Purpose of this study is to define the components of a Go-To-Market (GTM) strategy for a new disruptive medical device and study how they are utilized by startups. As many companies entering the market for digital medical devices are startups the focus here is in looking at the startup specific questions of strategy formation. The globally increasing healthcare costs create the demand for new and more advanced medical devices, technologies and services. Some of the technologies utilized in medical devices are more established but there is an increasing number of more disruptive technologies and new startups entering the market resulted by the digitalization requirements of many of the products and services. Additionally many medical companies are already stating digital as their focus area.

The data collection method of the study was semi-structured interview with interview guideline followed up by telephone and face-to-face meetings. Ten startups were interviewed.

The results showed that there were two startup specific areas affecting the planning which customer influence and financial situation. Also customers had a strong impact on the planning and decision making.

There are various components most companies include in their GTM plans. These were trade fairs, locating the opinion leaders and seeking customer feedback. On the other hand, very few used publications, conducted market research or used formal models in their planning. Additionally the approach for geographic sequence for new markets to enter had a variety of methods and many of the interviewees had not finalized the planning for opening offices in other countries.

Based on the articles, books and interviews it was quite evident that there really is no easy to use formula on how to get the GTM strategy right. There are just pointers on what should be taken into consideration, which are the most common areas to cover and various examples of unsuccessful attempts as well as a few successes. Still by and large it is a question on making subjective decisions on what is important for your company, the constraints affecting it, disruptiveness of technology, competition and many other internal and external factors.