A health plan market advisory firm built on how health plans actually buy.
Upward Growth exists to serve the vendors, investors, provider organizations, and management consultancies whose businesses depend on understanding one of the most misunderstood buyer types in health tech.
The firm
Health plans are one of the most misunderstood buyer types in health tech.
Upward Growth was founded on a simple observation: most health tech companies build great products and then struggle to sell them into a market that operates differently than they expect. The same gap shows up on the investor side, the provider side, and inside management consultancies whose clients depend on getting the payer picture right.
We build the strategic foundation that closes that gap. Our engagements are grounded in how health plans actually operate: how their budgets move, who owns which decision, what CMS actions mean for their next year, and where the buying power is shifting inside the plan. That perspective informs the positioning, sales process, market diligence, and advisory work we do across the four buyer segments we serve.
Vendor-side expertise
Deep knowledge of Medicare Advantage, Medicaid MCOs, and commercial health plans from the perspective of selling to them.
Co-creation model
Clients build alongside us in working sessions. No waiting for a deliverable you didn't help shape.
Flat fees, no conflicts
No referral fees, no rev share, no commission structures. We charge for expertise.
Principal
Built on 15 years of selling to health plans.
Upward Growth was founded by Ryan Peterson, principal of the firm. Ryan brings 15 years of experience leading growth at health tech vendors. That experience is entirely from the vendor side: selling to health plans, studying how they operate, and building go-to-market strategies around their buying cycles.
The firm's work is grounded in that vendor-side perspective. Every engagement, every article in the newsletter, and every commentary in the podcast starts from the same premise: understanding the health plan buyer is the difference between a company that breaks through and one that stalls. That premise came from a decade and a half of doing the work.
Ryan writes The Upward Growth Newsletter weekly and hosts The Upward Growth Podcast. Both are open to subscribers who want the ongoing perspective on what is moving in the health plan market.