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The $9M Hospital Bed That Was Sold for $20K

The $9M Hospital Bed That Was Sold for $20K

Would Gillette Sell a Blade for Life? This Business Did.

Matteo Turi
June 04, 2025

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From Invisible to Investable. From Stuck to Scaling.

Dear Entrepreneur,

Just a few months into 2025, we’ve crossed 22,000 subscribers—a milestone that confirms one thing: entrepreneurs are tired of playing small.

They’re no longer satisfied with incremental growth. They want strategy. They want scale. They want valuation.
And above all—they want monetization models that match the ambition of the intellectual property they’ve built.

This week, I’m sharing a powerful case study that will challenge the way you think about pricing, intellectual property, and long-term value.

Below is the latest podcast that can be viewed from our YouTube channel which currently counts 43,000+ ambitious founders and executives, across the World.

In this video discover how IP monetization can be the greatest wealth creator in your business

From Hospital Bed Maker to Missed Billion-Dollar Opportunity

Let’s talk about a business that, on the surface, seemed solid.

A company developed a hospital bed with a breakthrough capability: it could treat and release a patient on the same day—something traditional beds couldn’t achieve.

Below is a photo of the hospital bed

The result?

Each bed saved a hospital $5,000 in hospitalization costs per patient (assuming 5 days at $1,000/day). Let’s say this hospital does just one operation per day using this bed:

$5,000/day x 30 days = $150,000/month
$150,000 x 60 months = $9,000,000 in savings over 5 years

Incredible value.

But here’s the pricing model the company used:

Manufacturing cost: $10,000
Selling price to hospitals: $20,000
Gross profit per bed: $10,000

Seems fine, right?

Until you zoom out.

They handed over a bed that would generate $9 million in value to the hospital—for just $20,000 up front.

What’s worse?
They retained all the costs of protecting global IP rights, plus huge marketing overheads, while the buyer reaped the long-term benefits.

This is a classic case of cost-plus thinking destroying long-term enterprise value.

The Gillette Model: What They Should Have Done

Instead of selling the bed outright, they could have licensed the usage—just like Gillette.

Gillette doesn't make money on the razor.
They make money every time you buy a blade.

Let’s say the company licensed each bed at $500/day, still leaving the hospital with $4,500 of savings per patient.

Here’s the difference:

$500/day x 30 days = $15,000/month
$15,000 x 60 months = $900,000 per bed over 5 years

Now multiply that across 100 beds, and suddenly you're looking at $90,000,000 in recurring revenue.

That’s not just a better model.
That’s an entirely different company.

This chart illustrates the impact of switching from a one-time $20,000 sale to a $500 royalty-per-use model. Over 5 years (with 1 use per day), this generates $900,000 in royalty revenue, capturing 10% of the hospital’s saved value—45x more than the original gross profit.

What Does That Mean for Valuation?

In the original model:

100 beds sold x $20,000 = $2 million revenue
Perhaps valued at 2–2.5x revenue = $4–5 million valuation

In the licensing/IP monetization model:

100 beds licensed = $90 million in long-term recurring revenue
With healthy EBITDA and global potential? That’s a unicorn in the making

Same product. Same tech. Different mindset.

And that’s the point.

Do You Really Need a CFO?

If you’re running a business between £0.5M and £5M, you probably don’t need to hire a full-time CFO.

But you absolutely need a CFO mindset.

You need someone who can:

Shift you from cost-plus to value-based
Turn your IP into recurring revenue
Translate operations into investor confidence
And design a monetization model that scales

Our Exponential Blueprint program helps founders do just that. We’re currently accepting just 16 founders for the June cohort. Applications close 7th June at 12 noon UK time.

Because going from invisible to investable starts with one decision.

Who Else Can Use the Gillette Model?

The Gillette model isn’t just for razors or hospital beds.

Here are a few examples of businesses that could shift from transactional to scalable:

Web Developers: Instead of charging a one-off fee for an e-commerce site, why not take a 1–5% cut of all revenue the site generates?
Sales Consultants: Tie part of your compensation to closed deals and revenue uplift, not just training hours.
Marketing Agencies: Introduce performance royalties linked to customer lifetime value, not campaign fees.
Software Creators: Build a licensing model—even if it's for internal corporate tools.

Each of these shifts builds predictable income and creates a more investable business.

Below is our Podcast with Jim Joyce, IP superpower.

Discover how to 10X your investor success and how to 3X your exit valuation

How Big Companies Get Bigger

The biggest businesses don’t just sell products.
They license, partner, and scale IP.

Spotify licenses music and monetizes user data through tiered subscriptions.
Adobe shifted from product sales to recurring licensing through Creative Cloud.
Salesforce scales through software subscriptions and ecosystem integrations.
ARM Holdings licenses chip designs globally without manufacturing a single processor.

What are you licensing?
What recurring value are you building?

How do you approach Intellectual Property monetization?

Expert Spotlight: M&A in Asia with Marguerite Bolze

We're also delighted to welcome Marguerite Bolze, our M&A contributor from Indonesia.

Marguerite is our M&A super expert, having conducted 14 acquisitions in Asia.

In our upcoming brief, she’ll explore why so many acquisitions in Asia underperform, and what founders can learn from local dynamics, overlooked risks, and due diligence traps.

If you’re thinking global, don’t miss it.

Below is a short video a part of her long podcast with us.

What is your business stage

Closing Deals = Scaling Fast

Lastly, we’re excited to announce a new affiliate partnership with VIRTUALCLOSERS.

Here’s why this matters:

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