In this episode of the Cruxx of MedTech podcast, host Henry Norton sits down with Ananth Ravi, founder of MOLLI Surgical to unpack the full journey from hospital research lab to acquisition by Stryker.

Ananth shared the origin story behind MOLLI, a GPS-guided surgical system that replaced painful wire localisation with a tiny radioactive seed and sub-millimeter precision tracking. What started as a side project became a commercial product after inbound interest from physicians made it clear he had something worth pursuing.

He discussed the challenges of spinning technology out of an academic institution, navigating FDA clearance with no regulatory background, and rebuilding a sales organisation after a painful first attempt.

Ananth also opened up about the acquisition process itself: why Stryker’s BD team stood out by actually showing up to watch cases in the OR, how he managed a bittersweet decision with his co-founder and investors, and what it felt like to communicate the news to a team facing uncertain futures.