💼 I can see clearly now that the exam is online (Business Feature #11)

🧠 Top of Mind Technology

• One of the major problems with Artificial Intelligence (AI) is that it takes a lot of energy to run large models. As a result, tech companies like Amazon and OpenAI are seeking agreements with nuclear power companies to help power their systems.

• As you start to use AI chatbots like ChatGPT, the following question usually pops into your head: “How do these companies get all of the data to train these models?” Well, the answer is usually is: via web-scraping or web crawling, which are methods of pulling information from websites. This trend of web-scraping/web crawling is sure to lead to a plethora of legal and copyright issues down the line, and we are already starting to see it. News outlets are accusing one of the larger AI chatbots/search engines, Perplexity, of plagiarism and unethical web scraping.

• We’ve all heard Drone Delivery is the future of delivery of home goods, but when will that happen? The industry has faced many technical and regulatory issues in recent years, but up and coming startups such as Wing are still looking to work through it.

🍪 Business Bites

• How do Space companies like SpaceX make money? Military Contracts. Not only are space-based capabilities vital to national security, but the money earned through these contracts allow companies like SpaceX and Blue Origin to further fund space exploration and travel.

• Is a four-day work week coming? Maybe, but definitely not in Greece. In fact, they think their citizens are not working ENOUGH, as they became the first EU country to introduce a six-day working week.

• We couldn’t write a business newsletter if we did not mention inflation at least once a month. This week’s Fed minutes showed that an interest rate cut still may be a ways away, as there is no consensus amongst Fed officials on how many months of good inflation data are needed before rates can be cut.

Business Feature of the Week: Visibly

🤔What It Is

Visibly is an online vision care platform that empowers optical businesses and patients by offering online vision tests, prescription verification and fulfillment, and online appointments.

💸The Business

If you have glasses and/or contacts, you understand the pain of vision care. While companies like Warby Parker have made it more affordable to buy glasses and contacts, the process of getting your prescription fulfilled or adjusted can be cumbersome. You may have to schedule doctor appointments, take tests, fulfill new prescriptions, and even go to follow-up appointments.

Visibly is working to make this process easier by partnering with optical businesses to “dispense vision prescriptions, evaluate visual acuity, verify prescriptions, and automate contact lens fulfillment.” The providers that are partnered with Visibly can direct their customers to the website to help automate some of their work, including providing a vision test, which they claim to be “The world’s first online vision test.” From our research, it appears that they are the world’s first “FDA approved online vision test,” which is honestly more important than being “the first online vision test” that may not be approved. We love this because, in a digital world, testing vision in-person seems antiquated. Visibly led us through a screen sizing measurement task first, and then led us into a vision test:

🧑‍💻The Model

With a robust offering portfolio, Visibly can make money through multiple channels. We love the business model because it is not just B2B (Business to Business), but also offers a B2C (Business to Consumer) component. B2B businesses are generally better because businesses can afford to pay more for services than the average consumer.  In this case, Visibly generates some revenue by helping eye care providers dispense and verify vision prescriptions, and also charges a fee for their online vision test. Eye care providers can offer Visibly’s online test as their own through customizable branding, showing that many of the fees paid directly to Visibly by consumers are shared by the company and the eye care providers.

💰Revenue Streams (Expected)

• Visibly splits revenue with eye care providers via:

  • A vision test fee

  • Prescription fulfillment and verification fees

  • Contact fulfillment and verification fees

🔻Potential Expenses (Expected)

• Technology – Building a comprehensive online vision test along with the infrastructure to power eye care providers.

• Partnership marketing – They key here is to show eye care providers that this technology/software helps their business and does not steal customers (the revenue will be split – Visibly will just take a cut).

• Regulatory fees and R&D – Getting the vision test approved by the FDA most likely required a substantial investment.

😎 Customer Appeal

• For Patients – You can refill, adjust, and verify your glasses and/or contacts prescriptions from the comfort of your home.

• For Eye Care Providers – You can spend less time working with patients that just need a renewal or slight subscription change, and spend more time with patients with more serious needs.

👍The Good Stuff

• B2B Model – Visibly works with both local eye care providers and large eyewear companies (including Roka and EZContacts).

• Market Size – Over 4 billion people in the world wear glasses, including over 166 million people in the US.

👎The Risks

• Competition – Visibly was the first, but more companies have already developed online vision tests.

🧠 The Op Ed

We’ll keep this short. Visibly was able to take advantage of being first to market to provide online vision tests, and they offer a wide suite of products that eye care providers can leverage as the infrastructure to accelerate some of their business. Anytime you can be the infrastructure that other companies build off of, that is very appealing. Your technical skills allow you to take a significant chunk of the revenue, especially if your technology is good enough that the businesses (in the case eye care providers), will take a hit if they do not adopt the technology. The biggest risk we see with this business is that a large chunk of their business could be impacted by big eye care providers (such as Warby Parker) that have the money to develop their own internal tests and fulfillment methods. These larger companies also theoretically have the marketing budget to bring consumers and smaller eye care providers to their infrastructure and online tests instead of Visibly’s.

📚For the Road

• What's Behind Warby Parker's Success?

• Why Computer Screens Can Harm Our Eyes and How to Prevent It