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The idea · 2 min
The frameworks the best operators use, pressure-tested across 150+ real healthcare companies. You're not getting one person's opinion. You're getting the synthesis.
DH
Doug Hayes · Marblehead
Twenty years selling and raising in healthcare, as an investor, a founder, and inside a health system. Pattern recognition across 150+ companies and 60+ health systems.
Frameworks drawn from the work of
You can't win everyone first.
The companies that break through pick one beachhead, win it completely, then use the references and credibility to open the next door. Trying to sell to everyone at once is how early healthcare companies stall. The job here is to find the one segment to win first.
How a wedge becomes a market
Win one
dominate a single segment
→
Earn proof
references and credibility
→
Expand
the next segment opens
Dominate a small pond before you enter a big one.
Pick one beachhead
Not three "priorities." One segment you can win completely and fast.
Score honestly, the math finds the wedge
Inflated scores hide the real answer. Rate each segment as it actually is today.
Winning small opens the next door
References and credibility compound. The first win is what makes the second possible.
Apply it to your market
Score your candidate segments
Score each segment 1 (weak) to 5 (strong) on the five things that predict a fast first win. Hover a column to see what it means. Be honest, inflated scores hide the real wedge.
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How this works — what to do, and why
Pick one beachhead you can win completely, before you enter the big pond. Score each candidate on pain, reach, pay, fit, lever. The math finds the wedge only if you score honestly. Winning small opens the next door.
Segment
Pain
Reach
Pay
Fit
Lever
Total
1 = weak / risky · 3 = mixed · 5 = strong. Score out of 25.
Your wedge
Win this one completely before you expand. It scores highest on pain, reach, pay, fit, and leverage, the five things that predict a fast first win. Everything else is "next," not "now."
Your one next move
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Full ranking
This is the two-minute version. The full version is what we do together, applied to your live deals.
Want a second read on your wedge before you commit a year to it?
Picking the wrong beachhead is one of the most expensive early mistakes in healthcare. A short call, no pitch.
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