From Pitch to Practice: Go-to-Market Strategy for Digital Health Startups
In the end, GTM strategy in healthcare isn’t just about getting your product to market
Over the past few years, I’ve had the privilege of working with dozens of healthcare startups and scale ups—ranging from pre-seed AI platforms to growth-stage digital therapeutics. One consistent truth? A great product is only part of the equation. To truly drive change in healthcare or any industry, you need a go-to-market (GTM) strategy that reflects how the system actually works—across incentives, workflows, and human behavior. As one of my closest contemporaries puts it – modern GTM strategies have turned into a high-end art and science– a scarce skill to get it right, win, and grow.
As one of my closest contemporaries puts it – modern GTM strategies have turned into a high-end art and science– a scarce skill to get it right, win, and grow.
That message resonates more than ever—especially in innovation hubs like Nashville, where events such as Entrepreneur Day at GEODIS Park highlight just how much talent and energy is fueling healthcare’s next wave. These founders bring bold, thoughtful solutions to market, and what many are seeking is a clearer path to adoption—one that bridges the gap between product potential and real-world implementation. In healthcare, go-to-market success isn't just about a solid sales strategy; it’s about aligning the product with the needs of the system, the decision-makers, and the behaviors of those who ultimately use it. Multi-layered, multi-faceted, and unfortunately complex.
Why Digital Health GTM Is Different
Healthcare is a complex, multi-layered system. Unlike other industries, it’s not always clear who the customer is—because the user, buyer, and influencer are rarely the same person. And even when the value is evident, factors like reimbursement, workflow fit, EHR hurdles, and integration timelines can stall even the most innovative solutions.
That’s why a thoughtful GTM plan for digital health must go deeper than feature sets or marketing funnels. It should ask:
Who benefits first—and who benefits most?
What incentives (clinical, operational, financial) drive each stakeholder?
What behaviors must change for the product to succeed–organizational, consumer, and clinician?
Answering these questions early builds alignment between product development, sales, and real-world adoption—especially for tools that aim to reduce cost, support care teams, or engage hard-to-reach populations to modify their behaviors with products, services, and devices.
Where Behavioral Science Differentiates
This is where I spend most of my time with clients—at the intersection of human behavior, clinical impact, organizational adoption, and system design. Far too often, we see promising tools stall out after initial rollout. The reason? They ask too much of the users—or ask it in the wrong way.
My approach draws from behavioral economics, systems psychology, and real-world implementation research to help founders answer questions like:
What decision does the user need to make, and when?
What context (emotion, urgency, setting) shapes that decision?
How can we reduce friction and reinforce action—without relying on the implicit and erroneous motivation alone?
It’s not just about engagement for engagement’s sake. It’s about aligning the micro-moments of behavior with the macro-goals of care delivery and outcomes–adoption, use frequency, and activation.
When we build GTM strategies with behavior in mind—whether it’s how a care manager introduces the tool, how a user is nudged to re-engage, or how value is shown to a health plan executive—we dramatically improve the odds of success.
In the end, GTM strategy in healthcare isn’t just about getting your product to market.
It’s about designing for adoption and human elements—at every level of the system.
