flipMD for Venture Capital Firms

So you’re browsing flipMD on a slow night at the hospital and you see a new job posting by a venture capital firm. You’re used to working with other docs, clinical researchers, and maybe pharma companies, but what’s this all about?

Although you may not be familiar with the concept of venture capital firms just yet, it’s a safe bet that you’ll love working with one. Venture capital firms—or “VC” firms as they’re known in the biz­—are great partners for our physician consultants. This is because they offer a wide range of jobs, allowing you to catch a break from the day-to-day grind. And it doesn’t hurt that they pay really well. Basically, it’s a win-win situation for your brain, resume, and wallet.

What is a venture capital firm?

A VC firm is basically a group of investors that gets a bunch of money from privately wealthy people looking to grow their wealth. Firms use the money to invest in cutting-edge businesses in hopes of making a big profit—high risk, high reward kind of thing. They usually work within a specific industry, like medicine, and become experts in that field in order to develop a better eye for their investments.

VC firms are all around us. In fact, as a doctor, you probably prescribe medication or use a device that they funded on a regular basis.

Why do venture capital firms need physicians?

From healthcare market research to clinical trial consulting, venture capital firms work indirectly with medical experts on a wide range of projects. Remember: VC firms are the money people. They usually don’t have medical degrees, so they and the companies they fund depend on doctors for their expert opinion on the development side of things.

What sort of jobs do flipMD physician consultants do for these firms?

As a doctor myself, I’ve worked for VC firms on a bunch of different projects. Some of our consultants gravitate toward just one type of job. Others like to get involved in a couple of different things to keep it fresh. Here’s a small sampling of jobs you might see on our platform:

• Healthcare market research. This one’s a biggie. Before investing in a medical product or service, firms want to be sure that it’ll sell. Healthcare market research is the process of learning which patient populations might go for a particular product or service, and how to improve it to max out the market. For example, say a company developed an app that’s going to help providers reach underserved patients. They might hire you—a rural health physician—to help conduct a market analysis. You might help with creating a patient-facing survey, or an interview guide for patient focus groups.
• Product development. Unlike healthcare market research, which focuses on patient opinions, product development puts physicians in the driver’s seat. Basically, product development consultants help companies invent or improve their products and services. Take the above example of a healthcare app. Maybe a company is developing an app that can do some cool things, but they’re not sure exactly how it should be used. A physician consultant might recommend that it be targeted toward rural patients. They might then test out early versions of the app and make suggestions to make it even more awesome.
• Clinical trial consulting. On the other end of the spectrum, there’s clinical trial consulting. Here, the product or service has already been developed when the consultant steps in. The consultant’s job is to help the company design safe and effective trials to see if the thing actually works. They might be directly involved in designing the study, or maybe they’re hired to review a draft application to see if it meets all the nitty gritty IRB requirements. 

These examples barely scratch the surface of the work that our physician consultants can do for VC firms. Look out for future blogs where we’ll talk about other jobs you could do. Or, you know, just check out some jobs here!