Physician Entrepreneurship: Understanding Medical Startups from Ideation, Innovation to IPO

Abstract

We live in extraordinary times where new healthcare innovations require novel ideas and requisite capital funding to commercialize products and services beyond the idea phase. Stalled innovations within the US healthcare sector have diminished the physician-patient health encounter. In response to this urgent-to-resolve challenge, many physicians have opted to become medical entrepreneurs to take on a portion of innovative healthcare delivery. In our study, we focus attention on empirical evidence that answers the research question: How do physician entrepreneurs navigate medical startups from ideation, innovation to IPO? We sought to theoretically test effectuation theory of entrepreneurship as a decision-making framework that can be used by physician entrepreneurs. We designed a qualitative multi-case study research method to answer the research question. This method was best suited to capture rich descriptive data, contexts, quality or meanings, processes, and human experiences of physician entrepreneurs. There are three expected contributions towards knowledge accumulation on physician entrepreneurship, medical startups, and venture capital funding: exclusive processes, insights into decision-making, and understandings of quality or meaning of lived experiences that illuminate interesting insights. This study amplifies personal voice through subjective perspectives of physician entrepreneurs that might not be heard elsewhere.

Keywords: physician, entrepreneur, healthcare, medical, innovation