What Clinicians Actually Do in Product, and When Clinical Input Changes the Build with Caitlyn Tivy, PT, DPT

What does it actually mean when a clinician "works in product" at a healthcare startup? Product is where a lot of clinicians land once they are inside a startup, and it can mean a lot of different jobs: content and claims review, evidence checks, running a medical advisory team, sitting with designers, and translating between the clinical team and the engineers.

Host Helen Tanner talks with Caitlyn Tivy, PT, DPT, a pelvic and women's health physical therapist who went from telehealth care delivery inside a large startup to helping build a new product line, and who now works as a fractional clinical leader across several health tech companies at once. Caitlyn breaks down biotech vs. medtech vs. health tech, why the line between a wellness product and a regulated product shapes everything a clinician can say, and how one advisor's offhand comment became a feature that was never on the roadmap.

She also explains the difference between slowing down for safety (the job) and slowing down for logistics, and why she will not budge on clinical advisors being paid for their expertise.

In this episode:

• What product work can mean for a clinician, and the range of jobs behind the title
• Biotech vs. medtech vs. health tech, explained in plain language
• Why the wellness vs. regulated product line matters for every claim a product makes
• What a fractional head of clinical affairs actually does week to week
• How to hold patient safety first while staying useful on the engineers' timeline
• How clinical input turned into a new feature that was never on the roadmap
• Why unpaid clinical advisors are slow advisors, and why that is a structural problem
• Three things that make clinicians successful in product roles, including upskilling as "CME by another name"

Resources mentioned:

• In Women's Health (formerly FemHealth Insights), founded by Jodi Neuhauser: https://www.inwomenshealth.com/
• Health Tech Nerds: https://www.healthtechnerds.com/
• TechSpeak for Entrepreneurs, AI Agents course with Nelly Yusupova: https://www.techspeakforentrepreneurs.com/ai-agents-6-week-live-training/
• LinkedIn Learning: https://www.linkedin.com/learning/
• Figma: https://www.figma.com/
• Women's Health Innovation Summit (WHIS): https://www.whisusa.com/
• Women's Health Horizons: https://whhwomenshealthhorizons.com/
• HLTH: https://hlth.com/
• That's Gynomite! podcast: https://thatsgynomite.com/

Connect with Caitlyn Tivy:

• C Tivy Consulting: https://www.ctivyconsulting.com/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/caitlyn-tivy-dpt/

Get the free Field Guide: The Early Hires Clinician Startup Field Guide, 10 Things Every Clinician Should Know Before and After Joining a Startup, is free when you sign up at https://www.theearlyhires.com/. You will also be signed up for The Early Hires monthly newsletter.

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Edited by Steve Woodward at podcastingeditor.com

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