HealthTech has always been one of the most common industries thoughtbot supports, and in the last few years in particular, we’ve seen a large uptick in clients looking to transition, expand, or remedy their in-clinic services with technology. I recently attended an HLTH Event “Follow the Money: Venture Capital and the Future of Healthcare Notes and Takeaways”. In an effort to share strategies and learnings, here are some of my event takeaways and how they align with the trends our teams are seeing on the ground.
Event takeaways
The HLTH event featured a panel of industry experts who led a discussion on the trends they are seeing in HealthTech investment and the programs, services, and technologies that are of particular interest, highlighting “hot” verticals. In the presentation they called out the following:
- Speciality Pharmacy Platforms—support medications not typically found in retail pharmacies, like high-cost products for complex diseases or chronic and rare conditions.
- Health Equity Solutions—work to allow ALL users, regardless of social determinants like wealth, to attain their full health potential
- Mental Health Platforms—provide care to patients in a therapeutic environment and assist with ongoing support, and improvements for an improved well being
- Remote Patient Monitoring—allows care providers to manage and monitor end user conditions
In sharing product attributes that investors are currently looking for, they highlighted:
- Platform Solutions (instead of Point Solutions), meaning instead of tackling a single, specific problem, a solution offers a robust framework that remedies numerous use cases.
- Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning have been top of mind for most industries, and in HealthTech in particular, this could be used to deliver a faster more accurate diagnosis.
- Platforms that help or keep in mind the current staffing shortage most providers are currently navigating.
- Solutions that reduce costs in healthcare, given patients are still cost sensitive in investing in their health and introducing additional spend to their ongoing budget.
thoughtbot recommendations
In partnering with startups looking to outline the best first version, bring it to life, and WOW investors, we suggest the following strategies to best position yourself with investors.
Firstly, understanding your product market fit is more important than ever, especially with an investment landscape this competitive. You should have a clear picture of how your solution fits into the larger ecosystem (touchpoints & digital properties) and also a deep understanding of your customers (their needs, pain points, and motivations). The best way to build this understanding is through dedicated research, which in turn, helps you have the foundational knowledge to build the strongest product.
In terms of presenting to investors, you should use that product research and couple it with your strategy to operate and grow your business to tell a succinct and clear story. It should successfully bring together all the elements of your product (target audience, problem to be solved, roadmap for solution) and also your path to scale. An important element of the investor presentation should be a clear, and fast plan to ROI. If you are able to show some proof of adoption and early revenue, and outline how that will scale with further investment, you will help foster confidence. Each investor will likely have unique criteria so your presentation, and talk track should be adapted to best suit their concerns.
I hope some of these strategies help you take your product and business to the next level. To learn more about our HealthTech experience, or start a conversation on how we might help you get to that next milestone, please send us a note.