What is behind the death of so many seemingly well-thought-out digital health startups? According to one prominent VC in that space, the answer is a lack of understanding of payments.
Norwest Venture Partners’s Casper de Clercq said that as many as 70 percent of digital health startups are likely to fail because they are unclear about their go-to market strategy, especially payments issues. According to a story in VentureBeat, de Clercq argues that it takes “an in-depth understanding of the complex motivations and payment systems in health care to build a successful business in digital health. It’s also why NVP looks for entrepreneurs that have both IT and health care knowledge.”
De Clercq’s counsel to digital health startups is often that it may take longer than they expect. “It often takes people another cycle to really figure out the business model, as well as several pilots to get it right.”
