Medtech  •  10 min read

A Custom Healthcare Software
Development Company Grows
From $8M to $17M in 16 Months

A Custom Healthcare Software
Development Company Grows
From $8M to $17M in 16 Months

“Matt and his team are true partners. They understand growth for software development”
- President & Founder

“Matt and his team are true partners. They understand growth for software development”
- President & Founder

“Matt and his team are true partners. They understand growth for software development”
- President & Founder

This case study details how we helped a Custom Software Development Company grow annual commercial revenue from $8M → $17M in just 16 months.

This is for leaders of Software Development companies that want to grow commercial revenue and predictably secure high-value, long-term contracts without waiting for referrals or relying on market demand.

Important Notice: As of December 2, 2023, certain details within this case study have been redacted to comply with confidentiality requirements arising from the client's initiation of a minority buy-out process.

The Problem

The Problem

Background
Our client, a custom software development company, serviced a diverse range of sectors including Healthcare, Finance, Education & Training, and Telecom.
They operated with a simple criterion: they took on any client who could afford their minimum project budget of $100,000. The team was largely technical, consisting of 75-100 members. The company went through a critical phase when an exit deal fell apart.

Sales Function Collapse
Previously, the company had a nearly complete sales function, led by a Vice President of Sales and supported by Business Development Representatives (BDRs).
Following the failed exit, the CEO discovered a nearly empty sales pipeline, a situation exacerbated by the sales team's inactivity in anticipation of the deal's closure. As a result, the entire sales team was fired. The subsequent attempt to hastily rebuild the sales pipeline through external cold-calling and outreach services which got minimal results.

Revenue Impact
Post-dismissal of the sales team, the company’s revenue generation, previously reliant on its sales function, plummeted to $8 million per year. They were still able to get some projects through referrals and their reputation. Accustomed to an active sales function, this sudden shift to a passive, wait-and-see approach created internal operational challenges and frustration.

Goals & Immediate Needs
Post-dismissal of the sales team, the company’s revenue generation, previously reliant on its sales function, plummeted to $8 million per year. They were still able to get some projects through referrals and their reputation. Accustomed to an active sales function, this sudden shift to a passive, wait-and-see approach created internal operational challenges and frustration.

High-Level Strategy

High-Level Strategy

Understanding the Challenge
We started by digging into the client's past and present projects, focusing on factors like project scope, timelines, client satisfaction, and project value. This helped us identify where they had the most experience and which projects were most profitable.

Interviews with the client's CTO, VP of Operations, and CEO gave us insights into their processes and the hurdles they were facing. A key discovery was their wide net in the market, targeting Healthcare, Finance, Education & Training, and Telecom. This jack-of-all-trades approach was spreading them thin and putting them head-to-head with over 30,000 competitors.

TGC's Strategy for High-Growth

  1. Selling in a Vacuum
    We worked with the CEO and VP of Operations to shift from a "we can do anything for anyone" mentality to becoming a niche-player, without limiting future growth opportunities. The goal being to stand out in the ocean of software development companies.

    -

  2. Go-To-Market Strategy
    Post-identification of the niche, we crafted a new Go-To-Market (GTM) strategy. This strategy was centered around the newly identified niche, ensuring that our messaging, service offerings, and business development efforts were all aligned to effectively target this sector.
    Answering the question: "How do we ensure we are perceived as the best option within that niche?"

    -

  3. Outbound Engine Development
    With the GTM strategy in place, we built an outbound engine to predictably book sales meetings within the sector.

    -

  4. Sales Process Documentation and Development
    With the GTM strategy in place, we built an outbound engine to predictably book sales meetings within the sector.

    -

  5. Sales Lead Recruitment
    Lastly, we headhunted a new VP of Sales, someone who knew this niche inside and out as well had the experience to drive the sales function effectively.

Growth Implementation

Growth Implementation

  1. Selling in A Vacuum Niche

Choosing the Right Niche: Why MedTech?
We took the humility pill and understood that trying to be the best option for all 4 industries was an elusive goal. The narrower our focus the easier it’s going to be to dominate. So, we decided to focus on one area where our client already had a strong track record: healthcare, and more specifically, MedTech. Our client had previously worked with big names in healthcare, giving us confidence in this direction.

To ensure the viability of the MedTech niche, we conducted a mini-campaign, sending approximately 2000 targeted emails over two weeks aimed at the Healthcare. MedTech stood out with a distinct need for our client's services, likely influenced by their existing case studies in this area.

We targeted a specific group within MedTech: large-small businesses and small-medium businesses. These companies are big enough to afford our client's services but small enough to make decisions quickly, avoiding long sales cycles. They were also a good fit for our new minimum project size of $500K.

Results
Specializing in MedTech for specific business sizes drastically reduced our competition, and made it easier to stand out. Resulting in making it easier to grow sales pipeline, close new projects without price comparison because we were perceived as the only option for Large-small and Small-Medium MedTech Companies.

Before: We can do anything for anyone with a competition of 30K+ Software Development Companies.

After: Large-Small & Small-Medium MedTech Companies with almost 0 competition.

  1. Go-To-Market Strategy

Now we were 1 of a maybe a handful other competitors that specialized within MedTech. But specializing isn't enough, we needed to be perceived as the best option for large-Small & small-Medium MedTech Companies that wanted anything custom software or technology.

How do you do that?

Transformational Case Studies - these are case studies that tie positive movements in the client's KPIs and the client’s experience into a persuasive argument. The ideal format for these case studies is in-depth, in-person client interviews lasting 7-10 minutes.

And ideally they showcase 1 of 2 things:

  1. Skill in tackling complex MedTech issues.

  2. Collaborations with widely recognized MedTech organizations.

They had both, it was light out.

Two of their MedTech clients, including a Fortune 100 MedTech organization, agreed to participate. We partnered with ​Testimonial Hero​ to manage the logistics, from video shoots to editing. As we (TheGrowthCurve) aren't the best "video" people.

Deployment

  1. Outbound Campaigns - Lead Generation
    We split each video into short,snappy, under-a-minute edits that became our spearheads in cold emails. Outbound(email) doesn't work without case studies. It might have in the past, but we've seen a 5-7X increase in positive reply rate compared to no case studies.

    -

  2. Sales Cycle Acceleration
    One of the biggest contributors to sales cycle length is trust or more specifically perceived likelihood of achievement. That's why buyers ask for references, case studies, and past work. They're inadvertnly questioning if you can deliver on the promises.

    So, the whole 10-minute full-length case studies were effective between meetings.

    What we did with these case studies was to compress the trust-building phase of the sales cycle. Prospects no longer needed multiple interactions to gauge our client’s credibility. The case studies expedited this process, allowing for quicker progression to the decision-making stage.

    In essence, these videos acted as a 24/7 references, silently working in the background, addressing concerns, and building confidence. By the time the next meeting rolled around, much of the groundwork in establishing trust had already been done, leading to a more streamlined and efficient sales process.

  1. Outbound Engine Deployment

We picked outbound as a method to grow sales pipeline because you can precisely target specific pain points on an individual level. For example, a CTO is triggered differently than an HR manager.

The outbound engine's workflow is detailed in the flowchart below:

Campaign #1: Mid-Sized MedTech North America & Europe
We targeted organizations with 200 to 5,000 employees across North America and Europe. The focus was narrowed to CTOs, CIOs, and their direct reports – because they influence technology decisions and investments. Here's the image of the Apollo search results showing our targeted MedTech companies:

We then started an email campaign, sending out 75-150 emails daily. These emails layered those short case studies from above with the specific pain points of each role.

Call Incentivizer
Since we had less than 5,000 people to target we needed to increase conversion rates, we introduced a 'Call Incentivizer' strategy. By offering mini-gifts, we were able to entice these CTOs and CIOs into initial sales discussions.

We were booking of 3-4 sales meetings per week within a month of the campaign's initiation.

Campaign #2: Fortune 500 MedTech Companies
This campaign ran simultaneously with CM #1, we decided we needed more logos at the F500 level. We tailored cold emails to the personal drivers of decision-makers—VPs, CTOs, and CIOs, since their personal career achievements often precede wider organizational goals in their priorities at this level. People are inherently selfish.

To pique their interest, we offered AirPods to incentivize an initial meeting.
Considering each project's value was expected to be at least $500,000, it made sense.

(Within the first 6 months we had these in our sales pipeline - above)

  1. Sales Process

The journey to develop this sales process wasn't straightforward. We lost around 20 opportunities trying to make this framework nearly from scratch.

Most existing B2B sales processes are tailored for SaaS companies focused on solving one predetermined problem, which simplifies their approach. Since we were using cold email, potential clients didn't have any prior knowledge or trust, plus we were selling relatively high-value custom software development.

Here is what it looks like:

  1. Interested Reply: The process begins with receiving a positive response to our cold email. Typically, these replies suggest a meeting time, like "I'm free at 3pm Tuesday next week." Then we send a calendar invite to set up a meeting.

    -

  2. Marketing Collateral: Since our leads come from cold email, they have never heard of us and therefore don't trust us. Before and between meetings, we sent over transformational case studies, relevant whitepapers, and decks, all crafted during the Go-To-Market phase. This maximized our perceived competence.

    -

  3. Discovery & Problem Identification: This meeting is led by a Solutions Architect with discovery experience. He tries to find out the highest priority technology challenges of potential clients, assess their budget, understand the urgency of their needs, and clarify their decision-making process, while telling them if we could help solve the challenge.

    -

  4. Solution Alignment: In what we refer to as the 'Solution Alignment' step, the Solutions Architect collaborates with technical resources like Project Managers to develop a solution concept that addresses the client’s needs while piquing interest and curiosity.

    -

  5. Strategy Sessions: This involves 1-2 meetings totaling 2-4 hours. We have the CTO and Solutions Architect collaborate with seniors on the client side, usually IT Heads, VPs, and rarely C-Suite (depending on company size). Clients love this stage because it's highly collaborative, and you essentially co-create a solution plan that solves the challenge(s), which implicitly gets their buy-in.

    -

  6. Custom Solution Presentation: In this phase, the salesperson and the CTO present the proposed solution to the client’s key decision-makers and influencers to demonstrate the value and effectiveness, as well as increase the perceived likelihood of achievement (since the majority of software projects fail to achieve the desired outcome). If all goes well, we start to talk about proceeding (by when, how likely, and dependencies).

    -

  7. Business Case Development: This involves 1-2 meetings totaling 2-4 hours. We have the CTO and Solutions Architect collaborate with seniors on the client side, usually IT Heads, VPs, and rarely C-Suite (depending on company size). Clients love this stage because it's highly collaborative, and you essentially co-create a solution plan that solves the challenge(s), which implicitly gets their buy-in.

    -

  8. Commercial Proposal & Negotiations: This involves drafting and negotiating the commercial proposal to reach a mutual agreement on project scope, timeline, pricing, etc.

    -

  9. Deal Won/Lost: Signing or not.

This is the sales process we used to sell custom software developments deals as high as $2.4M in a relatively short sales cycle.

  1. Sales Lead Recruitment

When it came to recruiting the right Sales Lead for our client, we knew we couldn't just post a job and hope for the best. The top players aren't usually scrolling through job boards; they're out there crushing it in their current roles. So, we decided to do outbound headhunting.

Approach
We took the playbook from our outbound engine(step 2), tweaked the messaging, and aimed it at finding our star VP of Sales.

Criteria for Ideal Candidate

  1. Interested Reply: A minimum of 10 years in sales, with at least 5 years in a senior sales leadership role. This criterion ensured that the candidate had not only extensive sales experience but also significant leadership experience to manage and scale the sales operations.

    -

  2. Marketing Collateral: A proven track record in the MedTech or healthcare technology industry. Given the client's focus and existing portfolio, industry-specific experience was crucial for understanding the market dynamics and effectively strategizing the sales approach.

    -

  3. Skill in Scaling Operations: Experience in scaling outbound sales operations. This skill set was essential to drive the growth necessary for the client's exit strategy.

  4. -

Criteria for Ideal Candidate

  1. Interested Reply: A minimum of 10 years in sales, with at least 5 years in a senior sales leadership role. This criterion ensured that the candidate had not only extensive sales experience but also significant leadership experience to manage and scale the sales operations.

    -

  2. Marketing Collateral: A proven track record in the MedTech or healthcare technology industry. Given the client's focus and existing portfolio, industry-specific experience was crucial for understanding the market dynamics and effectively strategizing the sales approach.

    -

  3. Skill in Scaling Operations: Experience in scaling outbound sales operations. This skill set was essential to drive the growth necessary for the client's exit strategy.

Criteria for Ideal Candidate

  1. Interested Reply: A minimum of 10 years in sales, with at least 5 years in a senior sales leadership role. This criterion ensured that the candidate had not only extensive sales experience but also significant leadership experience to manage and scale the sales operations.

    -

  2. Marketing Collateral: A proven track record in the MedTech or healthcare technology industry. Given the client's focus and existing portfolio, industry-specific experience was crucial for understanding the market dynamics and effectively strategizing the sales approach.

    -

  3. Skill in Scaling Operations: Experience in scaling outbound sales operations. This skill set was essential to drive the growth necessary for the client's exit strategy.

Execution of the Recruitment Strategy

  1. Identified Target Companies: Searched for companies selling IT and/or software to MedTech or healthcare companies. This step ensured we were reaching out to individuals already aligned with our client's industry.

    -

  2. Filtered Potential Candidates: Focused on VPs, Directors, and Heads with over 10 years of experience in the US, and working in companies with more than 100 employees. This filter ensured that candidates had the right mix of experience and were accustomed to working in a similar scale of operations.

    -

  3. Engagement: Utilized the CEO's LinkedIn account to send personalized emails and connection requests. This approach added a level of personalization and prestige to the outreach, significantly increasing the likelihood of engagement.

  4. -

Execution of the Recruitment Strategy

  1. Identified Target Companies: Searched for companies selling IT and/or software to MedTech or healthcare companies. This step ensured we were reaching out to individuals already aligned with our client's industry.

    -

  2. Filtered Potential Candidates: Focused on VPs, Directors, and Heads with over 10 years of experience in the US, and working in companies with more than 100 employees. This filter ensured that candidates had the right mix of experience and were accustomed to working in a similar scale of operations.

    -

  3. Engagement: Utilized the CEO's LinkedIn account to send personalized emails and connection requests. This approach added a level of personalization and prestige to the outreach, significantly increasing the likelihood of engagement.

Execution of the Recruitment Strategy

  1. Identified Target Companies: Searched for companies selling IT and/or software to MedTech or healthcare companies. This step ensured we were reaching out to individuals already aligned with our client's industry.

    -

  2. Filtered Potential Candidates: Focused on VPs, Directors, and Heads with over 10 years of experience in the US, and working in companies with more than 100 employees. This filter ensured that candidates had the right mix of experience and were accustomed to working in a similar scale of operations.

    -

  3. Engagement: Utilized the CEO's LinkedIn account to send personalized emails and connection requests. This approach added a level of personalization and prestige to the outreach, significantly increasing the likelihood of engagement.

The intersection of those 3 specifications gave us this:

Here is what it looks like:

  1. Interested Reply: The process begins with receiving a positive response to our cold email. Typically, these replies suggest a meeting time, like "I'm free at 3pm Tuesday next week." Then we send a calendar invite to set up a meeting.

    -

  2. Marketing Collateral: Since our leads come from cold email, they have never heard of us and therefore don't trust us. Before and between meetings, we sent over transformational case studies, relevant whitepapers, and decks, all crafted during the Go-To-Market phase. This maximized our perceived competence.

    -

  3. Discovery & Problem Identification: This meeting is led by a Solutions Architect with discovery experience. He tries to find out the highest priority technology challenges of potential clients, assess their budget, understand the urgency of their needs, and clarify their decision-making process, while telling them if we could help solve the challenge.

    -

  4. Solution Alignment: In what we refer to as the 'Solution Alignment' step, the Solutions Architect collaborates with technical resources like Project Managers to develop a solution concept that addresses the client’s needs while piquing interest and curiosity.

    -

  5. Strategy Sessions: This involves 1-2 meetings totaling 2-4 hours. We have the CTO and Solutions Architect collaborate with seniors on the client side, usually IT Heads, VPs, and rarely C-Suite (depending on company size). Clients love this stage because it's highly collaborative, and you essentially co-create a solution plan that solves the challenge(s), which implicitly gets their buy-in.

    -

  6. Custom Solution Presentation: In this phase, the salesperson and the CTO present the proposed solution to the client’s key decision-makers and influencers to demonstrate the value and effectiveness, as well as increase the perceived likelihood of achievement (since the majority of software projects fail to achieve the desired outcome). If all goes well, we start to talk about proceeding (by when, how likely, and dependencies).

    -

  7. Business Case Development: This involves 1-2 meetings totaling 2-4 hours. We have the CTO and Solutions Architect collaborate with seniors on the client side, usually IT Heads, VPs, and rarely C-Suite (depending on company size). Clients love this stage because it's highly collaborative, and you essentially co-create a solution plan that solves the challenge(s), which implicitly gets their buy-in.

    -

  8. Commercial Proposal & Negotiations: This involves drafting and negotiating the commercial proposal to reach a mutual agreement on project scope, timeline, pricing, etc.

    -

  9. Deal Won/Lost: Signing or not.

This is the sales process we used to sell custom software developments deals as high as $2.4M in a relatively short sales cycle.

Result: Within two months of starting this process, we had a list of 1,100 candidates who fit our criteria. After combing through the list and having a bunch of conversations, we found the one – a VP of Sales who not only checked all our boxes but was also ready to take on the challenge.

This individual’s expertise in the MedTech field, combined with a proven ability to scale outbound sales operations, made them an ideal fit for driving the client's sales strategy forward and positioning them favorably for their planned exit.

Result: Within two months of starting this process, we had a list of 1,100 candidates who fit our criteria. After combing through the list and having a bunch of conversations, we found the one – a VP of Sales who not only checked all our boxes but was also ready to take on the challenge.

This individual’s expertise in the MedTech field, combined with a proven ability to scale outbound sales operations, made them an ideal fit for driving the client's sales strategy forward and positioning them favorably for their planned exit.

Result: Within two months of starting this process, we had a list of 1,100 candidates who fit our criteria. After combing through the list and having a bunch of conversations, we found the one – a VP of Sales who not only checked all our boxes but was also ready to take on the challenge.

This individual’s expertise in the MedTech field, combined with a proven ability to scale outbound sales operations, made them an ideal fit for driving the client's sales strategy forward and positioning them favorably for their planned exit.

The Results

The Results

Before

Annual Revenue: $8 Million

Marketing Positioning: Competing with 30,000+ companies in a general market

Sales Pipeline: Reliant on referrals and networking, less predictable

Sales Process: Old & undocumented and therefore long sales cycle

Client Acquisition: Limited to small clients and the occasional large-contracts.

Sales Function: Fired 0

Before

Annual Revenue: $8 Million

Marketing Positioning: Competing with 30,000+ companies in a general market

Sales Pipeline: Reliant on referrals and networking, less predictable

Sales Process: Old & undocumented and therefore long sales cycle

Client Acquisition: Limited to small clients and the occasional large-contracts.

Sales Function: Fired 0

Before

Annual Revenue:

$8 Million

Marketing Positioning: Competing with 30,000+ companies in a general market.

Sales Pipeline: Reliant on referrals and networking, less predictable.

Sales Process: Old & undocumented and therefore long sales cycle

Client

Acquisition:

Limited to small clients and the occasional large-contracts.

Sales Function:

Fired 0.

After

Annual Revenue: $17 Million

Marketing Positioning: Leading player in the MedTech sector

Sales Pipline: Predictable and growing due to an outbound engine

Sales Process: Streamlined for growth, increased closing likelihood, and shorter sales cycle

Client Acquisition: Closed a F50 Client. Predictable high-value contracts every quarter

Sales Function: VP of Sales to lead outbound growth, through the exit

After

Annual Revenue: $17 Million

Marketing Positioning: Leading player in the MedTech sector

Sales Pipline: Predictable and growing due to an outbound engine

Sales Process: Streamlined for growth, increased closing likelihood, and shorter sales cycle

Client Acquisition: Closed a F50 Client. Predictable high-value contracts every quarter

Sales Function: VP of Sales to lead outbound growth, through the exit

After

Annual Revenue:

$17 Million

Marketing Positioning: Leading player in the MedTech sector

Sales Pipeline: Predictable and growing due to an outbound engine

Sales Process: Streamlined for growth, increased closing likelihood, and shorter sales cycle

Client Acquisition: Closed a F50 Client. Predictable high-value contracts every quarter.

Sales Function:

VP of Sales to lead outbound growth, through the exit.

The

Growth

Curve

The

Growth

Curve

The

Growth

Curve

The

Growth

Curve