Aug 7, 2026 · 45 min · 12 segments
Medical device leadership becomes deeply personal in this conversation with commercial executive **Don Donnelly.** For more than two decades, Don has helped build commercial organizations, launch…
Don DonnellyGuest
Jordan ChaseHost
You know what's cool with startups is it doesn't matter what your background is, it doesn't matter if you're a CEO or a guy that, you know, cleans the windows in the front of the building, um, everybody's after the same purpose.
So when it comes to, "Hey, I need somebody to fly somewhere," everybody raises their hand.
Or, "Hey, I need somebody-- Don, you had some marketing experience when you were at St. Jude, can you help design this brochure?" "Yeah, haven't done it in a while, but you bet.
You know, you-- to a sense you do that with a big company too, but, you know, it kind of gets lost in projections and, you know, quarterly conference calls to make sure everybody's doing their job.
And, you know, that's very important in a big corporation, but when you lose sight of what it took to get there and everybody kind of jumping in and doing what they can to make sure the company succeeds, I love that feeling in a company.
You've crystallized what I tell people all the time, is, you know, this is gonna take advantage of so many skillsets you know you have and build so many that you don't even know that you need or have.
Um, and it-- that gives people energy or it takes it away from them, but the right ones for startups it gives them a ton of energy and just a, a chance to really maximize their potential.
Uh, I started off in Kansas City as a rep, uh, at A&S before St. Jude bought them, and it was me versus 14 Medtronic reps. I'm just doing what I can just to grab market share from them and, um, luckily I was offered a promotion into the marketing department.
So I moved the family to Plano, and from there I learned, um, marketing, I learned about product management.
Went into sales training, I got to do some international sales training, which was super cool.
Then we moved again to Nashville, uh, and that's where I started my management career.
You know what's cool with startups is it doesn't matter what your background is, it doesn't matter if you're a CEO or a guy that, you know, cleans the windows in the front of the building, um, everybody's after the same purpose.
So when it comes to, "Hey, I need somebody to fly somewhere," everybody raises their hand.
Or, "Hey, I need somebody-- Don, you had some marketing experience when you were at St. Jude, can you help design this brochure?" "Yeah, haven't done it in a while, but you bet.
You know, you-- to a sense you do that with a big company too, but, you know, it kind of gets lost in projections and, you know, quarterly conference calls to make sure everybody's doing their job.
And, you know, that's very important in a big corporation, but when you lose sight of what it took to get there and everybody kind of jumping in and doing what they can to make sure the company succeeds, I love that feeling in a company.
You've crystallized what I tell people all the time, is, you know, this is gonna take advantage of so many skillsets you know you have and build so many that you don't even know that you need or have.
Um, and it-- that gives people energy or it takes it away from them, but the right ones for startups it gives them a ton of energy and just a, a chance to really maximize their potential.
Uh, I started off in Kansas City as a rep, uh, at A&S before St. Jude bought them, and it was me versus 14 Medtronic reps. I'm just doing what I can just to grab market share from them and, um, luckily I was offered a promotion into the marketing department.
So I moved the family to Plano, and from there I learned, um, marketing, I learned about product management.
Went into sales training, I got to do some international sales training, which was super cool.
Then we moved again to Nashville, uh, and that's where I started my management career.
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