Every year, thousands of health tech startups launch with glossy pitches about revolutionsing healthcare.
But few stay the course and make the long-term impact that investors and the healthcare system demand.
We reached out to Health Tech World and Femtech World members who’ve watched the innovation cycle from every angle with the following question:
What’s a hard truth about health innovation that most startups don’t want to hear?
Here’s what they had to say.
Ruby Raut, CEO and founder, WUKA
One hard truth in health innovation is that a great product alone isn’t enough. If it doesn’t change behaviour or fit into real lives shaped by culture, education, and access, it won’t scale.
In women’s health, especially innovation means doing the slower work of building trust, education and confidence alongside the product. That’s where real impact happens.
Michael Young, co-CEO, Lindus Health
Hard truth: “Move fast and break things” doesn’t work in healthcare.
Tech startups celebrate risk-taking and rapid iteration. But clinical medicine has risk aversion for a reason: there’s no “undo” button when human health is on the line.
A bug in your app is a bug. A bug in a clinical trial can harm patients or invalidate years of work.
The startups that succeed in health aren’t the ones that move fastest.
They’re the ones that understand why the rules exist, then find ways to move efficiently within those constraints.
Regulation isn’t the obstacle; ignoring it is.
Rhiannon White, CEO, Clue
It’s not Product-Market fit that will determine whether your innovation makes it. It’s Distribution.
Product-Market fit is not that hard. Distribution is where great ideas fail, every week, every month.
If you’re not thinking about distribution from day one, you’re in trouble.
Daniela Schardinger, CEO and founder, ELAFY Consulting
Startups are rarely built to commercialise — at least not early on. I’ve learned that launching too soon can do more damage than waiting.
The moment you’re seen as “commercial,” the market, regulators and investors hold you to standards designed for global players, regardless of your team size or budget.
I’ve watched strong products struggle simply because the infrastructure around them wasn’t ready yet.
In health, selling isn’t a test of interest; it’s a promise of support, safety and accountability. Not every great innovation should rush to prove itself with revenue.
Juan A. Jiménez, founder and CEO, FindDBest IVF
Innovation alone is not enough.
In health tech – especially IVF and women’s health – clinical relevance, regulatory readiness, and economic viability matter more than novelty.
Many startups underestimate how long it takes to generate credible evidence, integrate into real clinical workflows, and meet regulatory and reimbursement requirements across markets.
If a product doesn’t clearly reduce costs, improve outcomes, or simplify operations for providers, adoption will stall. Sustainable impact comes from solving real problems at scale, not from being technically impressive in isolation.
Morven Shearlaw, director, Fearsome
Health startups often mistake validation for adoption. A pilot, a paper, or clinician enthusiasm doesn’t mean your product will survive.
If your solution adds friction, costs time, or lacks a clear reimbursement path, it will be ignored.
The real innovation challenge isn’t technology, it’s convincing a risk-averse system to tolerate change.
Vee Mapunde, co-director, NIHR Research Centre in Accelerated Surgical Care
What problem does your target market want solving?
In our space, we work with a lot of start-ups and SMEs that clearly have innovative solutions, but these are solutions for problems that do not exist.
It is important to understand the clinical pathways and where your technology fits in. It is also important to demonstrate the cost-benefit and cost-effectiveness of your innovation, not just the unit costs.
This is crucial to securing investment and funding, as you need to demonstrate you have a market that is ready to implement and adopt your innovation.
Henry Gallagher, managing director, G2 Speech
After 30 years in healthcare speech recognition, we understand what truly matters to healthcare professionals. Your technology is rarely the barrier to adoption.
It’s the fact you’ve underestimated the complexity of clinical workflows, the size of healthcare organisations and overestimated how much disruption clinicians will tolerate – no matter how “innovative” your solution is.
If it adds friction to their day, it won’t stick. Full stop.
Eric Mayes, general manager for breast surgery, Hologic
The simple truth is that meaningful health innovation always takes longer than you think.
At Endomag we’ve learned that you can set ambitious regulatory, product development and production schedules, but sometimes these are dictated by forces outside your control.
What you can control is how you respond. Stay patient, continue to invest in long-term quality improvements and clinical evidence, and don’t try to solve big problems in silos.
The biggest breakthroughs often come from cross‑functional collaboration and an open mindset towards continuous iteration and improvement.
Laura Stepney, senior strategy director, Koto
We can all relate, particularly in January, to the hope and intentions we set when signing up to a new health something or other.
Whether it’s tracking your emotions, steps, sleep or diet, who doesn’t want to be a healthier, more rested version of themselves?
But the hard truth about health innovation is that even with decent technology, it rarely changes behaviour. That’s because our health is an investment in our future.
With little to no immediate payoff, motivation fades and “maybe tomorrow” creeps back in.
To change this trajectory, health innovation must pair decent tech with a compelling brand. Brands change minds, and minds change behaviour.
How? Be clear on the sacrifice you’re asking people to make, offset this with language of progress (not wellness tropes), and show up in everyday life and the systems people already trust.
Because if it doesn’t change behaviour it isn’t innovation, it’s just another health something or other forgotten by February.
Laura Boyd, co-founder, Into-Action.Health
The hard truth most health startups don’t want to hear is this: people can absolutely love your innovation and still be unable to deliver it. We see it every day.
You get enthusiastic feedback, then everyone goes back to the ward or desk and reality hits – someone thinks they can build it ‘for free’, there’s no clear purchasing route, multiple governance boards are overloaded, or the need simply isn’t recognised because the current standard of care is seen as ‘good enough’.
In the NHS, it must be remembered that evidence, engagement and clinical governance aren’t optional extras, they’re the work.
Erik Jivmar, CEO, Sleep Cycle
It’s easy to focus on technology, but the real challenge is building trust and proving value.
Innovation in health takes time. It’s not just about developing an app or a tool, but navigating complex industry requirements and embedding privacy by design when working with sensitive data.
At Sleep Cycle, we’ve learned that lasting impact requires patience and persistence, along with a deep respect for how personal health information is collected and used.
Start by solving a real human problem and be prepared for the long road ahead. When you succeed, the rewards for both individuals and society are truly profound.
Annie Theriault, managing partner, Cross-Border Impact Ventures
Fundraising in women’s health is a marathon, not a sprint.
Even with evidence-based technology, an amazing team, real traction, and a problem that clearly matters, raising capital in this sector typically takes over a year, and you should expect to speak with more than 250 potential investors before finding the right partners.
It’s exhausting, humbling, and sometimes deeply frustrating. But if you’re building something that truly moves the needle for women’s health, staying the course is not just worth it—it’s essential.
