Keith Cline, VentureFizz
We're gonna talk about light force, which when I think about technology, there is so much going on in all different industries. I mean, it's just every single industry is getting absolutely disrupted and light forces in one of these groundbreaking areas that has massive market potential massive, and we're going to learn why. So Lightforce What do you guys do?
Kelly Riedel, LightForce
Well, I agree with you, Keith. And I will say super high level, if you are a family member has ever had braces. And you can think back to that, we are making that exact experience a whole lot better. Play versus ultimately, we're a tech company and we're providing orthodontists with the only solution to fully customized 3d printed braces. Our vision is to show the world that all care really should be custom care, because humans are unique, and we believe that they deserve to be treated that way. So in our application of that vision in the orthodontic space, we're taking the best of software, hardware and additive manufacturing to create an end to end digital platform for orthodontists resulting in a more custom experience for their patients. This includes giving doctors the ability to plan their treatment plan their cases, digitally, which has the benefit of speed and accuracy, and gives us the ability to 3d print braces custom to each patient. And they're very unique teeth, resulting in faster treatment time and fewer office visits, which is really a win both for the doctors and for their patients.
Keith Cline, VentureFizz
That is amazing. Because it should be customized if you think about it. And then like you said the speed right, so I have two teenage girls that both went through the process, and you want to speed up. So anyways, what so what's the background story? How did the company come to fruition?
Kelly Riedel, LightForce
Well, we like to say we are for ortho spy or foes. So we were founded by Dr. Alfred Griffin, Dr. Lou Schuman, 2015. And Alfred himself. He's a practicing orthodontist comes from a long line of Orthodontists. He comes from an orthodontic family. So he spent a lot of time at the kitchen table as a young person hearing about teeth and learning about teeth and spent time and his parent's practice and that type of thing. And I think he just saw the opportunity to make this a better experience. Certainly, it is not a new customer, not a new concept that dental is going digital, it's more efficient, it's more plantable. It's better for the patients. Yet, we see that in clear aligners, we see that in Invisalign and other clear aligners that you may be familiar with. Unfortunately, clear aligners don't work for everyone, if they work for you, they're great, but because both have compliance issues, so you have to be willing to wear them 22 ish hours a day, in order for them to be effective. And biomechanics issues not all tooth movements can be accomplished with an aligner. They're just not the right thing for everybody. So 20% of the market's clear. aligner is excellent 80% of the market 80% of the teeth moving that has to happen has to happen with braces. And braces have just been I got the same braces that maybe your daughter's getting that my parents got, they just haven't changed in so long. So it was this opportunity to say well, let's take what's already happening that's already working for people, which is a digital digitization of orthodontics. And let's apply it to this huge use case, which is the classic braces.
Keith Cline, VentureFizz
You're the company's chief operating officer. So talk about your background prior to joining the company. And what led you to join LightForce.
Kelly Riedel, LightForce
Yeah, so I'm an attorney by background and training. I started my career in m&a at an international law firm called Skadden Arps. And then I always sort of worked in technology companies. Most recently I was at Amazon robotics, and I lead global operations for the robotics division of Amazon. So essentially, my team and I delivered all the robotic solutions to all of the buildings that were in charge of fulfilling goods, goods to customers. Why I joined was I met Alford, and I heard his story. And it struck me that there's such a clear product market fit. Our doctors want this solution. I actually visited doctor not too long ago and she told me, Kelly, I love LightForce. There is a special place in my heart for LightForce. And I thought, gosh, that is so unique, right for a customer to say I absolutely love this solution. And even before joining like talking to Alford and talking to other members of the leadership at LightForce, it was clear to me that that was true that this was a solution that solved a pain point that our customers were craving they were excited about there are evangelists that can't wait to use our system and talk to other people about it. And also the opportunity that it's a growing team and It was clear. So we actually grew 3x Our employees last year, in a year where we rolled out two new products and expanded geographically. And so it was just clear to me from the outside, gosh, there's so much going on. They're rolling out new products, and customers love them. They're growing. So it's just an exciting time to happen.
Keith Cline, VentureFizz
Well, as you highlighted, there is a tremendous amount of momentum LightForce announced a recent round of funding not too long ago. So talk about the current stage of the company in terms of size of employees and growth plans ahead.
Kelly Riedel, LightForce
Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, we're really proud to have closed our Series C with Kleiner Perkins, they're an excellent partner. And I will say, in general, every one of our investors, they're excited about us, they all reinvested, we have an excellent board that's really collaborative and very strong. So it's a good position to be in as a company. As for where we are right now, we're really gaining traction in the market. So about six and a half percent of the market has already tried us out has already about a case with LightForce. And we have, as I said, we grew 3x Our employees over the last year. Interesting to within the last year, we year over year grew 600% In a year, where as I said, we rolled out two brand new products, we're putting new things in the marketplace. We expanded geographically, and we're growing all these people. So really, everything is up into the right.
Keith Cline, VentureFizz
Now as far as the continued growth, and the hiring happening at LightForce, like what functional areas are going to be focused on in terms of that, that hiring.
Kelly Riedel, LightForce
Every single one of them. So two answers, one really every single area we're hiring in right now, whether it's GNA, whether it's technical teams, or Salesforce, or integration specialists, who are the ones who onboard and train our doctors. But also we're in an opportunistic covering place, we're growing so quickly, there's so much to solve. And there's so much to do that I would say anybody with a ton of skills that's passionate about customers interested in 3d printing, or that type of technology, and interested to get into a company with sort of a real purpose and a real mission, great culture. Send us a note, right, we want to hear from you. We want to bring people in, we want to keep in touch with those folks. And I would say that's part of our company culture, too, is we, we really like to make opportunities for people, there's so much to do that it's easy to craft opportunities around sort of really strong really engaged people.
Keith Cline, VentureFizz
Now, that's a perfect segue, you would start talking about the culture of the company. So what is it like working at LightForce? What's the day to day culture like?
Kelly Riedel, LightForce
Yeah, thanks. That's a really great question. And actually, it's one of the things that I am most proud of it, our employees just love working at LightForce. So I read, I read a study recently that the average net promoter score for employees, and if I'm sure you and your listeners know, but a net promoter score is a way to measure on a scale of one to 10, how much would you recommend to a good friend that they come work here? Average across companies of all different sizes, all different stages, all different industries, it's about a 14, last year LightForce average was a 79. People just love it. And I think, you know, why is that? Like? What are you doing? So right, because we have to answer that. So we know to keep that up. And ultimately, what I think it is, is that one employees really want a sense of purpose, they want to know that their work matters, they want to see the impact. They want to know that what they're doing on a day to day basis has actual implications in the world. And we fully have that in spades. I mean, every one of our employees can see the results of their work. In our company's success. We talk about that a lot. In all hands, we're very transparent company so people can really hear the actual results of their work. But more importantly, I think employees feel really connected to our customers. And so our doctors are so willing to talk to us and share information. And we are able to see the impacts on patients. And so this idea that their day to day work contributes to the success of our orthodontic practice all of these small businesses all across the US and Canada, and the successful treatment of their doctor of our doctors, patients. So, you know, we're meeting these patients at a time in their life where they're making decisions about their health, you know, their bite their oral health, as well as their esthetics, their beautiful, healthy smile, which contributes to, you know, confidence and self esteem and how they present themselves in the world. We can draw a really direct line between the work in every single team that people are doing, and those real implications for real humans out there in the world, which is just super satisfying. I think the other thing I would say about our culture is now more than ever, people you know, we've been so distanced for so long, people really crave like, social interpersonal interactions with each other with their managers, maybe even with customers, but they want to feel part of something And despite our rapid growth, and despite being very geographically dispersed, we operate in five countries. Our team has done an excellent job having fun together, knowing each other as humans, not just as colleagues, sharing stories welcoming each other aboard really, really well. And so I think it's a culture where people feel welcomed, they feel valued, they feel connected to each other, they feel a shared purpose and serving our customers. And they have a lot of fun. So it's a really great place to be.
Keith Cline, VentureFizz
Well, the job market is very active out there, which is a good thing. We wanted it to be active, we want there to be options for people to explore. It's very, very tight market. So why is now the ideal time to join LightForce.
Kelly Riedel, LightForce
You are right in your observation. And that is a great question. Keith, I would say it's at this point, it's not a bold statement to say that dentistry is going digital. And that did this kind of digital revolution of a, you know, very old industry is being enabled by a host of technologies, but most notably 3d printing. Because of our specific knowledge of orthodontics. We are deep in orthodontics based on our founders and a number of Orthodontists on our staff, and our deep experience in 3d printing, we expect to be a major component of this evolution of how the space will form. And I think whenever there is an opportunity to join a place, it's a great place to work that's growing, it's well funded. People want to spend their days and you're about to change an industry for the better in a way that impacts small businesses and patients at a time in their life where they're making important decisions about their health and the way they present themselves to the world. I can't think of a better place to be at a better time.
Keith Cline, VentureFizz
I'm going to recap right here. So we've got a mission oriented company and amazing team, a plus investors, a total addressable market that is absolutely massive defensible technology. You've got everything here. So you need to check out their job listings on VentureFizz, go to venturefizz.com/lightforce, and you'll see other openings there. Kelly, thanks so much for taking the time to walk us through all the great things happening at the company.
Kelly Riedel, LightForce
Keith, thanks so much. It's a real pleasure to be here with you.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
