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Name: Eric Oberwise
Occupation: MedTech Professional, Innovator, and Founding Partner of MIX
Origin: Vernon Hills, Illinois
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Eric Oberwise is a familiar face at HanaHaus, recognized for his energy, vision, and dedication to fostering a vibrant MedTech community in Orange County. As a Founding Partner of Medical Innovation Exchange (MIX), Eric is committed to making medical device development and entrepreneurship more accessible and collaborative, with an emphasis on empowering founders. These values are a natural fit with the innovative and community-driven spirit that defines HanaHaus.
Eric’s journey began in Vernon Hills, a suburb outside of Chicago, before earning his master’s at USC and planting roots in the region. “The romantic story is my wife-at the time, my long-distance girlfriend—moved out here, but also from a career standpoint, this is like the mecca of medical device and life science work,” Eric shares. “I just kind of got super lucky that she wanted to move to Southern California and that so many of the major medical device companies are right here in Orange County.”
Eric and his MIX co-founder, Shima Homayoonieh, both engineers by training, saw a gap in the MedTech startup landscape. “We looked at each other after a month or so of going to these [startup] events and said, ‘I think we could start a group for ourselves that would be geared towards people that are a bit more like-minded in terms of trying to progress their careers and companies and create a way to do that with lower barriers to entry’,” Eric recalls.
Many existing events didn’t offer early-stage entrepreneurs a real “foot in the door.” MIX began as a grassroots meetup; just a handful of passionate people gathering to share experiences and help each other navigate the notoriously complex world of medical devices. Over time, MIX evolved into a platform connecting founders, clinicians, investors, and industry professionals through structured events, mastermind groups, and curated introductions.
“Medical devices are really complicated… sometimes it takes 10 years to get a product from inception to market, and you can imagine, there’s a lot of hurdles. Connecting people that have done that with people that want to do that is super important.” – Eric Oberwise
Today, MIX is a vibrant, community-driven platform dedicated to supporting MedTech entrepreneurs at every stage. Its mastermind events, held every other month, bring together up to 60 entrepreneurs and professionals for high-powered peer mentoring, brainstorming, and Q&A sessions. Monthly “Innovation Happy Hours” focus on building connections among founders, not just service providers, ensuring the group remains founder-led and mission-driven.
“The people that are running the group, and the people that are in the group, the people that promote the group, are all people who are entrepreneurial. We need more of that to drive a healthier ecosystem.” – Eric Oberwise
Eric believes a founder-first approach is critical for building a sustainable, innovative startup culture in Orange County; one that’s about more than just business, but about bringing ideas to life and making a real impact on human health.
Eric first encountered HanaHaus through an AI LA event partnership, but he’d been eyeing the space for years. “I live like 10 minutes away. I told my wife and my partner at MIX, ‘We are gonna do an event at that location. I love the space, truly. I come here just to work and sit on the water and love to just be at spaces that make you feel alive, like innovative,’” Eric says.
He credits HanaHaus with providing the perfect environment for connection and creativity: “It’s like a flywheel effect… If you have good people, a good venue, and good content, then you start to have a lot of momentum. By doing the events here, I think it actually definitely fulfills that middle piece—people come to a space where they can create better connections and community and, I think, innovate a little bit better.”
Favorite workspace: Harbor View. “That’s like the best place you could ever work remote from. You still have the energy and the feeling, but it’s a lot more private. And the view-you can’t beat that anywhere else.”
“This space has the potential to transform the way that people see the startup community in Newport and Costa Mesa… You can use [HanaHaus] as that flag in the ground that says, ‘Yeah, actually Newport’s more than real estate and other stuff. We can build things. We have people here that want to be here, that have done really cool, successful things in other places, and they come here because the lifestyle’s great, and they’re surrounded by other people who want to do cool stuff too.’”
For Eric, HanaHaus is more than a workspace-it’s a catalyst for community, innovation, and founder-led growth. He sees it as a gold standard for what a collaborative, accessible startup hub can be, and he’s passionate about helping it reach even greater heights.
Eric’s story is a testament to the power of community, the importance of founder-driven innovation, and the unique role HanaHaus plays in bringing visionaries together. If you’re passionate about startups, MedTech, or just want to work somewhere that “feels alive,” you’ll find your people at HanaHaus.
Go-to Blue Bottle Coffee order: Oatmilk latte, for here, in a porcelain cup. “It’s all about the mouthfeel. The plastic or paper cups just aren’t the same.”
In our blog series, Humans of HanaHaus, we present the people who fill our workspace with life: start-uppers, entrepreneurs, artists, founders, innovation managers, students, unicorns, venture capital investors and the people who make HanaHaus unique. We want to learn about their journeys. We ask them to speak about their current projects and how they leverage HanaHaus for their business.
Interested in being featured in Humans of HanaHaus? Let us know!