While technology has helped progress many industries, the medical and healthcare industries may be the most important. From tracking health to accessing medical help quicker, a variety of new healthcare apps have entered the market over the last two decades. As a result, the amount of investment going into these types of apps have attracted hundreds of millions of dollars in investment. However, before an entrepreneur can raise investment, they need to first create a strong medical app business plan.

Although healthcare app business plans are very similar to other types of app business plans, there are many differences that you must be aware of when writing one. In this post, we will provide several tips for writing a strong business plan for a medical app startup. 

State of Healthcare and mHealth Startups

As of 2018, there were an estimated 318,000 health apps on the market with over 200 new apps being added each day. This was double the number of health apps that existed in 2015.

With a total projected value of over $28.3 billion and an expectation of reaching $102 billion by 2023; there’s no question why investors are so attracted innovation in this industry.

For startups, these investments are necessary. In a study of 2,400 mobile health stakeholders, the average cost of development for a mobile health app (from conception to launch) was around $425,000. There was a large portion of these startups though (36%), that spent less than $25,000 up until launch, and 12% spent over $500,000. In other words, for a startup to be successful in this space, some level of investor capital will be necessary.

However, with so many new startups entering the market, the competition for investment is fierce. Investors want to invest in highly innovative health tech startups that are solving real challenges and have the potential to affect millions of users. 

Types of Healthcare Apps

There are many different types of healthcare apps to provide a variety of solutions. In general, these apps fall into one of the following categories: 

  • Clinical & Administrative: These are applications used by healthcare staff to manage records, review charts, keep track of patients, and more.
  • Monitoring and Tracking: Software that monitors patients in real-time, such as heart monitoring, blood glucose monitoring and more.
  • Locators, Appointments & Reminders: Includes apps that allow patients to search for healthcare providers, set appointments, set reminders to take medicine, and more.
  • Lifestyle: Includes apps related to living a healthy lifestyle like fitness apps, nutrition, and food apps, and more.

3 Tips To Writing Your Medical App Business Plan

When writing a medical app business plan, there are several considerations that should be made. These considerations will help to ensure that your business plan stands out among the competition and makes the biggest impact among readers.

Team & Advisors

For any startup, investors want to see a strong team in place. This is even more important in the case of a medical or healthcare startup. With these apps, startups often put themselves in between the user and their health – whether it is offering advice or information, access to medical records, or medication reminders.

Investors know that there are many risks associated with medical software and technology. In many industries, risks can be assumed and mistakes can take place. This flexibility doesn’t exist when someone’s health is on the line.

Because of this, team experience is important. Founding members should have the experience necessary to bring the application to life. If the app is one that needs specialist medical knowledge, investors will probably want to see someone with this experience represented in your medical app business plan.

A strong advisory board can help you fill in the experience gaps of your team. When you write up your team bios in your plan, consider how investors will perceive your team’s experience. Will they see gaps or have reason to be concerned that you are not experienced enough? If so, correct these issues before writing up your plan. 

Acceptance By Medical Professionals

People trust medical professionals, but they don’t always trust brands. An app may say that a specific diet is best for individuals with diabetes, but unless that app is backed by someone trusted in the medical community, it won’t be deemed as credible.

Seek approval by medical influencers and professionals that can add credibility and validation to your concept. Showcase reviews from these individuals in your medical app business plan to better your chances of impressing an investor. 

Tell Your Startup Story

Healthcare apps often have incredible startup stories attached to them, and these stories can help connect with readers. Explain how the idea came about and what inspired you to start your business.

Imagine a remind app for caregivers of the elderly. On it’s own it doesn’t sound extremely exciting. However, when finding out that the founder’s mother had severe dementia and her family built and used the app to more effectively manage her daily medicine – the solution is given more personality.

What is your brand story? Figure out the story that strengthens and validates your brand and build your medical app business plan around it!

Putting Your Medical App Business Plan Together

Ready to put together an investor-ready healthcare app business plan? We’d love to help. At ThinkLions, our business plan writers have worked with dozens of mHealth companies, helping them raise money from investors around the world. Contact us today and speak with one of our business plan experts.