--- title: "Business Model - MedTech Roadmap | MedTech Launch Guide" description: "Capital equipment, consumables, SaaS, or service - pick on purpose. Business model selection determines your unit economics, the kind of investor who'll fund" lang: en json-ld: | { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@type": "Article", "headline": "Business Model - MedTech Roadmap", "description": "Business model selection determines your unit economics, the kind of investor who'll fund you, and the comparable companies your exit will be priced against. Most medtech founders default to a model without examining alternatives - and discover at Series B that the wrong choice has compounded.", "url": "https://medtechlaunchguide.com/roadmap/business-model", "mainEntityOfPage": "https://medtechlaunchguide.com/roadmap/business-model", "articleSection": "Business Model", "isPartOf": { "@type": "CollectionPage", "name": "MedTech Founder Roadmap", "url": "https://medtechlaunchguide.com/roadmap" }, "publisher": { "@type": "Organization", "name": "MedTech Launch Guide", "url": "https://medtechlaunchguide.com" } } --- [Skip to content](#main) [ MedTech Launch Guide Education Hub for Founders ](/) [Roadmap](/roadmap) [Topics](/topics) Tools [Pulse](/pulse)Search ⌘K[Start Here](/start) Search ⌘K [Roadmap](/roadmap)/ [01 · IP Protection](/roadmap/ip-protection)[02 · Regulatory Pathway](/roadmap/regulatory-pathway)[03 · Clinical Evidence](/roadmap/clinical-evidence)[04 · Reimbursement](/roadmap/reimbursement)[05 · Cybersecurity](/roadmap/cybersecurity)[06 · Business Model](/roadmap/business-model)[07 · Go-To-Market](/roadmap/go-to-market) Step 06 of 7 · Roadmap # Business Model Capital equipment, consumables, SaaS, or service - pick on purpose When to start Concurrent with regulatory pathway - before pricing decisions are made Duration Initial model: 1–2 months · Refined with payer/buyer evidence: 12+ months Indicative cost Internal - but the wrong choice can cost 50%+ of enterprise value at exit Business model selection determines your unit economics, the kind of investor who'll fund you, and the comparable companies your exit will be priced against. Most medtech founders default to a model without examining alternatives - and discover at Series B that the wrong choice has compounded. ## The five common archetypes Each has distinct gross margin, sales cycle, and investor base. - Capital equipment - high upfront price, long sales cycle, hospital capital committee approval - Razor + blade - equipment placed at low/zero cost, recurring consumables drive economics - Per-procedure / pay-per-use - usage-aligned billing, often through GPO/IDN contract - SaaMD subscription - software-as-a-medical-device with annual or monthly licensing - Service / pathology - internal device powering an outsourced clinical service line ## Match the model to the buyer Hospital capital committees evaluate equipment annually with 18-month budget cycles. Service-line directors approve consumables monthly. Health-system CIOs sign SaaS. Knowing who signs determines what you build - and how you price it. ## Build a defensible moat FDA clearance is a moat for ~24 months. Long-term defensibility comes from data network effects, clinical workflow integration, GPO contracts, or installed-base lock-in. Identify yours before Series B - investors will ask. Artifacts to ship - Pricing model with sensitivity analysis on volume and contract length - Unit economics by channel (direct, GPO, distributor) - Customer-facing ROI calculator (per facility) - Five-year financial model tied to clinical adoption curves Common pitfalls - Pricing against R&D cost instead of the value created (or destroyed) for the payer - Building a SaaS model when your buyer doesn't have a software budget - Razor-blade with a razor that needs annual capital approval - the placement never closes - Forgetting to model GPO admin fees (typically 3%) and distributor margin (typically 25–40%) Primary sources - [AdvaMed - Hospital Procurement Buyer behavior ](https://www.advamed.org/) - [AHRMM - Value Analysis VAC process ](https://www.ahrmm.org/) - [HSCA - GPO Landscape GPO contracting ](https://www.supplychainassociation.org/) - [MedTech Innovator Model benchmarking ](https://medtechinnovator.org/) [ Previous Cybersecurity Step 05 · FD&C Act Section 524B - premarket package + lifelong postmarket plan ](/roadmap/cybersecurity)[ Next Go-To-Market Step 07 · KOLs, IDN selling, GPO contracting, and the chasm in between ](/roadmap/go-to-market) MedTech Launch Guide The independent education hub for medtech innovators bringing devices to the US market - paired with a live pulse of what FDA, CMS, CISA and investors are doing right now. Sponsored by Blue Goat Cyber Pulse - [Live Pulse](/pulse) - [Funding Tape](/pulse#funding) - [Pitch Decks](/pulse#pitch) - [Cybersecurity](/pulse#cyber) - [Post-mortems](/pulse#failure) Learn - [Founder Roadmap](/roadmap) - [Start here: build my plan](/start) - [Regulatory & Quality](/roadmap/regulatory-pathway) - [Funding & Grants](/pulse#funding) - [Clinical evidence](/roadmap/clinical-evidence) - [Reimbursement](/roadmap/reimbursement) - [Topics & tools](/topics) - [Funding quiz](/quiz) - [Investor Directory](/investors) - [FDA user fees & calculator](/mdufa-fees) - [Cyber budget worksheet](/worksheets/cyber-budget) - [Glossary](/glossary) - [Weekly Brief](/#newsletter) Company - [About](/about) - [Editorial policy](/editorial) - [Tip line · Contact](/contact) - [Privacy](/privacy) - [Terms](/terms) Sister sites [MedTech Terms ↗](https://medtechterms.com) medtechterms.com The full MedTech dictionary. Sourced definitions with a page per term, A-Z and category indexes, learning paths, and side-by-side comparisons. [A-Z index →](https://medtechterms.com/a-z)[Categories →](https://medtechterms.com/categories)[Learning paths →](https://medtechterms.com/paths)[Compare terms →](https://medtechterms.com/compare) [Blue Goat Cyber ↗](https://bluegoatcyber.com) bluegoatcyber.com Medical device cybersecurity practice. Threat modeling, SBOMs, penetration testing, and FDA premarket and postmarket submission support. [FDA premarket cyber →](https://bluegoatcyber.com/services/medical-device-cybersecurity/fda-premarket-cybersecurity/)[Penetration testing →](https://bluegoatcyber.com/services/medical-device-cybersecurity/penetration-testing/)[Threat modeling →](https://bluegoatcyber.com/services/medical-device-cybersecurity/threat-modeling/)[Site index →](https://bluegoatcyber.com/site-index) © 2026 MedTech Launch Guide. Editorial independence is non-negotiable. Sponsored content is clearly labelled.