Built by an operator who knows partnerships and technology.
Surgical Northwest is a new surgical distribution company for the Pacific Northwest. Pia Ambardar leads it, NextGen Growth Partners backs it, and we’re starting with a partner: an owner in the region who wants to build this with us.
Surgical distribution is a relationships business before it’s anything else.
A surgeon doesn’t switch reps over a price sheet. They stay with someone they trust to show up in the operating room, who knows the instrumentation cold, and answers the phone at odd hours. A hospital’s contract terms matter, but the relationship between a rep and a surgeon is what drives the business. That’s the part of this industry Pia knows from almost 15 years of relationship-driven technical sales.
And the work matters. A distributor has to get it right every time: the right equipment in the right condition with the right support behind it. That's a meaningful contribution to better patient outcomes.
Who’s behind Surgical Northwest.
Pia Ambardar
Pia is a seasoned leader, having spent 13 years at Amazon building, operating, and scaling business development and technical sales teams globally. She brought new products and services to life, owned $500M+ P&Ls, and led strategic partnerships with some of the world's largest companies. Her career has been centered around building long-term relationships and developing high-performing teams.
That’s what brought her to surgical distribution. In this business, the trust built with surgeons underpins everything, and the companies that serve those relationships at the highest standard are treated as partners rather than suppliers. She's here to work with one exceptional founder in this space and carry forward the relationships and the culture that made their business successful.
Pia lives in Seattle's Phinney Ridge neighborhood with her husband and their two children. She's an avid tennis player and fan (she has attended all four Grand Slams), and early in her career she spent three years as a professional actor. She holds an MBA from Columbia Business School and an engineering degree from Columbia University.
Pia's no stranger to the acquisition process.
Pia has been deep enough in transactions to know what a quality of earnings is for, how a working capital peg gets set, and why deals slip between letter of intent and close. If something in the process doesn’t make sense, you can ask her and get a straight answer.
She recently completed diligence on a surgical implant distributor, with real financials, in-person conversations with the sellers, and research into how the business runs day to day.
In two separate healthcare transactions, owners picked her over buyers who came from the industry, or offered more money. They made their decision based on her operational credibility, and the comfort they felt with how she’d treat their team, and respect what they had built.
Backed by people who’ve done this before.
Surgical Northwest is supported by advisors who work with owners and teams through a transition.
Victor Saad
Chief Talent Officer, NextGen Growth Partners
Victor works with owners on what their role looks like after a sale, and with teams on getting through the transition. In practice that means succession planning, sorting out who steps into which responsibilities once the founder’s role changes, and keeping a business steady while ownership moves. He’s who we bring in when an owner has decided to sell but hasn’t yet decided what the next two years should look like.
What working with us looks like.
01
A conversation first
We start by getting to know your business and what you want from the next few years. For some owners that’s a full exit, and for others it’s a slower transition. Both are fine.
02
Mutual fit
If it makes sense on both sides, we get into how the business runs, how your rep relationships work, and what you’d want your role to be after close.
03
An offer built around your terms
Deal structure, timeline, and your role afterward are part of the conversation from the start. We’d rather build the offer around what you need than hand you a template.
04
A transition that respects what you built
Your relationships and your reps are most of what makes this business valuable. The goal is continuity while the business keeps growing.
05
This stays between us
Most owners start looking well before they’re ready to tell anyone, including their own team. We follow your lead on timing and discretion.
Common questions.
A short primer on who we are, how we work, and what partnering with us means.
What is Surgical Northwest?
Is Surgical Northwest an operating company or an acquisition vehicle?
Why does the site describe services if you haven’t partnered with a company yet?
What kind of business are you looking for?
How do equipment and implants fit together?
Do you have healthcare experience?
What happens to the current owner, employees, and customers?
Who’s backing Surgical Northwest financially?