To equip healthcare startups with the tools and strategies needed for commercialization, Akros Advisory designed and delivered a comprehensive curriculum for an accelerator’s healthcare-focused cohort. This effort supported 15 innovative companies in refining their value propositions, engaging customers, and navigating complex payer dynamics during March and April 2024.
Client Context
A leading startup accelerator launched a healthcare-specific cohort to support early-stage companies addressing critical challenges in healthcare innovation. The cohort included 15 startups spanning digital health, medical devices, and healthcare services. These companies faced common hurdles, including unclear value propositions, limited market access, and a lack of familiarity with payer engagement. Akros Advisory was engaged to develop and deliver a tailored curriculum to address these challenges and prepare the cohort for successful commercialization.
Strategic Assessment of Challenges
Through initial consultations with the accelerator and participating startups, Akros identified key challenges:
Customer Understanding: Startups often struggled to define the real problems their solutions addressed from the perspective of healthcare customers.
Value Proposition Clarity: Many startups lacked a well-articulated value proposition aligned with the needs of specific customer segments, particularly payers.
Market Access: Understanding payer priorities and creating a scalable go-to-market (GTM) strategy were critical gaps for the cohort.
Access to Industry Expertise: Startups needed exposure to subject matter experts on critical healthcare topics such as compliance, reimbursement, and health economics.
Curriculum Design and Delivery
To address these challenges, Akros designed a structured curriculum based on Lean LaunchPad principles, incorporating practical tools, actionable insights, and expert-led sessions:
Customer Discovery and Problem Validation
Conducted workshops on customer interview techniques, guiding startups to conduct over 120 customer interviews collectively.
Introduced tools like the Problem Statement Canvas and Customer Journey Map to help startups uncover and validate customer pain points and opportunities.
Value Proposition Development
Facilitated sessions on the Value Proposition Canvas, enabling startups to align their solutions with market demands and customer needs.
Supported the creation of customer gains and pains maps, refining each company’s business model and solution design.
Engaging Industry Experts
Motivated seasoned professionals to volunteer their time and expertise, delivering sessions on essential topics such as:
Health Economics: Quantifying and communicating the financial impact of healthcare innovations.
Compliance and Security: Covering HIPAA, SOC2, and HITRUST requirements.
Reimbursement: Addressing coding, payment models, and navigating payer pathways.
Ensured these sessions provided startups with critical knowledge needed for market entry and scaling.
Market Access and GTM Strategy
Delivered workshops on payer engagement, providing insights into approaching payers as enterprise customers.
Provided practical templates and frameworks for crafting compelling pitches and sales proposals tailored to healthcare executives.
Hands-On Learning and Feedback
Included personalized mentorship sessions and peer reviews to ensure tailored guidance for each startup.
Organized a final pitch event where startups presented refined business concepts to healthcare leaders and potential investors.
Results
Increased Market Readiness: All 15 startups completed the program with validated value propositions and actionable GTM strategies tailored to their target customers.
Enhanced Customer Engagement: Startups conducted over 120 customer interviews, uncovering critical insights that informed product and market adjustments.
Improved Payer Knowledge: Startups developed a stronger understanding of payer priorities and reimbursement pathways, aligning their offerings accordingly.
Expert-Led Insights: Sessions led by industry experts provided startups with vital knowledge in areas such as compliance, reimbursement, and health economics.
Tangible Deliverables: Each company left the cohort with a comprehensive commercialization research proposal or investor pitch, laying the groundwork for successful fundraising and market entry.
Client Feedback
“Akros Advisory’s curriculum provided our cohort with the tools and confidence they needed to engage customers, refine their value propositions, and navigate the complexities of the healthcare market. The expert-led sessions were a standout feature, delivering critical knowledge we couldn’t have accessed otherwise.” – Executive Director, Entrepreneur Support Organization & Non-Profit
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