SeamlessMD Podcast - Episode 25 - How to Raise Series A Funding for a Health Tech Startup

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Video:

In this episode of the SeamlessMD Podcast, Dr. Joshua Liu, Co-founder & CEO of SeamlessMD shares how to raise Series A funding for a health-tech startup using SeamlessMD as an example. See the full show notes below for details.

Guest(s): Dr. Joshua Liu (@joshuapliu), Co-founder & CEO at SeamlessMD

Episode 25 – Show notes:

[0:50] Why healthcaretechnology is different than other software regarding investor expectations forclinical evidence, study design reliability & validity, and integrations;

[4:47] Dr. Liu explains the semantics of a Series-A and how the priorities for a company at Series A stage includes growing the sales & marketing team following a proven, repeatable sales process and further developing product;

[7:51] Why integrationsare more complicated in healthcare technology compared to other technologiesdue to single-platform Electronic Health Record (EHR) companies that aresimilar to operating systems for the hospital and are highly selective overintegrations;

[10:38] HowSeamlessMD hit important milestones prior to raising Series-A funding,including:

• 15+ clinical studies by academic hospitals with good results in improving patient outcomes such as length of stay, readmissions, ER visits, costs;

• Demonstrated strong business model & post-pilot revenue expansion;

• Validated EHR integrations with companies such as Epic & Cerner;

[13:44] HowDr. Liu leverages Series-A funds to meet the increased demand for digitalpatient engagement in the market, by specifically growing product leadershipthrough deeper integrations and an expanding library of use cases and healthsystem partners;

[16:37] Whyit is important to choose strategic investment partners, such as investorswhose motivations are aligned with the values of the company and who canprovide moral support;

[24:25] Dr.Liu recounts a memorable piece of advice on customer-centricity he receivedfrom an investor; “listen to customers first, followed by domain experts, theninvestors”, implying that investors are fantastic for leveraging pastexperience, but are removed from the business and therefore can sometimes lack specificcontext;

[26:50] HowSeamlessMD investors share common traits including:

1) They care a lot about the mission impact ofthe company;

2) They are long-term thinkers and understand the myriad barriers facing healthcare technology companies; and

3) They have patience;

[28:35] HowDr. Liu found strong investors and venture capital firms via well-developedrelationships overtime;

[32:29] How investing is a numbers game that requires resilience, and why it is important to maintain long-term relationships with long-term players;