Ryan and Kristen Miller created Peerlogic to help dental practices generate more revenue through voice-based conversational intelligence.
“By providing feedback on the revenue activities of both inbound and outbound phone calls, we help dental practice operators close more opportunities, identify the root causes of lost revenue, efficiently train staff and make informed business decisions,” says CEO Ryan Miller.
The idea of Peerlogic began in 2019, but the platform’s development started in late February 2021. “While working in the then-emerging market of UCaaS (unified communications as a service), I was introduced to a disruptive industry that was solving big problems for small and mid-size businesses. For the first time, enterprise solutions like advanced call center software, workforce optimization, and sales enablement were available to small and mid-size companies. While general businesses were reaping the rewards of this additional functionality, the medical vertical remained largely the same,” Miller relates. “During the same time, my wife worked (and still does) for the second-largest distributor in the dental field. Their primary focus was on providing exceptional customer care and providing a reliable supply chain.”
They saw the UCaaS and medical industries as being on opposing ends of the innovation spectrum and spoke regularly of how the tech industry was evolving, how companies like Salesforce, Gong and Outreach were changing how revenue generators worked, and how little of that innovation was available to support the sales apparatus of a medical office.
“After many conversations at home and with industry friends, we concluded that it’s inevitable that this technology will make its way into the medical sector,” Miller recalls. “We ‘war gamed’ it for some time, and Peerlogic was born.”
Miller says starting at the height of a pandemic provided unique talent acquisition and collaboration challenges, but found those challenges resolved themselves over time — ultimately confirming their belief that there is no substitute for in-office, face-to-face, spur-of-the-moment collaboration. “We are happy not to have made a snap change to our in-office strategy,” he says.
The journey has been a learning process, and Miller admits much of his learning has been through mistakes. He shares “a few pearls of wisdom that would have benefited me early on:
- “Ask for guidance all of the time. You will be amazed at how willing industry and thought leaders are to help. Most have gone through what you’re going through. I have found a collegiate feeling amongst those crazy enough to call themselves founders.
- “Hire for culture first. The few times we hired for immediate need over culture backfired.
- “Ensure your core values are represented within all aspects of the company.”
Their most considerable challenge, and one Miller believes is common to most startups of their size, is prioritization. “It’s easy to constantly pivot or thrash to meet the new shiny product or feature. We are continually speaking of our mission and focus on the job to be done. Also, strict adherence to an OKR operating principle has been jet fuel to our production,” he says.
Photo courtesy of Peerlogic
