Digital Health Builders

The New Paths to Market in Digital Health

We are seeing a revolution in how digital health companies distribute their product. Some are finding bottom up traction with end consumers as a path to enterprise buyer. Others are pioneering risk-based contracting, developing multi-sided marketplaces, or taking advantage of new aggregator partnerships. a16z general partner Julie Yoo explains why the go-to-market (GTM) for digital health startups is shifting and the five new GTM motions that she sees emerging.

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Two-sided Networks, a Founder's Playbook

Multi-sided network businesses are connecting our fragmented and siloed healthcare system in fundamentally new ways. Founders are using this go-to-market strategy as a creative and efficient way of getting their technology innovation to their target customers – patients, providers, payors, pharma/biotechs, and/or pharmacies. However, it can be complex to execute. Vineeta Agarwala and Jay Rughani spoke with digital health builders — from GoodRx, Headway, Incredible Health, Komodo Health, and Owkin— who are meeting the challenge of setting up these complex but resilient business models.

 

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Risk-based Contracting for Value-based Care, a Founder’s Playbook

Healthcare is undergoing a transformation, from care that is predominately fee for service and based on volume to value-based care. Risk-based contracts are critical to building businesses based on risk and value, rather than fees and volume. We talked to digital health builders — from Firefly Health, Pearl Health, Waymark, Carrum Health, Eleanor Health, Patina Health, and BlueCross BlueShield of North Carolina — about deciding to go at risk, picking and negotiating with payor partners, defining success, and more.

 

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B2C2B in Digital Health, a Founder’s Playbook

A wave of digital health companies have entered the market by first going direct to consumers, clinicians, care providers, and even life science researchers (B2C). Once they have enough traction with a cohort of users, they start selling to the enterprise. We interviewed some of the most successful B2C2B digital health founders and leaders — from Benchling, Bold, Butterfly, Maven, and Marley Medical— to put together a playbook for going bottom up.

 

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Selling to SMBs, a Founder’s Playbook

How are healthtech companies creating sustainable growth paths by selling to SMBs? Can companies solely rely on SMB sales to get to scale, or do they inevitably need to go upmarket (especially during challenging economic times)? We talked to Nancy Ham, the previous CEO of WebPT, Nate Maslak, CEO and cofounder of Ribbon Health, and Oliver Kharraz, CEO and cofounder of ZocDoc, to unpack their SMB-go-to-market strategies. We also surveyed 33 digital health companies that sell to SMBs to gain insight into a broader swath of approaches that upstarts are taking.

 

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