Max Shore

still thinking about what to tweet | live a little try a lot

[Jason Fried @jasonfried]

Love seeing people build better software for reluctant operators of small businesses.

The baker who ends up running a bakery. The hair stylist who ends up with their own salon. And here, the doctors and dentists who end up with their own practice.

More attention on these small businesses, please. We've been building for them for two+ decades, and I can tell you they're starved for great, straightforward software.

I'd bet on these guys. They've got the dirt of real work in the field under their fingernails. There's no better way to know than to do.

[steijnpelle @steijnpelle]

Small businesses have been overlooked. There is a great AI company to be built.

[David Booth @david__booth]

I distinctly recall the moment... during the fourth ODF cohort. The year 2020. Mid pandemic. And @steijnpelle — fresh out of gigs leading growth at companies like Coinbase and Robinhood, was like:

"what am i doing next? yea, I don't know... but in the meantime, I'm going to go work at a dental surgery back-office. i'll figure something out."

@fredericrenken didn't think he was crazy.

neither did we... wrote him a check on the spot... the very first one out of the On Deck Community Fund; maybe the first one into Lassie, too - if I recall? 🍒cc @VCBrags

Go Lassie, f*n run boy 🫡

[Max Shore @maxdshore]

@nikillinit i run our gtm and come from a dental family. I think its probably more like other SMB verts vs hc. unconsolidated, fragmented+unique legacy systems

the thing that translates to other verticals with these characteristics is really just approach to discovery, integration, & distro

[Max Shore @maxdshore]

@shipbehaves @steijnpelle all postings are fully auditable and mutable - and human-in-the loop instances are flagged real time for review/action

[Gokul Rajaram @gokulr]

Lassie (@lassieAI) is building autonomous systems that complete operational tasks on behalf of businesses.

The company’s initial market is healthcare, specifically independent medical and dental practices that face significant administrative burdens tied to insurance reimbursement processes. Lassie’s software accesses insurance portals, retrieves reimbursement information, reconciles payments against practice records, updates core systems, and verifies deposits, automating workflows that traditionally require extensive manual effort. The platform is currently deployed in more than 700 practices across 49 states and generates more than 250,000 hours of labor savings annually for customers.

When I met @steijnpelle a couple of years ago, I was impressed with his uncompromising focus on (a) the customer experience, especially onboarding, which he obsessed over, trying to find ways to constantly minimize the friction that torpedoes customer experience and (b) hiring the best people, his bar was just exceptionally high.

I am very excited to support Steijn and Lassie as an investor, as they continue to push new boundaries to make AI accessible to all small businesses.

https://t.co/jcPAmKvakf

[@levelsio @levelsio]

This is how you do a great startup video

Humble and chill and a real cool backstory

[Max Shore @maxdshore]

@julianweisser just keep going

[Max Shore @maxdshore]

@alexrkonrad @steijnpelle @UpstartsMediaCo @LassieAI @fredericrenken @arampell @steijnpelle is the Daniel Day-Lewis of tech

[Alex Konrad @alexrkonrad]

EXCLUSIVE: Lassie's AI agent helps dentists save hours of busywork. Now it's raised $35M from a16z.

It started when CEO @steijnpelle heard his own dentist complain about a sea of paperwork -- then embedded in his practice to learn first-hand.

My @UpstartsMediaCo exclusive 👀

[richard @richardzphotoz]

It’s always fun to tell the stories of the incredible founders we back at @a16z.

Steijn and Frederic spent their first year embedding themselves in doctors’ offices, learning the exact problems they face.

And like @patrickc, they manually installed their software in the first 100 offices.

You can just do things.

[Max Shore @maxdshore]

@omooretweets @a16z @LassieAI @arampell @steijnpelle @fredericrenken pumped to have you onboard!

[a16z @a16z]

We’re thrilled to lead Lassie’s Series A.

Most small businesses are run by reluctant operators. Owners set out to serve their customers and communities but end up buried in back-office work.

Dental practices are a perfect example. Dentists train to care for patients, but much of their time is consumed by insurance claims, payment reconciliation, staffing, and cash flow.

Lassie is building AI that runs small businesses, starting with dental practices.

Before writing a line of code, Cofounders Steijn Pelle and Frédéric Renken spent months working inside a dental office, processing payments by hand to deeply understand the workflow.

Lassie is not a copilot that creates more work for the practice to review. It does the work.

We’re excited to partner with @steijnpelle, @fredericrenken, and the @lassieai team as they build toward the small business that runs itself.

By @arampell and @omooretweets

[Max Shore @maxdshore]

@steijnpelle let's go! we're just getting started

[steijnpelle @steijnpelle]

Today, we're introducing Lassie and $47M in funding led by a16z.

We're building AI that runs small businesses, starting with doctors' offices.

Lassie is already trusted by 700+ practices across the country, working autonomously to provide them with 30 hours of labor per month.

To get here, we first had to leave Robinhood and Superhuman to work in offices ourselves.

Here's how that went.

[Max Shore @maxdshore]

@kevinzhuang10 @w_conviction kev boutta take one of these ideas and be a solo founder again 👀 ???

[Max Shore @maxdshore]

@kevinzhuang10 Kevin Huang - “action man”

Need this energy at all times

[Max Shore @maxdshore]

@kevinzhuang10 @tboypod @NickOfNewYork @jackkramer Never heard of it. Will have to give it a listen!

[Max Shore @maxdshore]

Is this why people don’t want return to office

[Max Shore @maxdshore]

@kevinzhuang10 That’s why you gotta throw conversation events and make content about them hit all 3 at once