Descriptions:
Alex Rampell and Olivia Moore speak with Lassie cofounders Steijn Pelle and Frédéric Renken about bringing AI to one of the most overlooked parts of the economy: small businesses.
Inspired by time spent working inside dental practices, Pelle and Renken set out to automate the administrative work that keeps healthcare providers away from patients. They discuss how AI agents are changing billing, insurance claims, patient payments, and other operational workflows, allowing practices to spend less time on paperwork and more time delivering care.
The conversation explores AI agents, software that performs work rather than simply storing information, onboarding AI into real-world businesses, and why healthcare administration offers one of the biggest opportunities for automation. Along the way, they discuss product design, go-to-market strategy, and what it takes to build AI systems that operate reliably in complex business environments.
Timestamps:
00:00 – Intro
01:12 – Story Behind Lassie
03:46 – Embedding in the Customer’s Office Before Building a Product
05:39 – How the Product Build Has Changed with Better Models
07:23 – Software Never Did the Work but AI Finally Does
17:24 – 98% Automation: How Lassie Got Agents to Actually Run a Practice
22:08 – Startup vs Incumbent in the AI Era
33:35 – The Master Plan: From Dentists to Every Small Business
39:27 – What It Takes to Hire & Build When You’re Selling to Main Street
55:59 – How Do You Reach Hundreds of Thousands of Small Businesses?
Resources:
Follow Steijn Pelle on X: https://x.com/steijnpelle
Follow Frédéric Renken on X: https://x.com/fredericrenken
Follow Alex Rampell on X: https://x.com/arampell
Follow Olivia Moore on X: https://x.com/omooretweets
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