Introduction
Rob Lieberthal, founder of Lieberthal & Associates, is an innovator dedicated to improving health outcomes for older adults through data-driven insights. His flagship platform, DataBridge, utilizes artificial intelligence to extract aging-specific health indicators from insurance claims data. DataBridge aims to help Medicare Advantage plans shift from reactive revenue optimization to proactive, life-changing outreach. With a background in startups and a motivation to fill critical gaps in care, Rob launched his company to turn underutilized data into a roadmap for early intervention.
Challenge and Goals
When Rob joined the Innovation Forge Startup Accelerator program, Lieberthal & Associates was in the early idea stage. While he had a clear vision for the technology, he was navigating the complexities of market understanding and customer needs within the insurance industry.
His primary goals were to perform rigorous customer discovery and prepare a Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant. At the time, the project was focused heavily on fall risk prediction, based on the assumption that insurers lacked the necessary AI/ML capabilities to identify these risks. Rob needed to validate these assumptions and determine if his technical solution aligned with the actual operational hurdles faced by large health insurance providers.
Outcomes and Results
The Innovation Forge Startup Accelerator, a partnership between The Corner and the Digital Foundry at New Kensington, fundamentally changed DataBridge’s trajectory. Through the program’s structured customer discovery methodology, Rob conducted over 14 interviews with industry stakeholders. These conversations revealed a critical insight: insurers already possessed sophisticated AI, but their tools were almost exclusively focused on revenue rather than clinical outreach.
This discovery led to a significant pivot. DataBridge evolved from a standalone prediction tool into a validation platform to help insurance companies turn claims data into actionable insights for member health. Since completing the program, Rob has successfully refined the product design, pivoted his outreach strategy, and submitted an SBIR grant to further fund development.
Impact and Next Steps
By identifying functional decline before a crisis occurs, the DigitalBridge platform empowers insurers to support the independence and safety of older adults.
Over the next two years, Lieberthal & Associates will focus on a singular, vital milestone: securing its first enterprise customer. The company continues to build on the technical and strategic foundation laid during the accelerator, ensuring that the final product meets the high-stakes demands of the market.
Rob credits the Innovation Forge with saving his company months of misplaced effort by forcing him to test his intuition against real-world data. To other entrepreneurs, he offers this advice: “Innovation Forge isn’t about validating what you already believe. It’s about systematically testing your hypotheses and being willing to pivot when the data contradicts your intuition. If you want to build something customers actually need, it’s invaluable.”
