Vertical Guide
Digital Health Go-to-Market.
How to launch and scale pipeline for digital health companies — from telehealth to digital therapeutics — in a market growing from $98.69B to $266.5B.
Major Takeaways
$266.5B
Projected U.S. digital health market size by 2035 (from $98.69B in 2026).
11.67%
Compound annual growth rate for digital health through 2035.
VC-backed
Most digital health companies need pipeline fast to justify valuations.
Pilot-first
Digital health buyers want proof of concept before full commitment.
Clinical + Consumer
Digital health straddles clinical efficacy and user experience.
7 days
Time to first qualified meeting with a healthcare-specialized SDR team.
Digital health is the fastest-growing segment in healthcare. The U.S. market is projected to grow from $98.69 billion in 2026 to $266.5 billion by 2035 — an 11.67% compound annual growth rate. Telehealth, remote monitoring, digital therapeutics, and AI-powered clinical tools are reshaping how care is delivered.
But for digital health companies, growth creates a different kind of pressure: the need to demonstrate pipeline traction fast — often to justify venture-backed valuations. This guide covers go-to-market strategies for digital health companies, including who buys, what they demand (evidence and pilots), and how to build pipeline when you're racing against a funding runway.
The Digital Health Market
Digital health encompasses several sub-categories, each with distinct buyers and GTM motions:
Telehealth & Virtual Care
Buyers: Health systems, clinics, payers
Provider sales — CIO/CMIO buyers, integration-critical
Remote Patient Monitoring
Buyers: Health systems, ACOs, primary care
Clinical + operational selling, outcome-driven
Digital Therapeutics (DTx)
Buyers: Providers, payers, employers, pharma
Evidence-first, often requires prescription or reimbursement pathway
AI & Clinical Intelligence
Buyers: Health systems, research institutions
Clinical credibility + technical evaluation, pilot-first
Patient Engagement
Buyers: Health systems, clinics, employers
Consumer-grade UX + clinical integration
Wearables & Consumer Health
Buyers: Employers, payers, consumers (B2B2C)
Dual motion — enterprise contracts + consumer adoption
The common thread: digital health products straddle the line between clinical efficacy and consumer-grade experience. Your GTM strategy needs to address both — clinical evidence for the buyer and seamless UX for the end user.
Who Buys Digital Health?
Digital health buyers fall into four categories, each with different decision-makers and buying motions:
Health Systems & Providers
Key contacts: CIO, CMIO, Chief Innovation Officer, Clinical Department Heads
The largest segment. Integration and compliance are table stakes. They want to see pilot results and peer references before scaling.
Payers (Insurers)
Key contacts: VP of Care Management, Medical Director, VP of Digital Strategy
Buy population health, care management, and member engagement tools. ROI and member outcomes drive decisions. Sales cycles are long but contracts are large.
Employers
Key contacts: VP of Benefits, Chief People Officer, Wellness Program Managers
Buy wellness, mental health, and digital therapeutic solutions for employees. Cost savings and employee engagement are the primary drivers.
Pharma & Life Sciences
Key contacts: VP of Digital Health, Clinical Innovation, Patient Engagement
Partner with digital health companies for companion apps, adherence tools, and real-world evidence. Often structured as partnerships rather than pure vendor relationships.
Key Go-to-Market Challenges
The Evidence Gap
Digital health buyers — especially providers and payers — demand clinical evidence. Peer-reviewed studies, outcome data, and pilot results are often prerequisites for a serious conversation. Startups without published evidence face an uphill battle, even with a superior product. The solution: invest in evidence generation early and make it central to your outreach.
Pilot-to-Contract Conversion
Digital health buyers want proof. Most enterprise deals start with a pilot or proof-of-concept — but pilots can stall without a clear path to full contract. SDRs need to identify pilot-ready accounts, set clear success criteria, and maintain momentum through the pilot-to-contract transition. A pilot that drags on without closing is wasted pipeline.
The Funding Runway
Most digital health companies are venture-backed and need to demonstrate pipeline traction to justify valuations and raise the next round. This creates pressure to build pipeline fast — often faster than an in-house SDR team can ramp. The gap between 'we need pipeline now' and 'our SDRs are ready' is where many digital health companies stall.
Clinical + Technical Fluency
Digital health SDRs need to speak two languages: clinical (outcomes, patient populations, care pathways) and technical (integration, APIs, data security). A rep who can only speak one loses credibility with half the buying committee. Finding and training SDRs with this dual fluency is difficult — and expensive.
Reimbursement Uncertainty
For digital therapeutics and remote monitoring, reimbursement pathways (CPT codes, coverage policies) are still evolving. Buyers want to know whether your product is reimbursable — and if not, who pays. SDRs need to understand the reimbursement landscape and be prepared to address it, or route the question to someone who can.
Digital Health GTM Strategy
A winning digital health GTM strategy balances speed (for investor pressure) with credibility (for clinical buyers):
Lead with Evidence & Outcomes
Every outreach should reference clinical evidence — a published study, pilot result, or outcome benchmark. Digital health buyers filter out vendors who can't demonstrate efficacy. Make evidence the centerpiece of your messaging, not a footnote.
Target Pilot-Ready Accounts
Use intent data to identify health systems and payers actively investing in digital transformation. Look for innovation grants, digital health partnerships, and capital expenditure announcements. These accounts are primed for pilot conversations — not cold pitches.
Sell the Pilot, Not the Contract
Don't try to close a full enterprise deal in the first conversation. Sell the pilot — a time-boxed, success-criteria-defined proof of concept that lets the buyer see value with minimal risk. Frame your outreach around 'let's prove this works at your organization,' not 'buy our platform.'
Build a Content & Evidence Engine
Digital health buyers research extensively before engaging. Publish outcome data, case studies, clinical briefs, and ROI calculators. When a Chief Innovation Officer finally reaches out, they should already trust your expertise. Content also serves your clinical champions — they need evidence to advocate internally.
Engage Multiple Stakeholders
Digital health deals involve clinical, IT, finance, and operational stakeholders. Don't just prospect one role — engage the full committee with role-specific messaging. The account with four people aware of your solution moves faster than one with a single contact. Map the committee at every target account.
Move Fast with Managed SDRs
For venture-backed companies, speed is survival. A managed, healthcare-specialized SDR team can start booking qualified meetings in 7 days — not the 3 to 6 months it takes to hire and ramp an in-house team. This is often the difference between hitting the pipeline milestones investors expect and missing them.
When to Outsource Digital Health SDRs
For digital health companies — especially venture-backed startups — the case for outsourcing is often compelling. You need pipeline fast, your SDRs need clinical + technical fluency, and the cost of building an in-house team ($125K-$200K+ per rep) can consume runway that should go to product.
Outsource when:
You need to demonstrate pipeline traction to investors before the next funding round.
Your founding team is spending time on prospecting instead of building product.
You lack the healthcare sales expertise to reach clinical and IT buyers.
You need to land pilots fast — not in 6 months after hiring and ramping.
Your SDRs can't credibly discuss clinical evidence or integration capabilities.
A managed digital health SDR team brings reps who understand the dual clinical + technical conversation, a tech stack with intent data to find pilot-ready accounts, and CRM infrastructure to track pilot-to-contract conversions. Learn more about why managed SDR services outperform in-house teams, or see real client results.
FAQs
Frequently Asked Questions
What is digital health go-to-market?
Digital health go-to-market (GTM) is the strategy for launching and selling digital health products — including telehealth platforms, remote monitoring tools, digital therapeutics, wellness apps, and AI-powered clinical tools — to healthcare providers, payers, employers, or directly to patients. It requires balancing clinical credibility with consumer-grade user experience, and navigating a hybrid buyer journey that often involves both clinical and business stakeholders.
Who buys digital health products?
Digital health buyers vary by product type. Provider organizations (hospitals, health systems, clinics) buy telehealth and clinical workflow tools — with CIOs, CMIOs, and clinical innovation leaders as key decision-makers. Payers buy population health and care management platforms. Employers buy wellness and digital therapeutic solutions for their workforce. Direct-to-consumer products are sold to patients, often with reimbursement pathways through providers or insurers.
How do you sell to digital health buyers?
Selling digital health requires a dual approach: clinical credibility (evidence, outcomes data, peer references) combined with business-case selling (ROI, cost savings, efficiency gains). Buyers want to see pilot results before full commitment. Your SDRs need to understand both the clinical value proposition and the financial case — and be prepared to discuss integration, compliance, and evidence from the first conversation.
What is the digital health sales cycle?
Digital health sales cycles typically run 6 to 18 months for enterprise deals (health systems, large payers). However, pilot programs can launch in 4 to 8 weeks, and the pilot-to-full-contract conversion is often the longest part of the cycle. The key to shortening the cycle is landing pilots quickly with accounts that have a clear clinical or operational pain your product addresses.
When should a digital health startup outsource SDRs?
Digital health startups should outsource SDRs when they need to demonstrate pipeline traction to investors, when their founding team is spending too much time on prospecting instead of product, or when they lack the healthcare sales expertise to reach clinical and IT buyers. A healthcare-specialized SDR partner can start booking qualified meetings in 7 days — critical for startups racing to prove product-market fit before the next funding round.
How important is clinical evidence in digital health sales?
Clinical evidence is essential in digital health sales — especially for digital therapeutics, remote monitoring, and AI-powered clinical tools. Buyers (particularly providers) expect peer-reviewed studies, outcome data, and pilot results. Without evidence, your product is just another app. SDRs need to reference clinical evidence credibly in outreach, and your content engine should produce case studies and outcome data that champions can use internally.
Keep exploring
More from Connexu.
Explore the platform
The AI SDR Co-Pilot and managed SDR teams behind these results.
Managed vs. in-house
Why a managed SDR engine costs a fraction of building it yourself.
Client results
$32.1M+ in pipeline generated in 2026 and 1,663 meetings across healthcare clients.
HIPAA-compliant SDR outreach
How to run healthcare outreach that's both compliant and effective.
Selling to health system CMOs
What actually gets a CMO to reply — and what gets archived.
MedTech go-to-market playbook
From FDA clearance to first meetings in 90 days.
Scale your digital health pipeline.
Connexu's healthcare-specialized SDRs help digital health companies land pilots, prove outcomes, and build the pipeline investors expect — in 7 days, not six months.
Book a demo