Why Healthcare Startups Fail After the First "Yes"
It’s not the product. It’s what happens next.
Too many health tech teams celebrate a verbal yes—and miss what’s coming.
“We’re interested.”
You just reached step 1 of 27.
Here’s what no one tells you:
Your buyer champion still has to defend you to Finance, Medical Management, Legal, Compliance, and Operations.
Medicare Advantage? You need statistically significant outcomes.
Administrative solution? ROI must be guaranteed. With penalties.
Security reviews? Binary. One miss, start over. 3+ months, 300+ questions.
Delegation? You’re triggering audits, documentation, and fiduciary review.
Budgeting cycles are locked 14–18 months out. Miss MLR season? Wait a year.
Implementation queues can run 6+ months even after the deal’s signed.
RFPs? Annual. Miss the window, wait again.
If you’ve never seen this play out, it feels like chaos. It’s not. It’s the system working as designed.
TL;DR: The problem isn’t interest. It’s what you didn’t know to prepare for.
Most post-raise GTM teams don’t fail on intent.
They fail because no one taught them what “yes” actually means in healthcare.
This newsletter is where I’ll lay that bare. Deal by deal, system by system. Across all of it: payors, providers, D2C. Enterprises, startups. If you’re trying to sell, raise, innovate or scale in this space, you need to understand what you’re up against.
Let’s get way sharper.