Why We Backed Lensabl and Key Learnings Over the Past Twelve Months
Over the last few years, optical startups have made some big waves. Warby Parker rapidly made a name for itself selling frames. Hubble has more recently begun to do the same with contact lenses. And Opternative even makes it possible to take an online eye exam from the comfort of your home. Each one of those three companies is independently taking on a large market — of the $40 billion spent last year on vision care, Americans spent $9.7 billion buying new frames, another $5 billion on contact lenses, and $6 billion on eye exams. Yet, the largest segment of the vision care market continues to be prescription lenses. In total, Americans spent $12.5 billion buying lenses last year, and with vision rates deteriorating and boomers aging, that spend is only expected to increase in the coming years.
Lenses are also one of the most frustrating pieces of the optical experience. Traditionally, consumers buy new lenses from their optometrist after an in-person exam. However, those lenses are typically bundled with new frames and marked up hundreds of dollars. On the other hand, big-box retailers like Costco may offer more selection, but charge similarly bloated prices with even less transparency on quality of product. As retail continues to shift away from brick-and-mortar, and in an era where frames, and even eye-exams, are increasingly available online, the options for lenses seem severely outdated.
Andy and Mike — the founders of Lensabl — discovered this pain-point the hard way while building their last business, online eyewear brand ivory + mason. Their customers loved their frames when they arrived, but were then left to figure out how to get their lenses replaced offline. After selling ivory + mason in 2015, they decided to start Lensabl to solve that exact problem.
By cutting out the middlemen, Lensabl, makes it easy to order prescription lenses for any frames at a fraction of the cost offered by doctors and traditional optical retailers. Whether you’re looking to update the prescription on existing frames, replace damaged lenses, or add Rx lenses to a new pair of frames, Lensabl makes it simple and affordable. Customers simply upload a prescription, send in their frames, and get new lenses processed from one of Lensabl’s many lab partners. In addition, Lensabl’s partnership with Opternative (launched today!) allows their customers to take an eye-exam directly on Lensabl.com. Lensabl even powers the prescription and check-out experience for existing eyewear brands like Knockaround, Grey Ant and Hadid Eyewear.
Since backing Andy and Mike last year, we’ve had the opportunity to watch their team grow Lensabl and take their vision to fruition. In that time, we’ve not only been able to support their journey, but have also learned a lot from them along the way. Here are a few areas in which we believe they’ve stood out most:
- Discipline and persistence. Andy, Mike and their team set the gold standard for work-ethic. They understand better than anyone that a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. In their quest to build an industry defining business, they work diligently day in and day out, making sure to take one more step forward than they did the day before. When looking back at their exponential growth over the last twelve months, their efforts clearly show.
- An effort to please every customer. Not only does Lensabl make an effort to know each one of their customers, understand their pain points, and learn how they can better serve them in the future, they also care to make a lasting impression. The speed with which they aim to get back to every customer is a top priority, and they’ll leverage all forms of communication, whether it’s phone, email, text or otherwise. As they’ve grown from dozens of customers a month, to hundreds, and now thousands, they’ve continued to ensure that this stays a top priority.
- Picking quality over price. Andy and Mike understand that at the earliest stages in their company’s life cycle, it’s far more important to surround themselves with the strongest talent and partners rather than optimizing to save a few dollars. They also understand that to build a lasting business, they must build a foundation to scale rather than prioritize growth at all costs. When you look at the team they’ve assembled and the quality of their offering, it’s clear they’ve set themselves up well for future success.
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