Full-stack solutions increasingly rely on an ecosystem architecture powered by a community of partner companies. Nate Beyor Managing Director and Partner • Experienced builders of digital products and solu- • Pharma IT will become more attractive as a tions are beginning to recognize that compliance customer target for healthtech companies. With influences products. For example, regulations often health provider budgets tight—and with IT even tighter limit investments in new products, yet compliance within them—growth-stage digital-health companies teams frequently take a spectrum of stances when need a path toward revenue and profitability that will interpretating these regulations. For instance, how can a bridge inevitably longer funding cycles. Although pharma pharmaceutical company support telehealth? Not at all? spends big on technology, it often does so in disjointed At arm’s length? Or by setting up some sort of virtual ways across the value chain (discovery, development, clinic? Answering this question, and others like it, will manufacturing and supply chain, commercial), with directly affect patients’ product and user experiences. solutions that are either built from the ground up or Thoughtful builders will therefore address these repurposed from other industries. As a result, over the questions head-on early in their innovation cycle. coming months, more comprehensive and industry- specific digital solutions will grow and compete for • Technology partnerships are no longer optional. pharma IT dollars. Full-stack solutions, composed of linked platforms across layers of the technology stack, increasingly rely on an ecosystem architecture powered by a community of partner companies. Within such an ecosystem, layers have different owners and work together through tech- nology interfaces. Strong platform layers will have robust connections through well-defined APIs and software development kits (SDKs), with business models to accompany them that allow the complete solution to scale by aligning incentives to all parties.