By the Techstars Healthcare Vertical Network Team

This blog is Part 3 of a 5-part tactical series drawn directly from conversations at the Techstars Healthcare Vertical Network panel presentations in NYC in June 2025 with Techstars managing directors, leaders from Permanente Medicine Mid-Atlantic States, Johns Hopkins, Carefirst, PwC, and dozens of Techstars healthcare alumni founders.*

Part 1: Why Healthcare Feels Impossible — And Why We All Still Need You to Build

Part 2: How Healthcare Systems Actually Buy Innovation: Lessons from the Gatekeepers

Every healthtech founder knows that data is the key to unlocking their product’s full potential. But few realize how much of that data is locked behind walls: technical, legal, and political.

From payer claims and EHR systems to patient-generated inputs and third-party aggregators, the health data landscape is as fragmented as it is essential. So how do early-stage startups break in? And more importantly, how do they build responsibly?

Here’s what we learned from our panel of data scientists, healthcare investors, and digital health entrepreneurs.

1. The best data isn’t public, it’s protected.

Publicly available health datasets are useful for prototyping. But they’re not what separates category leaders. The most powerful insights come from:

• Internal provider datasets (often siloed across systems)

• Claims and utilization data (held tightly by payers)

• Behavioral and environmental data (collected by consumer tools or third-party platforms)

Unlocking this data means navigating data-sharing agreements, IRBs, partnerships, and patient consent frameworks. It’s not easy, but it’s essential.

Founders who build early with these realities in mind save themselves months of pain later.

2. Access ≠ ownership. And ownership ≠ right to use.

One of the biggest misunderstandings among early founders is assuming access to data means permission to commercialize it. But HIPAA, GDPR, CCPA, and contractual obligations make this extremely murky.

Our legal panelists emphasized: get your data governance policies in place early. That means:

• Explicit data use permissions in user agreements

• Internal documentation for how data is stored, accessed, and de-identified

• Clear frameworks for what gets shared with partners (and what doesn’t)

This isn’t just legal CYA. It builds trust with health system partners who are increasingly scrutinizing data use transparency in their vendors.

3. Build products that generate new data - not just use old data.

The best founders think like systems engineers. They don’t just ask “how do I get access to data?” — they ask “how can I create data that makes my product more useful over time?”

Whether through passive data capture (e.g. voice, video, sensor data), user engagement (e.g. mood tracking, adherence logs), or predictive outputs that get better with use — smart startups build products that learn.

This isn’t about surveillance. It’s about value for your users. Data-generating products allow you to improve UX, personalize the offering, differentiate your algorithms, and reduce your reliance on inaccessible third-party datasets.

4. Transparency isn’t optional anymore - it’s a competitive advantage.

Patients, providers, and partners are asking harder questions about data. Who owns it? Who benefits? Who gets access?

The startups winning early deals are those that lean into transparency:

• Publish your governance policies

• Invite third-party audits or reviews

• Show users exactly what they’re sharing and how it’s used

In a market that’s increasingly skeptical of big tech, clarity is your differentiator.

Bottom Line: In Healthtech, Data Strategy = Product Strategy

The startups that win won’t just be the ones with the smartest models. They’ll be the ones with the smartest data strategy — from access and ethics to value creation and trust.

* This content is distilled from a panel discussion during the Techstars Vertical Network Kickoff event in June 2025. Healthcare panelists included:

• Techstars Managing Directors Keith Camhi, Nick Culbertson, Tim Grace, and Jennifer Davis,

• Myra Norton, Head of Innovation, Startup & Ecosystem Acceleration at Johns Hopkins Medicine,

• Brian Hasselfeld, MD, Executive Medical Director, Digital Health & Innovation at Johns Hopkins Medicine,

• Ian Goldstein, Partner, Corporate Group & Startup Practice Area Lead at Fenwick & West,

• Jessica Locke, Chief of Staff & Strategic Innovation at Permanente Medicine Mid-Atlantic States,

• Salvatore LoGrasso, Program Director of Innovation at Northwestern Medicine,

• Sidd Bhattacharya, Partner at PwC, Healthcare AI Team,

• and many Techstars alumni founders.

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