Publications
Publications
- October 2012 (Revised October 2013)
- HBS Case Collection
Rock Health
By: Robert F. Higgins and Ian McKown Cornell
Abstract
Rock Health was a San Francisco–based nonprofit organization offering accelerator services to spur innovation at the intersection of healthcare and technology. The company was the creation of Halle Tecco (HBS '11) and her HBS classmate Nate Gross (HBS '11), who met early in their first year at the HBS Healthcare Club meeting and decided to undertake a year-long field study that married their shared interests in healthcare, technology, and entrepreneurship. Rock Health supported health-tech entrepreneurs with a startup grant of $20,000, office space, and a wide variety of professional support services. Entrepreneurial teams that participated in Rock Health's programs promoted services ranging from data-driven technologies that helped manage stress to mobile tools that attempted to diagnosis medical conditions as diverse as Alzheimer's disease and foot ulcers. The case is set in August 2011 as Rock Health is wrapping up its third group of entrepreneurs in a Boston program and planning for its fourth class at the home office. The case should enable students to identify emerging challenges, evaluate Rock Health's funding model, debate the effectiveness of its incubation service, and assess its long-term viability.
Keywords
Innovation; Incubation; Healthcare Technology; Startups; Entrepreneurship; Innovation and Management; Health Care and Treatment; Business Startups; Health Industry; San Francisco; California; United States
Citation
Higgins, Robert F., and Ian McKown Cornell. "Rock Health." Harvard Business School Case 813-035, October 2012. (Revised October 2013.)