How to Develop and Scale Transformational Technology - My Story

Gary Giegerich

Not everyone is cut out to be an entrepreneur. Lots of people have grand ideas about owning their own company - of being their own boss and reaping the benefits that can come from that. But, for every person that has an idea and dream, many more will never actually pursue that dream. That said, the dental field is exceptionally entrepreneurial. With hundreds of thousands of dental entrepreneurs worldwide, I doubt there is another industry that is quite as concentrated with owner-operators and the multitude of companies and entrepreneurs who support them.

While it takes tremendous fortitude and hard work to open a practice and follow a well-traveled path of attracting patients and profitably providing excellent care, the vision that I had when I founded Alta Smiles would require a much different, and, dare I say, more complex approach. My goal was and remains to transform the orthodontic industry in a way to make highquality orthodontic care accessible, affordable, and convenient for everyone. While I am not a clinician, I am a lifelong entrepreneur and the son of an orthodontist. I have been in and around the industry my whole life. What I saw was an industry that was innovating slowly. Some new technologies were being adopted, but overall, the industry still needed to meet the real needs and desires of patients and their providers. Our research showed that patients wanted greater convenience and discretion in their treatment options, whether those options were fixed appliances (traditional or ceramic braces or clear orthodontic aligners). Both general dentists and orthodontists want to provide highly consistent, reliable results with a high degree of patient satisfaction, all delivered profitably with as few hassles as possible. I was convinced that through proprietary technology, we could meet the needs of both patients and doctors in never-before-imagined ways. So, while we saw a massive opportunity, we also saw the many challenges we would face. Below I will shed some light on how Alta Smiles is building a company that is poised and committed to transforming the industry with our C5 Hidden Orthodontics solution.

As CEO of Alta Smiles, the job description I created for myself and posted next to my desk reads:

• Establish a strategic vision

• Assemble a team with the right people in the right seats

• Focus on the corporate culture

• Align (no pun intended) priorities

• Ensure adequate resources (financial and otherwise)

• Create a corporate rhythm (meetings and tasks/processes functions)

• Assure execution

• Manage risks

While each element of my job description is critically important, this article will delve into what I believe are the three key elements of our success - both in the short and long term. They are: 1) advancing technology that provides the company with a truly differentiated product/service, 2) creating a highly scalable business model, and, 3) ensuring that we create an intellectual property moat that can be protected.

From a technological perspective, we are embracing the inexorable trends in orthodontics - digital treatment planning, remotely monitoring patients to cut down on chair time, and making custom appliances for every patient. But we are not just bundling a myriad of off-the-shelf solutions and calling that innovation. Our solutions utilize digital planning and appliance innovations, but what makes C5 Hidden Orthodontics truly amazing is that we can straighten teeth without brackets or aligners. During treatment, nobody can see that a patient is having their teeth straightened, and it’s totally comfortable. Patients love our treatments, and many clinicians have described what we are doing as the “holy grail of orthodontics.” That’s some pretty amazing praise! With so many technologies out there and being a start-up with limited resources, how does one choose what technologies to buy and which to “build”? We have certainly used both approaches. For instance, there are many digital treatment planning software packages out there, so we were not about to recreate the wheel. Instead, we looked at and evaluated existing solutions, adapted and customized them to our needs, and then created our own protocols. We took a similar approach to provider software so that we could seamlessly communicate with our providers. Others had spent years fine-tuning their software solutions to make them scalable and well-supported, so we started by using 3rd party software rather than building new ones. Of course, we had to make plenty of customizations to meet our needs, and we will continue to invest in our customized solutions. Still, my advice to any would-be entrepreneur is to focus your resources (both time and money) on your critical needs and outsource to other technology partners where it makes sense.

Our technology solution is much more than just what software we buy, build, or customize. Since we have fundamentally reimagined how to move teeth, there is a lot of technology that goes into making that successful. Our system of placing orthodontic wires directly on the lingual surface of the patient’s teeth requires us to understand how the specific forces applied to specific teeth in specific locations will affect the movements. So, we had to learn to analyze and optimize those forces without putting unhealthy pressure on the teeth. This necessitated engaging a cadre of external material scientists, engineers, and technologists to help us create our solutions. I am a big believer in supplementing internal resources with outside consultants and experts and engaging them to work in a collaborative environment to achieve the desired outcomes. In addition to leveraging internal resources much faster, this approach also has the added benefit of taking the politics out of research and development efforts wherein internal development folks feel threatened by “outsiders.”

So, now that we have created a better solution, how do we make sure our solution is scalable? We are big believers in training and documentation. That applies to what we do internally, but it also applies to the clinicians and their staff who are providing the services. To that end, we have invested heavily in envisioning and executing training materials that are straightforward, interesting, and easy to learn. We have created training materials covering everything you can imagine. The materials utilize the full spectrum of mediums, including animations, videos, and printed materials. We have invested heavily in animation materials, in particular, as we believe they make it easier to understand and visualize what’s going on in the patient’s mouth. We also have created learning systems that are fully available online and tailored them to the specific audience(s). We believe that making this investment upfront will pay longterm dividends in ensuring that we can teach our systems in a highly scalable manner to anyone, anywhere.

The final element that I want to touch on is our obsession with protecting our intellectual property. As I have founded and operated 7 companies throughout my career, I have learned a lot about competition. One lesson that I have learned is that well-established companies don’t like to see upstarts succeed, particularly when they take market share from them. And these well capitalize competitors are all too willing to “emulate” solutions from others. So, it’s great to be nimble and innovative and to have amazing customer service, but it’s even better to have truly defensible intellectual property (patents) that create long-term competitive advantages. From day one, we have been protecting our innovations. To date, we have filed for and/or acquired over 25 patents. That includes key patents in countries all over the globe, as we intend to be a global company. We have also extensively researched other companies’ patents to ensure that we are not infringing the IP of other companies. I have been through and ultimately prevailed in patent litigation in my prior companies, but it is a distraction (and expense) that is best avoided.

Every day I hop out of bed excited by the possibilities of this company and the market-changing solutions we are pioneering. By understanding my role as CEO and engaging experienced, talented, and passionate individuals who share our vision, we are more optimistic than ever that we will continue on our path to success. Focusing on innovation, protecting it, and ensuring that our company can scale is a critical part of our strategy.

As the President, CEO, and Co-founder of Alta Smiles, Gary Giegerich has had a successful 30+ year career as a serial entrepreneur. His belief that a higher level of world-class orthodontic care was achievable through an improved care delivery model and innovative technology is what drove him to found the company. Prior to founding Alta Smiles, Gary also founded and grew five other multi-million-dollar companies covering the fields of technology development and consulting, consumer products design and manufacturing, promotional products, and retail. Gary is a graduate of the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, where he received a Bachelor of Science in Economics. He also has served as President of the Entrepreneur’s Organization Philadelphia Chapter.