Networking For Business Development In Healthcare

I started in healthcare with zero network. And when I say zero I mean I literally signed up for an informational pizza night healthcare session at my school just so I could get the email address of the person organizing it 🤣. There's many in the same situation. Looking back, here's a few things that helped me that are worth stealing (probably in any industry): 1. Attend events where your industry is a small part of the agenda. It's easy to blend into the crowd in a mega-event, I'd start off small. I attended the health care portion of SXSW 10 years ago when it was held in a small hotel conference room on a random 5th floor. The speakers were incredible, and the line to meet them wasn't three miles long. The other people in the room assumed since I also made it to the random 5th floor of an event that's primarily for everyone non-healthcare, I was also worth talking to. That was a start. 2. Master one thing (first). I quickly gravitated towards Consumer Experience - the Affordable Care Act was new and meant insurers were transitioning from majority group business to serving more individuals, a "new" area for most of them. I became an expert in what that meant, and the tools/tech needed to improve experiences. This made it "easy" (easier!) to reach out to others dealing with similar challenges or looking at similar technology. I've seen this play out with friends in Emergency Medicine, Nutrition, Radiology, Policy, any sort of "first thing". 3. Be the host. I'm convinced a lot of good friends are "good friends". Meaning, there's a level of effort it takes to create deep relationships, and it's okay to make that one-sided for a while! If you aren't able to attend events, and aren't a master at one thing (yet), there's power in consistency of offer. Maybe it's an "every Tuesday talk show" (wait, that one is taken haha) but it could be as simple as "I'm going to block my calendar every 12:00pm on Wednesdays and invite someone to lunch virtually" - someone might not show up to the first 16 Wednesdays but on the 17th someone will and it could be all the difference. What's something you'd add to build a network for those who need one right now?

Meaningful partnerships are important to me. Lately, a significant portion of my work has involved connecting professionals in the healthcare innovation sector. My trip to Dallas last week started with organic introductions I made in 2024. Some may view making business introductions as a simple and quick process. The process takes time, and time has a cost. In healthcare, innovation doesn’t thrive in isolation; it takes the right connections to move ideas forward. But real impact happens when we prioritize relational partnerships over transactional exchanges. It’s about building trust, fostering mutual respect, and creating opportunities that solve real problems. Here are my thoughts on how to make meaningful introductions: ✅ Lead with Value, Not Ego. Don’t focus on what’s in it for you. Prioritize how both sides benefit from the introduction. Relationships built on genuine value last longer and go further. ✅ Know the Gaps Before You Fill Them. Understand the pain points of both parties. High-impact connections happen when you address a critical need or opportunity. ✅ Vet Ruthlessly, Introduce Thoughtfully. Not every connection is worth making. Be selective and introduce only when there’s a clear alignment of values, goals, and capabilities. Protect the integrity of your network. ✅ Do Your Homework. Before making an introduction, ensure you have a thorough understanding of both parties to effectively explain why the connection is significant. ✅ Frame the Introduction with Context. Set the stage. Provide both parties with sufficient background information to understand the relevance and potential of the relationship. Clarity upfront fosters respect and avoids wasted time. ✅ Stay in the Loop (But Don’t Hover). Follow up to see if the introduction was valuable, but don’t micromanage the outcome. Relationships that thrive are built on trust, not control. ✅ Be a Problem Solver, Not Just a Connector. Your role doesn’t end with the introduction. Be available to offer insights or guidance if needed as the relationship develops. ✅ Protect Your Network’s Trust. Introduce only when it makes sense. One mismatched connection can erode trust and weaken your credibility. Guard your network’s reputation as carefully as your own. ✅ Build for the Long Game. Relational partnerships aren’t built overnight. Consistently show up, add value, and nurture trust over time. Sustainable impact comes from authentic, long-term connections. ✅ Celebrate the Wins. When a connection you made leads to something great, acknowledge it. Recognize the impact and reinforce the power of trusted relationships. Relational partnerships move healthcare forward. When trust and respect are the foundation, introductions become catalysts for real change. If you’re serious about advancing innovation, be intentional with your connections. It’s not about quantity. It’s about quality, trust, and lasting impact. 🔥 #healthcareonlinkedin #partnerships #innovation #sme

Over the last 60 days I have had a few dozen conversations with leaders at both early and late stage healthcare companies, ranging from seed stage to venture to PE-backed. A number of them are trying to solve similar problems in 5 key areas (see below) In order to have a more scalable way to discuss these issues I have created a LinkedIn group called “Building and Scaling Healthcare Startups”. https://lnkd.in/gE82zAXN. This community is intended for relevant healthcare leaders - Founders, CEOs, COOs, CROs / VPs of sales, CMOs, Ops leaders and their teams - to connect with peers and get practical guidance, and possible connections to the right folks on issues like: 1. Product (and Implementation) Market Fit: - How / when do we know if we have Product (and implementation) market fit? - How do we organize PM / Engg / Data Science and Client Services to work best together? - ROI / Defensibility of the Business Case: How do health systems look at ROI? -How do we build and present a defensible business case? - Can we “outsource” change management? - The “Epic will do this” question. 2. GTM investment and Operations: - How do we transition from founder-led sales to more scalable sales? - What is the role of marketing? - How do we price our solutions? - What tools / GTM tech stack works best. - How do we create the right org “molecules” - prod mktg / demand gen / content/ PR; SME / BDR / AE. - How we onboard and train team members for all the above. 3. Culture: - How do we establish the cultural norms and tenets important to us? How do we hire for them? - Build accountability and ownership? Find “owners” vs. “zoo fed lions” 4. Operations: - How do we organize ourselves overall? - How do we execute on key processes needed to scale e.g new feature / product launch, quote to cash etc. 5. How can get intros to the right investors, health systems etc. Building companies is hard and often lonely. So as we all try and solve the same sets of issues in various contexts, perhaps a community might help. In the short term, if we can identify common topics we can schedule live sessions and other potential virtual / in person meetups on. If there is interest we could extend the group to include investors and health systems as well. As a starting point I have sketched out the framework below as a directional set of topics to discuss over time. Please let me know your interest by requesting to join here: https://lnkd.in/gE82zAXN