The classic narrative in venture capital is clear: a strong founding team, the right timing and access to venture capital determine success or failure. But this logic falls short, especially in the HealthTech sector. Anyone who invests or starts a business here needs something else to be successful. Here you are not operating in a homogeneous market, but in a highly fragmented system of regulation, care practice, research, technology and reimbursement systems. This complexity reveals a factor that is often underestimated: community. Not as a buzzword, but as a structural competitive advantage and access to “insider knowledge”.
Fragmentation as a structural challenge
HealthTech is not a classic software market. Innovation rarely occurs linearly, but rather through the interaction of a wide variety of actors: doctors, clinics, insurance companies, regulators, patients and technology providers. Some founders were already part of this community in their previous professional lives, but many come to the HealthTech sector from other industries. One thing is obvious, especially for HealthTech startups: Even the best solution fails if it cannot be embedded into existing structures. At the same time, many teams initially lack access to exactly this “insider knowledge”. The result is expensive wrong decisions due to a lack of communication with the community, i.e. the key players and sparring partners.
Why classic VC logic reaches its limits here
Many traditional funds continue to be highly transactional with a focus on deal flow, due diligence and board work. Some are trying to automate this work as much as possible using AI. This works well in clearly structured markets. In HealthTech, however, in our opinion this is not enough. The crucial issues in our industry can rarely be solved through data rooms or pitch decks alone. Other questions are crucial here: How does sales in hospital structures really work? Which regulatory hurdles are regularly underestimated or how can they be overcome? Where are new care models currently emerging? The answers to these questions are rarely found in boardrooms, but usually in discussions with the right people, the insiders.
Community as a competitive advantage
This is exactly where the “Community First” concept comes into play. For Calm/Storm this means: We do not see ourselves primarily as investors, but rather as an access system to the HealthTech community with all its knowledge, experience and different perspectives. Formats such as curated events, thematic panels or co-investments are not “add-ons”, but rather central infrastructure. They bring people together who would otherwise rarely meet and create a space in which challenges can be discussed openly. The important thing is not the number of contacts, but the quality of the exchange. When founders share their biggest mistakes, investors talk about failed deals or operators bring in their experiences from everyday hospital life, a picture emerges that no board meeting can provide. A founder from our network put it aptly: “I can speak openly here because I know that everyone goes through similar situations. No matter what I need, someone from the Calm/Storm community always shares their experience with me. While insider deals are banned on the stock market, we here in the community benefit from this immense advantage.”
Community as an indicator of trends
Anyone who is in constant contact with founding teams, corporates from the healthcare sector, doctors, insurance managers and other healthtech investors recognizes developments in good time and can use their own community as an indicator for trends. Changes in the market environment do not only become visible when they are already in some reports, but as soon as they become apparent in the everyday lives of those involved. Whether new business models in consumer health, advances in the area of regulation or changes in the hospital landscape: the relevant signals for trends and decisive currents are usually found first in conversations between insiders and only much later, possibly in databases that can be searched by AI. A large part of the relevant HealthTech developments in Europe become visible within the community long before they appear on the market. This makes the regular open exchange a decisive competitive advantage not only for us as a fund, but also primarily for our founding teams.
Added value for everyone involved
However, the real leverage lies in the fact that this community doesn’t just help investors and startups make better decisions. It creates added value for the entire ecosystem:
- For founders A space is created in which they not only receive feedback, but also real first-hand experience. This exchange is often crucial, especially in critical phases – such as fundraising or go-to-market.
- For investors the quality of the assessments improves. Co-investments become more informed because they are based on a broader understanding.
- For corporates and healthcare companies The community offers access to innovations, trends and new contacts via a structured network.
It’s shown again and again: The most valuable insights don’t come from perfect success stories, but from the moments when things don’t work. This is where learnings emerge from which everyone involved can benefit if they are shared openly and honestly. This requires a lot of trust, which Calm/Storm, as the initiator, creates significantly.
From network to infrastructure
Community is often viewed as a “soft factor.” In reality, it is hard infrastructure, comparable to data or capital. This access is particularly crucial in HealthTech, where decisions have long-term effects on care systems and patients. The best founders today are not just looking for capital. They are looking for orientation, sparring and an environment in which they can learn faster. And that’s exactly why the role of investors is shifting: away from the classic investor to the hub of a functioning ecosystem.
Conclusion: Competitive advantage through networking
HealthTech will continue to gain in importance in the coming years, not least due to demographic developments and increasing pressure for innovation in the healthcare system. If you want to be successful in this environment, you need more than capital and technology. What is crucial is access to the right people, at the right time, with the right perspective. Community is not a nice-to-have, but an important basis and often the decisive success factor. Or to put it another way: The future of HealthTech will not arise where decisions are made in isolation or a lot of capital is invested quickly, but where trust is so high that experiences and insider knowledge are shared.
About the author
Lucanus Polagnoli is Founder and Managing Partner of Calm/Storm Ventures, Europe’s most active early-stage investor in digital health. With almost 90 super-early-stage investments, he is one of the most high-profile health tech investors in Europe. He was previously a partner at Speedinvest and is now particularly committed to impact-driven founding teams and digital solutions related to health, well-being and sustainability.
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