ACV33: How The Healthtech Startup Ecosystem Has Changed Post COVID-19

I speak to Buzz Palmer, Dario Heymann and Audrey Lok about how COVID-19 has reshaped the playing field for healthtech and medtech startups. We discuss interesting opportunities and ideas for founders to explore.

BIOS
Buzz Palmer (CEO, Medtech Actuator)
Buzz Palmer is one of Australia’s leading and most visible voices in entrepreneurship and MedTech innovation. Buzz is the co-founder and CEO of the MedTech Actuator, founding partner in Dialectica Group, co-founder of HealthTech Angels. Buzz is both a serial entrepreneur and a Professor of Entrepreneurship at Monash University. As a passionate technologist, Buzz enjoys mentoring startups execute on their strategy and commercialisation journey.

Dario Heymann (Chief Research Officer, Galen Growth)
Dario leads the building and venture analytics of HealthTech Alpha; the most compelling database and analytics platform dedicated to HealthTech ventures. He also leads research engagements and leadership alignments with clients, such as Pharmaco, insurance companies, investors and tech companies. Dario is responsible for the overall research and market intelligence of the HealthTech ecosystem in Asia and has worked in drug discovery mainly for the development of novel drugs in oncology, both in pharma and academia in Singapore, China and Germany.

Audrey Lok (Director of Healthcare and Biomedical at Enterprise Singapore)
Audrey looks at the development of the biomedical ecosystem and focuses on helping local startups and enterprises. Prior to this, she was the head of strategic planning at Spring Singapore and the Assistant Director at the Ministry of Trade and Industry.

3 THINGS I LEARNED

1. Every pandemic comes with a good dose of opportunities. Every startup should always be on the lookout for the opportunities that can favor them during an epidemic. For instance, COVID came with a lot of opportunities for teleconsultation. Some companies are currently thriving because of the pandemic, while others have run out of business. 
   
   
2. If you want to succeed as a startup, you have to go the extra mile. You have to stand out from the rest of the crowd and show the investors or partners why they have to fund or partner with you. We have seen people come up with solutions that are already in existence. The question you should always ask yourself is, “how does my solution stand out from the rest?”
   
   
3. Teleconsultation is a technology rather than a business. It’s not just enough to say you’re “providing teleconsultation” - what are you pairing it with? How are you leveraging it to help clinicians or patients in an innovative way? How do you build an ecosystem around it?