Mackenzie Bonebrake (StrEnt’25)

Mackenzie Bonebrake (StrEnt’25) first found the inspiration for her MedTech startup, Madeira, in a Leeds classroom. But really, it started before that—when she decided to independently invest in her college education, taking on significant debt with no safety net. “At 18, I had an unshakable belief that betting on myself and that opportunity would change my life,” she said.

Today, as CEO of Madeira, she’s betting on her ability to build and lead this new company. She’s developing the technology and partnering with pharmaceutical industry leaders, determined to bring her innovation into the real world—no matter what curveballs come her way. “Nothing has really changed,” she said, “except for the size of the bet.”

Bonebrake shared her insights with Leeds. Responses have been condensed.

Transitioning from university to the business world can be stark and challenging. How did that look for you?

My transition from school to the business world began in my final semester at Leeds. I had just reached my “aha” moment—the idea I wanted to build—and suddenly all I wanted to do was work on the company. It was exciting, but almost frustrating at times, because my attention was split between building something I truly believed in and finishing assignments that no longer felt urgent. I lived, breathed and slept thinking about Madeira. Now, on the other side of graduation, it’s been incredibly rewarding to finally put my full focus, time and energy into it.

One of the biggest shifts from school to the business world has been structure—or, more specifically, the lack of it. In school, success is clearly defined. You’re given deadlines, rubrics and expectations, and if you follow them, you know you’re on the right track. Entrepreneurship is the complete opposite. I like to think of it like a sport. You can study the rules, analyze the best players and memorize every play, but none of that replaces getting on the field.

Learning how to be a true self-starter and how to spend my time in the most valuable way has been the most significant shift I’ve experienced. In many ways, I still feel like I’m in school—but it’s self-designed. The MedTech industry is incredibly complex, like a ball of yarn that needs to be untangled. There’s so much to learn about value chains, regulations and the different players involved. Since starting the company, I dedicate time every day to learning how the industry works. 

It often feels like I’m running a company while also being enrolled in an intensive, real-world master’s program in medical technologies.

Tell us about Madeira.

The origin of Madeira traces back to my final semester at Leeds when I enrolled in the New Venture Launch class with Brad Werner. Fate paired me with two teammates who carried EpiPens everywhere due to severe allergies. Our first concept—originally called EpiPlus—was developed by a student team of six and focused on building a temperature-regulated, compact, smart epinephrine auto-injector. As the semester progressed, it became increasingly clear that this idea had potential far beyond a class project. By March 2025, we were ready to take EpiPlus out of the classroom, so we entered the Women Founders New Venture Challenge at CU Boulder. Out of dozens of ventures, we were selected as finalists, becoming the only undergraduate team to make it that far.

I made the decision that, post-graduation, I was going to pursue this full time. I turned down a return offer I had received from a company. 

What challenges did you run into?

We realized our original EpiPlus concept wasn’t feasible, and we needed to pivot entirely. After graduation, our team went from six people to two. All the work we had done to that point was tied to an idea we ultimately couldn’t execute, and then it was just two of us responsible for rebuilding everything. My engineer and I got on the phone and brainstormed, and within one day, we landed on our pivot. That initial pivot happened in a single day because I had learned to listen to feedback and act decisively, rather than get attached to ideas that weren’t working. Two or three iterations later is what Madeira is today.

What stuck out to you the most throughout the developmental stages?

How quickly you have to learn from failure and iterate. Instead of seeing our situation as a massive setback, I chose to view it as market validation—the market was just telling us we needed to solve the overarching problem differently. Change and risk are the only two constants in the startup world—but it’s how you respond to that change and how you mitigate risk that truly matters. Now, when we face challenges, I don’t panic, because I’ve learned that most challenges aren’t dead ends—they’re redirections guiding you toward where you’re supposed to go. 

Giving up isn’t an option. If a road ends, you build a new one.

Update us on the status of Madeira now.

We’re in an incredibly exciting phase. After three pivots and multiple concept iterations, we’ve rebuilt the company and are developing a universal, embedded, smart-electronics sensor platform that transforms existing FDA-cleared auto-injectors into fully connected drug-delivery systems.

Rather than manufacturing auto-injectors ourselves, Madeira operates as a platform to provide the digital intelligence that lives inside the injector. Our technology embeds into partner devices and enables drug temperature sensing; injection timestamping; National Drug Code traceability; and HIPAA-compliant, secure connectivity to an app interface that supports both patient-facing, clinical patient dashboards, and Pharma drug cohort trial adherence data transfers. 

We’re creating the connective layer between patients, clinicians, and pharmaceutical companies, and that means we can meaningfully improve how drugs are delivered, monitored and understood.

What’s next?

Our focus over the next year is to advance our proprietary technology and secure the resources to scale and deploy the platform through our pharmaceutical partners, who will deliver it to patients. One of the most exciting milestones ahead is that our proof of concept will be delivered alongside PharmaJet’s next-generation, needle-free auto-injector devices starting later this year into 2027.  

Securing PharmaJet as one of our entry-to-market partners was a major achievement. It marks the first time biopharmaceutical manufacturers will have the ability to access real-world clinical data on patient vitals and show how specific drugs impact an individual’s baseline health. 

Do you think that running a woman-owned startup makes your experience unique?

I do think so—especially in the industry I’m in. I feel a deep sense of pride in what I’m doing, not only because of the impact our technology can have on society, but because I’m contributing to a broader narrative about who gets to build, lead and shape the future of this space. 

That said, I’m very intentional about not letting my identity take away from the core of what we’re doing. Madeira exists because we’ve built a technology that solves real problems and creates value for multiple stakeholders—it works, and that’s what matters most. From a product and business standpoint, I don’t want it to matter that I’m a woman running this company. The technology should stand on its own merit.

Women-led companies, however, have historically received less capital, which impacts scale, speed and visibility.

On a personal level, it does matter, and it shows up in moments like calling my grandmother to give her updates. She tells me how incredibly proud of me she is—not just because of what I’m building, but because I’m doing things she was never allowed to do. She’s told me stories about life before 1974, when women couldn’t have their own credit cards, or before 1988, when women couldn’t form LLCs without a male co-signer. Realizing how recent that history is puts everything into perspective.  

Even in today’s world, women-led companies have historically been underfunded, shaping their scale, speed, and visibility. This isn’t about weaker ideas or execution, but unequal access. What appear as investment and efficiency gaps are simply the ripple effects of cultural shifts that are still very recent. 

Is there any advice you'd give to Leeds students?

What women founders can control is how they respond. The most effective thing we can do is keep building, keep executing, and use friction as fuel to drive change. The cultural shift is happening—it’s gradual, but it’s real—and I want to be part of pushing it forward. 

Focus on what you’re building and who you’re building it with. The strength of your idea and the integrity of your team matter more than anything else.