By Gerry Andrady, CEO of Hatch
It’s easy to get caught up in all the decisions we have to make as leaders.
As a SaaS company, our ability to retain customers depends on our ability to deliver continuous value. So we build and ship new products in an effort to stay ahead of the needs of our customers.
However, making decisions and driving forward isn’t my only job as a leader.
My message for this edition of Ortho111 is a simple reminder to get back to the basics. And there is nothing more fundamental than listening to the market.
For me, this lesson was reinforced loud and clear at the recent OrthoForum annual conference.
I spent 95% of my time listening between the lines – which is not about what the market says but hearing what the market needs.
The message for price transparency and taking your practice 24/7/365 was loud and clear. But not every orthopedic practice has to do it. Many are doing just fine without. So I engaged deeper.
What I heard between the lines was practices in rapidly changing markets risk fading into the noise. Their why behind the what of going 24/7/365 is one of meeting patients on their terms. Regardless of what they believe or want, their market has spoken – and their market demands zero-friction access experience.
I also heard Hatch needs to do better to help them in this pivotal moment.
Here’s what we heard from our market about Hatch:
However, the common other side of the feedback was about pricing - our robust solution came at a higher cost of entry.
More importantly, listening between the lines, one thing was apparent: Implementing a full-scale digital transformation was perceived as complex and effortful for many practices to get started on this journey.
It became clear that our market needed an easier, zero-friction ramp into taking their practice 24/7/365.
I could not be more pleased to hear this critical feedback.
Listening to your market rarely results in hearing, “Everything you're doing is perfect. Take my money.” In fact, my mindset as a SaaS leader is that we are in a constant state of falling out of product-market fit.
We had been exploring plans for a more streamlined solution, and the voice of the market at OrthoForum solidified that we needed to accelerate these plans.
With that decisive pivot, we launched HatchAccess Core this week.
It’s the easy button to take practices 24/7/365 with always-on chat access for patients to get expert orthopedic guidance.
The development of Core reflects what we heard listening between the lines.
What our market needed was a zero-friction way to provide zero-friction access to their patients.
Our team is proud to bring this innovation to our market and our market’s market.
The best innovations emerge when we focus on truly understanding our customers' perspectives - seeing their real struggles, their true desired outcomes, and empathizing with how to solve their problems.
My advice for you is to return to basics and tune into the voice of your market. Their needs - not your ambitions alone - must drive meaningful innovation.
Embrace that patient-centered perspective. Pay close attention to the need behind what they say to do. Allow your mission to be continually reshaped by those you exist to serve.
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