The Conundrum of Low Hanging Fruit

Just because it appears to be a low-hanging fruit does not mean it is the best option for your healthcare innovation.

Several months ago, I talked with an innovator exploring a chronic disease management idea in one of the big four (diabetes, heart disease, COPD, mental health). 

Once I learned about their solution, I felt they approached it uniquely, but maybe not in the correct disease state. I asked, “Why this area” and got the infamous response, “We chose here because it is a low-hanging fruit.”

If you see the opportunity as low-hanging fruit, do you think others see it as well? Oversaturated markets cause innovators to spread a mile wide and only go an inch deep on product development to differentiate themselves.

I advised this company to consider a different disease state that continues to gain momentum; in this market, they could go an inch wide but a mile deep, positioning themselves as leaders.

It has been five or so months, and I was talking with a clinician about this innovator, and the clinician stated, “This idea to manage this disease state has never come up in all the companies I have consulted with.”

The innovator is better positioned to commercialize after the proof-of-concept and pilot because they explored a nontraditional low-hanging fruit and identified a market in desperate need for innovation that solves a specific problem.

This type of differentiation will allow this innovator to pivot beyond their initial disease state into related categories.

Just because there appears to be an obvious need does not mean it is the best starting point. Sometimes it is about identifying where you can become the expert and have the most impact. That ultimately leads to the best innovations and outcomes.