By: Joshua Finley
The COVID-19 pandemic put the brakes on venture capital investment in healthcare startups. However, the aura of gloom and doom is lifting, albeit slowly.
VC investment in healthcare IT startups during Q1 2024 was up 3% from a year ago, potentially signaling an upward trend. While this is positive for innovation, startups still face significant challenges in presenting their business case to VCs and financial institutions. Strategic thinking, a strong business plan, and experienced leadership are essential to unlock requisite funding.
Series A startup companies and those in the pre-startup and startup phases of their journey toward acquisition or market debut increasingly turn to experienced advisors like Dr. Jon Belsher to help them sharpen their product or service offering in anticipation of funding.
The Importance of Financial Growth
Healthcare technology startup CEOs and founders are increasingly leveraging the skill sets and experience of advisors, like Dr. Belsher, who have a long track record of success in the highly complex healthcare industry. Belsher, who has advised healthcare multinational C-Suite executives on strategy and has provided actionable guidance to startups on their journey to successful acquisition or market debut, believes that identifying a potential advisor is complex yet critical.
According to Belsher, deep experience and a clear track record of success across multiple companies are prerequisites when selecting a party that will provide a competitive advantage and superior return on investment.
“Experience counts. Given the many moving parts of the startup environment, a party with strong knowledge of the various factors required to be successful is essential. This isn’t a time to rely on a party early in their career or just out of business school. Too much is at stake.”
Belsher cites a few examples of the challenges that must be overcome for a healthcare technology startup to flourish.
“Healthtech startups need to move quickly. Time is of the essence, both in terms of first-to-market and cash burn. Startups must evolve with the speed of technology, and that can be a real challenge when you simultaneously have to pay attention to things such as regulatory compliance, product and service differentiation, the impact of AI, and patient privacy and data security. Add in the pressure of increasingly demanding funders, and the need for experienced counsel by your side becomes paramount.”
The Evolution of a Leader
Jon Belsher is no stranger to leadership roles and the importance of consensus building.
Now based in Arizona, where he spent his formative years, Dr. Belsher faced challenges early in his life.
Dr. Belsher’s academic career was launched at Amherst College in Massachusetts, where he began liberal arts studies shortly after graduating from high school. However, after the untimely death of his father, a widely respected physician, from lung cancer, he returned to Arizona to be closer to his family and support his three younger brothers, the youngest of whom was only eight years old.
“The experience taught me the value of focus and family, and it only further underscored something that my father taught me at an early age, namely people are important, and a dedication to service yields immense rewards if not satisfaction.”
Service has been a recurring theme throughout Jon Belsher’s life, and that service included a foray into politics early on. Upon the death of his father, close colleagues advised him to steer clear of the rapidly changing healthcare industry, much to his surprise. New regulations, insurance requirements, and changing standards meant increased financial pressure and scrutiny on physicians, a far cry from the heydays of the 1970s and 80s.
Jon pivoted in response and pursued a degree in political science at the University of Arizona. While pursuing his degree, he interned for a United States Senator.
As a post-grad, Jon headed to Washington, D.C., to serve as a White House advance representative traveling the world on behalf of President George H.W. Bush’s administration. In Washington, he learned to listen carefully to all stakeholders, accord them the respect they were due, yet never shy away from engaging individuals regardless of their place or stature in the government’s hierarchy.
With a new administration ultimately, Jon revisited the idea of heading into a healthcare industry undergoing radical change. He saw limitless possibilities in rebuilding and designing a beleaguered and dated industry.
Accordingly, while many of his peers headed to prestigious law schools nationwide, Belsher had other ideas.
A Focus on Healthcare
Upon departing Washington, D.C., Jon Belsher enrolled at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School, earned his Doctor of Medicine, and completed both a residency at the Mayo Clinic in Scottsdale, AZ, and a fellowship at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN.
It was during part of this period that Dr. Belsher admirably served for 13 years as a flight surgeon and Chief of Aerospace Medicine for the Arizona Air National Guard’s 162nd Fighter Wing — a small token of his appreciation to a country that had given him so much.
On the civilian side, Dr. Belsher served in various roles, including Staff Intensivist and Assistant Professor at Scott & White Healthcare, Director of Medical Operations at WhiteGlove Health, and Chief Medical Officer at Extensor Health, a telemedicine company.
Lessons Learned
Today, Dr. Jon Belsher advises healthcare technology startups from conception to exit, providing valuable guidance and insights as they navigate a particularly opaque and complex vertical. He thrives in the startup environment, employing his experience and well-honed skills to drive innovation and success.
“Large organizations remind me of cruise ships — they take time to change direction,” Belsher says. “In fast-moving areas like healthcare technology, that delay to expeditiously adopt can be costly if not fatal. Startups, if steered well, are nimble and can adapt quickly to changing market conditions and requirements.”
He adds, “The last thing you want to hear when facing a required change is, ‘But this is the way we’ve always done it.’ Startups must stay on top of market forces, react swiftly, and leverage their teams’ strengths and skills.”
Belsher emphasizes that startups can lack, or worse, overlook, the requisite time and expertise to ensure success in market entry, scale, and exit, whether sale or IPO. To succeed, it’s imperative to moderate costs, optimize technology, and prepare to make a strong clinical and business case for adoption of said product or service.
Opportunity Knocks
In 2021, before the disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic were fully realized, healthcare spending accounted for 18.3% of the US Gross Domestic Product, reaching $4.3 trillion in 2021. This is a market that continues to grow due to technological innovation, an aging population, and an increasing prevalence of chronic disease. The good news? It is fertile ground for healthcare technology startups — if they leverage the expertise of an experienced advisor who has been there and done it.
With decades of experience advising CEOs and leaders in multinational companies, Belsher now consults with healthcare technology startups, helping them efficiently, effectively, and successfully position their products and services in today’s rapidly evolving healthcare industry.
To learn more, visit Dr. Jon Belsher’s LinkedIn page or website.
Published by: Martin De Juan
