How we Designed Health Tech Pathways

In my last post, I shared why we built Health Tech Pathways. This one is about how we designed it — a look into our engine room.

But how did we end up with this design and user experience? 

It started with the customers 

We have seen the frustration in the eyes of start-up founders when they realise how difficult, expensive, and time-consuming regulatory approval is. After we received the grant of EUR 4.2m from the Novo Nordisk Foundation in October 2024, we decided to understand that frustration on a deeper level. What are the potential trigger points and what do founders need to circumvent them?  

We started by defining two user segments from the many founders we talked to: 

• Early market startups with low regulatory competence 
• Startups with medium regulatory competence 

Then we mapped the user journeys we wanted to support

The core user journey we aim to support with Health Tech Pathways are individuals/companies/product owners that aspire to certify their product.  Secondly we also support the need to understand the regulatory aspects of taking a product to market. 

We mapped the existing approval process and interviewed dozens of customers to understand their experiences and pain points: 

The pain points vary from startup to startup depending on their internal competencies and where they are in the process. However, it soon became very clear to us, that there was a large unmet need for the following: 

• Doing the correct classification assessment early 
• More down-to-earth practical help 
• More transparency about the costs and timelines of the regulatory journey 
• How to find and work with the right consultant and notified body 

From all of this, we defined the "must have" needs that the product is built around:

And we had the bandwidth to include some of the "nice to have" needs we uncovered too. For example:

• Help getting started the right way
• Providing in-context education/tips and tricks
• Help in choosing the right QMS system.

530 activities, broken down 

Based on these needs, we worked with expert consultants who have helped many start-ups get MDR approval. Together, we designed the workflow at the heart of the platform: every necessary task, broken down into 530 activities. 

For each activity, we provide the best possible help — guidance, tips, videos, and templates — so you always know what to do next. We also built an AI that enables users to review their input, and come up with better suggestions. Our AI is trained on official regulatory laws, and guidelines. 

Did we miss any key needs? 

Our team improves the platform daily, with new features and UX improvements released every week. 

If you have a need we're not addressing — or ideas for a better user experience — write to us at Jesper@healthtechhub.org. 

Want to see it for yourself? Start your free trial at www.healthtechpathways.org 

Jesper Grønbæk Founder & CEO, Health Tech Hub Copenhagen