Sean Self founded Nimbic Systems to develop medical devices that prevent surgical infections. His first invention, the Air Barrier System, creates a sterile barrier over the incision site during surgery to minimize airborne bacteria from entering the body. It underwent successful clinical trials and Self hopes to introduce it to markets by the end of 2009. Self believes focusing on groundbreaking prevention technologies that can help large numbers of patients will attract the right team and investors for his vision.

1. One statistic had always alarmed and
amazed Sean Self ’06 — 100,000 deaths a year
result from hospital infections, making it one of the
leading causes of death in the country. Many of these
infections take root in the operating room. Even the
face coverings, gloves, and special outer gear worn by
the surgical team cannot keep all the bacteria from
spreading throughout the air in the surgery theater.
For years, Self, who is now the president of Nimbic
Systems, had studied the impact on patients who
developed infections after orthopedic surgery. “When
implants go into a bone, it’s very different from put-
ting them into soft tissue,” he explains. “You may not
know infection is setting into a bone for a while, and
that can lead to a devastating outcome.”
Much technology has been developed for treating
infection after the fact — to mitigate the bacteria
that are already in the patient’s body. But, Self
wanted his company to focus on preventing such
infection in the first place.
SeanSelfviewsinnovationasthebestmedicine
PreventionInvention
By Ann S. Boor
Rice’93,MBA’06

3. PreventionSean Self
If your story is simply about getting rich, then you attract
people who want to get rich quickly. If it’s a story about
a groundbreaking technology that would help thousands of
patients, and it could be a successful economic venture as well,
then you attract people who are interested in being part of
a larger vision. That’s my story.
Selling the Story
By late 2006, Lone Star had turned things around and was
doing very well when CooperSurgical came knocking on the
door of its new 35,000-square-foot facility. Even though
Lone Star had not been looking to sell, a deal was struck.
Self stayed on for six months to help with the transition, but
he felt compelled to follow his entrepreneurial instincts as
well as his passion for products that made a significant
impact on health care. In fall 2007, Self and business part-
ner James Fowler launched Nimbic Systems, a company
that develops medical devices.
When Self started the company, he had some general
ideas about how a device for preventing infections could be
accomplished. But even if he could design such a device, was
it a commercially viable product? He had always thought the
idea of localized isolation at the incision site was a powerful
one. The challenge was how to create those conditions in
a way that minimally impacted a surgeon’s access to the
incision area.
Self began canvassing surgeons in the Houston area. After
receiving positive responses, he moved to find the right
team to realize his concept. Self was able to bring on some
talented tool-and-die and development people from Lone
Star, and he says the team’s coherence was a big reason
Nimbic was able to take its idea from concept to prototype
so quickly.
Starting Point
Fresh out of Rice University with a bachelor’s degree in
mechanical engineering, Sean Self made a bold career move
in 1993. He decided to join Lone Star Medical Products as
quality assurance manager, after both the founder and the
president had died, and the company had been temporar-
ily shut down by the FDA. Self saw it as an opportunity. He
figured he could get good experience and exposure to all
aspects of the business, from engineering and operations
to sales and marketing.
Describing the environment at Lone Star, Self says, “It was
‘What do we need today? OK, I’ll be that person.’ ” He and
his partners turned the company around, growing from six
employees to 75 over the next 10 years and reaching annual
sales of $10 million. Self felt the need for a bigger toolbox
of ideas and strategies, however. He decided the best way to
learn — and learn fast — was to return to Rice and enroll in
the Rice MBA for Executives program.
“The professors encouraged us to bring in real-world issues,
and I was the poster child for that,” says Self, who completed
the program in 2006. “I created a more powerful marketing
and branding campaign for Lone Star as part of my class
assignments and was able to pull financial, communication,
and leadership concepts out of the program and put them to
immediate use.”

4. Self also needed advisers who possessed
strengths in the areas where he was lacking, and
investors to provide the financial fuel. “You tend
to attract people depending on what your story’s
about,” he says. “If your story is simply about
getting rich, then you attract people who want
to get rich quickly. If it’s a story about a ground-
breaking technology that would help thousands
of patients, and it could be a successful econom-
ic venture as well, then you attract people who
are interested in being part of a larger vision.
That’s my story.”
Self found suitable collaborators, including some of the top
orthopedic surgeons and infection control experts in the
country. And just 18 months after Nimbic opened its doors,
his invention was undergoing clinical trials, being tested
in orthopedic joint replacement procedures at Texas
Orthopedic Hospital in Houston.
Healthy Outlook
Self’s device, the Air Barrier System, creates a sterile
cocoon about two feet long and six inches wide over the
incision site and is small enough that it does not get in the
surgeon’s way. The device has been highly effective in mini-
mizing the intrusion of bacteria into the body. “The secret
sauce is in how it delivers air onto the surface of the body,”
Self explains. “The consistency of the flow field prevents air-
borne contaminants from reaching the surface of the body.”
When the clinical trials are completed, Self will apply for
FDA clearance. He hopes to introduce the product to the
market by the end of 2009. His ultimate goal is for the Air
Barrier System to be used in all types of surgeries. “There
are a lot of high-infection-rate types of surgery, including
cardiovascular and neurological, and we have an inexpen-
sive device that can provide a gold-standard level of protec-
tion in operating rooms anywhere in the world,” he says.
Self is optimistic about Nimbic’s future, but he recognizes
that successful entrepreneurs have to be realists. “You need
to believe in what you’re doing, but not deceive yourself,”
he says. “Starting something new challenges you to think big
and meet goals, but you have to be realistic in terms of what
can be accomplished and how much time it will take
to accomplish it.”
Beyond the economic factors, Self says one of the most
overlooked keys to being a successful entrepreneur is having
a source of strength. For him, it’s his wife and kids, whom
he never forgets are part of the entrepreneurial equation.
“There are times you’ll be going home, and you’ll have no
idea how you’re going to solve something, and you have to
keep pushing on,” he says. “The thought of money alone will
never be enough to nurture you through those times. You
better have another reason to push, and people to help keep
you in the game.”
Abarrier but not an obstruction
Pictured, the mold for theAir Barrier System.The
System is currently in development and has been highly
effective in minimizing infections that can develop during
operations.To be worn on the hip, the device creates a
sterile cocoon about two feet long and six inches wide, but
is small enough that it does not get in a surgeon’s way.