Beam Technologies is a leader in oral care digital health. Beam develops “daily touch” health technology with the recognition that oral health is a key component to overall health. Founded in 2012 and based in Louisville, KY, Beam believes healthcare should be a connected and personal experience.
Editors Note: We are experimenting with a new interview format here at The Startup Project. Our goal is to provide insight to the readers on how other Startups have handled important tactical and strategic decisions…along with a few light-hearted questions just for fun. As we publish more interviews in this format, you will hopefully gain some insight by comparing the responses and seeing how different businesses approach the same issues. Please let us know what you think of the new format if you have a minute!
Company/Product Q&A
What is the primary benefit that your product provides to its customers?
The Beam Brush is a manual toothbrush with embedded sensors that track and monitor brushing behavior, reporting the data back to Androids and iPhones. Personal health management, and gamifying healthcare at the consumer level, are huge growth areas for the tech sector over the next few years, and we focus on oral care applications
Company Structure and Systems Q&A
What type of legal structure did you choose for your business?
Beam Tech is an LLC.
Did you use an attorney or a self-service system like LegalZoom to form your business?
We were able to use a state run service system.
What system do you use for tracking expenses, revenues and other financial information?
Beam has a bookkeeper who manages all finances. We did use Quickbooks.
What type of email provider do you use? (Exchange, Google Apps, etc.)
Google all the way.
Do you use a customer relationship system or similar software to track your potential customers? (Salesforce.com, Highrise, etc.)
No. (not yet at least)
Do you primarily work on a Mac, PC, or Linux computer?
PC.
What type of smartphone operating system do you use?
Beam Tech develops for IOS and Android. I am using an Android phone as my personal right now.
Strategy/Marketing Q&A
How did you choose your branding and URL for your company?
The Brand for Beam and the Beam Brush was formed from a variety of sources. One of my partners, Dan Dykes, helped bring our colors, website, packaging graphics and “feel” to life. He has a great eye for design, though no training. Our name and logo was inspired by crowd source campaigns. I bottled all of this up with our core messaging and out it came!
Do you use Google AdWords to advertise your product?
We have structured programs created for Adwords and Facebook advertising in the near future.
Do you use Facebook/LinkedIn/Twitter to get your message to potential customers?
I am a huge fan of Twitter, and our @beambrush account is definitely the first place I go with news about the company.
Do you primarily sell to end consumers or businesses? (B2B or B2C)
We are a consumer digital health company!
How did you get your first customer?
By getting great press and attracting attention to our site and product!
What is the number one quality you look for when hiring someone?
A willingness to learn brand new things constantly, and not being afraid to fail. Rocky Balboas. Hit them, they hit you back. Knock them down, they are right back up and ready to go again.
Did you seek outside funding from anyone for your business?
We have taken on Angel capital for Beam Tech.
Miscellaneous Q&A
If you could recommend one book for any entrepreneur to read, what would it be?
My books are 140 characters long. Subscribe to the best startup resources on Twitter and frequently source articles written related to your space. It informs, it inspires, and it educates on an unmatched cycle.
Did you leave your job prior to getting your first customer?
This has always been my job, so yes.
What is your favorite word?
Xerox. (do proper nouns count?)
Star Trek or Star Wars?
Lavar Burton made reading fun. Trekkie.
Which website or reading material do you turn to when you need to take a break and relax?
Gizmodo, Mashable, Techcrunch, and GigaOM tend to rise to the top of my reading list.
If you could have a one hour discussion with another entrepreneur or business leader who would it be?
Tough pick. Elon Musk probably, already one of the best entrepreneurs of all time. You can’t turn this guy off. He has the ambition and the you-know-whats to disrupt any industry. I call him an “enterpriser” entrepreneur. People like he, Richard Branson, Mark Cuban can make any type of business fly because they inspire logical, creative, and aggressive ACTION with their companies.
What one piece of advice would you give to readers who are thinking about starting their own business?
Statistically speaking, you are going to be an entrepreneur at some point in your life (this is for the younger half of the readers), so you should be actively learning and looking for opportunities in areas where you have unquenchable passion. Today, we see the emergence of the “intre-preneur”, and tomorrow I think this will translate to a culture of entrepreneurship, at least in America.
A big thanks to Beam for taking the time to speak with us! Check out their website for more details about their company and their product. http://beamtoothbrush.com
