// startup autopsy
Microsoft HealthVault
Microsoft built a personal health records platform in 2007. Ran it for 12 years. No one used it. Shut it down.
marketfitSilent Shutdown
Quiet closure with no public announcement · Fatal mistake: Patients don't proactively manage health records — provider-driven workflows required regulatory mandates, not consumer choice
| Founded | 2007 |
|---|---|
| Closed | 2020 |
| Country | USA |
| Sector | Healthtech |
| Founder | Microsoft (Sean Nolan PM) |
// the model, blind
Evaluating only Microsoft HealthVault’s profile at its peak — without knowing the outcome — the model ranked Acquisition gone wrong as the #1 likely cause. Documented cause: No market fit.
Key Events Timeline
FOUNDING
Microsoft HealthVault founded and launched in October 2007 as a cloud-based personal health records platform allowing patients to store medical data and control access
PRODUCT LAUNCH
HealthVault officially launches with integrations for health devices, hospital systems, and third-party health apps, positioning Microsoft as a major player in personal health records
PIVOT
Google Health shuts down, validating industry concerns about consumer adoption of personal health record platforms; HealthVault remains Microsoft's sole entry in the space but faces the same chronic low-engagement problem
SHUTDOWN
Microsoft announces HealthVault will shut down on November 20, 2019, citing failure to achieve meaningful scale after 12 years despite reaching approximately 12 million users at peak
SHUTDOWN
Microsoft HealthVault fully ceases operations in February 2020 after a wind-down period, ending a 12-year experiment in consumer-controlled health records that never achieved mainstream adoption