Building Healthcare Software as a Clinician

Syllabus

1. Lesson 1: From Clinical Insight to Product Concept (20–25 min)

   • Translate a clinical workflow problem into a software product concept
   • Articulate your domain moat as a clinician-founder
   • Evaluate whether your idea is a product or a feature

   Takeaway: Your clinical frustration is your IP. The insight that makes you angry in the OR is the insight your competitors cannot manufacture.

2. Lesson 2: Understanding the Healthcare Tech Landscape (20–25 min)

   • Map the key segments of the healthcare technology market
   • Identify where your product fits and who the real incumbents are
   • Understand EHR ecosystems and their role as both partners and gatekeepers

   Takeaway: Know your competitive landscape before you build. The best product in a market with locked distribution channels still fails.

3. Lesson 3: Regulatory Basics: HIPAA, FDA SaMD & NSA (25–30 min)

   • Identify whether your product is regulated by the FDA as a Software as a Medical Device
   • Design a HIPAA-compliant architecture from the start
   • Understand NSA compliance requirements for billing-adjacent software

   Takeaway: Regulatory architecture is not an afterthought. Build your compliance posture in from day one — retrofitting it is 10x more expensive.

4. Lesson 4: Working With Developers Without a CS Degree (20–25 min)

   • Write a product requirements document that engineers can actually use
   • Evaluate developers and technical co-founders effectively
   • Structure equity and compensation arrangements that attract and retain technical talent

   Takeaway: You don't need to code. You need to communicate clearly, evaluate output honestly, and build a team that compensates for what you don't know.

5. Lesson 5: AI-Assisted Development: Claude Code & Cursor (20–25 min)

   • Use AI coding tools to accelerate development without a computer science background
   • Understand the capabilities and limitations of AI-assisted coding
   • Build a personal development workflow using Claude Code and Cursor

   Takeaway: AI coding tools have fundamentally changed who can build software. Domain knowledge is now the scarce input — not coding ability.

6. Lesson 6: Cloud Architecture for Healthcare Apps (25–30 min)

   • Understand the basics of cloud architecture for healthcare software
   • Select the right AWS services for a HIPAA-compliant application
   • Evaluate build vs. buy decisions for infrastructure components

   Takeaway: You don't need a private data center. You need to understand which AWS services are HIPAA-eligible and how to configure them correctly.

7. Lesson 7: Go-to-Market for Healthcare Software (25–30 min)

   • Choose the right pricing model for your healthcare software product
   • Build a sales strategy appropriate for your buyer type
   • Navigate the pilot-to-contract pathway with a health system or employer

   Takeaway: Healthcare sales cycles are long but predictable. Structure your pilots to generate outcomes data, and use that data to close the next customer.

8. Lesson 8: Funding Your Product (20–25 min)

   • Evaluate funding options appropriate for an early-stage healthcare software company
   • Understand SBIR grant mechanics and how to evaluate fit for your product
   • Prepare a fundraising narrative that resonates with healthcare investors

   Takeaway: Non-dilutive capital (SBIR) is chronically underused by clinician-founders. If your product has a clinical evidence angle, apply before you raise equity.

9. Lesson 9: Building a Data Moat (20–25 min)

   • Understand why proprietary data is more defensible than proprietary code
   • Design your product to collect outcome data from day one
   • De-identify data appropriately to enable research and analytics use

   Takeaway: Your data is your moat. Every customer interaction is an opportunity to widen it. Design your product to collect it systematically.

10. Lesson 10: From MVP to Scale (25–30 min)

    • Define a minimum viable product that validates your core hypothesis
    • Build the operational infrastructure to support a paying customer
    • Know when to hire, when to partner, and when to consider an acquisition conversation

    Takeaway: Scale follows signal. Get one customer to real outcomes before you build for ten. Everything else is expensive speculation.

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