure. And I said, well, don't you want a business plan? So he said, you just told me that nobody's done this before. You don't know whether it will work. The company doesn't think it's going to work. What kind of a business plan are you going to give me?

BackTable Urology
Ep. 189 Legends of Urology: Origins of Robotic Surgery with Dr Mani Menon

Prostate cancer was the furthest from the company's viewpoint. They had no idea that this would work, but I wanted to try it. And he said, sure. And I said, well, don't you want a business plan? So he said, you just told me that nobody's done this before. You don't know whether it will work. The company doesn't think it's going to work. What kind of a business plan are you going to give me?

BackTable Urology
Ep. 189 Legends of Urology: Origins of Robotic Surgery with Dr Mani Menon

They're all going to be fake numbers. So I trust you. Take it. Do what you want with it. Come back to me in a year. And if I'm not happy with what you did, I will fund you again.

BackTable Urology
Ep. 189 Legends of Urology: Origins of Robotic Surgery with Dr Mani Menon

They're all going to be fake numbers. So I trust you. Take it. Do what you want with it. Come back to me in a year. And if I'm not happy with what you did, I will fund you again.

BackTable Urology
Ep. 189 Legends of Urology: Origins of Robotic Surgery with Dr Mani Menon

They're all going to be fake numbers. So I trust you. Take it. Do what you want with it. Come back to me in a year. And if I'm not happy with what you did, I will fund you again.

BackTable Urology
Ep. 189 Legends of Urology: Origins of Robotic Surgery with Dr Mani Menon

Well, I had a very good relationship with Lonnie Smith, who was the CEO of Intuitive, with Gary Goodhart, who succeeded him as the CEO, and with Dave Rosa, who succeeded him. Those are the only three people that I had a good relationship with. So when I had the funding approved by Mr. Vaticutti and by Henry Ford, I flew over to Sunnyvale with Ash Tiwari.

BackTable Urology
Ep. 189 Legends of Urology: Origins of Robotic Surgery with Dr Mani Menon

Well, I had a very good relationship with Lonnie Smith, who was the CEO of Intuitive, with Gary Goodhart, who succeeded him as the CEO, and with Dave Rosa, who succeeded him. Those are the only three people that I had a good relationship with. So when I had the funding approved by Mr. Vaticutti and by Henry Ford, I flew over to Sunnyvale with Ash Tiwari.

BackTable Urology
Ep. 189 Legends of Urology: Origins of Robotic Surgery with Dr Mani Menon

Well, I had a very good relationship with Lonnie Smith, who was the CEO of Intuitive, with Gary Goodhart, who succeeded him as the CEO, and with Dave Rosa, who succeeded him. Those are the only three people that I had a good relationship with. So when I had the funding approved by Mr. Vaticutti and by Henry Ford, I flew over to Sunnyvale with Ash Tiwari.

BackTable Urology
Ep. 189 Legends of Urology: Origins of Robotic Surgery with Dr Mani Menon

I said, I'd like to think about doing this. And Lonnie said, well, are your cardiac surgeons on board? And I said, no, they don't even know that I'm coming and talking with you. Well, how about your laparoscopic general surgeons? And I said, well, I haven't talked to them either. So, well, certainly you've done a lot of laparoscopy. Actually, no.

BackTable Urology
Ep. 189 Legends of Urology: Origins of Robotic Surgery with Dr Mani Menon

I said, I'd like to think about doing this. And Lonnie said, well, are your cardiac surgeons on board? And I said, no, they don't even know that I'm coming and talking with you. Well, how about your laparoscopic general surgeons? And I said, well, I haven't talked to them either. So, well, certainly you've done a lot of laparoscopy. Actually, no.

BackTable Urology
Ep. 189 Legends of Urology: Origins of Robotic Surgery with Dr Mani Menon

I said, I'd like to think about doing this. And Lonnie said, well, are your cardiac surgeons on board? And I said, no, they don't even know that I'm coming and talking with you. Well, how about your laparoscopic general surgeons? And I said, well, I haven't talked to them either. So, well, certainly you've done a lot of laparoscopy. Actually, no.

BackTable Urology
Ep. 189 Legends of Urology: Origins of Robotic Surgery with Dr Mani Menon

Lani said, listen, there are eight people in this company. We desperately need to sell robots. But I'm not sure that I'm doing you a favor by having you buy the robot because I don't think you know what you're doing. And I said, well, no, I don't think I know what you're doing, but I'm not sure that you know what you're doing either because you built this for cardiac surgery.

BackTable Urology
Ep. 189 Legends of Urology: Origins of Robotic Surgery with Dr Mani Menon

Lani said, listen, there are eight people in this company. We desperately need to sell robots. But I'm not sure that I'm doing you a favor by having you buy the robot because I don't think you know what you're doing. And I said, well, no, I don't think I know what you're doing, but I'm not sure that you know what you're doing either because you built this for cardiac surgery.

BackTable Urology
Ep. 189 Legends of Urology: Origins of Robotic Surgery with Dr Mani Menon

Lani said, listen, there are eight people in this company. We desperately need to sell robots. But I'm not sure that I'm doing you a favor by having you buy the robot because I don't think you know what you're doing. And I said, well, no, I don't think I know what you're doing, but I'm not sure that you know what you're doing either because you built this for cardiac surgery.

BackTable Urology
Ep. 189 Legends of Urology: Origins of Robotic Surgery with Dr Mani Menon

You tried it for with 18 cardiac surgeons. And where has that taken you? So he said, OK, well, you know, if you decide to do this, I've warned you, we will support. So that was a good help. I realized that I loved working with the robot, but I didn't like working with their marketing division and I didn't like working with their sales people. And so I have never given a talk for Intuitive.

BackTable Urology
Ep. 189 Legends of Urology: Origins of Robotic Surgery with Dr Mani Menon

You tried it for with 18 cardiac surgeons. And where has that taken you? So he said, OK, well, you know, if you decide to do this, I've warned you, we will support. So that was a good help. I realized that I loved working with the robot, but I didn't like working with their marketing division and I didn't like working with their sales people. And so I have never given a talk for Intuitive.

BackTable Urology
Ep. 189 Legends of Urology: Origins of Robotic Surgery with Dr Mani Menon

You tried it for with 18 cardiac surgeons. And where has that taken you? So he said, OK, well, you know, if you decide to do this, I've warned you, we will support. So that was a good help. I realized that I loved working with the robot, but I didn't like working with their marketing division and I didn't like working with their sales people. And so I have never given a talk for Intuitive.

BackTable Urology
Ep. 189 Legends of Urology: Origins of Robotic Surgery with Dr Mani Menon

I have never proctored a case for Intuitive. It was a separation of church and state. I would do the cases to the best of my ability. I would collect the data as accurately as I could and then let the data tell me whether what I was doing right and what I was not.

BackTable Urology
Ep. 189 Legends of Urology: Origins of Robotic Surgery with Dr Mani Menon

I have never proctored a case for Intuitive. It was a separation of church and state. I would do the cases to the best of my ability. I would collect the data as accurately as I could and then let the data tell me whether what I was doing right and what I was not.

BackTable Urology
Ep. 189 Legends of Urology: Origins of Robotic Surgery with Dr Mani Menon

I have never proctored a case for Intuitive. It was a separation of church and state. I would do the cases to the best of my ability. I would collect the data as accurately as I could and then let the data tell me whether what I was doing right and what I was not.