The dental industry is chronically supply-constrained: 97% of dentists report staffing as their primary volume limiter, 95% cite extreme recruiting difficulty, yet 75% of hygienists prioritize schedule flexibility above all else. This structural mismatch created the opportunity for Toothio—a labor marketplace connecting dental professionals seeking flexible work with practices facing critical staffing shortages. In this episode, we sat down with Ian Prendergast, Co-Founder and CEO of Toothio, to unpack how he applied labor marketplace principles from hospitality and light industrial verticals to dental, why DSO enterprise customers emerged as the true ICP only after launch, and how being an industry outsider enabled business model innovation that insiders missed. Topics Discussed: - How a single golf course conversation with a dentist exposed the 97% staffing crisis and validated the market opportunity - Translating labor marketplace GTM from Qwick (hospitality staffing) and Steady Install (light industrial) into dental - The supply-demand structural imbalance: dental growing 10.5% CAGR, 40% workforce departure in 2020, insufficient pipeline - Supply-first marketplace development and why quality/reliability required deep supply pools before demand acquisition - The ICP evolution from private practices (faster sales cycles, lower risk validation) to DSO enterprise (higher volume, stickier retention) - Building credibility as outsider founders through strategic SME hires, advisors, and embedding in industry associations - The enterprise motion: hiring CCO and SVP Sales with dental Rolodexs to access top-10 DSO decision-makers - Quantifying previously unmeasured costs: 100%+ recruiting cost increases, industry-leading turnover rates, $1,560+ daily production loss per unstaffed hygienist - Leveraging AI agentic systems to eliminate geographic marketplace constraints for national expansion - The moat-building roadmap: layering SaaS and RCM software over the distribution channel to increase switching costs GTM Lessons For B2B Founders: - Supply depth before demand scale prevents unit economics collapse - ICP clarity requires live market data, not pre-launch assumptions - Hire senior enterprise operators when you have validation plus clear TAM - Outsider economic analysis creates differentiated value propositions - Industry association involvement is enterprise distribution, not brand marketing // Sponsors: Front Lines — We help B2B tech companies launch, manage, and grow podcasts that drive demand, awareness, and thought leadership. www.FrontLines.io The Global Talent Co. — We help tech startups find, vet, hire, pay, and retain amazing marketing talent that costs 50-70% less than the US & Europe. www.GlobalTalent.co // Don’t Miss: New Podcast Series — How I Hire Senior GTM leaders share the tactical hiring frameworks they use to build winning revenue teams. Hosted by Andy Mowat, who scaled 4 unicorns from $10M to $100M+ ARR and launched Whispered to help executives find their next role. Subscribe here: https://open.spotify.com/show/53yCHlPfLSMFimtv0riPyM