Any way you slice it: marketing an innovative product to two distinct industries.

• Author: Kinder, Peri
• Position: Lessons Learned

What happens when you cross a surgical scalpel with click pen? You get one of the most innovative products in the medical and hobbyist industries available today.

Created by Dr. Branden Rosenhan, a critical care physician and medical director at St. Mark's Hospital, the PenBlade was originally designed to decrease the number of scalpel injuries in operating rooms around the world. With these injuries exposing surgeons, nurses and patients to blood borne diseases, Rosenhan thought there had to be a better way. "I felt the scalpel should be simple and intuitive."

He was right.

Rosenhan's idea was to fashion a surgical scalpel with a retractable blade that was controlled like a click pen. Because the action would utilize existing muscle memory, the scalpel could be used without the surgeon having to reposition his hand or look away from the patient.

The PenBlade's design was so revolutionary, Rosenhan won funding for the project in the 2012 Grow America contest, a competition that encourages entrepreneurs by providing awareness and funding for their ideas. With his winnings, he founded PenBlade, Inc., in September 2013, got additional backing from the Park City Angel Network and the Kickstart Seed Program, and was well on his way to overhauling scalpel safety.

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But then something unexpected happened.

People began using the scalpels as craft knives. The retractable blade could cut through all types of materials including paper, yarn, leather and even fondant for cake decorating. PenBlade started getting notice for its appeal to crafters, florists and hobbyists as a safe and inexpensive tool for all kinds of applications.

"Our goal was to be the number one safety scalpel in the world and to lower the cost of healthcare by building better, safer and cheaper products to improve outcomes," Rosenhan says. "But we started getting a lot of feedback that the blade shouldn't just be available for surgeons."

Plans immediately got underway to get PenBlade into the right hands to market to a broader audience. Rosenhan entered the National Craft & Hobby Association's MEGA conference in Anaheim in January 2016, where PenBlade took home an unprecedented two Hot Product Awards: the Best Floral Craft Tool and the Best New Cake and Food Decorating Tool.

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With popularity and demand reaching an all-time high, not only did Rosenhan have to find distributors for the medical aspect of his product, he...