0 (2s):
Who's ready to rock today, Fire Nation? JLD here and welcome to Entrepreneurs On Fire brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network with great shows like I Digress. Today, we'll be breaking down how InBrace is going to change the $40 billion orthodontic markets to drive these value bombs. I brought John Pham into EOFire studios. John is an entrepreneur, a team builder, former aerospace engineer and practicing orthodontist as CEO and Co-Founder of InBrace. He is using his leadership skills and treatment innovations developed from years of research to disrupt the orthodontic industry with an invisible consumer friendly solution for today's active patients.

0 (45s):
And today foundation, we will be talking about Siri defunding. What was that like disrupting the market, how you can do it, what makes InBrace different and so much more. When we get back from thanking our sponsors, whether you run an existing e-commerce business, a brick and mortar, or you're ready to become an entrepreneur Helium10 can help join over 1 million Helium10 users worldwide by signing up for a free account at Helium10.com/fire. That's Helium10.com/fire. The My First Million Podcasts features famous guests, discusses how companies made their first million and brainstorms new business ideas based on the hottest trends and opportunities in the marketplace.

0 (1m 26s):
One recent app was all about how venture capitalists make money. Listen to My First Million, wherever you get your podcasts. John say what's up to Fire Nation and share something that you believe about becoming successful. That most people disagree with coronation what's going on. I think, you know, a lot of people think about success as, I don't know, like a destination that you get to a diploma or a dollar amount, right. And for me, success, I don't think of it so much as, you know, what you get. It's really who you become. It's the, it's the journey that really defines success. So yeah, that's what success means to me

0 (2m 10s):
And Fire Nation. What are we talking about? How John took an InBrace and is now going to, towards his version of success. And I first off, do you want to start John by saying, what the heck is InBrace, break it down for us.

1 (2m 27s):
I'm an engineer and orthodontist by training. And so, you know, I spent a lot of my time straightening teeth and, you know, InBrace is a new type of teeth straightening. We call it a new category of teeth straightening that goes behind the teeth and we do it using space, age, shape, memory material that can move your teeth gently, comfortably with fewer interventions and a shorter treatment time.

0 (2m 54s):
Let's talk about the actual journey. Cause you did mention you were an engineer and you obviously didn't start off day one, add InBrace. So kind of like let's walk through where you were, how you got to where you are today. And of course, sharing that aha moment of InBrace

1 (3m 10s):
Life very much is a journey of different, you know, and points. And you know, like Steve jobs says it doesn't really make sense going forward. It makes sense, you know, looking backwards. And so, you know, I guess it's really, is that in story, you know, we, we, we, my family came from on rickety boats from Vietnam, right. And when we came here, we were farmers and you know, I'm from California, Los Angeles. So when you're driving through the hood in LA, you always see, you know, those people on the, on, you know, on the side of the road, selling oranges and things like that.

1 (3m 51s):
Yeah, that, that was me, you know, early on, except instead of selling oranges, we were selling Asian herbs. But the reason I bring that up is because, you know, at an early age, I, I, I learned the value of, you know, being different, right. There's always that, that, that kid selling oranges, there's that girl selling lemonade. And, you know, I could sell better oranges. I could sell better lemonade or I could sell something different. Does that make that

0 (4m 20s):
It does make sense and keep the journey going forward as far as what was that next step out of that part in your life that now led you to where you are to that?

1 (4m 30s):
Yeah, it was during the tech boom, you know, dropped out of school, did a couple of startups, you know, et cetera, et cetera, promise my mom, if she'd let me drop out that I go back and become the doctor that she always wanted because that's what I was supposed to do. Right. As an immigrant. And then, so, you know, when, when I came back and, you know, you know, went to dental school to make, to make momma happy, you know, I, once you're an entrepreneur, it never leaves your blood. Right. So I was just kind of, you know, looking around for that next thing. And when, when I was going through my residency rotations at children's hospital, Los Angeles, we were treating kids with cleft lip and palate.

1 (5m 15s):
And that's like, if, if you know about it, that's the most severe types of malocclusion or crooked teeth out there. And these kids would have to generally come in from, you know, hours away for, you know, every single month for years on end. And, you know, we thought, is there a way for us to use technology so that they don't have to come in so often anymore so that they don't have to be in pain every single month when they do come in. And most importantly, so they don't have to look worse before they look better. And, you know, as, as we were developing this and, and, and helping these kids, we found out that the need for these things extends beyond just kids with cleft lip and palate.

1 (5m 55s):
It applies to people like you and me as well. You know, our, our youngest patient is eight years old. Our oldest patient is 80 years old. And that was the beginning of InBrace

0 (6m 4s):
To me. Fire Nation is really just a fascinating story. When you're willing to walk out the door every single day, keep your eyes open, keep your ears open. Talk to people. See what's missing in this world. See a problem that is not being solved. See a void in the marketplace. That's not being filled or this not being filled as good as it otherwise could be. And that kind of leads me to my next question, which is John, what does make InBrace different? What does that void that InBrace is filling that wasn't being, that wasn't being filled before. What service is it fulfilling that was not being fulfilled?

1 (6m 39s):
The types of people that are coming and getting InBrace. You know, when you think about people getting teeth straightening, you don't, you don't really think of what John like teenagers, you know, teens and tweens

0 (6m 50s):
I in my high school

1 (6m 50s):
Years. Yeah. What gets me excited is that the people that are coming in your InBrace right now are people like you and me, right? People that, that, that, that do care about their looks care about their skin care about their hair, care about their nails, right? But they'd never thought about teeth straightening being for them. Because again, you know, th th the world or the stereotypes had been that, you know, InBrace heads had, had only been for a certain type of market, or excuse me, not InBraced, but teeth training and only been for a certain type of market. So, you know, going back to what you were saying before, what makes InBrace special and different is fundamentally we deliver a different type of experience. You know, you've got regular braces, which is a mouth full of metal.

1 (7m 31s):
It goes on the outside. There's these things called, you know, plastic aligners that you may have heard of where you gotta pop these trays in and out every single day for 20 to 24 hours a day. Right? And there's a lot of people that want teeth straightening, but don't want either of those two options. Right? And so, you know, we saw a void and a need for that. And that's why we developed InBrace.

0 (7m 53s):
This is why InBrace now lives in this world, Fire Nation, because they saw the need and they filled that need. And we're really going to be breaking in to a lot more details of behind this, around this and help for you as entrepreneurs. And we get back from thanking our sponsors. The new year is here. And my guess is that you have big goals set for you and your sales team over the coming months from new projects to bringing in more leads a new year can often feel like a totally new start, but let's not forget the most important part, arming your team with the best tools so they can focus on giving your customers the best experience possible. And this starts with getting ahead of the learning curve so that new challenges turn into new ways to grow with new features, dedicated to helping your sales team improve your customer experience.

0 (8m 35s):
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0 (9m 15s):
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0 (9m 56s):
And we love it. Join over 1 million Helium10 users worldwide by signing up for a free account at Helium10.com/fire. That's Helium10.com/fire. So John, with the pandemic, I mean, there's been an increase for teeth straightening. I mean, you've seen it, the numbers don't lie. Why are people suddenly so obsessed with their teeth? And how has this affected your business

1 (10m 23s):
With the zoom culture? Now everyone's just looking in the camera, staring at themselves. And I, you know, again, I, I think it's not that people are S suddenly realizing that they want their teeth straightened. I think they finally have an option that fits their lifestyle, that, that, that, that, that, you know, suits their needs. Right. I think, you know, what, what entrepreneurship to me really is about, isn't about offering more of the same it's I think what you're saying about filling in the white space, offering something fundamentally different, right? If you're thirsty, you can have Coca-Cola, you can have water, or you can have lemonade, right?

1 (11m 4s):
Multiple ways to quench your thirst. If you wanna get your teeth strain before InBrace, there was only two options. There was only regular braces where, you know, you know, the ugly Betty type image, and then you have plastic aligners. Again, like I said, popping these things in and out all the time and InBrace the delivers a, a different type of experience that doesn't require work on your side. It's a sits behind the teeth and it's working all the time, gently, comfortably, you know, on autopilot. So I, I think that's why, you know, the, the demand and the growth of InBrace has been so substantial over the last couple of years.

0 (11m 41s):
It was interesting is I think a lot of people missed this opportunity. You know, when the pandemic initially broke out, I mean, understandably, we were concerned about a lot of things as we should have been, but I think a lot of people didn't take this opportunity to say, okay, I'm concerned about a lot of things. Rightfully so, I'm going to take care of what needs to be taken care of, but what are the opportunities now? Like what are the opportunities that might not have existed before this happened, that I can come out being rosy on the other side of things. So next time, something crazy happens in this world, fire our nation, you know, of course, react in the way that you should and protect yourself and take care of your family. But then also in the back of your mind, when you maybe have a second to breathe and say, now the world is different.

0 (12m 22s):
What new opportunities may arise that might not otherwise have arisen. And you just went through a series D funding. So for a lot of our listeners, they're entrepreneurs, they're growing businesses. They're looking to get funded. They're looking to go for their family and friends round for their seed round that are presale for their series, a B, C talk to us about funding, like break us, break down for us what you've gone through in the abundance side of things. And now, you know, what a series defunding even means.

1 (12m 53s):
Man, I remember the first time we came up with this idea and we pitched it to the dental school, as I said, this was part of my, you know, residency program, master's thesis. It was a research project. And, you know, we, we saw the impact it was making in people's lives. I mean, went to the dental school to pitch it, and guess what? They said, no, they said, you know, why would you need something like this brace works fine. The things that we have right now work fine. And we had to, you know, go outside of, you know, our comfort zones and went over, over to the school of engineering actually. And I remember my first pitch, I was asking for $50,000 and that was looking in the mirror, you know, stuttering almost as I asked for it.

1 (13m 37s):
And, you know, I thought it was $50,000. We could change the world and be rich, you know, and 50,000 became 500,000 and became 5 million. And you know, in a number of years now we've raised over $178 million to bring this to market. But I, I think, you know, the questions about fundraising, it's about just having this dream and this passion that you believe in. And, you know, if you believe in it enough and you just keep going, you'll, you'll work through the nose and eventually you'll get funded.

0 (14m 9s):
Now talk to us specifically about the series defunding, like what recommendations would you have for listeners right now who are going to be going through this process at some point in their business? Like, what do you wish you knew

1 (14m 23s):
When you're doing something for the first time and no one's ever done it before. Right. And you know, I talk about, about it in the sense of creating, creating new categories, or, you know, I think you had brought up like doing something different or meeting the white space, right. Or trying to find that need, if no one's ever done it before you are the world expert. So you just do your diligence, do your best, and you don't answer the questions, but if you don't know it, nobody knows it. Let's just have confidence.

0 (14m 49s):
It's going to come back to confidence, Fire Nation, go forth in conquer. Now let's get specific. We talked a little bit about this in different areas, but how is InBrace disrupting the market? Like what are you doing? That's really different. Besides what we've already covered

1 (15m 5s):
To me, entrepreneurship really is about, as you say it, you know, filling a need that doesn't exist. And oftentimes I think to me, real entrepreneurship is again, solving a problem. People don't know they have. And, and, and, and to do that requires changing minds, right? Disney changed. The people think about what amusement parks are, right? Apple changed the way people interact with their electronic devices. You know, Tesla changing how people think about the driving experience. So on and so forth. And, you know, for us, we're really here to help orthodontist tap into a whole new type of consumer that had always cared about straightening, their smiles, or having a better smile, just never knew that teeth training was for them.

1 (15m 50s):
You know, my goal here is to have people think about teeth straightening differently and, and fundamentally grow the market, which, which is what we're doing. So what's in store for the future here is that, you know, we're going to continue bringing them this across the nation, eventually, you know, across the world. And, you know, hopefully help more and more people get the type of smiles that they've always wanted.

0 (16m 12s):
Well, smiles, arcade, especially since we were talking about with that new zoom culture, and we get that camera right in our face, bright, old smile, right? In the bright spotlights Fire Nation, take this to heart, John, what's the one thing that you really want to make sure Fire Nation gets from our entire conversation today. Like we talked about a lot of things. What do you really want to make sure our listeners walk away

1 (16m 38s):
Fire Nation. This is about entrepreneurship filling a need. And all those things we talked about in the last 20 minutes, then, you know, I would say that you have to InBrace what makes you different and says the leave in it and not just try to do more of the same, especially when you're out there trying to create a new business, trying to fundraise. Everybody's going to be trying to put you into a box, compare you to, you know, whatever company a and how you're better than company a or compare you to the guy selling oranges and how your oranges are better. And if what you're doing is really filling an unmet need that people don't know about them. What you have is fundamentally different than you can't be put in a box. You're creating a new box.

1 (17m 18s):
That's

0 (17m 19s):
By an agent. If you've seen dirty dancing, just always remember, don't put baby in the corner. Nobody puts baby in a corner. Now, John, where can Fire Nation connect with you? Where can we learn more about what you have going on?

1 (17m 32s):
And the age of social media, you can find us on Instagram. Our handle is at InBrace. I N B R A C E or you can go on our website inbrace.com

0 (17m 44s):
And Fire Nation. You're the average of the five people you spend the most time with. And you've been hanging out with JP and JLD today. So keep up the heat and head over to EOFire.com type John in the search bar. His show notes page will pop up with everything that we've been talking about here today. John, thank you for sharing your truth, your knowledge, your value with Fire Nations, that I have your journey, your story for that. We salute you and we'll catch you on the flip side. Pleasure being here. Hey, Fire Nation today's value bomb content was brought to you by John and Fire Nation. Successful entrepreneurs accomplish big goals. That's why I created the freedom journal to guide you in accomplishing your number one goal in a hundred days, and we're talking step-by-step so visit the freedomjournal.com and I'll catch you there, or I'll catch you on the flip side, whether you run an existing e-commerce business, a brick and mortar, or you're ready to become an entrepreneur.

0 (18m 38s):
Helium10 can help join over 1 million Helium10 users worldwide by signing up for a free account at Helium10.com/fire. That's Helium10.com/fire. The, My First Million podcasts features famous guests, discusses how companies made their first million and brainstorms new business ideas based on the hottest trends and opportunities in the marketplace. One recent app was all about how venture capitalists make money. Listen to My First Million, wherever you get your podcasts.