3 Questions You Must Be Able to Answer at the JP Morgan Healthcare Conference

The JP Morgan Healthcare Conference is a prime place for medical device executives to connect with investors. But those meetings can fall short if medtech leaders can’t prove that their product will win in the market.

The 40th Annual JP Morgan Healthcare Conference is scheduled to take place in San Francisco from January 10th to 13th, 2022. Despite being relegated to the virtual world like so many events in 2020 and 2021, many in the medtech world have expressed their intention to attend in person. It appears that 2022 will be the year of face-to-face meetings, at least for this iconic conference. 

While there still is some uncertainty, many in the medical device ecosystem are eager to get away from Zoom and meet one another in real life. The truth is that the JP Morgan Healthcare Conference is much larger than its speakers, receptions, dinners, and meetings. A large swath of healthcare and medtech professionals fly to San Francisco with no intention of attending events that are run or sponsored by the conference. They are there to do some of the most important business of the year, and for many medical device companies, that is to engage with and impress investors.

Recently, in advance of the conference, we heard a high-profile investor panel remind us that, when evaluating a startup, the most important thing to them is evidence that the product will win in the market. They expressed frustration in the fact that, when pressed, many medical device CEOs could not answer basic due diligence questions that are a prerequisite for investor support.

Key Questions MedTech CEOs Should Have an Answer To

Assuming that you’ve used your funds raised to-date to prove that your technology works, you are likely securing your next round of funding to focus on market commercialization and scale. If you are attending the JP Morgan Healthcare Conference in the hopes of raising capital, the last thing you want is to miss fundraising opportunities because you didn’t assure investors that your product is a great bet. 

Here are 3 questions you must be able to answer when talking to bankers and investors, both during the JP Morgan Healthcare Conference and beyond. Without these assurances, most investors would be unwilling to cut you a check.

1. What is your immediately addressable market?

Your company may have gotten this far on the idea that a market exists for your product, and that your total addressable market (TAM) or serviceable addressable market (SAM) is significant. Your investors to-date are interested in the tech and invested in the solution to the problem you’ve presented. But now is the time when the rubber hits the road and you need to commercialize. You have to push the launch button. 

When you launch, you will not be selling to everyone that the TAM or SAM represents. Entering a market takes time, from manufacturing and logistics to sales and marketing. You must methodically define the first segment of the market that believes in and will buy into your value proposition immediately. We refer to this as the immediately addressable market (IAM). Investors understand this reality, and expect that you will know what your IAM is and have a plan for getting your product into their hands. Medical device executives who ignore or do not have a plan related to this aspect of launch risk losing investor confidence.

2. What indisputable evidence do you have that proves you will win in the market?

Medical device investors are well-versed in the realities of launching in a new market. First, they know that every market has competition. As your novel technology enters and grows within a market, make no mistake – the competition will fight to ensure that you lose. Investors also know that, as humans, we are resistant to change. Medical healthcare markets are notorious for sticking to existing processes in the absence of undeniable evidence that they should adopt something new. 

Investors have to see, without a doubt, that your stakeholders, from patients to providers to payers, are primed, ready, and willing to adopt your technology. We often tell clients that investors need to know that stakeholders almost feel it would be criminal NOT to adopt your technology. The differentiation between you and the nearest competitor should be so big that there is no reason for them to say no to your product. 

Having this evidence takes an objective and methodical process to prove that you don’t just believe stakeholders will adopt the tech. You should have the closest thing to in-market sales numbers that you possibly can before entry. This objective evidence is called market validation. 

Market validation isn’t just a few facts and figures. It is inclusive of multiple data sets that all point in the same direction. It includes secondary research, primary research, competitive analysis, buyer personas, value proposition testing, and much more. Investors at the JP Morgan Healthcare Conference will ask questions related to market validation, and medical device CEOs need to provide concrete answers.

3. What is your strategy and who are the people you have in place that can achieve market dominance?

If you can answer the two questions above, that means you know your immediately addressable market and you have indisputable evidence to ensure investors believe in your product the same way you do. Now, it’s time to look at your launch strategy. Does your plan make sense? Do you have the right people to connect the dots between theoretical adoption data and your IAM actually purchasing, using, and repeatedly buying the product? 

At the end of the day, it is the people you have now, the people you will hire, and your plan of attack that will make or break your product’s success. You need to understand how to overcome objections before they are raised. You need sales and marketing tactics within your strategy that make sense for your IAM and are ready to execute. And, importantly, you need a team in place who have rich experience and can execute. Before presenting to investors, make sure there is nothing in your plan that leaves anything to doubt.

The JP Morgan Healthcare Conference is a Prime Opportunity – Don’t Miss It

If you are a medical device CEO or leader, you know that the majority of the medical device world will be in attendance at JP Morgan in January. You are likely preparing and planning for the event, in the hopes that you will be able to raise funds and see your product through to the next stage. You simply can’t afford to walk into meetings with a half-baked plan. But, if you have clear answers to these 3 questions using indisputable market data, the conference might just open the door to a fruitful future.

Can you confidently answer all 3 questions related to your own medical device? Jaunt can help. Schedule a meeting.