There are a few reasons why former tech execs have been attracted to business opportunities within the healthcare community. What is most interesting is that the reasons are more personal in nature than related to making money. Here’s what appears to be bringing them on board:
1 – An Ailing Family Member
Oddly enough, the most common reason why the movers and shakers in the tech sector have turned to health as an outlet is because of family. Only it’s not because a family member has suggested investing in one of many healthcare business opportunities. In the case of former Google, eBay and PayPal executive Stephanie Tilenius, it was her father. He had developed several chronic conditions and bounced from doctor to doctor looking for solutions. She recognized a need for better communication between healthcare workers through technology and left the tech sector. She founded a startup that gave chronic ailment patients continuous virtual care.
2 – Impacting Families
Let’s face it, healthcare is not cheap. However, when members of the high tech sector step into the world of disease and tackle how to detect them early, things change. That’s what got former Twitter exec Katie Jacobs Stanton interested in healthcare business opportunities. She started as an investor of a biotech startup that provides affordable genetic testing for cancers that are considered to be hereditary in nature such as pancreatic, colon and breast cancer. She played a role in reducing the testing fees from $249 to $50 all because of the desire to provide a service that could benefit many and cash-strapped families in particular.
3 – Proactive and Preventative Potential
Thanks to the ongoing influx of tech execs in the medical field, many healthcare business opportunities have developed. In fact, they are developing as fast as the multiple number of new apps that have come about for use by the general public (heart rate monitors, calorie counters, blood pressure monitors) to new and improved computer tools. All of which have enabled better, faster and more reliable communication, information sharing and documentation of patient information and data. This flow of information has better equipped doctors, medical centers and beyond in treating those in need of healthcare attention.
4 – For the Long Term
One more magnet attracting the top level tech people to healthcare is the desire to use their knowledge and skills to not just make an improvement, but to make a long term impact. Former Zillow exec David Vivero did that with his startup. The premise behind it is to give patients the information they need to make informed decisions about who they will see for treatment. This is done by giving patients more data on pricing and physician quality through improved transparency to patients.
So, Why Invest In Healthcare Business Opportunities?
The technology executives who have invested in healthcare business opportunities did so because they see profitability in the sector. However, for the most part, in order for these ventures to succeed the main motivation is to see healthcare improved as costs are reduced rather than trying to reap huge profits in an otherwise slow moving industry.