OTW POD Episode 13 - Jantzen Cole

In this episode, TJ Halvorson sits down with Jantzen Cole, a medical device marketing leader whose career bridges engineering, sales, and creative strategy across Wright Medical, Zimmer, AmniOX, Artelon, and Kuros Biosciences.Jantzen shares how resource constraints at startup Artelon forced unconventional thinking—turning authenticity about their journey, including struggles with "10x10 booths in the back corner," into genuine connections that polished perfection never could. His decade in sales taught him that every marketing promise impacts the fragile trust reps build with surgeons, making the OR experience as critical as long-term outcomes.The conversation explores practical strategies: why "small is big enough" matters (Artelon pivoted from being generalists to owning lateral ankle reconstruction before expanding), how to use social media as a low-cost testing laboratory, and why LinkedIn outperforms other platforms for medical devices. Jantzen emphasizes building measurement systems around marketing intuition, viewing marketing as sales enablement, and giving sales teams a voice in strategy.For early-stage companies, his advice is clear: be honest about your journey, invest in your skill gaps, leverage affordable tools, and build networks that decentralize your message through authentic advocates.