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Hello, and welcome to the Becker's Healthcare podcast.

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My name is Chanel Banger, and I'm recording

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live at the Becker's Healthcare Future Dentistry Roundtable.

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And right now, I'm sitting with Will MacInnis

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and Ananya Shah, co CEOs of Cliff Ridge

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Specialty Partners. Thank you both for joining me

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today. Thanks so much for having us on

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today. Perfect. Well, to get us started, could

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you please both introduce yourselves and then tell

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me a little bit about your background?

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Absolutely. I'm happy to go first. My name

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is Will MacInnis. I'm the co CEO of

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Cliff Ridge Specialty Partners.

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My background

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is in health care, finance, and investment banking.

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So I spent a number of years at

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Credit Suisse doing health care investment banking, then

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was in, health care investing at a company

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called TPG for a while, both in the

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US

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and in the EU. And then I spent

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2 years as CFO of a Silicon Valley,

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tech company called Vial, which is where I

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met my cofounder, who I will now introduce

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himself.

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Thank you. I'm Ananya, the co CEO of

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Cliffridge,

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with Will. My background,

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is primarily in health care operations. I spent

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a number of years in health care consulting,

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and spent some time with Will,

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as the COO of, Silicon Valley Healthcare startup

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that Will just mentioned. We started this company,

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about a year and a half ago, and

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I've been leading the operation side. Will has

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been on the finance side. Perfect. Thank you

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so much for those introductions.

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Now moving forward, what key experiences have shaped

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both of your leadership journeys in the dental

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and DSO industry?

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Happy to take that one. I would say,

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you know, Ananya and I have a lot

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of experience in companies that we've worked with

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previously

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doing,

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single site operating health care. So a lot

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of the the work that we've done previously

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gives us a skill set that I think

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is transferable into

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dental and into orthodontics and and pediatric dentistry,

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which are the 2,

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specialties that we are specifically focused on.

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I'd say our first deal

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in Seattle,

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definitely gave us a lot of the,

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the the skills and I would say the

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core experiences that have guided our leadership journey.

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Out of the gate, we had some staffing

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challenges, which I think everyone in health care

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services in general will appreciate.

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We've also had some really good early wins

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on the marketing side. I've had really good

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traction,

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with some of the I'd say the the

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playbook that we generated in some of our

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prior roles has ported over quite well into

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orthodontics and pediatric dentistry. And then,

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a couple of the things on the ops

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side that have, that have worked well and

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and have helped, I'd say, shape our our

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leadership journey.

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Got it. And could you maybe tell us

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a little bit about your growth strategy at

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Cliff Ridge Specialty Partners?

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Yeah.

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So I think we have, obviously, multiple different,

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ideas for growth. On the top line side,

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a lot of what we do is draw

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from our experiences in Silicon Valley,

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and work on things like marketing in a

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very tangible way. So we have proprietary in

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house marketing that focuses on SEO and having

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best in class websites,

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and generating leads to referrals.

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We also spend a lot of time with

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pricing analytics to make sure that we are

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pricing amongst our competitors and and even better

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than our competitors in some cases.

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On the bottom line side, I think, like

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Will mentioned, every clinic is is dealing with

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staffing issues and and wage inflation.

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But I think given our backgrounds, we've been

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able to inject tangible

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software solutions to help it, and that includes

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centralized HR, centralized training,

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hiring, recruiting.

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We also spend a lot of time working

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to make sure that the staff, gets time

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back because we'll handle things like marketing, things

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like finance, etcetera.

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And that's really, you know, done well to

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help us grow in in,

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our early practices.

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Got it. Thank you so much for walking

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us through that. Now moving forward, what significant

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challenges are dental and d DSO leaders facing,

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and how are you addressing them at your

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practice?

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Yeah. I'm happy to take that one. I

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would highlight,

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3 that none of which I think should

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be new to, the listeners. 1

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is generally,

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slowing growth in the industry. And I'm speaking

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specifically

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about

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orthodontics

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and pediatric dentistry, which I think this year

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has been maybe a little bit slower

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across the industry than than prior years.

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And for us, that means focusing

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on,

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higher growth markets. So we're we're very focused

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in the Tri State area, which I think

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has been a great market for us.

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And then I would say spending making sure

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that our investment dollars are as high efficiency

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as possible.

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So making sure that the marketing initiatives that

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we're going after and the investments that we're

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making are, you know, we're doing the work

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to make sure they're the best ones.

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The second thing that I would say is

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a generally constrained financing environment.

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Obviously, people talk a lot about interest rates.

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They've been high for quite some time.

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For us, that means, the first couple of

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deals we've done, we've over equitized,

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to make sure that we are super comfortable

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and have a, a very properly balanced cap

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structure,

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going into the next couple of years. And

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then number 3, again, not a surprise to

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anyone, is staffing. And I think for us,

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that means setting great culture,

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offering competitive compensation packages, and, and cross training

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staff, all of which have helped to drive,

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retention with an organization.

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Absolutely. Well, I wanna thank you both for

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your time today. But before I let you

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go, could you share some essential qualities or

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skills emerging leaders should cultivate in order to

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be successful in this industry?

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Sure. So I think for us, the thing

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that has definitely helped us in in getting

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this off the ground and, starting the company,

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like I said, about a year and a

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half ago, has been the, I think, entrepreneurial

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mindset that both of us have. The openness

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to technology,

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innovation.

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Our experience in single site health care has

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really,

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kind of allowed us to see what tech

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actually works and what, you know, is is

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nice to put on the website. But, you

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know, sometimes, people aren't actually using. So,

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having that openness to technology has has definitely

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done well for us. I think at the

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end of the day, it is a people

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business.

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So whether it's, you know, the receptionist, doctor,

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back office,

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staff member,

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Success comes with, making sure that people are

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incentivized correctly and happy,

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and doing their best to, you know, help

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grow the practice with us.

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Absolutely. Well, Ananya and Will, I wanna thank

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you once again for your time today and

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for sharing your insights on the Becker's Healthcare

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podcast. Thank you. Thanks so much for having

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us.