5 Critical questions to answer before starting your HealthTech MVP

Staring at your big idea for revolutionizing healthcare but not sure how to take the first step? You're not alone.

Nearly 70% of the HealthTech founders we work with struggle with the same question: "What do I need to have ready before I start building my MVP?"

Some rush straight into development, burning through funding while building features nobody asked for. Others get caught in endless planning cycles, afraid to pull the trigger. Both approaches can sink your startup before it ever reaches patients or providers.

At Momentum, we've guided over 200 HealthTech products from concept to launch. We've found that founders who successfully build impactful MVPs have clear answers to these five critical questions before writing a single line of code.

Question 1: Who exactly are you building for?

"We're building this for doctors" isn't specific enough.

The most successful HealthTech MVPs start with a crystal-clear understanding of their users. Without this clarity, you risk building features that nobody wants or needs.

To answer this question thoroughly:

• Which specific healthcare providers or patients are you targeting?
• What's their technical comfort level?
• What devices do they use most during their workday?
• What frustrates them about their current workflow?

User definition directly shapes every aspect of your MVP. For caregiving platforms, understanding if you're serving professional caregivers versus family members affects everything from feature prioritization to UI design. Professionals might need scheduling and billing features, while family members might prioritize medication reminders and care coordination. Getting this wrong means building an MVP that solves the wrong problems or creates a user experience that frustrates your target audience.

Question 2: What specific problem are you solving?

You must be able to describe the specific problem your solution addresses in one or two sentences.

Vague problem statements lead to unfocused products. The tighter your problem definition, the more impactful your MVP will be.

To answer this question thoroughly:

• Who experiences this problem?
• How often do they experience it?
• How severe is the pain point?
• How are they solving it today (even inefficiently)?

A precise problem statement becomes your North Star for feature prioritization and development decisions. When scope creep threatens (and it always does), you can evaluate potential features against your problem statement.

For example, if your problem statement is "Home caregivers struggle to coordinate care plans across multiple family members," features like shared calendars and medication logs directly address this problem, while social networking features might not. This keeps your MVP focused and increases the likelihood of solving a real need.

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Question 3: How is your solution different from existing alternatives?

No matter how innovative your idea is, someone is likely addressing at least part of the problem already.

Understanding the competitive landscape helps you position your MVP to fill genuine gaps rather than reinventing what already exists.

To answer this question thoroughly:

• Who are your direct and indirect competitors?
• What are their strengths and weaknesses?
• Where does your solution provide unique value?
• What can you learn from their user reviews and feedback?

In HealthTech, differentiation often determines success. Without a clear understanding of the competitive landscape, you risk building an MVP that offers no compelling advantage over existing solutions. More importantly, competitor analysis reveals opportunity gaps. By studying user complaints about existing solutions, you'll identify the specific pain points not being addressed—perfect targets for your MVP's core features. This analysis also prevents you from wasting resources reinventing solutions that already exist and work well.

Question 4: What's your unfair market advantage?

What unique insight, experience, or resource do you have that others don't?

Without an unfair advantage, you're competing solely on execution—a risky proposition for startups with limited resources.

To answer this question thoroughly:

• Do you have domain expertise others lack?
• Do you have access to unique data or partnerships?
• Have you experienced this problem personally?
• Do you have technical capabilities your competitors don't?

Your unfair advantage isn't just a business school concept—it's what will help your MVP succeed despite limited resources. For HealthTech startups, unfair advantages often include clinical expertise, proprietary algorithms, unique datasets, or exclusive partnerships. These advantages should influence what features you prioritize in your MVP.

For example, if your founding team includes emergency physicians, your telehealth MVP might emphasize urgent care workflows that other platforms overlook. Identifying and leveraging your unfair advantage creates an MVP that stands out even with fewer features than established competitors.

Question 5: What are your resource constraints and regulatory requirements?

Every startup has constraints. Acknowledging them early shapes your MVP scope, timeline, and technical approach.

To answer this question thoroughly:

• What's your development budget and timeline?
• Will your MVP handle protected health information (PHI)?
• Does your product qualify as a medical device?
• Which regulatory frameworks will impact your approach?

In HealthTech, regulatory requirements aren't just bureaucratic hurdles—they fundamentally shape your development approach and timeline. If your solution will process protected health information, HIPAA compliance isn't optional, and it affects everything from your technology stack to your infrastructure decisions. Similarly, if your product qualifies as a medical device, FDA approval requirements will significantly impact your go-to-market strategy.

Understanding these constraints upfront prevents costly pivots and rewrites later. It also helps you make strategic decisions, like whether to launch a non-regulated version first while pursuing approvals for your full vision.

Turning answers into action: The workshop approach

Converting insights into a concrete development plan requires structure. At Momentum, we've developed a three-step workshop process that transforms these critical questions into actionable MVP requirements.

Step 1: Problem & user workshop

This initial workshop focuses on establishing the foundation of your HealthTech product by deeply understanding both the problem and the people experiencing it.

• Identify and validate the core problem
• Define detailed user personas
• Map the user journey and pain points

Step 2: Solution & differentiation workshop

Once we understand the problem space, this workshop shifts focus to your unique solution and how it stands apart from alternatives.

• Analyze competitive landscape
• Identify your unfair advantage
• Prioritize features using the MoSCoW method (Must-haves, Should-haves, Could-haves, Won't-haves)

Step 3: Constraints & validation workshop

The final workshop tackles practical considerations that will shape your development approach and timeline.

• Assess regulatory requirements and technical constraints
• Define how you'll validate your assumptions
• Establish resource allocation and timeline planning

Each workshop produces specific deliverables that become your MVP requirements document, guiding all subsequent development decision

What you don't need before starting MVP development

While having clear answers to these five questions is essential, some founders get stuck in analysis paralysis. Here's what you don't need before starting MVP development:

Perfect UI/UX designs for every screen.

Wireframes for core flows are enough to start. Detailed pixel-perfect designs can waste precious time and resources, especially since your understanding of user needs will evolve once real people start using your product.

A complete business plan with 5-year projections.

You need a clear problem and value proposition, not perfect forecasts. In healthcare especially, market dynamics change rapidly with regulatory shifts and new technologies. Focus on your immediate value proposition and initial target market instead.

A massive user research study.

Start with 5-10 quality interviews with potential users. Deep conversations with a small number of the right users will reveal more actionable insights than surface-level feedback from hundreds. Quality trumps quantity in early-stage user research.

A fully staffed engineering team.

Begin with a lean, focused team that can adapt quickly. Large teams can actually slow down early MVP development with communication overhead and conflicting opinions. A small, experienced team with healthcare domain knowledge will move faster and more efficiently.

A final technology stack decision.

While you need a general approach, being too rigid about specific technologies can create unnecessary constraints. Your initial MVP might be better served by technologies that enable rapid iteration rather than what you'd choose for a mature product.

Ready to build your HealthTech MVP the right way?

Answering these five critical questions is just the beginning of your MVP journey. To help HealthTech founders navigate the entire process from idea to launch, we've created The MVP Development Playbook for Healthcare – a comprehensive guide that walks you through:

• How to validate your HealthTech idea before spending on development
• Step-by-step MVP planning frameworks and templates
• Decision guides for technology selection in healthcare
• Compliance considerations and timelines
• Practical tips from successful HealthTech MVPs

This playbook distills our experience from guiding over 200 HealthTech products to market into actionable strategies you can implement immediately.

Download The MVP Development Playbook for Healthcare – Free guide to building successful HealthTech MVPs.