200K Customers With 9 Employees: AI-Powered Lean Growth

0:00Why is oral care such a boring category? Where is the fun in it? It's the question that we started asking and that's why we decided to launch a brand that marries all three of those principles. Clinically backed, science backed, and also fun. In terms of you guys as Lapland differentiating yourselves from the products that already exist, have you had to educate your consumers in why your product is better? You can get the same experience you can get at the dentist, but instead of paying hundreds of dollars, just pay us, you know, 59 bucks one time. If you're on subscription, you can pay 30 bucks and then get started.

0:34And we've had to do a ton of education around it. And we've done that with the help of press, with the help of dentists that are willing to go on camera and vouch for the product and explain. The marketing angle on the differentiation that has really worked out well for us is telling, hey, whatever you can buy from Crest or for another competitor out there, that's one size fits all. You're actually using something weaker than what you can actually tolerate.

1:03Hey, everybody. Thank you for tuning in. My name is Andres Figueira, and I'm going to be your host for the day. This show is brought to you by The Global Talent Company, helping fast-growing teams hire exceptional remote talent from Argentina, South Africa, and beyond. We connect companies with world-class professionals who bring skill, reliability, and global perspective to every role. And just for our listeners, we're offering an exclusive 10 % discount on your first hire. All you need to do is visit theglobaltalent.co, click Start Hiring, and mention the podcast listener discount when we get in touch.

1:36And today with me here, I have Wookiee Park, Chief Executive Officer at Laughland, a company that has brought the world's first and only personalized teeth whitening kit. So it's saying that you can have brilliant results in at least and as little as five minutes a day. So Wookiee, how's it going, man? It's a pleasure to have you on the show. Likewise. It's a pleasure to be here. Thanks for reaching out. I'm excited that we could do this. No problem at all, man. No problem at all. I'm super happy to hear about your story and everything that Laughland is. So with that said, Wookie, would you be able to give the audience a bit more context and tell us a bit more about your background and in your own words, what Laughland is?

2:18In terms of my background, it's pretty unique because I didn't come from an exactly, you know, super dental focused background. I don't have a, you know, I'm not a dentist. And I didn't have, you know, years and years of dental training that, you know, a lot of people ask me, like, why did you start Laughland? Why are you working on this? You know, do you have a dentistry background? And the question is, the answer is no, I don't. And but what I did have a background in was right after college, I worked at a consumer growth equity fund. We were investing in companies like Olaplex, Curology, Augustinus Botter, a bunch of really exciting consumer brands that have defined categories.

3:09And, you know, while I was working there, it was always kind of sitting on the back of my head was, you know, why why don't I do something like this? Why am I at the other side of the table? So that's when I decided to really dive headfirst into Laughland, which was really a passion project that kind of started blossoming while I was graduating from school. We were exploring concepts. We were exploring, you know, why is dental care, why is oral care such a boring category? You know, we have so much innovation and so many fun products and brands come for skin care to hair care to nail care now.

3:45But we didn't really see anything that was both clinically focused and science backed, but approach it in a fun way. I think you get, you know, in the oral care space, you get legacy brands that are science backed, tons, years, decades of clinical research to back it. Or you get a ton of, you know, kind of gimmicky TikTok shop focused brands that are really going in for a marketing kill rather than creating products that would stand the test of time. So, you know, I thought oral care was such a fun category. but didn't have enough fun in it. And, you know, it's all about creating the best smile for yourself, right?

4:31It's all about smiling. It's all about, you know, spreading happiness. That's what this category should be about. It's where you speak. It's where you smile. It's the focus of your like A to day experiences. But where is the fun in it? It's the question that we started asking. And that's why we decided to launch a brand that marries all three of those principles that I was talking about. clinically backed science backed and also fun like it does not have to be boring they figured it out in skincare they figured it out in makeup how to do you know real products that work super well in a fun format so that's why we decided to do this and i guess yeah for with laughland you know we thought the best approach was mimicking the dentist's experience and bringing it at an affordable price.

5:18We wanted oral care to be affordable and accessible to anyone. And right now, it's even today, you know, even like a 20 pack of strips that you buy in CBS can set you back$60. It's very, very pricey. And it's priced that way, because there's not a lot of innovation or challenges in the category. So we said, why don't we mimic the whole dentist experience where you go in, they know what you can handle what you can't handle, and they prescribe you the right formula for it. So we decided to build that algorithm in the back end and decide to match customers to write formula. Because, for example, members of my team, you know, our team is full of people who can't bite into ice because it hurts them so much because they have sensitive teeth.

6:05I'm like bathing in ice cream. Like I don't mind having, you know, any sensitivity, nor do I feel much. So it doesn't make sense that what works for you should work for me because we have different areas of tolerance there's a lot of science that goes into what chemicals work and don't depending on if you have a crown or veneers or things like that so these are questions that a dentist asks you and figures out what the right formula what the right percentage of formula works for you but if you go right now to a shop or retail or website it's all one size fits all So that's why we were like, you know what, it's not that hard of a question set to figure out what really works for you versus me.

6:52So we decided to mimic that, create that algorithm, and with the help of dentists, and then we decided to launch it. And, you know, it's been four years now since Laughland has officially launched. and we have a lot of customers. We have over 200 ,000 customers that have tried Laughlin and love it today. So we're happy to report that our method, I think, is working. That is so cool, Wookie. And I love how you were able to see this gap in the whole industry, in the dental industry, that I do agree with you that when I see dental products, they just look clinically backed and scientifically proven that they function.

7:35but it's not creating any type of emotion in me. It's like, I think I need it. It's a bit expensive, so I might just skip it. And in terms of the customization that you guys offer, did you obtain, and I imagine you did, like you have the support from different dentists that make sure that the algorithm you guys provide to the consumer is accurate and it is properly prescribed the levels that they need for the whitening product they want? yeah so we've worked with multiple dentists like even if you go on our socials you know you'll see some of the dentists that we work closely with featured on there um from the actual formulation itself like what goes into the whitening ingredient what whitening formulas we worked with dentists all the way down to the actual questions that we ask you on our website and the algorithm that goes through it to match it it's just been the whole process from a to z and has just been working with experts to make sure that we know what we're giving you.

8:34And we don't want to give you anything that the dentist wouldn't write. So, of course. And in terms of the algorithm you guys have and how you make sure that you can provide the proper responses to your customers, do you guys leverage AI in getting all that done? No. So, I mean, this was, I guess, before all the AI tools came into play. So we use machine learning to build that out. But now we use a little bit of AI to optimize the experience as well. We're starting to incorporate it more and more. But I wouldn't say that the core products, the core algorithm behind it is AI powered for now. That is refreshing because nowadays I've spoken with so many companies that like the backbone is built on AI.

9:21That is really cool that you guys have done it before and you're looking on how to make it integrate better with what you guys already have. That's really cool. And Wookiee, in terms of the quantity of customers that you guys have, you mentioned you have 200 ,000 people that have used your product now. Yeah. So we crossed the 200 ,000 mark in October 16th, like just around a month ago. Wow. Okay. And are those customers customers that are returning to keep on buying the whitening kit because they need to do this every now and then? Or is it just a one time customer that you don't see later on?

10:04Yeah, it's a really healthy mix. We have a ton of customers that will try it out and keep returning every three months, every six months, whenever they feel like they need to, you know, brush up on their whitening. because truth be told, you know, even if you go to the dentist, no matter what type of whitening you get, it will get you to a certain point where you're happy with your smile. But depending on how much coffee you're drinking, how much wine you're drinking, how many, you know, dark acidic foods or drinks that you're consuming, it's going to start reverting back. So just like how skincare works, you got to keep touching it up.

10:41It's not a one and done process. So yeah, we get it. We get a healthy amount of repeat customers come in. I haven't used a whitening kit in I don't even know how long, man. Oh, God, we're going to have to send you one. I'm dying for one. Only thing is that I'm in Argentina, so I'm not sure. We ship worldwide. We've had the craziest. We even sent a kit to Kandahar Air Base in Afghanistan before without us knowing. I only know because we were charged like$31 for shipping for it. And I was like, what was this for? the team was like yeah it was at a u.s air force base in afghanistan but okay you have customers in singapore qatar brazil colombia um all over europe morocco australia that that is so nice and and how long ago did you guys be able to start um shipping worldwide because i imagine you started in the states got steady there and then started to branch out yeah so we started really doing international almost involuntarily in the beginning.

11:44There were a couple of articles that were posted about us from press that I guess got picked up by readers from all over. So we started getting a healthy amount of orders from the UK since the very beginning of our journey. The United Kingdom accounted for almost 10 % of like our customer base in the beginning. It's less so now and it's more of a mix. But yeah, because of that, we kind of had to enable international shipping and strategize around it from the beginning. And that's allowed us to scale very nicely with the help of our warehousing partners. In terms of you guys as Laughland differentiating yourselves from the products that already exist, have you had to educate your consumers in why your product is better, why they should choose you?

12:35How has the journey in making them trust Laughland more than these other legacy brands that they've always seen. How has that been? Would you be able to give us a bit more insight in that regard? Yeah. And that's one of the big reasons why we chose personalization from the beginning, right? Because we couldn't sell them on the efficacy or how we're better, quote unquote, without having a true differentiation point. And that's where really began the journey and said, that's the bar, the angle that we're really going to push out to the consumer is that, hey, you can get the same experience you can get at the dentist, but instead of paying hundreds of dollars, just pay us, you know, 59 bucks one time.

13:16If you're on subscription, you can pay 30 bucks and then get started. So that's how that's kind of the marketing angle that we've always pushed. And we've had to do a ton of education around it. And we've done that with the help of press, with the help of dentists. You know, we've been able to work with, you know, phenomenal dentists that are willing to go on camera and vouch for the product and explain, you know, how it's one to one, like how this is how I do it in the office. And, you know, you can do it too, uh, where I working with Laughland and having authority figures, people who are really experts in the space, come out and vouch the products from the beginning has been able to, you know, really sell the consumer on, Hey, if you have sensitive teeth, it's not going to hurt.

13:59You know, that's the big selling point, right? Instead of using a one size if it's also a solution because then that's made for everyone if you have sensitive teeth of course it's going to hurt but the the really interesting part that we've learned over the years is the best the mass vast majority of consumers are willing to take a little bit of sensitivity to get something even higher so the marketing angle on the differentiation that has really worked out well for us is telling you know the ordinary person or people without sensitivity like myself telling them that, hey, whatever you can buy from Crest or for another, you know, competitor out there, that's one size fits all, you're actually using something weaker than what you can actually tolerate.

14:42So we go up, you know, 40, 50 % higher than the competitors out there in the whitening strength. And that's what really does the trick for a lot of our consumers is because they know, hey, I can use, I can get results faster through Laughland than any other competitor out there. now i get the brilliant results in as little as five minutes a day it's because then you have a little bit of a a big uh what's it called a harder punch in the whitening that you guys are able to apply in the product that's cool because i have had my teeth whitened a bunch of time ago in the at the dentist and i must say it took a while it took a while and it was a bit um it did hurt a bit i feel that it back in those days also dentists had a one-size-fits-all i think nowadays it must have gotten a little bit more customizable.

15:30But that is so cool. And in terms of educating and getting consumers and taking the audience and converting them to an actual paying customer, what has been one of the channels, or if you have many, what have been the channels that have worked the most? I know you mentioned you had some press that was released that consumers read from around the world and that took you into more of the international shipping space. But from what you know, Wookie, What has been your best channel to handle conversions? I would have to say it's socials. As much as CPAs and cost of impressions has gone up over the years, it's still the channel that has the most scale and also has the most amount of conversions for us.

16:11So we spend heavily on from everywhere from meta to TikTok. YouTube ads is something that we've started exploring this year. If you know anyone who's super good at it, let me know because we haven't been able to crack it yet. But yeah, those are the main channels that work for us. But we do a lot of create what I call kind of untraditional or maybe it's actually traditional marketing that brings our overall CPMs and CPAs down. So everything from tapping into smaller apps through networks like NIFT, where we're embedded into apps like Expedia or things like that. So when you buy a purchase, it actually gives you a discount coupon to LaughLine products for a limited time.

17:02We also do work with publishers for newsletters. were featured in a bunch of newsletters in terms of ad placements, but also features as well through organic press. But I would say everything from newsletters, print media, direct mail, all the way down to being embedded as gifts on random apps. We've kind of tried all the different ones out there and we're still exploring, still experimenting to see is there a healthier way to acquire customers and because our goal is to meet customers wherever they are instead of, you know, cherry picking our channels. So yeah, retail is also going to be a big focus for us in 2026 and expanding into physical locations and channels.

17:53So that's something that I'm super excited about launching new products into our, you know, hopefully physical retail partners. I love that, man. I love that. And in terms of demographics, do you have a certain type of customer that is the one that buys the Laughland products the most? I don't know, people ranging from their 20s to their 30s are the ones that are buying most of what we offer or anything like that? So funny enough, when we started, we thought that the branding would really appeal to females ranging from, you know, 16 to like 28, like very young, very Gen Z. You know, funny enough, it ended up being a little older.

18:40So it's, you know, when we kind of it's more 25 to 40 that really, you know, loves our products. And I think that's also just by the factor that, you know, we don't have exactly the cheapest product in the market. There's a lot of sellers on Amazon and TikTok shop that are selling, you know, unfortunately, untested, bogus, gimmicky products for$9,$12,$15. So, you know, when you factually the shipping costs, it's really like, how much does this thing actually cost to make? It's almost a questionable problematic to think about it from a margin standpoint. If it works at a$9 price, it's probably not made with a lot of care into it.

19:22What do you believe is going to be, Wookie, the future in how consumers will approach beauty and wellness personalization in the next few years? Do you think this model that you're adopting is something that other companies are going to start doing as well and just start providing more of a remote way of diagnosing what they need? Or do you think this is something that is just more of the times at the moment? Yeah, I think that it will play into two factors. I think for certain categories, I think it makes a lot of sense. And we've already seen large brands be built up, like pros, function of beauty, Curology, brands that are doing well above$100 million a year that have really built a strong, strong format, a strong business in personalization.

20:15I do think that for personalization, it really makes sense in the higher tier of beauty and wellness. And I think it's seen as more premium. And I think as we kind of get into the premiumization of wellness and beauty products, I think personalization to an extent will have to be table stakes for many, many brands as more people get into this space. I also do think though personalization it doesn't necessarily mean hey you know take a quiz tell us about us talk to someone and then we'll prescribe it to you. I think personalization can also be played out in making sure that you're it's it's not one size fits all.

20:59I think I think you know when I think about it like lipstick brands have done a really good job with personalization. It's not necessarily done to the level of you tell us what you want and we'll make us custom lipstick for you. But they have made every color that's imaginable under the sun. And when you go into the store, the personalization is done for you by the store associates that are asking you what palettes you like, what colors work well on your skin. And then you decide. You know, personalization has, I think, always existed in everything from retail to commerce from the very beginning of civilization.

21:37I think bringing it online has been the challenge and we've been tackling it in our own way and some brands are doing the same. But I think personalization at the end of the day doesn't have to mean you take a quiz online or you have to dial a number online in order to get the product that you want. But it's really more so making sure that every customer demographic that you're trying to sell to, you're addressing their unique pain points instead of trying to make something that's 70%, you know, problem solving for everyone on board. You know, we'd much rather make 10, 15 different products that cater to unique oral care health types to smile goals and needs depending on your sensitivity levels.

22:22We'd much rather do that than continue to launch a one product that is supposed to be a magic pill that you take in order to fix all of your oral care needs. And that also just raised another question in my head. And it's Wookiee. In terms of the whitening. What's it called? like the whitening product per se, you have these preset levels of whitening that you then decide which should be selected for the consumer in terms of what they replied in their quiz? Or is it something that you create based on their answers and it's just a different formula for each and every consumer? Yeah. So how it mainly works is we have an array of formulas, you know, is already pre-made and the did you get matched to the right one that yeah so that's how the dentists do it themselves too it's not it's not safe for you to because all of these are formulated in fda registered facilities with the highest you know iso and hasop certifications um if we were to do that impromptu on site it would be extremely costly um without actually yielding you know any additional benefit and we'll get about laugh land per se you guys as a company um how big are you like how many how many employees do you have that are helping you out to to run this whole project yeah so there's only nine of us currently uh we work with uh with tons of contractors um and agencies that help us scale but you know using a lot of ai tools internally using a lot But I mean, it's crazy how efficient our workload flows have gotten.

24:10Everything from customer support, you know, our customer support manager can now handle tasks that otherwise would have taken five people to do. You know, we used to hire a customer support agency and then we decided to bring it in-house. So we do everything, every function as much as we can. We try to do it in-house. But the productivity levels of an individual has gotten incredibly high. I was just at a design meeting before this and the mockups for designs and prototypes that would have taken us weeks to make. Now, with a click of a button, we can make through AI. So, you know, we've used AI really efficiently across the board in our team.

24:56And I think that hiring has gotten almost easy for us because the productivity level of an individual is so high, we don't feel the pressure to overhire or, you know, be kind of constant hiring rush because of that. I do understand how AI really helps optimize and make more efficient a person's time. And what one employee had to do in mundane tasks for like four hours a year ago is now something they can do by clicking up a button in five seconds or less. So it really does make sense. And are you guys planning on expanding anytime soon? Or are you where you're at comfortable and just looking to scale the company in terms of sales and consumers and customers rather than looking to hire more people on board?

25:44Yeah. No, we are definitely in a growth phase. We've been growing pretty rapidly over the years, at least double for the last couple of years now, ever since we've grown. and I think we're at a really interesting time in our kind of company history and the outlook for it where our core hero product has been the whitening kit which has always been more of a premium product you know it's at for one time it's priced at$59 funny enough we actually reduced prices this year due to some supply chain optimizations that we were able to do which has really helped with our conversions and, you know, getting access to more customers.

26:27But I think our biggest learning from our price reduction and the benefits from it this year, you know, being able to actually scale while reducing prices, which is almost sounds, you know, counterintuitive. But I think our biggest learning was that, you know, at a$60 stamp at a price point, We're not exactly mass, mass market, especially if we consider the entirety of the country. You know, sure, the 10 percent of the United States holds most of the purchasing power now. But we always when I first started this, there was an article that we read that, you know, the the brightness and how straight your smile is, is one of the easiest indicators of wealth in the United States.

27:15Like whether you got braces, whether you get your teeth whined is one of them. And how inaccessible it was for the average family in America, especially in more rural areas. I hated that. And I think it's time that we go launch more products that are available to the rest. That to people that don't want to spend$60 on a whitening kit, even though there's so much marketing that we can do to convince someone to do that. But I think at the end of the day, you know, we want to expand into more and more categories with accessibility being the focus of it. So as much as we can in creating this premium personalization experience online or in retail channels, we I think next year is going to be a pivotal year for us.

28:01We're actually launching sister brands for Laughland in multiple categories in kind of the oral care space. everything from teeth whitening to we're exploring toothpaste to mouthwash with floss and everything in between. We've always wanted to become a holistic oral care brand with the focus in teeth whitening. So we're taking bigger steps to do that now that we've had scale and the resources to launch more products efficiently and have the marketing and the budget to support that. I think, you know, next year is going to be a pivotal year for us. Not only products expansions and sales expansion, but also bringing products to the market that are, you know, at everyone's price point.

28:49Instead of positioning as just premium, I think we are going to be launching a lot of products that are, you know, truly mass market. I'm noticing that we're almost at time, but I did want to give you the opportunity before we finalize the episode to just let anybody who's listening to us know. how they can find out more about Laughland's products, how they could go about ordering since it's even worldwide. So anybody who's listening and is interested, how could they make sure to get a hold of your product, man? Yeah. Easiest way is to visit us on our website for the full personalization experience.

29:22Visit us at mylaughland.com. You can find out a lot more about us on our socials, though. You'll see everything from doctor, dentist, testimonials to exactly how the whitening process works. why certain ingredients don't. We'll also debunk, you know, a lot of myths about whitening on our social channels as well. So all the accounts are under my laugh land on TikTok, on Instagram. You'll find us and hopefully, you know, you can start your whitening journey with us wherever you are in the world. Okay, so you heard it here first. Just go to my laugh land in any of the social platforms that you have available.

30:02And if not through their website, you will also be able to find further info. And I know that me, at least, I being an oral hygiene geek, I'll make sure to follow you guys so I can learn everything as well. It sounds super interesting. But nothing. Wookie, just wanted to say thank you so much for hopping on the episode, for sharing your story with us and for being able to explain everything that Laughland does. It really is very exciting how much potential you guys have. And I hope to keep seeing you push products and put them on retailers in the future. Awesome. Likewise, I'm super excited for this.