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Roupen Odabashian: B2B versus B2C in Healthcare – Which Path Will Your Startup Take?

Roupen Odabashian/LinkedIn

Apr 4, 2025, 06:45

Roupen Odabashian: B2B versus B2C in Healthcare – Which Path Will Your Startup Take?

Roupen Odabashian, Internal Medicine Physician and Hematology/Oncology Fellow at Karmanos Cancer Institute and Podcast Host at OncoDaily, posted on LinkedIn:

“B2B vs. B2C in Healthcare: Which Path Will Your Startup Take?

For healthcare founders, one of the biggest questions is: who are you selling to? The answer can dramatically impact your journey.

The Enterprise Route (B2B – Hospitals and Universities):

You’ll quickly become familiar with the notoriously long sales cycles.
Think 7+ months (or more!). It’s a marathon of initial meetings, demos, departmental reviews, tech assessments, and navigating hospital policies.
Scheduling alone can feel like a full-time job, coordinating with busy physicians juggling clinical duties and administrative tasks.
The upside? High contract values and strong product stickiness once you’re in.

The Direct-to-User Path (B2C – Doctors and Patients):

This feels like a breath of fresh air, right? Look at AI scribes like Heidi Health – a great example.
You bypass the hospital bureaucracy and connect directly with your users, whether they’re patients or doctors.
The turnaround is quicker, but contract values are typically lower. The catch? Sometimes, crucial EMR data access becomes a bottleneck.

Personally, I’m a big fan of the B2C approach in healthcare. Why?

Because hospitals, while vital, are often run by individuals whose primary focus isn’t always aligned with the day-to-day realities and well-being of clinicians. Numbers often take precedence.
By going B2C, you get direct user feedback, iterate faster, and build a product your users truly love – they might even become your biggest advocates within the hospital system!”