Bringing a new medical technology or health tech innovation to market requires navigating countless complexities. From conception to commercialization, creating a transformative health tech solution demands expertise, perseverance, and strategic thinking. According to health tech veteran Dr. Jon Belsher, developing a minimum viable product (MVP) is one of the most critical steps for early-stage medtech and healthtech companies.
With over 30 years of experience across the healthcare landscape, Dr. Belsher has built a career on translating ideas into impactful health tech innovations. As the CEO and founder of Visura, he now helps emerging startups turn their visions into reality. When it comes to developing an MVP, he emphasizes focusing on solving one core problem, validating with real users early, and preparing for ongoing iteration.
Focus on One Specific Problem
“In the early stages of development, it’s critical to keep one fundamental thing in mind,” says Dr. Belsher, “You don’t need to create the perfect product, you need to create the right product for right now.”
In the medtech and healthtech sectors, it’s tempting to pack an abundance of features into an MVP; however, Dr. Belsher stresses that the first version should hone in on a single, well-defined issue. “Whether you’re designing a device to improve patient outcomes or a platform to streamline healthcare operations, the first version of your product should clearly solve one key problem you’re targeting,” he explains.
This focused approach allows startups to gather robust feedback from early users and make important refinements. For Dr. Belsher, it also lays the all-important foundation. “This creates the ground floor for your device or solution, a critically important step,” he states.
Validate Early with Real Users
Once the foundation is built, Dr. Belsher emphasizes that testing in real-world conditions is paramount. “The success of your MVP depends on how well it performs in real settings. You need to engage with your target audience as early as possible,” he advises.
Who the target audience consists of depends on the specifics of the solution. It could be healthcare providers, hospital systems, patients, or a combination. Regardless, leveraging their first-hand insights is crucial.
“Use their feedback to validate your assumptions about the product and ensure it’s addressing the intended problem or pain point effectively and efficiently,” says Dr. Belsher. Testing may reveal the MVP is successfully hitting the mark, or that pivots are required. Being receptive to either outcome is key.
User testing encompasses more than just functionality in medtech and healthtech. According to Dr. Belsher, evaluating usability, regulatory compliance, and workflow integration are also crucial at the MVP stage. “Validating early and thoroughly helps you avoid costly mistakes down the road and sets a foundation for successful iterations of your solution or device,” he states.
Prepare for Multiple Iterations
While some startups may hope their MVP becomes a market-ready product, Dr. Belsher stresses this is rarely the case. “An MVP isn’t the final product, it’s only the starting point,” he says, “As you collect feedback and evaluate results, you need to be receptive to making changes.”
In fact, Dr. Belsher views openness to ongoing refinement as a fundamental mindset for health tech startups. “Expect to make changes, if no changes are readily apparent, I advise you to dig deeper,” he comments. With healthcare’s ever-evolving landscape, today’s great product or solution may require major or minor tweaks tomorrow.
Dr. Belsher sees the willingness to iterate on solutions as enabling early stage companies to keep up with the pace of users’ needs and demands. At the same time, it enables alignment with perpetually evolving regulatory and healthcare system requirements. “This discipline is especially important in healthcare where regulations, market demands, and end-user needs evolve quickly and regularly,” he observes.
Dr. Belsher also reminds startups that they don’t have to navigate the complexities of building an MVP alone. “If you’re navigating the MVP stage and would like guidance, don’t hesitate to reach out,” he urges. With decades of experience translating ideas into transformative health technologies, Dr. Belsher is poised to help emerging startups turn their vision into an MVP poised to have a meaningful impact.
To learn more about Dr. Jon Belsher, please visit Visura.
