Has there ever been a year when we talked more about health?
Against the backdrop of the first Covid-19 vaccinations and still rising case counts, Richmond Inno hosted a virtual panel exploring the future of health tech, a hot topic in recent years but especially in 2020.
State of Innovation: Future of Health Tech was moderated by Richmond Inno’s Elise Franco and featured Erin Powell, executive director of Lighthouse Labs; Nicky Monk, director of VCU Ventures; and Lennox McNeary, cofounder and chief operating officer of ArchiveCore.
In a year that pushed health topics front and center, there was plenty to discuss. Here’s a recap of some of the topics that were covered. You can watch the full conversation below.
On the overall challenges surrounding the health tech industry:
McNeary, a physician and founder of a startup that seeks to innovate the credentialing process for health care professionals, said one of the big challenges in her industry is that the stakes are so high.
“If I was innovating a new ice cream and wanted to do anchovy-flavored ice cream, the worse thing I could do is maybe make some of my customers unhappy,” she said. “In health care, if we do something wrong, it’s patient’s lives. And so, that barrier right there to innovation makes things move slowly.”
On the biggest lesson of the year:
“I think the lesson that I have learned, kind of big picture lesson, is the power of collaboration,” Monk said.
Powell and McNeary had similar takeaways. Powell brought up Lighthouse Lab’s recruitment of more than 30 health care industry mentors to guide its startup founders as an example.
“I just keep seeing examples of community, community, community,” Powell said.
On what it takes for a health tech startup to succeed:
Health tech founders need to ask themselves a tough question, Monk said: “’Are you solving a problem, and is that problem significant enough that people care about solving it?’”
It’s a hard question to ask, because founders feel like their technology is their “baby,” but it’s an important one.
“I like the notion of being obsessed with the problem and not the product,” she said.
Another key to success is understanding the way hospital finances differ from other businesses.
“Understanding how the finances flow within the health care system, I think, is critical,” Powell said.
McNeary added, “I think that’s one of the places where I feel like coming at it from inside can be helpful, because health care is weird; the finances and the culture and our business models are strange.”
Understanding the health care culture and the importance of change management – especially incremental change management – has been helpful in getting buy-in for ArchiveCore, McNeary said.
On what they’re looking forward to in 2021:
First and foremost, she’s looking forward to the Covid-19 vaccine, said McNeary, who has front-line healthcare worker friends getting vaccinated. Professionally, she’s looking forward to moving ArchiveCore beyond its pilot stage.
“Really getting this rolling out and starting to change the face of professional credentialing in Virginia and in our region over the next year, so that physicians can start taking care of patients faster.”
At Lighthouse Labs, 2021 will bring their 10th startup cohort.
“We’re also undergoing a rebrand coming up in 2021,” Powell said. “It’s almost like Lighthouse 2.0, and we’re really leaning into making sure everything we’re doing is founder-focused.”
Monk said there’s an opportunity to get impactful innovations into the market.
“What I find exciting is the notion that so much has changed in health care in 2020 because of Covid, and I think that it’s not going to go back to where it was before.”
Thank you to all of our panelists and to our sponsor and founding partner, Activation Capital.