partnerships that work: navigating health tech with Andrea Jester’s playbook
NSBproject had the pleasure of of participating in “Navigating Health Tech Partnerships” on behalf of Research2Guidance, an engaging session focused on forming and scaling successful collaborations in health tech.
Andrea Jester, our business developer, shared insights drawn from an analysis of 200 partnerships conducted by NSBproject.
He began by noting:
Partnership is an overloaded word. People say partnership but mean very different things: validation, clinical access, distribution, reimbursement, procurement, or even brand credibility.
And he highlighted:
“If partnerships don’t delete risks or take you to the next level in some way, then they’re just making you busier.”
He also emphasized the importance of knowing which doors to walk through and the right sequencing—validation doors before go-to-market doors—a crucial strategy for navigating complex partnerships.
Other speakers offered complementary perspectives:
Josua Ziegler gave strategic advice on setting yourself up for partnership success in advance, optimizing existing collaborations, and knowing when an amicable separation may be the best path.
Eric A. Behrendt explored the security landscape and how it impacts partnerships, even referencing the “dark side” in his spotlight.
Ralf-Gordon Jahns shared a detailed analysis of why partnerships succeed or fail, breaking down lessons from his research and delivering a powerful closing message: you don’t have to do it all alone—finding the right support is easier than you think.
We also want to thank Marc W. Haddle, W Angus Wallace, and Sarah Bundy for their valuable commentary, and a special thanks to Jose Garcia, who expertly organized and guided the conversation, keeping the session engaging.
Takeaways from the session
Two partnership arenas startups face
Andrea outlined the two main arenas for startups and solution providers:
Ecosystem partnerships: hospitals, Living Labs, testing facilities, innovation hubs, clusters, accelerators—partners that help validate, integrate, and build evidence.
Industrial partnerships: large enterprises—pharma companies, medtech manufacturers, insurers, employers, big tech, or system integrators—partners that bring scale, channels, procurement power, and credibility.
Both are essential, yet both fail for predictable reasons.
Common reasons partnerships go wrong
Andrea highlighted key failure modes:
Misaligned expectations: different parties often define a “pilot” differently, leading to false milestones.
No clear owner of the “yes”: clinical, IT, legal, procurement, or reimbursement decisions may stall if no one owns them.
Mismatched incentives: hospitals, large enterprises, and startups each have different goals and risk tolerances.
Unspoken compliance and integration challenges: interoperability, privacy, cybersecurity, and regulatory readiness can block scaling.
The one thing successful partnerships share
Andrea shared the “tech transfer rule” for partnerships that truly enable market entry:
“A partnership must remove a real barrier to adoption and unlock the next decision gate. Otherwise it’s networking.”
He emphasized creating a shared de-risking roadmap tied to buyer decisions, with measurable market-access milestones. Examples include:
Clinical/outcome risk → RWE study endpoints + publishable evidence
Workflow/adoption risk → measurable adoption metrics + implementation playbook
Interoperability/IT/security risk → integration proof + security assessment
Economic/reimbursement risk → budget impact model + reimbursement pathway
Procurement/scaling risk → vendor onboarding + rollout plan
Practical takeaways: partnership sanity check
Andrea closed with actionable advice:
Name the buyer and the decision gate you are trying to pass next.
Define the specific risk blocking that gate.
Write a one-page roadmap with deliverables, timeline, and go/no-go criteria.
If a large enterprise asks for exclusivity, ask for the mirror image: resources + timeline + concrete market-access commitment.
Good partnerships don’t add activity, they remove risk and unlock a buyer decision.
