By the Techstars Healthcare Vertical Network Team

This blog is Part 4 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

Part 3: The Health Data Dilemma: What Founders Must Know About Access, Ethics, and Advantage

Let’s say you’ve built something brilliant:

An AI tool that cuts charting time in half.

A remote monitoring device clinicians actually want to use.

A backend platform that unclogs an admin bottleneck no one talks about.

You’re getting intro calls. Clinical leads are nodding. Innovation arms are interested.

And then… silence. A vague “circle back next quarter.” Nothing moves.

What happened?

At the Techstars Healthcare Vertical kickoff, leaders from Permanente Medicine Mid-Atlantic States, Northwestern, Johns Hopkins, and PwC laid it out clearly: health systems love innovation, but they don’t buy it unless you de-risk it. Not just the tech. The process. The politics. The people.

Here’s what they said and what founders can do about it.

There’s No Front Door. Just Seven Side Entrances. And None Are Labeled.

You’re not selling to a hospital. You’re navigating a matrix of stakeholders who:

• Don’t report to each other

• Don’t share incentives

• Can all say “no,” even if one person says “yes”

“There is no single yes inside a hospital,” said Salvatore LoGrasso of Northwestern. “Every pilot is a coalition-building exercise.”

So you sent a deck to the innovation team? That’s the warm-up. Legal, compliance, IT, finance, and clinical ops each need a reason to back you — or at least not block you.

Builder’s Move: Map the buyer journey. Who owns the pain? Who owns the budget? Who owns the risk? Then design your pilot and pitch to give each of them something they want.

Healthcare Time ≠ Startup Time

The average founder wants a pilot launched in 60 days.

The average health system needs 9 to 12 months.

(And that’s if they like you.)

Why? Your tool triggers:

• Procurement

• Risk review

• Security and privacy audits

• Integration architecture

• Clinician onboarding

• Budget planning

And it’s all inside systems built to move slowly — because moving fast breaks patients.

Builder’s Move: Own the timeline. Show up with a 12-month roadmap and say, “We’ve built in the gates.” Health systems don’t mind the pace — they mind surprises.

No One Buys AI. They Buy Outcomes.

Sid Bhattacharya of PwC put it plainly: “Nobody cares about your tech. They care about the business problem.”

You’re not selling AI-enabled this or LLM-powered that. You’re selling:

• Reduced readmissions

• Shorter LOS

• Fewer logins

• More throughput

• Better coding

• Lower churn

Builder’s Move: Strip the AI from your slide deck. If your product can’t sell without it, it won’t sell with it either.

Your Pilot Isn’t a Test. It’s a Job Interview.

Yes, the system is evaluating your tech, but what they’re really watching is:

• Are you high-maintenance or low-lift?

• Can your team navigate ambiguity?

• Will you vanish when the demo ends?

• Are you building a company or just a deck?

“Don’t ghost after the pilot,” said Jessica Locke of Permanente Medicine Mid-Atlantic States. “We’re watching for follow-through the whole way.”

Builder’s Move: Treat the pilot like onboarding, not evaluation. Set expectations, track milestones, and make your stakeholder the hero. Then close with a plan for what’s next.

Innovation Doesn’t Win. Workflow Does.

No matter how smart your solution is, if it disrupts the wrong workflow, it’s dead.

Clinicians are burned out. Admins are underwater. Nobody is shopping for extra steps.

Your tool has to slot in… That means with fewer clicks, less context-switching, and a clear plan for who owns what when something goes wrong.

Builder’s Move: Shadow your end user. Don’t just map the workflow. Feel it. If your product adds friction anywhere, solve for that before you pitch.

Final Word: This Isn’t a Pitch. It’s a Campaign.

You’re not just selling a product. But rather,  you’re selling a cultural shift inside an institution that’s allergic to risk, allergic to disruption, and allergic to vendors who don’t understand the world they’re entering.

That’s why the best founders in healthcare don’t just pitch.

They campaign.

They find champions. Map veto points. Show ROI. Navigate politics. Build for integration. And follow through… long after the pilot’s over.

That’s how you go from pitch deck to platform. That’s how you stay in. And that’s how you win.

If you’re building in healthcare, Techstars Healthcare is built for you. Let’s talk.

* 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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