When you think of a thriving modern company culture, bureaucracy, hierarchy, and formality likely don’t come to mind. Yet, many leaders fail to champion the type of supportive, collaborative environment that brings out the best in their team. 

That’s not the case with Chad Price, MAKO Medical CEO. Through his unique, some would say unorthodox approach, he has nurtured an energizing culture where everyone’s voice matters.  

Chad Price transformed the medical startup from a fledgling operation into a leading healthcare name, resisting the temptation to embrace status symbols. For instance, at MAKO Medical, you won’t find executives parked in reserved spaces or workers addressing leaders by fancy titles. 

As an outsider looking in, you will discover an atmosphere where the best concepts win, the top performers step up as mentors, not superiors, and the focus stays on making life easier for the independent physicians who rely on their services. 

In essence, the MAKO Medical team channels their success back into the community through vigorous charity and volunteer work with Price’s vision guiding them. 

Let us take a more detailed look into CEO Price’s unique approach at MAKO Medical and why it works so well in this short brief.

Flat Organizational Structure

MAKO Medical’s flat organizational structure reflects Chad Price’s emphasis on open communication and collaboration. As he stated, “We don’t have titles on our business cards. We don’t have designated parking spots.” 

This egalitarian approach eliminates hierarchical thinking and makes employees feel valued. Statistics back up the benefits of flat structure: a 2023 study by McKinsey & Company found that organizations with only 2 or 3 hierarchical tiers showed 30% higher productivity than more layered counterparts. 

Chad Price MAKO Medical CEO notes that “If you want a good parking spot, get to work early” – special perks are earned, not automatically granted. MAKO embraces open office layouts without private suites that could isolate leadership.

Private offices can reduce face-to-face interaction because people are not in close proximity to one another as compared to open plans. This flowing communication ensures all workers have a voice. As he explained, “We just tried to create a culture where everyone brings a unique perspective.” 

Team and Collaboration Focused

Chad Price deliberately cultivated an environment at MAKO Medical where the team comes before the individual. He remarks, “One of the things that we’ve done really, really well is that the business doesn’t revolve around a personality.” Chad Price MAKO Medical CEO emphasizes that “If I died tomorrow, the business would continue as if I was never even there.”  

This reveals the company’s team-first mentality. Unlike many healthcare startups centered around a celebrity founder, MAKO Medical trains managers and cross-trains employees to operate cohesively. Price notes that “we’ve got a great team” and “we wanted to build an operation like that.”.   

Chad Price confirms that with teamwork and cross-training driving innovation, “high performers need to be rewarded” through promotions and compensation. MAKO continues to transform healthcare by encouraging cooperation, not competition.

Chad Price Helped MAKO Medical Weather It’s Tough Early Days

MAKO Medical’s rocket-like ascent obscures the firm’s humble origins chronicled by Chad Price. He recalls, “The early days were rough. We started with no experience in healthcare, no training, no background in science or labs.” The founders realized too late they were diving into one of America’s most complex and regulated sectors.  

With little capital, the initial MAKO Medical setup was spartan. Price remembers “We rented a 3000 square-foot building, bought one piece of lab equipment, and hired one technician.” Makeshift solutions were essential, like using personal vehicles for deliveries and home computers for paperwork. Price notes “We all worked around a conference room table and took turns doing building and roof repairs.”

Yet amidst the grind, MAKO’s culture took shape. Price shares that the team “focused on causes and charities they were passionate about” and constantly set aside a portion of scant funds for donations. He continues, “We pooled together money to donate, volunteered, and did what we could to help.” The shared mission fueled solidarity. 

Work and personal lives blended with “Bible study together and always encouraged families to be apart so they would support what we were trying to build,” Price remarks. By leaning on faith and camaraderie during an uncertain launch, the groundwork for today’s supportive climate emerged. Price confirms “What didn’t change? Our culture.”

Now boasting cutting-edge facilities and elite medical talent, the startup spirit remains. When new employees tour the original humble office, they gain inspiration that big goals start small but require the reliability of culture. That culture perpetuates even today by walking newcomers through MAKO’s early days.

Maintaining Culture Despite Rapid Growth

Many leaders struggle to imprint an organization’s early culture onto future ventures amidst meteoric growth. However, as his company evolved from a single lab machine to an industry shaker, Chad Price maintained MAKO Medical’s communal atmosphere. 

He explains, “We now own almost every piece of lab equipment that is on the market and have a medical team that would rival the best hospitals in the world.” From their initial 3,000 square foot space, MAKO now boasts a 100,000 square foot headquarters housing top scientific talent tackling infectious disease testing and beyond.  

Yet that big fish and small pond environment endures, anchored to MAKO’s cultural cornerstone. Price emphasizes, “What didn’t change? Our culture. Giving back and helping others is our primary focus.” Still proudly occupying the no. 284 slot in America’s fastest-growing firms list, enlisted to provide vital testing nationwide, MAKO’s perspective remains grounded in service.

MAKO guarantees new staff experience the existing culture firsthand. Every employee undergoes the same onboarding highlighting MAKO’s humble roots and touring the firm’s original rented office space preserved for posterity. This conscious cultural calibration allows 

MAKO to maintain camaraderie and selfless ideals even as operations mushroom.  

Industry recognition proves this method works – MAKO was named in Forbes’ America’s Best Startup Employers 2022 edition. Price has managed to sustain what matters most by clinging to early cultural signatures like charity amidst massive upgrades elsewhere.

Unconventional Industry Entry

Instead of following the well-worn path into healthcare, Chad Price and the MAKO Medical team took an unfiltered approach rooted in an outsider perspective. As Price explains, “We entered the space without healthcare experience. We weren’t classically trained, didn’t go to medical school, or had no medical background.” The team’s lack of credentials forced innovative thinking.

Chad Price notes, “We truly entered into healthcare with no experience at all. And that’s a refreshing story for those frustrated right now in healthcare.” The team’s outsider viewpoint became an asset rather than a liability. Unencumbered by industry doctrine, the team re-imagined efficient testing centered around patient experience rather than clinical legacy.  

This nimble style attracted independent physicians eager for alternatives to overloaded hospital systems. Chad Price MAKO Medical CEO shares, “When we looked at healthcare, we realized there were a lot of massive hospital systems and they have their place and when we’ve all gone to a hospital for an emergency, we felt like we’re the David and Goliath.”

MAKO Medical filled a niche by being lean and focused exclusively on outpatient services. Price remarks, “We made a decision early on that our focus would be on them (independent practices) and building a support system around what they needed, not building support systems around what the hospital may need.” 

MAKO Medical filled gaps and formed symbiotic partnerships with independent physician groups and other conglomerates overlooked by entering healthcare from an unconventional angle. Once more, MAKO’s outsider culture spawned innovative solutions.  

Vision Guided by Serving Others

The key element that powers MAKO Medical’s meteoric rise is its commitment to service. As Chad Price articulates, “We wanted specifically to carve out our business and be a rock for the independent providers.” This people-first vision channels corporate strategy.

Rather than fixating on short-term profits or gaining market share, MAKO directs its efforts toward enabling overburdened independent physicians. Price explains, “We developed services based around their needs, not the largest players.”

Instead of maximizing profit per test, Chad Price directs efforts toward aiding overworked care providers. This service mentality manifests in all operations and sustains the culture. Price concludes, “Our primary focus is giving back and helping others.” 

All in all, as CEO, Chad Price defies conventions and champions an energizing culture centered on community at MAKO Medical. Price empowers all employees by breaking down hierarchies, encouraging unconventional ideas, and focusing external efforts on alleviating client pain points. This people-over-profits priority fuels loyalty and rapid growth. 

Chad Price provides an inspiring model that balances rocketing success with humble cohesion through a flat structure, emphasis on teams, maintaining early cultural touchstones, and directing strategy around alleviating external frustrations. His unorthodox approach reveals how injecting humility and humanity into corporate culture can unite, inspire, and make entities built to serve greater than standalone entities amassing influence.

As we witness the heights achieved by MAKO Medical, it’s eye-opening to trace the roots of their inspiring yet earnest culture cultivated by Chad Price. Price rejected hierarchies but championed cooperation, boldly bringing an outsider perspective, but valuing collective experience.

What does the future hold for this different-by-design company guided by goodwill? If insight from Chad Price indicates anything, it is purpose over prominence, and people before profits. While competitors lean on celebrity spokespeople or status-fueled marketing, MAKO invests inward to enrich each worker, provider, and neighborhood they join. 

“The sheen of success coats many a healthcare brand, but glows especially bright on those still taking the time to guide, empower and lift communities serving alongside them.”