By Jim Gibson, President, Gibson Consultants
That’s how I described a small healthcare software company where I was interviewing to head up revenue. The company was quietly dominating its niche. The software was needed in all claims and care management systems. But it was regulatory driven, changing every year, highly complex, and a generally heavy Product Management/Development lift. The buy vs. build decision was easy: buy – from this company. (Happy ending: I got the job, and the company ultimately had a very nice exit.)
Fast forward to 2025. I was reminded of my comment a couple of times lately.
As recruiters, our special sauce is the ability to tell the client’s story to candidates, to paint a picture for them, to help them connect the dots between their strengths and the future, and to get them to see themselves in the role as an image of success.
We recently completed a new search for a successful client that provides somewhat mundane but highly impactful services to health plans. Some other players, and nearly all the newer entrants to this domain, uniformly promote their technology, whether it be NLP or AI/ML. When during the kickoff I asked the CEO about AI, he replied, “Sure, we use AI, but it’s to make us perform better. It’s not what we lead with.”
I learned to appreciate much more this focus on providing value as I spoke with candidates in the trenches. As I was telling the story and describing the company’s value proposition, they immediately got it and agreed these mundane services are where the money is made.
A couple of weeks later, I was speaking with a former client who joined another company. We were talking about how we could help his new department top-grade the team. He left a good company that’s on a nice trajectory, so I asked him why he made the switch. Specifically, I asked what attracted him to his new company. He told me they do the fundamentals really well.
That’s it. No glitz, no glamor, no shiny object. Doing the fundamentals really well was enough for him to make the move. It’s good business.
There are so many healthcare companies doing fine work with breakthrough ideas. There is no shortage of problems to be tackled, and there is a lot of energy, creativity, and investment directed at them. It’s an exciting time to be in healthcare.
It’s also a time of hype and artifice.
We just finished conference season. The casual observer of exhibit halls couldn’t help but notice the same themes and jargon from vendor to vendor. Pity the buyer trying to sort through it all.
There are companies creatively solving real problems, and there are even more that aspire to. In many of these cases, they almost have the goods; they’re just not there yet. And so, they tout their technology or vision, often blurring the lines between what’s deliverable now and what’s to come. We used to call this “smoke and mirrors.” Again, pity the poor buyer.
But this isn’t new. AI has added another dimension to it, but hype has always been part of marketing. At least as long as I can remember.
And buyers have always bought for the same reason. They want solutions – real solutions that work. They want to save time, save money, and/or increase revenue. Shiny objects may capture their imagination and curiosity in the moment, but when they pull out their wallets, they want it to be for something that improves their lot.
Cater to that need and you have a good business.
Considering today’s technological advancements, we may live in the most exciting time in human history. It’s fun to imagine the possibilities for improving healthcare in the near term. But the key to success in the business of healthcare is – and always has been – solving the needs of the customer, however unsexy that may be.
