An Executive Q&A with Peter Micca, Managing Partner, Caduceus Capital Partners
AI is accelerating change at an unprecedented pace, specifically in healthcare. What do you make of this as a venture capital investor?
I’m enthusiastic about where healthcare is headed, but it’s clear the landscape is shifting. For years, early-stage digital health companies were valued mostly on their tech and how quickly they could innovate. But with AI tools speeding up development and leveling the playing field, pure tech advantages don’t last as long as they used to.
What is really starting to matter now is distribution, especially strong channel partnerships that can get products in front of customers quickly and effectively. For LPs and strategic investors, the companies that rise to the top won’t just be the ones with great technology, but the ones that know how to reach customers through the right channels and networks.
You recently penned an article that explained why rapid innovation, especially in AI, has shortened the defensibility window of technical IP. Can you speak to this a bit more?
Technology alone just isn’t the predictor of long-term success it used to be, especially at the pre-seed and early Series A stages. A few big shifts are driving this. First, technology easier to copy. With public models, APIs, and cloud-native tools, new innovators can quickly replicate features that used to take years to build. Second, buyers want solutions that play nicely together. Health systems and payers are demanding solutions that plug smoothly into EHRs, workflows, and existing clinical systems. Finally, everything is starting to look the same. From the buyer’s perspective, a lot of digital health and AI products feel interchangeable, which makes it harder for any one company to stand out on tech alone.
In today’s tech-centered world, why do channel partnerships matter? Why should founders and investors consider this a primary value, not just a “nice to have”?
Channel partners, whether they’re system integrators, distributors, enterprise platforms, or broader ecosystem alliances, have become powerful multipliers for enterprise value. They’re not just helping startups sell; they’re reshaping how health tech companies break into the market, build influence, and scale inside complex healthcare organizations.
In my work with healthcare operators and buyers, one theme is consistent: innovators with well-developed partner programs tend to grow revenue faster, acquire customers more efficiently, and keep those customers longer than companies relying solely on direct sales. Innovators with repeatable, structured partner models consistently outperform their direct-sales-only peers on revenue growth and unit economics.
Can you give me an example?
Earlier this year, OpenAI and NVIDIA announced a major partnership to build and deploy 10 gigawatts of infrastructure, with NVIDIA committing up to 100 billion dollars. Beyond the size of the investment, the partnership represents a shift in how companies think about value in strategic alliances.
NVIDIA’s multi billion-dollar commitment signals not only a bet on technology, but an endorsement of the broader ecosystem. The ability to deploy infrastructure at significant scale reduces go-to-market and sales risk. This strengthens the intangible value that gets allocated to these arrangements. As open infrastructure becomes commoditized, value is shaped by speed of deployment, capital efficiency, and how well a partner aligns with the start up’s roadmap, rather than simply by what a company builds.
For investors evaluating innovators, this partnership highlights the idea that ecosystem dependence can now be considered a meaningful source of value.