What Can Diagnostics Founders Learn From Two Successful Exits? Andrew Miller

In this episode of Diagnosing Dx, David Filby is joined by Andrew Miller, a diagnostics founder, advisor and two-time exited CEO.

A scientist by training, Andrew founded and led companies focused on rapid molecular diagnostics, taking Ionian Technologies through acquisition by Alere and later building NAT Diagnostics, which was acquired by Becton Dickinson in 2020. The technology developed at Ionian ultimately became central to Abbott’s ID NOW platform.

Andrew shares what he learned from going through the acquisition process twice, why his second company was designed for sale from the outset, and the four risks he believes every diagnostics founder needs to manage: technology, operations, finance and commercial relevance.

Key takeaways:
🔹 What Andrew learned from two successful diagnostics exits
🔹 Why Ionian chose acquisition rather than funding the full journey to FDA approval
🔹 How the lessons from his first exit shaped NAT Diagnostics from day one
🔹 Why founders need to prepare for due diligence long before an acquisition process begins
🔹 The four risks Andrew uses to assess early-stage diagnostics companies

Chapters:
00:00 Introduction and Andrew Miller’s background
02:23 Two diagnostics exits and the opportunity in rapid molecular testing
04:03 Building Ionian Technologies
08:37 Why Ionian pursued an acquisition
15:00 Building NAT Diagnostics differently the second time
19:04 Designing a diagnostics company for acquisition
27:03 Advising founders and the four risks every startup faces
31:33 Where diagnostics is heading next

Guest: Andrew Miller, PhD
Diagnostics Founder, Advisor & Two-Time Exited CEO
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrew-miller-2670811/

Host: David Filby
Founder and CEO of Elevra Consulting
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidfilby/

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