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Introducing the "Orthodontic Products Podcast", a journey into the dynamic realm of orthodontic innovations. Each episode dives into fresh research, transformative technologies, and the methodologies redefining the field. Expert interviews seamlessly blend with in-depth analyses, offering listeners a comprehensive look into the ever-evolving world of orthodontics. This isn't just a podcast—it's a portal to the future of orthodontic practices and breakthroughs.
Hello and welcome to the Orthodontic
Products Podcast.
I'm your host, Alison Werner.
Today we have with us veteran dental
marketing experts, Mark Ross and Michael
Ventriello.
They recently joined forces to launch
Pitch It DDS.
This is an investor presentation creation
service specifically for the dental
interest.
specifically for dental industry startup
companies.
Orthodontists are creative and innovative
by nature, and that creativity and
innovative drive often extends into
product development and launching a
startup company.
But how do you get investor funding to
take your product to the next level?
How do you create a compelling pitch?
That's where Pitch at DDS comes into play,
as I understand it.
So to tell us more, we have Michael and
Mark to walk us through.
So thank you for joining me today.
It's driving us.
Great, great.
So can you talk to me about your
experience kind of prior to coming
together?
You actually came together before Pitch
It.
So can you talk about your experience in
the marketing industry, dental industry,
and what led you to this point?
It's kind of a funny story.
Mike and I, at one point in time, competed
against each other for a business.
We were separate agencies and we would run
into each other on the way out after a
presentation, we could pass each other.
But we were very respectful of our
talents.
And about a year ago, Mike and I started
working on another project together and we
said, you know,
We just started talking more and more and
we collaborated on a few ideas and
relevant to a few customers.
And that led us to this brainstorm of an
idea called Pitch at DDS.
What were you seeing in the industry?
sorry, yeah, go ahead, Mike.
That's a good and really, you know, the
inspiration for that is really the nature
of what's going on in dentistry right now.
It's really a hotbed of innovation.
There's a lot of investment money coming
into the industry and there's more and
more companies launching and pitching.
And a lot of dental meetings and
conferences will have a shark tank type
scenario where companies go and they're
vying for, you know, investment money or
the big prize.
And Mark and I have sat through some of
these and the pitches just weren't good.
And it's like, you know, we, you know, we
could help here.
So, you know, that was really the
inspiration.
Okay, well, Mark, you kind of alluded to
this.
You two actually came together last year
to create a different platform.
It's called the Virtual Focus Group
Platform.
And it's called, well, it's called the
Virtual Dental Team, and it's a Virtual
Focus Group Platform.
So can you talk about that first, because
that'll lead us into Pitch It DDS.
Sure.
Having been involved in several focus
groups, one thing that was a constant in
every one of them was a customer was
saying, why don't we always do this?
There were always aha moments, moments
where they learned a lot or supported what
they already knew.
And from that, and you add in COVID and a
pandemic and the need to be virtual at
that time,
I had just thought, you know, there's a
way to do a focus group without having to
bring everybody into a room in Chicago, in
New York, in California, wherever, and be
actually beholden to who could show up in
those locations.
The costs, the venue costs, the food, the
travel, all those kinds of things.
And it's very expensive.
They're successful, but very expensive.
So the virtual concept of doing a focus
group.
lowers the cost by one third, one half
what it would normally cost.
And that kind of led to the idea to create
the virtual dental team.
And at that time I reached out to Mike,
because we had already been collaborating
on some other projects.
And I said, Mike, this is right up our
alley.
This is something we could be doing
together.
And I think it's got some legs in it.
And a lot of people are already talking
about it.
and what I really liked about it, Allison,
is as marketers, you always want to start
from having the research you need to drive
the brand strategy to go to market
strategy.
And sometimes companies just don't do this
because of that expense of the focus
group.
And...
This really ensures that there's a
marketing baseline, a research baseline
rather, for marketing going forward.
So it really democratizes the whole
premise of a focus group.
Real fast, Allison, it's an opportunity to
have voice of customer.
Before you launch, before you spend money
to launch, you can learn so many different
things.
And the focus group can be designed to
work with different teams around the
country so that it's not zip code biased.
You can bring in a team of
specialists, dental assistants,
hygienists, the client can sit in and
weigh in if they want to, or they can be,
you know, just watching a video after it's
done.
And we would collaborate very early on to
learn what the client wanted to learn and
develop and design based on that.
And sometimes you would go to companies,
to participants that
used the product or some that didn't use
the product and you wanted to know why.
Or they were even using a competitive
product.
Okay, so then, yeah.
Okay.
And so from there, you came into this idea
for Pitch at DDS.
So you talked a little bit there before
about kind of the market with the
innovation and new products and services
and what you were seeing, especially with
those like Shark Tank type, you know,
events that are now happening.
And, you know, there is a focus within,
especially the orthodontic industry of
really trying to help those startups
started by doctors.
So can you talk about what
a doctor needs to know if they are looking
at they have a product idea.
They want to start their own company, they
want us to do a startup.
What?
Where does pitch it come in?
Mike, take the lead on this.
This is something you like talking about.
Sure.
Really, there's so many entrepreneurial
dentists and they say necessity is the
mother of invention.
And that's proven day by day in dentistry.
A dentist is doing a procedure, says, I
could do this better, or if only the
design of this instrument was a little
more intuitive, whatever that might be.
You know, they're always thinking because
they're using these things from day to
day.
So the starting point is, okay, you have
an idea.
You know, it has to be designed.
It should be vetted every step of the way.
You know, someone needs to be testing
design.
You need to have beta testers.
You need to figure out how much money
you're going to need to...
put this into the marketplace and it's
always much more expensive than the
entrepreneur thinks.
And they'll say, well, I'll put my house
up in the morgue.
And a lot of that happens too.
And it's scary for marketers because it's
like, my God, this guy's betting the farm
on this.
We really have to dig deeper and see if
this is a viable solution for whatever,
you know, is the technology mature?
Is there a need for it?
Is, you know, is it a solution in search
of a problem?
You see that as well too.
So, you know, we can, we can help in
various phases, but so many companies are
under capitalized and I think they resist
going to...
a venture capitalist or private investors,
angel investors, because they don't want
to give up control.
But if you don't have anything, you're not
controlling anything either.
So there's a balance to that.
One of the common threads with every
invention is it's somebody's baby.
It's somebody's idea.
And they go at it very straightforward
without looking at it with perspective.
And they don't necessarily have advisors
that can help them and a support system
that can help them.
And somebody to help them look in the
mirror and go, hey, this is a great idea,
but here's where you need to channel it.
and what you need to do next.
And that's how actually the VDT, the focus
group, is actually a great adjunct to the
Pitch It concept, because you can really
learn what's needed and actually help
define your presentation based on what you
learn through the focus group.
It's not like you need to do both, but it
certainly doesn't hurt, and it helps a
lot.
So when should an orthodontist who has a
product and wants to do a startup, when
should they be reaching out to you?
I would say the earliest, the better.
And I'll tell you why from my experience.
A lot of entrepreneurs, when they start up
their company,
They call their accountant.
They have a lawyer.
You know, they have other professionals.
And many times they bring in the marketing
person, the marketing consultant last.
And this could be after they gave the
product a less than optimal name or they
don't have a clear message.
And sometimes they're already going down.
a path and then a marketing consultant
goes in and says, whoa, whoa, whoa, we,
you know, we have to put the brakes on
this because we should, we should have
done it this way to begin with.
And so you're, you know, you're, you're,
you're backing up to almost relaunch
rebrand reposition, and you lose time and
money when you do that.
Would you agree Mark?
100%.
We have a data sheet that shows what
founders wish they did differently after
the fact.
And I can run through that fast.
58 % said more research prior to the
launch would have helped.
A stronger business plan, better
marketing, more financial backing, of
course, that's why they're doing it.
Better financial management, a better
product, which is
interesting because at that point somebody
should have said not a good product.
A better team, right?
A better team, the board, advisors,
anybody that's going to actually help
really keep.
And one of the, it's actually the lowest
percentage, but one of the more
interesting elements is the pivoting.
Learning at what point do you need to kind
of redirect?
And that's actually, I think while that's
a lower percentage out of the mix with
like marketing being 50 % and more
research being 58 % and pivoting being
15%, that's a big move at the end.
And pivoting is always gets to the point
where like, I'm not gonna be successful
here or they've launched, but it's not
catching.
And they've got to be able to shift gears
a little bit and find a better niche.
Mm.
And sometimes that's all it takes.
Yeah.
And a good example of, of, of pivoting and
it, you know, it's certainly not the only
example is you'll have a company that, you
know, they want to get the biggest market
share possible.
So they'll launch a product into the GP
universe because, Hey, there's a hundred
and eighty thousand practicing dentists or
whatever the latest number is.
So, you know, of course we want to have
that market share.
but the product might be very specialized
where it would appeal first to a
periodontist, an orthodontist and
endodontist.
And rather than starting with that
baseline of specialists who are most
likely to be an early adopter and build
social proof of it working and then maybe
giving testimonials that a general
practice particularly.
practitioner might say, well, if the
specialist says that this is good, maybe I
should use it.
So that's one example of that pivot.
Well, I want to take us back to pitch it
and part of the whole idea is helping, you
know, startups, orthodontic startups
develop that, that compelling pitch for
something like funder backing, which you
talked about how many of them say, I wish
I had had more.
So can you talk to me about like, what it
means to have what an investor pitch
encompasses?
Let's start there.
It's very easy.
It starts off with the mission or the
vision the founder might have.
Why did, you know, they found the need,
but what was the mission?
What are they trying?
What is in their heart?
Where is that passion?
Because they've got a lot of passion.
That's why they pursued it.
That's why they could be potentially
putting, you know, using part of their
mortgage, you know, on a home.
So that it starts there.
Then there gets, it's pretty basic.
It's what problem?
is being solved, what financially and what
market size and what's the opportunity,
what's the upside, how big is the
marketplace for whatever the product is.
Then it gets into what makes the product
unique and then how do you build traction
and revenue on down to evidence that their
team can execute.
And quite often,
An idea is great and quite often there's a
good market for it and quite often they
can even show that it'll gain traction.
They can prove out that it'll get traction
at some point, but they don't have the
team to execute.
And sometimes some of the guidance comes
in, who do you bring in so that when an
investor comes in, they don't look at you
and go, well, you're an orthodontist and
you came up with a great idea, but you
know.
This is a totally different animal.
A product is totally different from a
practice.
And it's not something you're trained for.
And it's not to take anything away from
the orthodontists that have launched and
have successfully managed a new product
and built a business.
But more often than not, that's not
something that's scalable.
That business mentality is not there.
And so you do need to surround yourself
with the right team.
And the importance of having, you know, an
optimal pitch deck, you know, it's
obviously, you know, you only have one
chance to make a first impression.
That's, you know, that's the old bromide
that's still, you know, is true.
But the exercise and the development of a
pitch deck is very often a foundation of
the marketing that's going to come forward
afterwards.
So, you know, in the pitch deck, you know,
you know, what's the reason for this, you
know, for this product?
How is it different?
So, you know, the positioning of it, what
is the, you know, what is the branding
statement?
How are you describing the company and the
product?
Once you nail that down and you kind of
distill that in the investor pitch,
That's a jumping off point for a lot of
different forms of marketing
communication.
I think Mark and I have said that to each
other a couple of times as we've been
doing this.
Yeah.
So if you imagine that they've got a
product, they've got a deck, they've got
all those things, there's a story to be
told.
And for somebody developing and has their,
they want their baby to grow to a full
grown adult at some point, meaning a
successful product, there has to be a
brand story that is really the baseline
for the entire presentation.
There has to be something they can be
passionate about and they can talk to.
Because it's important that they're able
to talk to it.
Because at the end of the day, you're
selling to an investor.
They've got to feel that they're going to
come away in the long run making their
money, making their money back.
You talked a little bit earlier about how
you know, you've watched a lot of pitches
from doctors for their products.
What are the things that you know, you've
seen them do that you're like, that's not
going to work or that's handicapping you
down the way you talked a little bit about
that, but I'd like to see if you could go
a little bit further into the mistakes
you've seen.
Well, I think from a copywriter point of
view, no, it's the clarity of the message.
Yes, there's the brand story, but how do
you execute upon that?
So, you know, when you're saying things in
PowerPoint slides, how do you distill that
in a form that's easy to comprehend and
retain retentionism?
important too.
And, you know, that's throughout the deck.
You have to make a case for it.
You know, that's where the choice of
words, how you use them, economy of
language is always important.
We've always, you know, we remember
sitting through what we call death by a
thousand bullets kind of presentations.
Those don't resonate well.
And then there's the design aspects and
I'm going to...
turn that over to Mark on that.
Well, I think it just comes down to
telling a compelling brand story.
And the branding incorporates the visual
part of the presentation, the verbal part
of the presentation, and then the bones of
the presentation, which is the product,
the financials, the team, and all those
things coming together.
But how that story comes together and that
common thread that takes a...
an investor through very quickly.
They don't want to see more than eight to
10 slides, 15 slides max.
They're not, they don't have a lot of
time.
And sometimes they ask you to just send
over what you have right now, maybe a one
cheater or, or just five slides.
And they can make a decision the same way
somebody, you know, HR could look at a
resume and it could just go in and out and
that's it.
Cause they're looking at hundreds and
hundreds.
Thank you.
presentations.
So you've got to get, it's got to be
compelling and it's got to be something
that stands out against everything else.
And so having the background of being
participated in several pitches and seeing
several pitches, it's to our benefit that
we can help or to a customer's benefit
that we can help them and guide them the
right way and even, even connect them with
others in the, in the,
cycle of raising money.
It could be a financial wizard that can
help them work on their numbers.
It could be venture capital firms who
we're closely associated with.
There's a lot of different elements we can
bring to the table.
I think another element of a successful
pitch is who's actually making the pitch?
Who is going before the investors with the
deck and is basically going to perform on
behalf of the company, the founder, to
really resonate with the investors?
That may...
not be the founder and very often it
shouldn't be because they may not be
personable.
They might be geniuses, but they may not
be great communicators.
Hmm.
Okay.
So...
Yeah.
who is going to do the pitch.
You know, you have the investor, the
inventor, the developer on premises to
field any questions that are very
technical and that, you know, that's very
easy to moderate and monitor.
And, but a lot of times that's the
Achilles heel, not having the right
presenter.
that's really interesting.
Yeah.
if you're an investor thinking about
putting on money and the presentation by
the inventor is just not there, it's not
compelling, you're also going to judge
them on whether they're able to bring a
team together and successfully get your
product to market.
Well, and I'd also imagine they're judging
them on whether they can make the decision
to step aside and let someone who's better
at a different aspect of the business
handle it.
an X factor that we always mention that to
clients that you're better off having a
piece of something that's going to be
successful and let somebody really take
your product to market versus struggling
because you don't really have a business
mentality.
just to tie up the, you know, the quality
of the presenter, I have a background in
computer software.
And in that industry, a lot of companies
had a high level executive called the
chief evangelist.
And that was a seed level executive.
And that person's job,
was to go before investors, industry
analysts, maybe regulators, you know, what
have you, make the pitch, do the
presentation.
And he had his backup team of, you know,
the geeks and the nerds that developed the
software and the product in case those
questions really got granular in that way.
But they were very, very...
charismatic people and that's why they
were in that position.
Can you talk to me about why an
orthodontic startup should work with an
outside team to develop their strategy
rather than keeping it all in -house?
And I think you did talk a little bit
about this before, but if you could go a
little bit more on it.
Well, we kind of touched on that.
It's having people that understand your
industry.
They know how to develop a compelling
story.
They have relationships with VCs, legal,
the media, understanding the best way to
structure a pitch deck.
All those things come together.
Yeah.
And some companies or founders are coming
from outside of dental.
So they might have a pretty mature team, a
company, but as they go into a new
vertical and they say, you know what, we
have this AI insurance validation
application that we've been using in
medical.
We want to launch it into dentistry.
And they're more dissimilar industries
than a lot of outsiders think.
They're not the same.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So.
The dental industry is so nuanced like no
other.
And not having a true understanding of the
mindset of influencers in the industry,
the buyers in the industry, workflow
within practices, because if it's a
product that's being sold into the
practice, that's very, very important to
understand that dynamic.
And another scenario that I've seen quite
often is a company will think they're
going into the major leagues by hiring a
firm or a consultant that specializes in
medical.
And that's not the case.
So, you know, you're better off vetting
the consultant or agency that you're going
to work for when you're evaluating them.
Like what do they know about this
industry?
You know, can they walk into this and like
on a dime introduce me to who I need to be
introduced to, you know, recognize the key
opinion leaders, the key distributors,
what meetings I should go to without me
paying them to basically finance their
learning curve, which is gonna happen if
you don't make that decision.
Okay, are there any other tips you have
for orthodontists as they are looking for
an agency to work with?
Because those are some really good tips
that you just gave.
Is there anything else that stands out to
you?
I think research into your marketplace is
very important before you even reach out
to anybody.
you need to have a handle on it yourself.
Regardless of your background or your
expertise as an orthodontist, and you may
think you know what other orthodontists
are thinking or other practices need, it's
important to try to understand as deep as
possible what...
What is potentially acceptable with your
product?
Where does it fit in?
What is that unique selling proposition?
All these little things are really key.
If you have a...
a good handle on that.
And then you sit down with a team like
Pitchett DDS.
I mean, I think then you, it's impressive
and it's important because it speeds up
the process.
So that's one of the re understanding the
dynamics, the research I think is really,
really key.
Well, Mike and Mark, thank you so much for
taking the time to talk us through this.
And it's a really interesting pathway for,
yeah.
It's really interesting that, you know,
there's so much innovation and there's so
many opportunities.
Yeah.
And I hope this is valuable to the viewers
of the podcast, the readers of the
magazine and the website.
And if they have any questions, Mark and I
are available.
But hopefully this has been useful.
Yeah, and if they do want to get in touch
with you, what's the best way to do that?
You could go to v -d -t .com.
That's the VDT main website right now.
So v -d -t .com.
And by the way, I just want to say that
we're happy to offer some time at no
charge to learn a little bit more about a
product and help them and guide them.
great.
Great.
Well, I'm sure our listeners will
appreciate that.
So thank you again so much.
I really appreciate it.
Thank you.
Thanks, Alex.