The Digital Executive: Steve Muth on Turning Tragedy into Innovation – The Journey Behind ZEM Life’s Life-Saving Smartwatch

Podcast: The Digital Executive (Coruzant Technologies)
Date: May 9, 2025
Episode: 1059
Guest: Steve Muth, Co-founder, ZEM Life Device
Host: Brian (Coruzant Technologies)

Overview

This episode features Steve Muth, co-founder of ZEM Life Devices, sharing how personal tragedy—the loss of his son Zachary to a fentanyl overdose—became the driving force behind the creation of a revolutionary life-saving wearable. The conversation centers on the ZEM Life smartwatch: an attractive, stigma-free device with automatic medication delivery capabilities, set to transform emergency medical response, starting with opioid overdoses. The episode covers the emotional backstory, key technology, regulatory challenges, and the promising future applications of the device.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Origin Story: Personal Tragedy to Life-Saving Mission

[01:40 – 03:59]

• Steve recounts the devastating event of losing his only child, Zachary, to a fentanyl-laced pill.
• He shares how that tragedy stripped away his sense of purpose but ultimately inspired him to build something with the singular goal of preventing similar losses for others.
• Collaboration with Dr. Joanna Sawyer led to the development of innovative, automated life-saving technology.

Notable Quote:

“When that happened, my life changed dramatically. I no longer felt that I had a purpose until a number of strange and crazy events took place where I developed a technology...that we feel could help out people that might have concern of fentanyl. And that's basically what started ZEM Life. It was losing my only child to fentanyl and having now the only desire to save life and stop that pain and devastation from happening to other people.”
— Steve Muth [02:34]

2. How the ZEM Life Device Works: Innovation Without Stigma

[04:37 – 10:02]

• The device is an elegant, high-quality smartwatch designed for daily wear—no medical stigma, just style and utility.
• Features snap-in microcartridges, each preloaded with medication—such as Narcan for opioid overdose, nitroglycerin for heart attacks, and epinephrine for anaphylaxis.
• The watch continuously monitors wearers’ vitals; if a life-threatening emergency is detected, it automatically injects the necessary medication—an unprecedented, user-specific automated response.
• Future applications include cartridges for rare animals, fertility support, military, and diabetes management; the technology’s adaptability is virtually limitless.
• Steve envisions a future where AI and medical automation personalize emergency care far beyond current clinical environments.

Notable Quotes:

“Knowing my son, he would not have worn anything that was bulky and ugly or that had a stigma...So the first priority and what makes [ZEM] different is we believe we're creating something that is used every day...a very high quality smartwatch that is attractive for men and women.”
— Steve Muth [04:41]

“It’s a smartwatch that incorporates and holds your specific needed medication of concern with an automatic delivery system if you’re in need of saving your life.”
— Steve Muth [06:56]

“Why not automatically saving your life? And that's our belief at ZEM Life—that truly medication in the medical world is going to grow exponentially with AI and medical automation.”
— Steve Muth [09:20]

3. Challenges in Development: Navigating New Frontiers

[10:45 – 12:17]

• Regulatory navigation: The FDA classifies devices and drugs separately, but ZEM Life is both, requiring a pioneering approach to approval.
• Financing and time: Despite significant experience raising capital, Steve notes the unique challenges in launching ZEM—from public offerings to the complexity of bringing together disparate, existing technologies into a coherent, reliable, life-saving device.
• Emphasis on learning and perseverance in the face of industry and regulatory barriers.

Notable Quote:

“We're pretty much a new technology, it's a new industry. It is comprised of both the device and the drug. So we had to learn how to navigate to the FDA and get things approved on that basis...It's putting it all together to communicate with each other. It's been complicated.”
— Steve Muth [10:50]

4. Looking Ahead: The Vision for ZEM Life

[12:59 – 14:58]

• The first and most important benchmark is saving the first life—Steve promises a celebration and extends the invitation to listeners.
• Ambitious roadmap to release seven distinct cartridges within the next few years:
  • Military (battlefield emergencies)
  • Animal (veterinary/livestock rescue)
  • Narcan (flagship opioid overdose)
  • Heart attack (nitroglycerin delivery)
  • Fertility (hormone delivery)
  • Anaphylaxis (epinephrine)
  • Diabetes (insulin)
• Steve’s long-term vision: mainstream adoption of automated medical devices to instantly and precisely deliver life-saving interventions, transforming public and personal health.

Notable Quote:

“The day we hear of a person saving their life through one of our devices, we're going to have a big party...Our hope is to have seven of our cartridges out within the next couple of years...that's our big goal.”
— Steve Muth [13:04]

Memorable Moments and Representative Quotes

• On Purpose Through Loss:
  “I no longer felt that I had a purpose until...I developed a technology...to save lives and that we feel could help out people that might have concern of fentanyl.”
  — Steve Muth [02:19]

• On Technology Shaping Care:
  “Everything is becoming automated...Why not automatically saving your life?”
  — Steve Muth [09:13]

• On the Promise of the First Life Saved:
  “The day we hear of a person saving their life through one of our devices, we’re going to have a big party.”
  — Steve Muth [13:04]

Timestamps for Key Segments

| Time | Segment | |------------|-------------------------------------------------------------| | 01:40–03:59| Steve’s personal loss and the origin of ZEM Life | | 04:37–10:02| How the device works; unique features and vision | | 10:45–12:17| Challenges: FDA, funding, integrating technologies | | 12:59–14:58| Future goals: cartridge roadmap & societal impact |

Conclusion

In under 15 minutes, Steve Muth shares a poignant, purposeful journey from personal grief to high-tech hope. The ZEM Life smartwatch stands at the intersection of technology and compassion—a wearable device designed to seamlessly integrate life-saving medical interventions into everyday life. With challenges met and plans for broad utility, ZEM Life’s vision is clear: using innovation to ensure tragedy breeds not only sorrow, but solutions.