How To Start A Medical Software Development Business

Updated: January 18th, 2023

How To Start A Medical Software Development Business

If you ask any entrepreneur, starting a business comes with its fair share of challenges.

Starting a medical software development business requires a great deal of effort, dedication and most importantly passion.

If you're willing to put in the effort to build your own business, you're going to want to follow the critical steps to creating a successful brand.

We've created a guide that covers each step of the process - from making key financial decisions, to launching and marketing your business the right way, and tips/strategies on how to grow your business effectively.

starting costs
$30.2K
gross margin
85%
time to build
360 days
average product price
$42500
growth channels
Direct sales
business model
Software
best tools
Google Drive, Hubspot, Twitter
time investment
Full time
pros & cons
36 Pros & Cons
tips
7 Tips

💡 Introduction To Starting A Medical Software Development Business

Is Starting A Medical Software Development Business Right For You?

There are many factors to consider when starting a medical software development business.

We put together the main pros and cons for you here:

Pros of starting a medical software development business

• Flexibility

You can put as much time into the business as you'd like. If you like the work and have some initial experience, you can start small and manage all aspects of the business on your own.

• Ability to start your business from home

It's not necessary to have a physical storefront or office space to get your business started. You can do everything from the comfort of your own home, at least in the beginning!

• Scalable

With businesses and processes changing daily, there will always be demand for new features, products and services for your business. Additionally, there are several different business models and pricing tiers you can implement that will allow you to reach all types of customers.

• Traffic to your website

A medical software development business gives people a reason to visit your website and to keep coming back to you!

• Meaningful business connections

You never know who you will meet as a medical software development business. This could be the start of an incredible business opportunity!

• High customer retention rates

Once a customer invests in your product, they've invested their time and energy to utilize your product/service which is highly valuable to them. Typically, your product or service becomes indispensable to your customer.

• High margins

The gross margins for your medical software development business are typically around 85%, which is considerably high and allows you to grow your business and manage costs easily.

• Pick & choose the clients you work with

Medical Software Development Businesses have the ability to choose the clients they work with. You have the freedom to work with only a few loyal clients or with hundreds of clients!

• Gain exposure and experience

This career allows you to gain experience working for multiple different businesses - which will benefit your resume and also keep things interesting for you!

• Unlimited income potential

With starting a medical software development business there is no cap as to how much income you can make. The stronger your business skills and the more energy/time you put into your career, the more you'll make.

• Predictable income stream

Your businesses income stream tends to be predictable based on the number of customers you have signed up. This makes financial planning and outlooks much more seamless!

• Higher likelihood of getting referrals

This business is all about referrals, which can be a a very impactful way to attract and retain customers. It's critical that you have a great referral program in place that incentivizes your customers to tell their friends about your product.

• Greater Income Potential

With this business, the sky is the limit in regards to your income potential.

• You can decide who you work with

Gone are the days of working in a toxic work environment with employees that you may not vibe with. As a small business owner, you get to decide who you work and surround yourself with.

• You can work from anywhere!

Not only can you start your medical software development business from home, you can also run your business from anywhere in the world. This is the entrepreneur dream.

• Strong Demand & Relatively Recession Proof

The demand for medical software development business is increasing year over year and the business is known to be relatively recession proof.

• You get to inspire others

Your business is one that encourages and inspires others, which in itself, can be very fulfilling.

• You establish yourself as an expert

With starting a medical software development business, you establish yourself as an expert in your niche, which builds your credibility. In return, customers are more likely to trust you and refer you to other friends and family.

• Can build solid foundation of clients

It's unlikely you will have one-off customers as a medical software development business. Typically, you have a solid foundation of clients that use your product and services regularly.

• Results and revenue happen quickly!

Unlike other businesses, it can be relatively quick to start seeing results and revenue. As long as you follow all the steps to validate your idea before launch, you are likely to see quick results and ROI.

Cons of starting a medical software development business

• Motivation of employees

If you plan to have a sales/content team on board, finding creative ways to motivate them can be a challenge. It's important that you're able to offer great incentives and a good work environment for your employees.

• Longer Sales Process

A medical software development business can be a big time and money investment for your customer, so it's important you plan and predict a longer conversion funnel and stay in communication with potential customers.

• High employee turnover

In the medical software development business, employee turnover is often high, which can be quite costly and time consuming for your business. It's important to try and avoid this as much as possible by offering competitive pay, benefits, and a positive work environment.

• Taxes

As a medical software development business, you typically pay self-employment taxes which can be quite high. It's important to understand what you will be paying in taxes each year so you can determine if the work you're taking on is worth it.

• Niche Market

A niche business is not necessarily a bad thing, in fact, it can be the key to your success. However, it can be more challenging and time consuming to find the perfect niche market and target audience.

• Work can be repetitive

You may find creating the same product over and over repetitive and tiresome. One way of avoiding this is to diversify product lines and revenue streams - this will keep things interesting!

• Time commitment

With starting a medical software development business, all responsibilities and decisions are in your hands. Although this is not necessarily a negative thing, work life can take over at times. This can place a strain on friends and family and add to the pressure of launching a new business.

• Difficult to build trust with your customer

With starting a medical software development business, there can be minimal face-to-face interaction, which means it can be a lot more difficult to establish trust with your customers. You'll need to go the extra mile with your customer to grab their attention and business.

• Complex development process.

The development process for a medical software development business can be quite complex, which may cause delays and challenges when launching and growing your product.

• Complex maintenance

Your medical software development business will require a long-term investment due to the need for updates, bug fixes, and security vulnerabilities. It's important that you (or someone on your team) stays on top of this at all times.

• Impatient customers

You may offer an engaging user experience for your customer, but customers expect a lot and may be impatient if they aren't pleased with your product or service.

• Be prepared to get out of your comfort zone!

Although this is exciting for some entrepreneurs, it can be a big challenge for others! You may find yourself in uncomfortable social and business situations, jumping into tasks and responsibilities you aren't familiar with, and pushing yourself as far as you can go!

• Learning Curve

When you start your own business, you no longer have upper management to provide you with a playbook for your roles and responsibilities. You should know the ins and outs of every aspect of your business, as every decision will come down to you.

• Equipment Breakdowns

Over the years, your equipment can get damaged, break down, and may need repairs which can be expensive. It's important you prepare for these expenses and try to avoid damages/wear & tear as much as possible.

• Technical issues can be frustrating

Technical issues are common in this business. If you struggle with the technical side of things, you may want to consider outsourcing this responsibility to save yourself the time and frustration.

• More challenging to earn passive income

It can be more of a challenge to make passive income in this business. Often times, the amount of revenue you bring in is limited by the amount of time you have in the day.

Players

Big Players

Small Players

Search Interest

Let's take a look at the search trends for medical software development over the last year:

How To Name Your Medical Software Development Business

It's important to find a catchy name for your medical software development business so that you can stand out in your space.

Here are some general tips to consider when naming your medical software development business

  • Avoid hard to spell names: you want something easy to remember and easy to spell for your customers
  • Conduct a search to see if others in the space have the same name
  • Try not to pick a name that limits growth opportunities for your business (ie. if you decide to expand into other product lines)
  • As soon as you have an idea (or ideas) of a few names that you love, register the domain name(s) as soon as possible!

Why is naming your medical software development business so important?

The name of your business will forever play a role in:

  • Your customers first impression
  • Your businesses identity
  • The power behind the type of customer your brand attracts
  • If you're memorable or not

It's important to verify that the domain name is available for your medical software development business.

You can search domain availability here:

Find a domain starting at $0.88

powered by Namecheap

Although .com names are the most common and easiest to remember, there are other options if your .com domain name is not available. Depending on your audience, it may not matter as much as you think.

It's also important to thoroughly check if social media handles are available.

As soon as you resonate with a name (or names), secure the domain and SM handles as soon as possible to ensure they don't get taken.

Here's some inspiration for naming your medical software development business:

  • Proper Medical Pro check availability
  • Integrative check availability
  • Optimal check availability
  • Special Computer check availability
  • Numerical Compute check availability
  • OccupationalHealthcare check availability
  • Simple Solves Collective check availability
  • Antivirus check availability
  • Conventional Sanitation Trading Co check availability
  • Hygiene Trading Co check availability
  • Strong Answer check availability
  • PrestigiousMedical check availability
  • The Term Doctors check availability
  • The Reasonable Answer check availability
  • Neutral Resolution Collective check availability
  • Unprepared Software check availability
  • Ocean Solution check availability
  • The Routine check availability
  • Concentrated check availability
  • The Integrative check availability
  • Disillusion Solution check availability
  • Simplest Silver Bullet check availability
  • Possible Answer Co check availability
  • Normal Panacea check availability
  • AdditionalSoftware check availability
  • Application Pro check availability
  • Multimedia check availability
  • The Pirated Tool check availability
  • Personalized Heath Group check availability
  • ShelfSoftware check availability
  • Behavioral Doctor Place check availability
  • Best Root Co check availability
  • The Mail check availability
  • Solid Solved check availability
  • Viable check availability
  • Specific Software System check availability
  • The Alternative Doctor check availability
  • Computer Place check availability
  • The Maroc Doctor check availability
  • Saline Salvation check availability
  • Sophisticated Synapta check availability
  • The Contemporary Medical check availability
  • Reproductive check availability
  • SimpleSolution check availability
  • Friendly Application Pro check availability
  • Purpose Hardware Group check availability
  • Practical Answer Place check availability
  • Major Medial Spot check availability
  • Remedy Collective check availability
  • Customized check availability
  • AmbulatoryHealthcare check availability
  • The Reproductive Sanitation check availability
  • Suitable Software System check availability
  • Above Result Co check availability
  • Mail Informatics Place check availability
  • Hypertonic check availability
  • Programming Trading Co check availability
  • Saline check availability
  • Root Co check availability
  • Result Spot check availability
  • The Numerical Hardware check availability
  • Patient check availability
  • The Decent check availability
  • Statistical Software System check availability
  • The Easy Remedy check availability
  • Holistic Health Insurance check availability
  • The Proper check availability
  • Hygiene Pro check availability
  • Acidic Result Collective check availability
  • Generic check availability
  • Modern Doctor check availability
  • Computing Pro check availability
  • The Operational Applications check availability
  • Educational check availability
  • Specific Summarizer check availability
  • Solid Settling check availability
  • The Exact check availability
  • Excellent Care Pro check availability
  • Again Healthcare check availability
  • SolidSolution check availability
  • The Adequate Solved check availability
  • Integrated Hardware Spot check availability
  • The Global check availability
  • Remedy Spot check availability
  • Watery check availability
  • Correct Alternatives Group check availability
  • Medical Group check availability
  • The Sterile check availability
  • The Appropriate Compute check availability
  • Permanent Solve Trading Co check availability
  • Compatible Tool Pro check availability
  • Email Tool Co check availability
  • Special Summarizer check availability
  • Dental Health Spot check availability
  • Sterile Settlements check availability
  • Applications Group check availability
  • LiquidSolution check availability
  • Standard Soft check availability
  • The Intelligent check availability
  • Management check availability
  • Health Spot check availability
  • Anesthetic Result check availability
  • Useless Solution check availability
  • Compute Place check availability
  • Transfusion Solution check availability
  • Solved Group check availability
  • Statistical Synapta check availability
  • Analytical Result Group check availability
  • Oriented Firmware Collective check availability
  • Warm Root Group check availability
  • The Simple Root check availability
  • On the web Software check availability
  • Intelligent check availability
  • RoutineHealthcare check availability
  • Shelf Computing Trading Co check availability
  • Solve Spot check availability
  • Lazy susan Solution check availability
  • End check availability
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  • Routine check availability
  • Collusion Solution check availability
  • RemoteSoftware check availability
  • Commendable Medical check availability
  • Alternatives Pro check availability
  • The Use check availability
  • The Critical check availability
  • CausticSolution check availability

How To Create A Slogan For Your Medical Software Development Business:

Slogans are a critical piece of your marketing and advertising strategy.

The role of your slogan is to help your customer understand the benefits of your product/service - so it's important to find a catchy and effective slogan name.

Often times, your slogan can even be more important than the name of your brand.

Here are 6 tips for creating a catchy slogan for your medical software development business:

1. Keep it short, simple and avoid difficult words

A great rule of thumb is that your slogan should be under 10 words. This will make it easy for your customer to understand and remember.

2. Tell what you do and focus on what makes you different

There are a few different ways you can incorporate what makes your business special in your slogan:

  • Explain the target customer you are catering your services towards
  • What problem do you solve?
  • How do you make other people, clients, or your employer look good?
  • Do you make people more successful? How?

3. Be consistent

Chances are, if you're coming up with a slogan, you may already have your business name, logo, mission, branding etc.

It's important to create a slogan that is consistent with all of the above.

4. Ensure the longevity of your slogan

Times are changing quickly, and so are businesses.

When coming up with your slogan, you may want to consider creating something that is timeless and won't just fade with new trends.

5. Consider your audience

When finding a catchy slogan name, you'll want to make sure that this resonates across your entire audience.

It's possible that your slogan could make complete sense to your audience in Europe, but may not resonate with your US audience.

6. Get feedback!

This is one of the easiest ways to know if your slogan will be perceived well, and a step that a lot of brands drop the ball on.

Ask friends, family, strangers, and most importantly, those that are considered to be in your target market.

Here's some inspiration for coming up with a slogan for your medical software development business:

  • Free Firmware, Special Tool
  • Get More From Life With Healthcare.
  • Private Healthcare, Satisfaction Guaranteed
  • Made In Scotland From Healthcare.
  • Next To The Breast, Healthcare's The Best.
  • Look, Ma, No Healthcare!
  • Solution Is My Sport.
  • Optimal Settlings Are What We Do
  • I Bet He Drinks Healthcare.
  • There's Only One True Solution!
  • Programme Is What We Do
  • Did Somebody Say Healthcare?
  • From Unavailable To Useable
  • Final And Spiral
  • Solution Works Like Magic.
  • Appropriate Insps Are What We Do
  • You Wouldn't Want To Miss Healthcare.
  • Make It A Solution Night.
  • Good Honest Healthcare Since 1896.
  • It Does Exactly What It Says On The Solution.
  • Software Is Crazy Good.
  • Healthcare The Only Way To Fly.
  • Work Hard, Dissolved Harder
  • Work Hard, Debugging Harder
  • Have A Break. Have A Solution.
  • Own Cecities Are What We Do
  • Available Software, Satisfaction Guaranteed
  • Appropriate Software, Built For You
  • The Wonder Has A Name: Software.
  • Let Your Solution Do The Walking.
  • Software For People Who Want More.
  • I'm A Secret Healthcare Drinker.
  • Software - It's Like Heaven!
  • Mental Sanitary, Own Sanitary
  • Softwares With Air
  • Two Software Are Better Than One.
  • There Is No Sore It Will Not Heal, No Healthcare It Will Not Subdue.
  • The Wonder Has A Name: Healthcare.
  • Programme Is What We Do
  • Healthcare Is Everything You Need.
  • Based And Chafed
  • Software - Empowering People.
  • Healthcare - Enjoy The Difference.
  • Better Healthcare, We Take Care Of You!
  • Courseware Is What We Do
  • Saturated Solution, Let's Start Today!
  • Out Is What We Do
  • Healthcare Inside You.
  • The Magic Of Solution.
  • Beware Of Expensive Solution.
  • Available Software, Let's Get To Work
  • Solution - One Name. One Legend.
  • Softwares With Hand
  • Behavioral Obstetrics Are What We Do
  • That's Handy, Harry! Stick It In The Software.
  • Home Of The Remedy
  • Better And Bitter
  • Jesus Loves Software.
  • Standard And Unanswered
  • Dial Down The Healthcare.
  • Own Treatment, Behavioral Doctors
  • The President Buys Software.

The Software Business Model

Tiered Pricing Model

You may want to consider having different pricing tiers to meet the needs of your customers.

With this model, there are typically 2 or more packages for a specific price that offer a fixed amount of features.

Each package should reflect the needs of the buyer persona - for example, a customer looking for a beginner package may have a very different use case than a customer looking for an enterprise package.

By offering different packages, you're able to target different audiences which will lead to increased conversions and revenue. Additionally, your chances of "upselling" existing customers are much higher as you have establisished trust with your customer and they're left wanting more once their use case evolves.

Per-User Model

Many medical software development business businesses charge a fixed rate per user on the account (either monthly or yearly). This can be especially lucrative if you're targeting larger businesses where the user number will be much higher.

This model is not always preferred as it can be challenging to forecast revenue accurately when the user count within businesses is fluctuating constantly.

Flat Rate Model

If you decide to adopt a flat-rate model, this would mean that you offer only one price for every customer. All customers are treated equally and have access to the same amount of features.

This model is not as common as tiered pricing because it only meets the needs of one buyer persona and can limit growth and you're able to have multiple revenue streams.

Per Feature Model

This model charges customers based on the # of features they need. Customers add features "a-la-carte" which will determine the overall price of the product.

This can be a lucrative model, however, the number of different use-cases customers need can become overwhelming (making the sales process longer) and it can be challenging to find a price structure that works well.

The business model you choose depends entirely on your needs and goals as a company. To find what works well for you, you may want to consider testing several models and conducting market research to see what competition in the space is doing.

The Freemium Model

Offering free trials to your platform is a great way to gain exposure for your business and potentially get new customers!

Finding the right medical software development business is a big deal for most people, so it can be important for customers to try a free version with limited features prior to making a big investment.

Once your customer reaches the limits of their free account, they're much more likely to invest in the premium version so they can gain access to all of the features your product offers.

There are a few different ways you can limit certain aspects of your product:

  • Usage quotas: Storage limits or limiting the number of times they can utilize a feature
  • Limited features: Only allowing your free user to utilize certain features vs all features - this is also a great way to upsell during the user's experience
  • Limited support: Customer support can be time-consuming, by limiting the level of support to free users this is a great incentive for them to upgrade (and will save you a lot of time and money)!

Here's an example of SEO website, Sanity Check offering a free version to their website:

article

Learn more about starting a medical software development business:

Where to start?

-> How much does it cost to start a medical software development business?
-> Pros and cons of a medical software development business

Need inspiration?

-> Other medical software development business success stories
-> Examples of established medical software development business
-> Marketing ideas for a medical software development business

Other resources

-> Medical software development business tips

🎬 How To Start A Medical Software Development Business

article

How Much Does It Cost To Start A Medical Software Development Business

If you are planning to start a medical software development business, the costs are relatively low. This, of course, depends on if you decide to start the business with lean expenses or bringing in a large team and spending more money.

We’ve outlined two common scenarios for “pre-opening” costs of starting a medical software development business and outline the costs you should expect for each:

  • The estimated minimum starting cost = $62
  • The estimated maximum starting cost = $60,161
Startup Expenses: Average expenses incurred when starting a medical software development business. Min Startup Costs: You plan to execute on your own. You’re able to work from home with minimal costs. Max Startup Costs: You have started with 1+ other team members.
Office Space Expenses
Rent: This refers to the office space you use for your business and give money to the landlord. To minimize costs, you may want to consider starting your business from home or renting an office in a coworking space. $0 $5,750
Utility Costs For Office Space: Utility costs are the expense for all the services you use in your office, including electricity, gas, fuels, telephone, water, sewerage, etc. $0 $1,150
WiFi & Internet: Whether you work from home or in an office space, WiFi is essential. Although the cost is minimal in most cases, it should be appropriately budgeted for each month! $0 $100
Total Office Space Expenses $0 (min) $7,000 (max)
Employee & Freelancer Expenses
Payroll Costs & Fees: Payroll cost means the expense of paying your employees, which includes salaries, wages, and other benefits. This number depends on if you decide to pay yourself a salary upfront and how many employees you have on payroll. At first, many founders take on all responsibilities until the business is up and running. You can always hire down the road when you understand where you need help. Keep in mind, if you do plan to pay yourself, the average salary founders make is $50K. $150 $250
Employee Hiring Expenses: Apart from payroll and benefits, there are other hiring employees costs. This includes the cost to advertise the job, the time it takes to interview candidates, and any other turnover that may result from hiring the wrong candidate. $1 $2
Employee Rewards: It's vital to acknowledge and reward workers, whether they hit their goals or do a great job. This does not have to be costly. In fact, simply taking workers out to a meal or giving a gift or bonus is among the many ways to show how the worker is valued! $0 $100
Total Employee & Freelancer Expenses $151 (min) $352 (max)
Website Costs
Website Builder: The cost of your website will vary depending on which platform you choose. There are many website builders on the market, so it's important you choose the right one for your business and overall goals. To learn more about your options + how to build a great website, check out this article. $10 $500
Web Designer: Web design includes several different aspects, including webpage layout, content creation, and design elements.If you have the skills and knowledge to design your website on your own, then outsourcing this to an expert may not be necessary. There are plenty of other ways you can design a beautiful website using design tools and software. $200 $6,000
Domain Name: Your domain name is the URL and name of your website - this is how internet users find you and your website.Domain names are extremely important and should match your company name and brand. This makes it easier for customers to remember you and return to your website. $12 $200
Business Email Hosting Service: An email hosting runs a dedicated email server. Once you have your domain name, you can set up email accounts for each user on your team. The most common email hosts are G Suite and Microsoft 365 Suite. The number of email accounts you set up will determine the monthly cost breakdown. $1 $15
Website Hosting Costs: Server hosting is an IT service typically offered by a cloud service provider that hosts the website information and allows remote access through the internet. A hosted server can help you scale up and increase your business’s efficacy, relieving you from the hassles of on-premise operations. $0 $300
Website & Live Chat Tool: If your business values high-end customer service, you must consider utilizing a website chatbot. Website chatbots play a pivotal role in converting site visitors into long-term customers. Typically, there are different tiers of pricing and features offered by Live Chat service providers. $0 $200
Total Website Costs $223 (min) $7,215 (max)
Business Formation Fees
Small Business Insurance: Depending on which state you live in and the business you're operating, the costs and requirements for small business insurance vary. You can learn more here. $500 $2,000
Permit and License Fees: Depending on your industry, there are certain licenses and permits you may need in order to comply with state, local, and federal regulations. Here is an article that goes over all the permits and licenses you may need for your medical software development business. $50 $700
Trademark: Filing trademark registration will protect your brand and prevent other businesses from copying your name or product. USPTO has several different types of trademarks, so the cost to apply can vary (typically anywhere from $400-$700). $0 $700
Lawyer Fees: Although you may want to avoid attorney fees, it's important that your business (and you) are covered at all costs. This comes into play when creating founder agreements, setting up your business legal structure, and of course, any unforeseen circumstances that may happen when dealing with customers or other businesses. $0 $1,500
A Patent: Patents provide protection against others stealing or selling your idea.Securing a patent can be very valuable, but it's important that you are 100% sure this will be a smart business move for you, or if this is something to consider down the line.The process of securing a US patent can be both lengthy and pricey, and typically includes filing an application with the USPTO. $5,000 $15,000
Set up business: LLC & Corporations: The first step in setting up your business is deciding whether your business is an LLC, S Corp or C Corp. The cost for this depends on which state you form your business and which structure you decide on. We put together an article that goes over the 10 Steps To Setting Up A Business. $50 $500
Total Business Formation Fees $5,600 (min) $20,400 (max)
App Creation Costs
App Development: App development is the process of creating software intended to run on a mobile device.In addition to coding, there are other elements to consider:- design- back end development- security- architecture- testingMany businesses hire an expert that has the technical knowledge to design and develop an app.Depending on the scope of your project, the cost can vary. Some business owners learn to code on their own to minimize these costs, and others, hire a developer to work for them part-time or full-time. $1,000 $20,000
Total App Creation Costs $1,000 (min) $20,000 (max)
Software Expenses
Design Programs & Software: These programs might include the Adobe family of design tools: Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign and others. This is typically a monthly subscription ranging from $10-$50/mo. $0 $50
Email marketing tool: If you plan to grow your email list and email marketing efforts, you may want to consider investing in an email marketing platform (ie. Klaviyo, MailChimp). We put together a detailed guide on all of the email marketing tools out there + the pricing models for each one here. $0 $100
IT Support: IT support installs and configures hardware and software and solves any technical issues that may arise.IT support can be used internally or for your customers experiencing issues with your product/service.There are a variety of tools and software you can use to help with any technical issues you or your customers are experiencing. This is a great option for businesses that do not have the means to hire a team of professionals. $150 $2,000
Accounting & Invoicing Software: It's important to have an accounting system and process in place to manage financials, reporting, planning and tax preparation. Here are the 30 best accounting tools for small businesses. $0 $50
CRM Software: CRM (customer relationship management) software system is used to track and analyze your company’s interactions with clients and prospects. Although this is not a necessary tool to have for your business, implementing this, in the beginning, may set your business up for success and save you valuable time. $12 $300
Project Management Software: You may want to consider using a project management and collaboration tool to organize your day-to-day. This can also be very beneficial if you have a larger team and want to keep track of everyones tasks and productivity. For a full list of project management tools, check out this full list here. $0 $25
Internal Communication Tool: If you plan to have multiple members on your team, you may want to consider an instant message tool such as Slack or Telegram. The cost is usually billed per month (approx $5/user/month) or there are freemium versions available on many platforms. $0 $20
Social Media Management Tools: If you plan to do social media marketing for your medical software development business, you should consider investing in a social media automation or publishing tool. This will save you time and allow you to track performance and engagement for your posts. Here is a list of 28 best social media tools for your small business. $0 $50
Payroll Software: The main purpose of payroll software is to help you pay your team and track each of those payments (so that you don't have to do it manually). If you do not have any employees or have a very small team, payroll software may not be necessary at this stage. Here are the 11 best payroll tools for small businesses! $0 $200
File Hosting Service: It's important to make sure the information for your medical software development business is stored and protected should something happen to your computer or hard drive. The cost for this is affordable and depends on how much data you need to store. To learn more about the different options and pricing on the market, check out this article. $0 $299
Total Software Expenses $162 (min) $3,094 (max)
Advertising & Marketing Costs
Customer Research & Surveys: Many medical software development business's conduct industry and consumer research prior to starting their business. Often times, you need to pay for this data or hire a market research firm to help you in this process. $0 $300
Direct Campaigns, Printing and Mailing: Although it may sound old-school, traditional marketing methods can be a cost-effective way to drive awareness for your brand. This includes flyers, postcards, sales letters, coupons, special offers, catalogs and brochures. $0 $300
Google Ads: With Google Ads you have the ability to control how much you spend by simply setting a monthly budget cap. Additionally, with these ads you only pay for results, such as clicks to your website or phone calls! It's okay to start with a small budget at first and make changes accordingly if you see valuable returns. $0 $300
Facebook & Instagram Ads: With Facebook and Instagram ads, you set your budget and pay for the actions you want (whether that be impressions, conversions, etc).You can learn more about pricing based on your impressions here. $0 $350
Total Advertising & Marketing Costs $0 (min) $1,250 (max)
Training & Education Expenses
Professional Training: If you plan to have employees for your medical software development business, training can be time consuming and take you away from growing your business. You may want to consider hiring a professional trainer to onboard your team and put together a training manual with all processes and procedures. $0 $850
Total Training & Education Expenses $0 (min) $850 (max)
Total Starting Costs $62 (min) $60,161 (max)

Raising Money For Your Medical Software Development Business

Here are the most common ways to raise money for your medical software development business:

Business Accelerator

Accelerators are organizations that offer a range of support and funding opportunities for startups.

Typically, this means they help enroll startups in programs that offer mentorship, office space, and resources to grow the business.

These programs are typically 3-4 months and involve intense education and mentorship - most importantly, the startups also offered capital and investment in return for equity.

Here are some of the most popular and well-known startup accelerators in the U.S:

Here are some tips on how to get into an accelerator program:

  • Have an MVP (Minimal Viable Product) in place
  • Make sure you have actual customers and an overview of how your business is doing (revenue, site traffic, growth metrics)
  • Build a team
  • Crush your interview - this is a critical piece in the process. Know your business and metrics inside out and most importantly, be able to portray what makes it so unique.

VC Funding

VC funding is a traditional and long process, but an effective way to raise money for your business.

The term "VC funding" refers to venture capital firms investing in businesses in exchange for equity.

The VC's (venture capitalists) are an individual or small group investing in your business and typically require substantial ownership of the business, with the hope of seeing a return on their investment.

VC's are typically the best approach for businesses with high startup costs - where it would be very difficult to raise the money on your own or through a loan.

When deciding whether to take this approach, it's important that you have a few things in place first, and know what you're getting yourself into:

Determine if your business is ready

Having an idea is not enough to get VC funding.

Typically, VC's will check to make sure you have these things in place prior to closing any deal:

  • An MVP (Minimal Viable Product)
  • A founding team with all proper documents in place (articles of organization, business formation)
  • A validated idea with actual customers buying your product/service

Get everything in place and build a pitch deck

A VC individual or firm will be expecting a fine-tuned presentation that gives an overview of your business.

Here's what you should consider including in your pitch deck:

  • Management team, their previous experience + current roles in the business
  • Market challenge and solution
  • Company financials - including a P&L statement, cash flow statement, and projections
  • Company progress
  • Investment amount - how much do you need and why?

Research the right VC to fund your business

Research the types of VC investors out there and what niche they focus on.

Then, put together a list of target VC's you want to approach and your strategy around setting up meetings.

Be sure you have everything in place (as discussed above) before setting up any meeting!

Make sure the terms and expectations are right for your business

Committing to VC funding is a big deal and a decision that should not be made lightly.

Although the money and experience from VC's can help your business quickly grow, you are also giving away a stake in the company, and the money comes with strings attached.

Be sure you do your due diligence in finding the right investor - one that truly believes in the growth and success of your business.

Crowdfunding

For your medical software development business, a common way to raise money is through crowdfunding.

So, what does it mean to crowdfund your small business?

Crowdfunding refers to funding a project through many individual investors.

Here are some items to keep in mind when planning your campaign:

  • Sell more than just your product. Sell your passion, your vision, and your story.
  • Be real. Give your community honest details about your product.
  • Treat your audience as your friends (not just potential customers)
  • Put together a great presentation - it will attract people quicker.

To launch a successful crowdfunding campaign, you first need to select the type of crowdfunding platform to host your campaign.

Here are the most popular crowdfunding platforms to raise money on:

Kickstarter

Funding platform for creative projects.

Businesses using Kickstarter:

90 successful businesses are using Kickstarter ➜

Get Kickstarter ➜

Indiegogo

Crowdfunding platform for innovations in tech and design.

Businesses using Indiegogo:

34 successful businesses are using Indiegogo ➜

Get Indiegogo ➜

StartEngine

Crowdfunding platform that has helped more than 350 companies raise $175M+ from a community of over 250,000 prospective investors.

Businesses using StartEngine:

Get StartEngine ➜

Case Study

We connected with one of the most successful Kickstarter campaigns, Photobooth Supply Co, and asked founder, Brandon Wong to give us some insight on his strategy:

article

Product first, campaign second

So with all of those positive benefits of the platform figured out, we wanted to make sure we had the product itself in the right place before we launched.

We’ve been working on Salsa for a long time now and wouldn’t have felt comfortable revealing the ability to pay for it until we hit a very important milestone. We had a final prototype.

Doing all of the sourcing and actual production is secondary—there was absolutely no way we could have gone public without people being able to see real photos (and touch in person) a functioning prototype.

This meant that we had to do all of the development before we ever saw a cent.

Finding backers in the real world

We launched the product at our annual Booth Summit, which is a convention for photobooth owners to get together and learn from experts in the field. Launching a product in a receptive environment is generally considered to be a good idea. The same was definitely true for us!

We had a crowd of people who had just told us they were dedicated to growing their business… and we had the chance to offer them a way to do just that. I really can’t emphasize enough how important it is to make products that matter for people who will care about them.

This opportunity to see the product in real life was an essential component for our launch, but it might not be the same for you. I think it just shows how essential having a great prototype is. People love to touch and feel what they’re buying, if you’re talking about something physical… you should be able to show a prototype before you ask for money.

Building excitement with even the smallest backers.

We knew that we wanted to have a ton of incentives for early backers so that they’d be rewarded for taking a leap of faith on a new photobooth.

We’re obviously not making a whole lot of money on that first $1999 tier. But it enabled people to be part of something fun.

Every $1999 backer is always going to be able to say, not just that they got a great deal, but that they were one of the first to get on board. It means a lot more than a discount code expiring—just look at how frustrated people are on Twitter when a limited stock of rewards is secretly gobbled up.

Kickstarter doesn’t reveal the names of backers, but it humanizes them. And it just adds to the fun of getting your own spot! Even for someone backing now, they’re able to say that they were an early adopter.

Delivering on our promise

One of the most common critiques of Kickstarter items is that they either never show up or that they take years. I wanted to make sure that our timeline was easy to deliver and also reasonable.

Nobody deserves to wait two years for your product after they pay for it. I felt like we needed to offer a much quicker turnaround than that. We launched on Black Friday 2018 with an estimated delivery of April 2019.

That’s under 6 months and much lower than the average Kickstarter! The most important thing is that we will be able to meet that timeline. You can’t go around promising delivery dates and missing them, this isn’t a consumer product.

Anytime you’re working with the events industry you have to be very transparent and up front about timelines. A bride who books a photobooth needs it to show up on her wedding day. It’s non-negotiable!

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Brandon Wong, on starting Photobooth Supply Co. ($500,000/month) full story ➜

What Skills Do I Need To Succeed In Starting A Medical Software Development Business?

As a medical software development business, there are several essential skills and characteristics that are important to identify prior to starting your business.

Let’s look at these skills in more detail so you can identify what you need to succeed in your day-to-day business operations:

Self Motivation Skills

Self motivation and discipline skills are critical in order to become successful in this field.

It's likely that you will find yourself starting and running your medical software development business from home, which could mean there are more distractions for you.

Here are the basic skills needed for self motivation & discipline:

  • Becoming a self starter: It's important that you are capable of independently completing a task without the help or direction of anyone else
  • Listening and following directions: When you are given direction by others, it's critical that you are able to follow directions and ask the right questions in order to get your job done
  • Taking the initiative in problem solving: Instead of taking the easy route, you'll need to learn to troubleshoot issues on your own as much as possible.

Customer Service Skills

Friendly communication with customers and the ability to address service issues is a critical part of the job.

Here are some customer service skills you may want to consider prior to starting a medical software development business:

  • Professionalism: The way you act, present yourself, and respond to situations all leave an impression on your customer. It's important to stay professional at all times when handling customer requests or issues.
  • Problem-solving: When issues arise, it's important that you are able to think quick on your feet and address the situation with a calm and clear solution
  • Friendly-manner: This is an obvious one, but customers truly appreciate someone that can respond in a quick, efficient, and friendly manner.
  • Proficient in writing: These skills include the ability to write well-crafted emails, service tickets, and any other programs used by the business (ie. chat functions, SMS texting)

Business Savvy Skills

When starting a medical software development business, there are a few fundamental business skills you will want to learn in order to be successful:

  • Leadership and training skills: A great team starts with YOU. Make sure you have all company policies and training procedures in place prior to hiring your team
  • Decisive and self-confident: Over the course of your career, you will need decisions that could impact your business significantly. It's important you are able to think clearly and rationally about these decisions.
  • Ability to understand the financials: You don't need to be an accountant, but it is important that you are able to clearly understand and define metrics such as expenses, revenue, profit, margins, COGS, etc.
  • Strategic Thinking: Setting clear goals and benchmarks, identifying opportunities, risks. Ability to effectively communicate these insights to your team.

These are a few of many business savvy skills you should have (or work on) when starting a medical software development business.

For a full list, check out this article here.

Design Skills

Whether you are the one designing the product or the decision-maker for the product, an eye for design is critical when starting a medical software development business. Here's what this looks like:

  • Creative Thinking - the ability to develop or design different products or ideas
  • Visualization - being able to imagine or visualize how the product will look
  • Articulation - the ability to communicate what the design will look like and how it will be executed
  • Detail-oriented - paying close attention to all of the small pieces when designing or working on a project
  • Some technical skills - knowledge of the design software you are using to create the product or build prototypes.

Other skills that may be valuable to have when starting a medical software development business include digital marketing skills, branding experience, and basic business knowledge.

Coding Skills

Here are some critical skills you will need to start your medical software development business:

  • Language acquisition: Common languages include Java, Ruby, Python, HTML)
  • Creative thinking: Ability to develop innovative solutions and think outside the box
  • Analytical skills: Ability to troubleshoot issues quickly and efficiently
  • Attention to detail: Precise and detailed in the approach so that little to no errors arise
  • Calm & Collective: Critical that you are able to stay patient when challenges arise
  • Communication skills: The ability to explain your approach in a clear and concise way that all team members can understand.

To see more skills and qualities people look for in a medical software development business, check out this article.

Advice For Starting A Medical Software Development Business

We've interviewed thousands of successful founders at Starter Story and asked what advice they would give to entrepreneurs who are just getting started.

Here's the best advice we discovered for starting a medical software development business:

James Bates, founder of AdviNow Medical ($200K/month):

Entrepreneurs need to be creative, be persistent, and work hard to find success.

Read the full interview ➜

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Adela Barbulescu, founder of Emoface ($0/month):

One thing I cannot stress enough is the importance of communication and finding opportunities to present my company. Word of mouth is what helped me meet my cofounder and our clinical advisor.

Read the full interview ➜

-

James Bates, founder of AdviNow Medical ($200K/month):

Seek out partnerships and experts; their insights and advice will be critical.

Read the full interview ➜

-

Angelica Kohlmann, founder of Bloom Diagnostics ($20K/month):

A mediocre team with a brilliant idea is less likely to succeed than a brilliant team with a mediocre idea.

Read the full interview ➜

-

Write a Business Plan

Writing a business plan from the start is critical for the success of your medical software development business.

Why?

Because this allows you to roadmap exactly what you do, what your overall structure will look like, and where you want to be in the future.

For many entrepreneurs, writing out the business plan helps validate their idea and decide whether or not they should move forward with starting the business.

You may want to consider expanding upon these sections in your business plan:

  • Executive Summary: Brief outline of your product, the market, and growth opportunities
  • Overviews and Objectives: Overview of your business, target customers, and what you need to run your business
  • Products and Services: Specifics on the products and services your business will provide
  • Market Opportunities: Analysis of customer demographics, buyer habits and if your product is in demand
  • Marketing: Outline of your marketing plan and how you plan to differentiate yourself from other customers
  • Competitive analysis: Analysis of your competition and the strengths and weaknesses therein
  • Operations: Hierarchal structure of the company and what it will take to run the business on the day-to-day
  • Leadership Team: Detailing roles and responsibilities of each manager based on their specific skill-set
  • Financial Analysis Understanding of all expenses, operating budgets, and projections for the future.

Learn more about how to write a business plan here

Determine Which Business Bank Account You Need

There are hundreds of banks out there, and it can be overwhelming to find one that's right for your business.

Here are some factors you may want to consider:

  • Location - Is your bank close enough that you can easily make deposits or get cash?
  • Low Fees - Make sure to understand any and all fees associated with setting up and maintaining your bank account. Ask for a list - banks usually try to keep this hidden and in the fine print.
  • Online Banking Services - Make sure you can easily navigate through your online portal and you have easy access to everything you need.
  • Line of Credit - What do your options look like (even if you don't need this now, you may need this down the road).
  • Every bank has something that differentiates them from the rest, so make sure whatever that is applied to your needs and values.

Check out this list of the 13 Best Banks for Small Business in 2020 and what makes them so unique.

When it comes to setting up your business, you may find yourself in a place where you have to make some financial and legal decisions.

The first thing you'll want to decide on is whether you want to be an LLC, S-Corp, or C-Corp.

These three options are found to be the most common when starting a small business, and all serve to protect your personal assets and also provide you with certain tax benefits.

  • LLC: All income and expenses from the business are reported on the LLC personal income tax return.
  • S corp: Owners pay themselves salaries + receive dividends from profits.
  • C Corp: C Corps are separately taxable entities that file a corporate tax return (Form 1120). No income tax is paid at the corporate level and any tax due is paid at the owners individual expense.

Depending on where you're conducting business, you'll also want to consider securing the proper permits, licenses and liability insurance.

Learn more about securing the right permits and licenses ➜

Need to start an LLC? Create an LLC in minutes with ZenBusiness.

How Do I Pay Myself As A Small Business Owner?

Most entrepreneurs start a business to do something they love- but at the end of the day, you still have bills to pay (maybe now more than ever).

But it's important to strike the right balance - if you pay yourself too much, you could be putting your business at risk.

There are two common ways to pay yourself as a business owner:

1. Owner's Draw

Many entrepreneurs pay themselves through an owner's draw. This means that you are technically sean as "self-employed" through the eyes of the IRS and are not paid through regular wages.

At the point that you collect money from the draw, taxes typically are not taken out - so make sure you are prepared to pay these taxes once you file your individual return.

As an owner who takes a draw, you can legally take out as much as you want from your equity.

This type of compensation is suited for Sole props, LLCs, and partnerships. If you’re an S corp, you can pay yourself through both a salary and draw if you choose.

2. Salary

If you decide to pay yourself a salary, you will receive a set and recurring amount. This will be taxed by the federal government and the state you reside in.

The reality is that it can be really complicated to set your own salary, so we have some tips for you to consider:

  • Take out a reasonable amount that allows you to live comfortably but also sets your business up for success
  • Consider the number of hours you are working weekly + the type of duties you are performing.
  • Set your salary based on your industry-standard, location, and profits (or projected profits)
  • Look at your P&L statement: Deduct your own pay from that amount. This is important so you can first tackle important business expenses, and then pay yourself from the amount leftover.
  • Pick a payroll schedule (and stick to it)! In the US, it's most common to pay yourself and employees twice a month.

https://media.giphy.com/media/xT0xeLTRncS90ptpfi/giphy.gif

To learn more about how to pay yourself and what is a reasonable amount, check out this article.

How To Price Your Medical Software Development

One of the most challenging aspects to starting a medical software development business is determining how much to charge for your medical software development.

When businesses under-price their product, this can be extremely detrimental to their bottom line and reputation.

Often times, businesses under-price their products to drive demand and volume, but that last thing you want is for customers to view your product/service as "cheap." Additionally, this can have a big impact on the type of customer you attract, which can be difficult to recover from.

On the other hand, when businesses over-price, this tends to be just as damaging to the business.

When customers buy, it's likely that they will explore the internet and look at other competitors to ensure they're getting the best value + deal. This is why it's so important that you research your competition and understand where you land in the marketplace.

Here are some factors to consider when pricing your product:

Understand your customer

It's important that out of the gates, you identify the type of customer you want to attract and how much they're willing to pay for your service. One great way to do this is by surveying your customers. Here are some important items you'll want to takeaway:

  • Customer demographic: Age, gender, location, etc.
  • Buying habits of your customer: What they buy + when they buy
  • Level of price sensitivity with your customer

All of these segments will help you identify the type of customer you're attracting and how to price your product accordingly.

Understand your costs

When pricing your medical software development, it's critical that you first identify all of your costs and consequently mark up your medical software development so you can factor in a profit.

The actual cost of your medical software development may include things like:

  • The actual cost to make the product (ie. raw materials, supplies, manufacturer).
  • Shipping + overhead fees
  • Rent
  • Operating costs to run your business

You may want to consider creating a spreadsheet with every single expense involved in operating/owning your business. This will give you an idea as to what you need to generate in order to at the very least, break-even and will help you price your products to factor in a profit.

Create revenue goals

When determining the price of your medical software development, you'll want to create goals for revenue + how much profit you want your medical software development business to make.

This process is simpler than you may think:

  1. Think about your breakeven cost (by completing the above step).
  2. Create a revenue goal based on your break-even cost
  3. Evaluate the # of items you plan to sell in a given period (make sure this is a realistic number)
  4. Divide your revenue goal by the number of items you plan to sell

This figure will help determine your estimated price per product in order to meet your revenue goals.

Evaluate your competition

The last piece in determining how to price your medical software development is by simply looking at your competition.

The best way to do this is by finding like-minded businesses that offer product(s) with similar perceived value. Then, you can compare prices of the different businesses and determine where your medical software development fits best in the marketplace.

All of these factors play an equal part in pricing your medical software development, so it's important you evaluate each one individually to come up with an accurate price that will help optimize your business from the start.

Gross Margin Calculator: How to Calculate The Gross Margin For Your Medical Software Development

Our calculator is designed to be simple and easy to use.

The goal is to help you set realistic expectations and understand what is considered a healthy gross margin for your medical software development business.

Calculate your gross margin and profit margin here.

What Type Of Clients Will Buy Your Medical Software Development

It's important to first establish who you will be selling to, whether it's to businesses or consumers.

Typically, in this industry, products are sold to B2B markets (business-to-business).

Let's take a look at what this means for your medical software development business:

B2B (or business to business) is a transaction where your medical software development business sell's your product or service to other businesses to help them grow.

Business-to business industries typically includes SaaS products, B2B marketing firms, and other business supply companies.

Unlike B2C markets, the audience is not a consumer at all, but instead a business - so it's important to understand how to best market your product/services to that target audience.

With B2B, driving leads means understanding another company's business processes and creating a business strategy that will help their operation scale and grow.

Here are some tips to consider:

  • Your main focus when selling to other businesses is showing value to their business and overall return on investment
  • Focus on building relationships, rather than extending your brand awareness through social networks.
  • Marketing approach should include things like attending conventions, conferences, and optimizing your online presence (SEO, email outreach, etc)
  • Understand that the sales process may mean more effort educating your client, so it's important that you have a well-trained sales team that is knowledgable about the product

Building an MVP (Minimal Viable Product)

When building a medical software development business, it's critical that you first validate your product/service rather than rushing to build it right away.

This could save you months, if not years of building the wrong product/service.

If you're hoping to decrease any sort of risk that comes with launching your medical software development business, designing a prototype can be a great way to de-risk your situation.

The point of your medical software development prototype is that it doesn't have to be perfect.

In the beginning stages, it doesn't matter how rough V1 of your prototype is, it's more important to just get started and you can always refine from there based on feedback from your network and most importantly your customers.

How To Build A MVP

Here are several different ways of building a prototype/MVP:

  • Start by building a landing page to see if customers actually need your product and if they are willing to pay for it
  • Build a very basic version of your idea and ask for immediate feedback from potential customers
  • Present a problem and solution via Facebook/Instagram Ads and see what the response is like

Adela Barbulescu, founder of Emoface dives deep into the process of designing and prototyping their product:

Case Study

The process towards releasing our first product was a long one since a lot of research and ergonomy studies were necessary. To develop the application, we collaborated with several researchers and clinical specialists, conducted observation sessions in over 100 structures, and tested with 600 beta users.

Our design process is particularly tedious because the end-user has specific needs: we talk about children with sensory-perceptive sensibilities who learn better using visual stimuli and who shouldn’t be over-stimulated. All details are important, from the expressivity and morphology of the avatars to the color scheme and audio-visual depiction of concepts. One risk presenting a user-specific design to the caretakers, because they have a harder time understanding the interface for the children.

Then there is the question of the nature of our work: evaluating socio-emotional skills is very difficult and the standardized tests used by health professionals are not always adapted for the specific needs of a person on the autistic spectrum. Testing and evaluation are particularly difficult for non-verbal users, i.e. diagnosed people who cannot communicate verbally.

Great help for us was working with autistic adults who helped us make UX UI decisions, by pointing out clear preferences for audio-visual content used in the app. Their testimonials were very useful to better understand the needs and frustrations of both children and adults on the spectrum.

While the app was designed on principles based on numerous studies and we have received very positive feedback from our users, a longitudinal test is required to assess the long-time effects of the application usage. We are currently preparing a clinical study with a cohort of at least 50 children to study the usability and effectiveness for sustained use of the app for more than 2 months.

Furthermore, important strategic decisions still need to be taken, for instance: whether we will present our software as an educational digital tool or a medical device, where intense work will be needed to obtain the required certifications and further validate a business model? These are very important topics for the following period.

Early days: working on prototyping, first conferences, and promotion materials (all of which are outdated now)

-  
Adela Barbulescu, on starting Emoface ($0/month) full story ➜

How To Find The Right Developer For Your Medical Software Development Business

If you (or others on your team) don't have the necessary coding/design skills to build the product on your own, finding the right developer for your medical software development business is a critical piece to bringing your idea to life.

Prior to hiring someone, you'll want to:

  • Have a very clear understanding of what your product (or MVP) will look like
  • Understand what the details of the user experience will look like (pages, how users sign up, backend administrative details, billing, reports etc). It may help to draw out the prototype and UX experience on a design platform such as Sketch
  • Understand what features you want to implement now and even those in the future
  • Understand the costs and time associated with hiring a developer and set a budget (more on that below)

Here are some ways you can find a developer:

Case Study

Arielle Frank, founder of Clout Collective talks about her experiences and lessons learned when hiring a developer as a non-technical founder:

My first attempt to find a developer was a massive failure. I was basically screaming to be taken advantage of with my lack of technical knowledge and a heart full of hope. I signed an extremely unfavorable contract with a developer based in Morocco who claimed to offer “discounted” development services in exchange for equity in the company. By “discounted” I mean that it would cost only $40K to build the MVP. At the time I had no frame of reference for whether or not this was normal and justified it to myself.

Luckily, after a lot more internet sleuthing, I found my current developer, Adeva. Working with Adeva was the opposite experience of my initial encounter in every way. At $8K, Adeva’s quote for my MVP was literally 1/5th the cost of the original developer! I decided to save money on a front-end designer for V1 by using a template and designing things where I could in Figma.

I was forced to figure out many of the details and features of the platform upfront since Adeva couldn’t give me a quote without detailed user stories.

When building out the prospective features, I tried to focus on the end result and work backward from there.

For example, the end goal was for a content creator to be able to read a review and know whether or not they want to collaborate with a specific brand. I used this goal to inform the questions I collected for the reviews and the best way to display this info. During this phase, I also relied heavily on my beta testers for feedback about which info would be the most useful for them.

It’s tempting to add a bunch of cool, slick features when you’re building your product, but my brilliant mentor encouraged me to focus on doing one thing extremely well.

article

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Wilson Hung, on starting ARPU (/month) full story ➜

🚀 How To Launch Your Medical Software Development Business

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Build A Website

Building a website is imperative when launching your business, and with the right tools in place, this can be a simple task to check off the list (without having to hire someone).

  1. Pick a domain name that's easy to remember and easy to type
  2. Choose a Web Hosting Plan (ie. Shopify, Squarespace)
  3. Make sure you choose the right theme and design
  4. Implement the proper page structure (ie. about page, contact page, pricing etc)

To learn more about how to build a stellar website with little stress, we give you all the details on this step-by-step guide.

Web Design

Once you have chosen the domain, web hosting, and platform, it's time to get started with the design phase.

Themes are a great way to produce the fundamental style and identity of your website - this includes everything from your font design to your blog post styles.

One of the best ways to get started is to simply explore the various themes (free or paid depending on what you're looking for) and test them on your site.

If web-design really isn't in the cards for you, you may want to consider outsourcing a web designer to help bring your vision and brand to life.

Launch Strategies For Your Medical Software Development Business

There are various different ways you can launch your medical software development business successfully.

Here are a few different strategies to get customers excited about your medical software development business.

  • Build hype with a landing page: you can effectively do this through waiting lists, discounts, countdown timer etc
  • Create a teaser video: even just a 30 second video is a great way to exposure for your medical software development business, and possibly even go viral
  • Reach out to influencers: The right influencer for your product has the ability to reach your audience with just one post, and because of their loyal following, this could lead to a big return for you.
  • Get Press: Whether you plan a PR stunt or get exposure through a popular news outlet, this is a great way to attract initial customers
  • Launch on popular sites: A great way to get buzz about your medical software development business is to submit your launch to popular startup sites.

Here are a few popular sites to launch on:

Learn more about how to launch your business successfully ➜ here

Dan Prince, founder of illumisoft dives deep into the process of launching the business:

Case Study

In early 2014, I was allowed to help someone in dire need, the CEO of an early startup by the name of Unidoor Enterprises, who had hired a technology agency to produce a prototype of a software system. After several months without any evidence of progress, he wanted me to help him determine if he should continue that relationship. He wanted me to do an assessment, and of course, he wanted to pay me for my time.

My initial response was to turn him down. I didn't need another job. I had a good job already as a software development manager over several teams at Epiq Systems in Kansas City. But over the next several weeks, he contacted me several more times, asking and then finally pleading with me to help him.

I gave in and agreed, but only because of his desperation. I said I would help him, but I wasn't going to charge him because I didn't want the hassle of billing and taxes. I just wanted to give him a quick favor and then go on with my life.

After a preliminary audit of the agency situation, I determined that they would not be able to provide the system. I reported the same back to the Unidoor CEO with regret about the situation. But then I saw hopelessness in his eyes. The owner had invested a lot of money, and the lack of software was keeping them from moving forward.

If the CEO couldn't deliver on his part, it would be a huge issue for the entire company. So, again, I gave in and told him I would see what I could do. Within a month, I had hired a handful of developers and was busily creating the software for Unidoor.

Learn everything that you can learn. Understand that people are flawed and that you have to accept them for their contribution rather than their proximity to your ideal.

When I first started illumisoft, we were not a purpose-driven company. My only goal at that time was simply to stay in business and to do so, we aimed to provide our services to anyone and everyone that needed them. I didn’t even know what a purpose-driven company was, but I knew I could help any business reduce costs and increase efficiency by modernizing its processes with technology and intelligence.

A couple of years into it, we completed a project that helped a local hospital do diabetes research, and we learned something very valuable.

After the project, we learned that the results of the work that we had done were going to benefit hundreds of thousands of children with type one diabetes who live longer, happier, healthier lives. The joy I felt personally provided such a great level of satisfaction that simply reducing business costs paled in comparison. Knowing that our work helped so many people was a real-life changing experience.

Since that day, we have revamped illumisoft and turned our focus on providing services only within healthcare and healthcare research companies. We realized that it’s not enough to build good solutions; it’s not enough to delight our clients; We want to provide a benefit to the world, or it’s just not worth doing.

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Dan Prince, on starting illumisoft ($66,000/month) full story ➜

🌱 How To Grow Your Medical Software Development Business

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Experiment With Pay Per Click Ads (PPC)

Pay-per-click (PPC) is a performance-based marketing method that allows you to show specific ads for services or products oriented to a very defined target, with the goal that the user visits your website or landing page.

Here are some tips to consider:

  • Consider connecting the ad to your corresponding landing page so that the audience receives the necessary information after clicking on the ad.
  • Conversion Tracking: When running PPC campaigns, be sure to run the ads with conversion tracking.
  • Focus on quality keywords, even if there are few as this will save you time and money. When assessing the performance of a keyword, it's important to track the expense, conversion, and cost per conversion, as well as the ROI.

PPC advertising can be a very important lead generator as long as it's done properly. Your PPC campaign is intended to drive traffic to your website and help the business scale.

Additionally, if the campaign is not having the desired results, you can make the necessary changes immediately to improve them.

Case Study

Ryan Schortmann, founder of Display Pros talks about their investment in PPC Ads:

My name is Ryan Schortmann and I’m the founder of Display Pros. We are a custom trade show display booth company offering easy to use portable display “kits” for small and medium businesses wanting to get into the trade show game.

It did not take long to come to the realization that to compete at any reasonable level, we were going to need to take the plunge and invest in Pay Per Click ads and display.

From experience, I know that it is important to give Google’s hivemind some time to settle in before each campaign starts seeing consistent results (this is largely dependent on budget).

A certain amount of PPC budget must be viewed as a “marketing research” expense and then you can look at the analytics data and make informed decisions on where to refine, tweak or plain scrap an idea.

Google Shopping was an entirely new concept for me. You can’t assign keywords to products so at first, I was asking myself “How the hell do you refine these?”. Then I found some good reading material and courses and learned of some advanced methods that the pros are using. It turns out you can utilize negative keyword lists combined with the priority setting on each shopping campaign to “shape” the keywords that are coming in and how much you are spending on them.

To learn more about PPC Ads and Google Shopping, check out this video to learn everything you need to know!

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Ryan Schortmann, on starting Display Pros ($30,000/month) full story ➜

Improve your SEO

SEO is not just about driving traffic to your site, it's about driving the RIGHT traffic to your site, and ultimately, converting leads into customers.

One of the most important aspects of SEO is understanding what your customers are searching for, otherwise known as "keyword research."

Here are some tools that can help you choose the right keywords for your medical software development business.

Publish Great Content

Finding keywords is an important piece of the puzzle, but Google also ranks your site based on the actual content you produce, as this is what your customers are reading and engaging with.

There are various different "forms" of content that you may want to consider diversifying on your sites, such as blog posts, articles, studies, and videos.

So let's discuss what google considers "good content:"

  • Length - This will vary depending on the page, however, generally having a sufficient amount of content helps search engines recognize that your site is a good source for a specific topic
  • Engagement - The longer people stay on your website to read your content, the higher Google will rank your website. It's important to have informative and "thick" content that keeps people reading
  • Avoid Duplicating Content - Google will recognize this and may consider your content to have low value
  • Ensure pages load quickly - This will also help with engagement and time spent on your website
  • Shareability - Create content that people want to share, and is easy for them to share, especially to their social media accounts (ie. "click to tweet" is a great example of this).

Another element of creating good content is creating consistent content.

If (and hopefully you are) publishing content frequently, it's important to stick to a schedule - this helps build brand trust and easy user experience with your customers.

Planning out your content with a content calendar is key to staying consistent.

Here are a few great content calendar tools that can help you:

  • Trello
  • Airtable
  • If you prefer to keep it simple, your average spreadsheet is just as useful!

Backlinks

Backlinks are an important piece to SEO, as they allow for other websites to link to your content.

Search engines recognize that other sites are essentially "verifying" your content and essentially rank you higher because of this.

Of course, some links are more valuable than others and can affect your site in different ways.

For example, if a highly valuable and credible site like the New York Times links to a page on your website, this could be remarkable from an SEO perspective.

Aside from organically getting mentioned from other sites, there are other ways that you can increase and earn backlinks:

  • Create infographics with relevant data that people want to share
  • Promote your content on different sites/look into "guest blogging"
  • Contact influencers/journalists/bloggers and ask them to mention you!
  • Write testimonials for other sites in exchange for a backlink
  • Leverage existing business relationships

Learn more about the fundamentals of SEO ➜ here and check out Neil Patel's 3 Powerful SEO Tips below

Build A Blog

One of the most effective ways to build brand awareness and grow your business is through consistently blogging.

We've outlined some useful tips for you to consider when creating content:

Consistency and Quantity

Quality is important, but it should be the standard for any content you publish.

What’s more important is consistency and quantity.

Consistency is as simple as committing to publishing and sharing a certain number of posts per week. For me, that’s three per week right now.

This kind of commitment is key, because one day, a random post will blow up, and you will have never expected it.

Oversaturation

The easiest mind trap is to think "I’m posting too much", and “I need to give my readers/audience/this platform a break”.

This is nonsense.

There is no such thing as oversaturation. Well, there is, but it is just someone else’s opinion.

For every person that tells you you are posting too much, there is another person that wants even more of your content.

You should ignore people’s opinions on how much you post.

Patience & Persistence

Keep posting, keep trying, and keep putting out good content on the regular. Your time will come, and when it does, it will change everything.

The only thing you have control over is your content.

You can’t control how people will react to it. You can’t control pageviews, likes, or shares.

So the only metric you should focus on is how much content you can put out in a week, month, etc.

Where to share your blog content

Mailing List

I know it sounds obvious, but the best places to share your content is on your mailing list. It is guaranteed traffic and it is a great way to get rapid feedback from your most loyal readers.

Send newsletters often. I have done once a week since starting, and I’m moving to twice a week soon.

Work on increasing your mailing list as well. Look into ways to increase your conversion rate to your mailing list. I added a flyout popup thing to my site and now I’m collecting ~30 emails per day.

An email newsletter is one of the most powerful assets you can have and it is worth its weight in gold.

Reddit

Reddit is one of my favorite places to promote content.

It is a very scary place because you will often get banned or heckled, but it can really pay off.

Create social media accounts for your blog, the main ones I use:

Twitter Facebook Instagram LinkedIn

Set up Buffer and share all of your blog posts to all of your accounts. All of these little shares really do add up.

Automate this as much as possible. I automated all of my social media for Starter Story.

Facebook Groups

When I started out, I put together a spreadsheet of relevant Facebook groups for my niche, and I would post to these groups whenever I had a big story I wanted to share.

Grow Your Email List

The more engaged list of emails, the more engaged customers, which ultimately leads to more sales.

One of the best ways to start growing your list is by providing your customer with something free (or discounted) in return.

This could also be anything from:

  • Ebook
  • Fascinating case study
  • Video series
  • Free week of the product
  • Discount on the product

Learn more about how to grow your email list and improve email marketing ➜ here.

Case Study

Dylan Jacob, founder of Brumate states their email collection tactic that is proven to work:

We use Spin-a-Sale for this (you spin a wheel for a discount code in exchange for subscribing to our email list). This has been the best email-collecting tool we have found because the customer truly feels like they won a prize rather than just a coupon code.

Even if a customer doesn’t convert right away, if we have their email we have a 19% chance of converting them into a future customer whether that is through future promotions, new releases, or simply just sending an email at the right time for a purchase to finally make sense for them.

We also have a return customer rate of over 14%, so one out of every 6 people we convert will end up buying from us again with an average order value of over $60.00.

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Dylan Jacob, on starting BrüMate ($12,000,000/month) full story ➜

Add an exit-intent popup to your online store

A great way to double, or even triple, your email opt-in rate and to grow your list is to add an exit-intent popup to your site, and offering a discount or content upgrade for subscribers.

Here's an example of what that might look like:

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Case Study

One thing that I spent years NOT doing, that I now kick myself about, is adding an "exit intent pop-up" to our site, which lets people enter a sweepstakes to win a Xero Shoes gift certificate.

That one idea has added over 100,000 subscribers to our email list, which is one of our most effective marketing channels.

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Steven Sashen, on starting Xero Shoes ($4,000,000/month) full story ➜

Improve Your Email Marketing

Different types of emails

Here are the most common types of email campaigns you can send to your customers and their benefits:

  • Welcome emails - the perfect way to provide information from the start with a clear CTA. Make sure to tell your customer everything they need to know about your product or service.
  • Newsletters - a great way to give customers updates or send out your latest content
  • Product launch emails - the quickest (and easiest) way to increase sales is by selling to current customers. Make sure they're the first on the list to know about your new product
  • Promotional emails - promote discounts, deals coupons etc. Try and make this feel exclusive and for a limited time only
  • Abandoned cart emails - give your customers a reason to complete their purchase!

Here's a great resource for finding curated email designs, for all types of email campaigns!

Abandonded Cart Flow

The abandoned cart workflow is one of the most effective strategies for turning your lead into a customer, and a powerful tool to have if you're an e-commerce business.

Think about all the times that you went on a shopping frenzy only to add items to your cart and then either forget or realize nows not the right time to pull the trigger.

Then, minutes later you receive an email saying "Hurry up! Your cart is waiting - and we want to provide you with 20% off your order."

Maybe that's the special touch (and discount) you needed to pull that trigger.

Implementing this workflow can automatically trigger this for your business every time a customer abandons their cart.

Here's a great example of an abandoned cart email from Brooklinen:

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Things they do well:

  • Showcase 5-star reviews from other customers
  • Offer a small discount + free shipping
  • Great design + clear call to actions!

Form partnerships for your medical software development business

Starting a medical software development business is all about building relationships and becoming an integral part of your community.

Many entrepreneurs make the mistake of thinking they can do everything on their own. In reality, other businesses (even your competition) and members of your community can be a huge piece of your growth strategy.

When forming any type of partnership, a lot of energy and time can go into this. To ensure it's worth your while, dive deep into the vetting process and ask yourself (and them) the following questions:

  • What are your businesses values and priorities?
  • Who are your customers? What matters most to them?
  • In what ways can we both bring value to each others businesses? Cross promotions? Clout/credibility?
  • Should we do a trial run first to make sure this partnership works out before finalizing an agreement?
  • What will the agreement look like?

Once you have an idea as to what the ideal partnership agreement looks like, that's when the outreach begins (the hardest part)!

Here are some different ways you can meet other entrepreneurs and form partnerships:

  • Simply talk to other people in the medical software development business industry. You'd be surprised as to how willing other entrepreneurs are to share their knowledge with you
  • Host an event: By inviting people to your event in your community and industry, you may be able to form partnerships and expand your clientele
  • Join a facebook community: Nowadays, everything is online. A great way to meet other people is to become 'active' on a public forum or community
  • Use other social networks such as LinkedIn or Twitter to aid your outreach. This can be a very powerful tool if used properly.

Forming partnerships and building relationships within your community can be a very valuable tool, but it's important that you do your due diligence and avoid going in blind to any sort of partnership. This can save you months, if not years of time.

Case Study

Mike Aspinall, founder of The Crafty Gentlemen discusses how brand partnerships are the most important part of his growth strategy and revenue stream:

My main revenue stream is sponsored brand partnerships, whereby a company pays me a fee to feature their product within one of my blog posts.

Over the years, I’ve worked with some really cool brands – Etsy, Hobbycraft, Cricut, Pinterest, Gorilla Glue, Singer, Janome, Brother, Bosch, and lots more.

For a long time, I was hesitant to charge for my work – I was happy to work in exchange for products. But there came a point where I was being offered more work than I could have said yes to – something had to change. So I started to charge for partnerships. And brands agreed, no questions asked!

The last 6-12 months have been the most successful yet for my business. I’m making regular revenue through multiple streams, including sponsorships, media appearances, influencer work, and passive ad revenue. My website traffic is at an all-time high, and growing – as are my social media followings:

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Mike Aspinall, on starting The Crafty Gentleman ($1,200/month) full story ➜

🏃🏼‍♀️ How To Run Your Medical Software Development Business

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How To Retain Customers For Your Medical Software Development Business

Retaining customers is one of the most effective ways to grow your medical software development business.

Oftentimes, it's easy to find yourself focusing on generating new customers, vs retaining your current ones.

Look at it this way - you are 60-70% more likely to sell a new product to an existing customer than you are a new customer.

That's not to say that finding new customers and revenue streams is not important, however, the easiest (and most inexpensive) source of new revenue is right there in front of you.

Here are some ways you can retain customers for your medical software development business:

  • Responding to comments on social media
  • Send discounts (or freebies) to loyal customers
  • Provide valuable content, for free
  • Write a hand written thank you note
  • Provide awesome customer service and build relationships with customers

To find out more tips and tricks on retaining customers, check out this article ➜ here

Adela Barbulescu, founder of Emoface dives deep into the process of attracting and retaining customers:

Case Study

An important step before launching is building a solid community of users and partners. If you are just launching a business, it is essential that the founders are able to pick up the phone and interview potential clients. As I started, this was a particularly difficult step: first of all, as a creator of the product with a technical background, having a commercial/marketing stance felt very weird; added to this, French was my third language and the people interviewed came from a professional background with a specific lexical field.

What helped me kickstart this step was working with a growth hacker who designed a schedule with a discourse we wrote together: I had 3 weeks to interview 10 associations, 10 schools and 10 liberal practitioners. These first contacts revealed essential information and some of them became longtime partners.

Looking back, I can identify several mistakes, among which the initial tendency to do everything on my own and the obsession with details, without having cleared a strategy.

Another step that helped gather qualitative information was publishing on our website an open questionnaire for different segments (professionals, parents, autistic adults, association members).

The next step was creating partnerships with decision-makers and expanding our network by participating in important events in the field. I particularly recall an AI forum during which I gave an interview (unbeknownst to me) to a reporter representing a national press agency. Her article was later re-published in national newspapers which resulted in 3000 new visitors to our website.

Today we are still in the process of launching our first product but we have been through the process of launching a beta test last year. We did it as soon as the first confinement in France was installed and we believe this had a big impact especially on the usage of the app from home.

The growth was steady and we haven’t yet relied on paid apps nor spent much effort on SEO. 30% of the users come from Google search and 30% from recommendations. The rest is an aggregation of social network (20%), press, newsletter announcements from our partners, conferences and workshops.

Last year was very rich in terms of partners and accelerators we worked with, which also gave us access to their networks and helped us carry a PR campaign in Romania. We are now in the process of defining our digital and commercial strategy in order to attain the objectives for this year: reaching at least 2000 new users, testing the business model (mobile store subscription plan) and conducting a clinical evaluation.

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Adela Barbulescu, on starting Emoface ($0/month) full story ➜

Diversify Your Product Line

Adding new products to your business is a great way to expand into new markets and grow your business.

It's important to note that adding new products and diversifying may not be in the cards for you right this moment, and that's okay. You can always consider it down the road.

Here are some reasons you may want to considering adding/diversifying your product

  • Meeting the needs of your customers
  • Establish yourself as a top provider in your industry and stay ahead of the game with competition
  • Resistance to downturns/trends fading
  • Create new revenue streams

Provide Great Customer Service

Providing exceptional care and creating relationships with clients is a great way to build your reputation and retain customers.

Whether you are an online business or a physical business, it's highly important to communicate with customers and make them feel like they are the priority.

Just remember: customer service represents your brand, values, vision and YOU as a person.

Build a Referral Program

Word of mouth is one of the best ways to get the word out about your business and acquire new customers. Especially when you are starting out, it’s important to build a solid referral program to encourage existing customers to help you find new ones.

A great way to do that is by offering a reward (ie. credit on your service or cash) to customers that refer you to their friends and family.

A fantastic referral program will help with clout, credibility, and establishing yourself in the space.

Authenticity

As a brand, you want to deliver an experience that authentic, honest and transparent.

Don't make the mistake of giving your audience less credit than they deserve.

Case Study

Be Authentic

If you go around chasing every trend and only focused on yourself and money, you’re going to lose very quickly.

There have been many times where we have been tempted to do this but stayed true.

Sure we sacrificed sales, but we kept our integrity, played the long game and people saw and appreciated that, and really began emotionally investing in the brand.

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Valentin Ozich, on starting I Love Ugly ($300,000/month) full story ➜

Word of Mouth

The most tried and true way to grow a medical software development business is through word of mouth - some entrepreneurs would say it's more important than all social media.

Why you should focus on word of mouth:

  • Consumers trust word of mouth above all other forms of marketing
  • 92% of consumers believe recommendations from friends and family over all forms of advertising
  • 64% of marketing executives indicated that they believe it is the most effective form of marketing

Learn more about word of mouth in our guide: 30 Ways Founders Grow Their Business ➜

How To Crush The Sales Process For Your Medical Software Development Business

You may find yourself in a spot where you're ready to hire a few (or many) salespeople to support the sales conversion process.

Regardless if you have one or thirty salespeople, it's critical that you assign them specific roles and responsibilities to nurture the client and provide excellent support.

Mike Korba, co-founder of User.Com walks us through the entire sales process and which teams are responsible for what:

Case Study

User.com Sales Process

Each user and account is qualified with a specialist. For business leads, they are handled by the sales team, and if they are qualified we give them a demo, more than often at the end of their fourteen-day trial. If they’re happy they’ll add a payment, and get an account manager, so a customer support and success team who will help implement the solution and to use the technology.

Sometimes, users will convert naturally on their own, after using the freemium product and finding it to be something that they will find beneficial.

After they convert, we help with onboarding, give them some personalized tips for their specific business or industry to grow plus all kinds of support, for whatever they need - something we take huge pride in.

The team is right now more than 30 people, with more than half working on the IT and product side, and the rest are in three teams: Support, Marketing, and Sales who all work together very closely.

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Mike Korba, on starting User.com ($100,000/month) full story ➜

Resources

We put together the best resources on the internet to help you start your medical software development business.

Tools

Books

Web Resources

Videos

Case Studies

meet the author
Pat Walls

I'm Pat Walls and I created Starter Story - a website dedicated to helping people start businesses. We interview entrepreneurs from around the world about how they started and grew their businesses.