The story behind healthtech hunches

October 18, 2020

Healthtech hunches is now 280+ members and growing, and I wanted to share the background on how this all began and where we are going.  

Tl;dr: Digital health has the power to change the world and the space is booming.  There is a need for more talent, however, it can be difficult for new talent to enter the space.  healthtech hunches is a community helping top talent enter digital health.  We host fireside chats featuring experienced digital health professionals weekly, provide opportunities for 1:1s, and offer videos with advice on demand.  

How did this begin?

It started out when I worked at Verily.  In the early days, I was the only Duke alum at Verily and there was a lot of excitement and curiosity about the new Alphabet company focused on digital health.  My email was full of inquiries for career advice on getting into digital health, many of the questions were the same, and I was struggling to answer all of the calls.  I was very grateful for the opportunity I had, which made it even more important for me to help folks interested in a similar path.  

Solution: In April, I recorded videos of myself answering the common questions and posted them online.  I sent these to folks who reached out and took calls for the specific second order questions.  This enabled me to get back to everyone and better utilize the time on calls to discuss topics specific to that person.  

I started thinking … what if I could add others to this site, so if someone reached out to me, they could also benefit from the advice of my peers?  What if we could host webinars to enable access and engagement to professionals like myself?  I rallied my friends and colleagues and mapped out a website to support this content.  Minh Nguyen joined me over the summer to get the idea off the ground – we did market research, scoped the site, shot the videos, teed up webinars, and reached out to MBA program career centers and clubs.  Our initial goal was to feature 5 professionals in videos and webinars on the site – we ended the summer with 12.  

What did we learn?

healthtech hunches was originally conceived to enable me and my friends to give back in a more scalable way to our alumni networks.  As we tested different approaches to content delivery, we realized that the greatest value was in the small, highly engaged community that had formed.  This is exemplified by the engagement in the weekly “ask-me-anything” sessions that we have been hosting through the fall.   

Why is developing this community important?

Digital health has the power to change the world.  Healthcare is ripe for disruption.  With the technology available today, there is a huge opportunity to improve the quality and efficiency of care delivery, improve access to care, and make healthcare more patient centric – especially in light of the COVID epidemic.  These opportunities are global in nature and impact each and every one of us as consumers for our own health.   

Digital health is booming right now.  There is unprecedented funding going into the space, and a series of successful exits has fueled interest in this nascent field.  There is a need for top talent as companies grow and new opportunities emerge.  

It can be difficult to enter digital health.  Given that it is a relatively small space, many folks don’t have connections in digital health and don’t know where to find them – this is evidenced by the high volume of cold call emails myself and many of my peers within the space receive.  We are creating a bridge for top talent to enter the space through providing a more efficient forum for connection.

How are we doing this? 

We are hosting fireside chats with experienced professionals in digital health weekly, providing opportunities for 1:1s with these professionals, and posting videos with advice on demand.  We also launched a slack channel to build community amongst folks looking to enter digital health.  

Where is it going?

In short, it depends on the engagement and interests of the community.  The current plans focus on fostering community to provide opportunities to learn about and enter digital health.  

• Live engagement: 
  • Continue weekly ask me anything sessions → moving from webinars to “fireside chat” zoom meetings so it’s more interactive (we heard you!).  
  • Opportunities for 1:1s with professionals 
• On demand: 
  • Continue to host video content on our site.  We will be splicing up our webinar recordings into video snacks so they are easier to view.  
• Other ideas? Let us know! 

How should you engage?

• First and foremost:  Participate in the events, ask questions, connect with peers in the slack channel — take advantage of this amazing opportunity!
• Give back:  Like with any community, healthtech hunches will flourish if members give at least as much as they receive.
  • Volunteer: we need ambassadors at Universities and other forums.  Currently we have ambassadors at Duke (Minh & Christian), Stanford (Parul), UPenn Med (Jonathan), Michigan/Ross (Kasha), and Berkeley/Haas (Corrine).  Also, we have Brian focusing on product analytics to help us improve the site, and Naren working on ideas to engage working professionals interested in entering digital health.  We’d love to have ambassadors representing healthtech hunches at other universities and welcome other volunteer support.
  • Financial support: we need help from the community to support ongoing operations for webinar series. We have set up a Ko-fi site – we hope that folks who have benefitted from the site will support us!
  • Last and not least … feedback!  Let us know what you like or don’t like – email me directly at healthtechhunches@gmail.com.  It is the feedback that helps us shape a great experience.  

Thank you for being part of our journey. I hope to hear from you!

Carolyn