What are “Customer Immersions”?
Integrating Startups into the Healthcare Value Chain
The Dreamit Health program is vastly different from other healthcare-focused accelerators because of its singular focus on business development for startups. The cornerstone of this effort is the customer immersion program, when startups in our accelerator meet, pitch, and partner with large enterprise health organizations.
Over 60% of our healthcare startups will graduate from Dreamit with a new partner or discussions set in motion to engage in pilot programs. The success rate for Dreamit hinges both on the quality of startups coming through the program and the innovative partners that Dreamit works with.
Todd Dunn, director of innovation at Intermountain, is one leader in healthcare committed not just to the idea of innovation, but to making things happen. (read his full views on innovation here). He established an Innovation Process Model based on 4 pillars: a theory, a mindset, a toolset for vetting ideas, and a skillset. Before meeting key players like Dunn, the Dreamit team preps startups in the pillars of this model to ensure they make the most of their time.
Who makes up the Dreamit customer network?
Our customer network is evolving constantly, but the following are some of our current and past healthcare customer partners.
- Some of the top academic medical institutions in the world, including Penn Medicine and Jefferson Health and Mount Sinai.
- Hospital management companies like UHS (24 inpatient acute care hospitals, 3 free-standing emergency departments and 213 inpatient and 16 outpatient behavioral health care facilities) and Intermountain Healthcare (22 hospitals and a managed care arm.
- Individual hospitals committed to adopting innovative technology, like Jackson Health System, U Health Miami, Baptist Health South Florida, and .
- Payers like Oscar and IBX.
- Companies operating in healthcare such as Accenture, Digitas Life Brands, Janssen, Zimmer Biomet, and AARP.
The Results
- Three Dreamit startups (TowerView Health, Wellth, and Yosi) are currently validating their products with Penn Medicine.
- Tissue Analytics is working with Intermountain Healthcare.
- One startup in the long term care space gained 3 nursing home chain partners.
- A cutting edge diagnostic company is working with several brand teams at a major pharmaceutical company to develop promotion and distribution channels.
- Customer immersion insights led to the opening of a completely new market segment for a medication safety startup.
- Insights from customer immersions enabled a medical device startup to refine its value proposition and secure two large-scale European customers for pilots.
