Open Wide Podcast

Episode 28 - Selling to Dentists and Startup Expansion Considerations

Recorded during holiday season 2024, Scott and Jinesh chat about the seasonality of selling to dentists, and about how to manage team coverage over the holidays. They also discuss the right timing for company expansion internationally and into other healthcare verticals, and reflect on fundraise timing and luck.
 
2:46 Seasonality of selling to dentists
14:07 Coordinating team schedules
16:10 Timing for a startup's market and/or geographic expansion 
25:08 TAM, SAM, and SOM
28:07 Fundraising timing and cadence

Episode 27 - ADA Invests in Dental Companies

Scott and Jinesh discuss the recent ADA announcement that they have made an investment into the company Pearl via their Innovation Advisory committee. They chat about the optics of the ADA making select investments, and they dissect key details included in the publicly available press releases. 

Episode 26: Patterson To Be Acquired

Scott and Jinesh react to the news of Patterson (PDCO) entering into a definitive agreement to be acquired and taken private. They discuss the terms of the deal itself, speculate on where a competing offer might come from, and opine on what this means for the dental industry moving forward. 

Episode 25 - The Fluoride Debate and Bad Full-Arch Press

Scott and Jinesh chat about RFK Jr.'s war on fluoride, the recent negative mainstream press around full-arch treatment, and Dentsply closing its recently acquired BYTE orthodontic line. 
 
3:36 RFK Jr. and fluoride
16:30 Negative press for full-arch treatment
31:18 Dentsply closes down BYTE
 

Episode 24 - Conversation with J.W. Oliver Jr | Outsourcing Dental Staff

In this episode Scott and Jinesh chat with JW Oliver Junior, founder of ZimWorkX and Support DDS. They discuss JW's entrepreneurial journey up to and through the dental world, and take a deep dive into the world of remote support staff for dental practices. They cover topics including unit economics of outsourcing staff, team culture, impact of COVID on hiring remote staff, customer profiles, and opine on the future of AI on remote workers. 
 
1:52 Introductions
5:15 JW's journey through dental to SupportDDS
12:25 Breadth and depth of SupportDDS
15:54 Entrepreneurial instinct
18:28 Unit economics of support staff
23:08 Global team culture and values
30:55 Impact of COVID on remote roles
33:04 JW's journey before dental
42:50 SupportDDS customer profiles
45:34 Anticipating AI
50:59 Traveling and working globally

Episode 23 - Conversation with Sudha Vetri | Membership Plans for Dental Patients

Scott and Jinesh chat with Sudha Vetri about Subscribili and subscription plans to dental offices. They dive into the the possibilities of what a dental membership plan could look like, discuss the legal considerations of supporting membership plans, and how membership plans may interact with dental insurance. They opine on what dental-medical integration may look like through the lens of 'membership'. They wrap by discussing Sudha's entrepreneur journey with Subscribili up through October 2024. 
 
1:51 Introductions
3:18 Sudha's journey pre-Subscribili 
8:09 More than just membership
13:09 Compliance laws vary widely
17:26 Infinite membership plan possibilities
25:28 Membership plans and medical-dental integration
32:14 Membership vs dental insurance
40:31 An entrepreneur's journey and challenges
47:03 Subscribili's progress

Episode 22 - Conversation with Group Dentistry Now

In this episode Scott and Jinesh chat with Kim Larson and Bill Neumann of Group Dentistry Now. They dive into details of the birth and growth of GDN, and touch on all the various elements of the GDN business. The group discusses the ongoing trend of consolidation in dental, and some of the controversy that surrounds the DSO space. Kim and Bill share some advice for both dental practitioners and dental vendors, and reflect on the DSO conference scene, as well as the DSO media landscape. 
1:39 Introductions
5:08 Origin story of GDN
13:08 GDN behind the scenes and business components
31:56 Controversy around DSOs
48:36 DSO metrics that matter
52:28 The DSO conference craze
1:06:34 Most popular GDN content
1:08:01 Media competition in the DSO world
1:12:26 Advice from the Experts

Episode 21 - Conversation with Hendrik Lai | Dental Insurance, Medical-Dental Integration, and Consulting in Dental

In this episode, Jinesh and Scott chat with Dr. Hendrik Lai of Viturtal Consulting. They discuss Hendriks journey from dental surgeon in Australia to business constant in the US, the dental insurance landscape, friction between dental insurance companies and providers, and medical-dental integration. They also cover tech innovation in dental space, and review what went wrong at Smile Direct Club.  
0:00 Introductions
4:12 Dr Hendrik Lai's journey
9:25 Dentists vs. Insurance Companies
18:05 Practicing Dentistry vs. Business Consulting
24:30 Dental Insurance Business Fundamentals
32:14 Healthcare Clinic's KPIs
36:21 Dental Landscape in Australia
43:39 Medical-Dental Integration
55:21 Tech Innovation in Dental
58:07 SDC Post-Mortem
1:07:50 Hendrik's Advice