The health care industry continues to be one of the biggest opportunities for entrepreneurs and investors, which grew some 200% between 2010 and 2014.
Here, Bailey talks about the specific struggles healthcare entrepreneurs face and how they can build new opportunities with partnerships.
Why It’s Hard For Healthcare Startups To Raise Money Funding holds back many healthcare startups, Bailey says. “As an early-stage healthcare company, the barriers and hurdles of entering the businesses are quite high. There are regulatory hurdles. The industry is overall expensive. As an early-stage startup with not a lot of funding or resources, it’s hard to make progress quickly. It takes longer for you to build a compelling company that’s capable of attracting investments. Not to say it’s impossible, but it is definitely harder than in some other industries.”
Partnerships With Traditional Healthcare Organizations Can Help
At the same time, Bailey is noticing that many large, traditional organizations are starting to approach innovation with a new urgency. “What we’re seeing is a transition in this conservative, slower-moving healthcare industry towards people who want to foster more innovative and creative ideas and technologies and ways of doing things, because basically they also know their costs are going up at a staggering rate and they need to be adjusting and following opportunities.”
The trick is just to connect the dots. “Getting access to a lot of stakeholders in the healthcare community can be challenging. They’re very independent. If it takes a village to make a startup, in healthcare, that village is really uncoordinated and disparate. There are a lot of amazing resources, but they’re not always talking to one another.”
What Startups Should Do To Build Partnerships
“What I’ve learned so far in the healthcare world is that everyone wants to connect with each other, they just haven’t had a venue to do it. Just get involved, help support building this broader digital health ecosystem in your region. That is the mentality and collaboration that is needed to make a change in this industry.”
He adds that it’s important to not just partner with the right organizations, but also find the right teams. “Look for groups that are focused on external ideas -- they want to engage early-stage companies and connect with them.” Some places he recommends looking? “Hospitals these days have innovation teams focused on looking at external innovations and technologies and ideas. Even a lot of insurers and pharmaceutical companies are looking for disruptive ways to access new ideas, technologies and innovations.”
The important thing, says Bailey, is to get started. “A lot of these people are attending community-centric events. Get involved, get engaged. Don’t just wait and expect for people to come to you.”
Source:
Forbes.com
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