There have been recent high profile calls for more physicians to join the ranks of health tech entrepreneurs from the American Medical Association and the venture community. The digital age offers exciting opportunities to address pressing health needs in new ways, and doctors are being encouraged to seize the entrepreneurial moment as a new breed of tech founders with innovative solutions.
Building a health-tech company adds an extra layer of hard.
The same hurdles Square or Etsy overcame (standard startup challenges like funding, staffing, scaling, and competition in addition to attracting customers) also exist in health tech — and patients and physicians have to want to pay for the solution the entrepreneur offers. But unlike the rest of the economy, healthcare is saddled with greater validation complexity and forced to answer to an ever-evolving and contentious political debate.