How to Build a Successful DTC Healthtech Company

Co-founder and COO of Nutrisense Dan Zavorotny always wanted to see real and significant innovation in the healthcare space. With newly-released products and services barely moving the needle forward, he decided it was time to take that leap and pioneer meaningful change in the industry. 

After handing in his resignation as a healthcare consultant, he founded a digital health company called Nutrisense in just two weeks. The startup was built upon the simple mission to empower people to optimize their well-being by making behavioral changes based on their metabolic data. The platform couples continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) with one-on-one dietitian coaching to make personalized health recommendations. 

Nutrisense was able to generate over $5,000 in revenue through online channels in their first two weeks, but that was merely a taste of what was to come. The company recently went on to close a $25-million Series A round led by 1315 Capital, a healthcare-focused private investment firm. 

Nutrisense has raised a total of $32 million in investment thus far and plans to leverage this financing to serve more customers keen on up-leveling their metabolic health. Currently, the company is powered by a team of over 160 full-time employees, with thousands of members amongst their subscription base. 

As Nutrisense continues to facilitate change in the health and wellness community, Dan has kept his focus on building customer relationships and making product improvements that serve the company’s evolving needs. 

In this Medsider episode, we discuss the benefits and challenges of a direct-to-consumer business model in the healthcare space. Dan also explains how building customer relationships can help you create a product that solves a real problem and shares recruitment strategies for finding the best team members to support your company's growth. 

Key Learnings from Dan's Experiences 

• Going direct-to-consumer (DTC) brings on its unique challenges but is critical to disrupting the healthcare industry. A DTC model gets you valuable input on real-life, everyday problems, so you can make meaningful improvements to existing infrastructures in a way that drives the space forward. 

• Get your product into the hands of your customers as early as possible and be open to receiving feedback that can be used to guide the improvement process. Contrary to popular belief, you may not need high-powered clinical studies backing your product before entering the market. 

• The people you work with can make or break your company, and there are creative ways to get top talent on board with your mission. And it’s important to coalesce a diverse team—having the exact same mindset and skillset as someone else does not guarantee that a particular candidate is going to be the best addition to your tribe.