Chia-Lin Simmons, CEO of LogicMark, was recently interviewed by Benzinga.
LogicMark is a leading provider of personal emergency response systems (PERS), health communications devices and IoT technologies, within a Connected Care Platform. Its products help keep at-risk populations – young and old – stay safe.
Simmons discussed LogicMark's SaaS model and how the company is driving growth through innovation.
LogicMark is a leading provider of personal emergency response systems (PERS), health communications devices and IoT technologies, within a Connected Care Platform. Its products help keep at-risk populations – young and old – stay safe.
Simmons discussed LogicMark's SaaS model and how the company is driving growth through innovation.
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00:00Hey Zingers, it's Dan Leach and I have a wonderful guest for you today. It is the CEO of Logicmark,
00:07Shilin Simmons. It's so great to be with you, Shilin.
00:11It's great to be with you as well, Dan. Happy holidays.
00:14Happy holidays to you. One of my favorite times of the year and also speaking to you is one of
00:17my favorite times of the year. And let's talk about Logicmark. Can you give us an overview
00:21of Logicmark? Sure, absolutely. So Logicmark has been around since 2006. We were founded by
00:27a technologist founder. Anybody who's ever, I think, actually used one of those cars where
00:34you click and the motor sort of runs while you're safe and tugged and warm in your house,
00:39have that guy to thank. And so I joined the company in 2021 to actually help do a pivot,
00:46a bit of a pivot for the company. And why personal safety devices, Shilin? What kind of unmet need is
00:52they're here? Yeah, no, that's a really great question. Look, you know, it's what a great time
00:57to actually be in sort of the technology space for personal safety and especially for technology
01:02that services the older generation. 10,000 people are turning 65 and over every day. The boomer
01:09generation is actually retiring and aging. And so at this point, you know, we actually have a silver
01:14tsunami coming. But at the same time, we actually have a reduction in terms of labor for people who are
01:20caring for the elderly. And so this is where technology really sort of shines, where we can
01:26actually help those caretakers, both sort of professional, where we're not seeing as many
01:30post-COVID, as well as all of a sandwich generation folks, that one in three millennial
01:35and more than half of Gen Xers, who are actually trying to help our parents age at home and also help
01:40raise our kids at the same time. And so technology is actually a great place to be in right now to
01:44service all of those needs. No, it certainly is. And let's talk about your revenue model. Tell us about
01:49that and why SAS? Yeah, so that's a really good question. So historically, until I came to the
01:56company, we actually have been a hardware-only company. And we've been doing great. We were
02:01only sort of pretty much B to G, that's business to government. And, you know, we have been and
02:07continue to be a really great partner to the Veterans Administration, which is the largest hospital
02:11network in the United States. And so that's been our traditional business, hardware and servicing,
02:17you know, the government business. And so when I came on board, what we really wanted to do was to
02:21basically actually increase revenue opportunities, increase the margin of the company, as well as
02:27increase revenue. And so the way that we've been doing that is to basically focus on developing
02:32new technology. The company had not developed any new technology since 2015. So we were not
02:37as competitive as we should be in this particular category space. And so we've done that. We've built a
02:43great cloud-based AI-assisted, ML-assisted cloud-based model with mobile applications and new hardware
02:50technology, as well as expanding the marketplace as well with personal safety for everyone. And we do
02:58that by basically bringing recurring SaaS-based products to the table. And so along with building
03:04great hardware technology, our job is to basically bring great services. And that is, you know, 24-7
03:11monitoring service with the U.S.-based monitoring company. That's basically to do amazing fall
03:17detection that's better than sort of the average sort of like service that's out there for fall
03:22detection and geofencing for those with parents who have, you know, memory care issues or Alzheimer's
03:28today. And so as we actually develop new software technology and services, we actually aim to bring
03:34those on board as well. And so our product and platform allows us to make those available on a
03:40trial basis, right? You could try our services for 15, you know, 15 days or a month and try before you
03:48buy, you know, and that's really kind of what folks like myself who are sandwich generation folks like
03:53expect the opportunity to learn a little bit more about the product and services and then, you know,
03:58what would work for their parents. So it's been an exciting way to sort of bring those services to
04:03folks who have been so used to using technology that were pretty old school, like literally dating back
04:09to the days of the, I've fallen and can't get up, which is what most people think about when they
04:13think about personal safety for the elderly. And we really, I think, blown that sort of idea out of
04:18the water. Yeah. Like Bob Dylan said, the times they are changing in a good way. And I know you got a,
04:23you know, a great team behind you. What expertise does the team have in building that SaaS business?
04:28Sure. So I actually come from much more of the SaaS sort of recurring billing business,
04:35actually having been an executive VP of strategic alliances at Audible and was part of a team to
04:41help sell us to Amazon. And then when I was at Google, I was part of a team that worked on basically
04:46Google Play Music and Google Play apps and services. And so had a lot of opportunity to build that sort of
04:52recurring and subscription businesses as well. But this team that we brought together, for example,
04:59our VP of engineering, he and I worked together on, you know, IoT services products for a company
05:06that was then rock backed. And then we sold to a public company called Harmon International, JBL,
05:11Harmon Kardon. And we did actually connect a car service business. And so we actually have
05:16expertise and experience in building sort of this enterprise level cloud-based, you know, AI sort of like run
05:22cloud-based system that actually that platform was served into Honda, Subaru, Porsche, and a number
05:30of other automakers into millions of vehicles. And so a team that has a lot of expertise and experience
05:36in working with amazing folks in the market. So, you know, nobody from who's a German Porsche
05:42engineer would basically sneeze at the work we've done. They actually made us run through our paces.
05:47And so we have actually some really good experiences on building these types of
05:50infrastructure for SaaS-based products. And so we brought all of those expertise into this company
05:57and we run this public company like a startup. And so we think of ourselves more as a startup with
06:04the ticker symbol. So. I love it. And Sheldon, I wanted to talk to you about revenue growth. What
06:08measures have you implemented to drive revenue growth? Absolutely. That's a great question. So
06:14again, as I mentioned, you know, we've have done traditionally a good job in terms of servicing
06:18the Veterans Administration. We still think that there is a tremendous amount of opportunities
06:22there for us to grow. You know, there's 1,200 clinics and, you know, hospitals for the VA and
06:29it's the largest hospital network in the United States. And so we actually service, we have actually
06:34sold to almost every single one of those, but we feel like we can still increase those footprints
06:39more. And so that, that business continues to grow and we really have a good feel for those.
06:46And so, but we're also trying to look at expanding our B2B business to basically make, you know,
06:52these available to resellers in a market. We're very bullish on our direct-to-consumer business
06:59because it actually has a really good connection for people to purchase these items. I mean, the reality
07:05is there's a lot of consumers out there who are purchasing devices, for example, medical alert
07:11products. They're the desamined generation purchasing these items for their family. And so
07:16they really want to have a direct relationship with the folks who are providing those services to watch
07:21over their parents. And so similarly for personal safety, they think the same thing. You really want
07:26to have a relationship with the people who are keeping you safe. And so we believe that direct-to-consumer
07:32business is one area where we can do a much larger volume of revenue and numbers as well.
07:39For sure. And when you look at it right now, what do you think the biggest trend in medical and safety
07:43devices is that you're seeing from your perspective? Yeah, I think it's really the area of, you know,
07:49AI innovation and machine learning. Those two things are different. We do both. I'm a bit of a geek that
07:55way. So, you know, believe me when I say AI and ML are not the same thing. And we do actually both.
08:01In the three and a half years that we've been here, we've been super busy on doing a lot of great
08:06patents. And so, and a lot of those involve sort of AI work, for example, fault detection. We're
08:12really focused on optimizing fault detection. Today, it's kind of sad. Most of these things were on just
08:19one sensor, an accelerometer. And so you kind of are basing falls on whether or not, you know,
08:25the fall was fast. And so that's why there's a lot of false positives when you wear an eye watch on
08:30falls. And so we're optimizing. We think that one of the new trends is this idea of being actually
08:35much better about removing false positives so that people actually who wear them aren't embarrassed to
08:40wear them because these things trigger false sort of situations all the time. Because can you imagine
08:46wearing one of these devices and they think that you're falling and you're just kind of shopping
08:49out there, right? So nobody wants that. And this is why, you know, elderly people don't want to see
08:54that. Secondarily, I think that, you know, as the boomers are aging, they're used to seeing really
09:00amazing things out there. We actually create great devices for everybody out in the market, but why don't
09:05we create them for people who are aging? And so the product ID designs need to sort of keep up with the
09:11times, right? And so if you look at our Freedom Alert Max product, it is a cool, you know, awesome
09:18looking little, you know, product. It's a cell phone. This does not look like an aging population
09:23product, right? This seems like a really cool slick smartphone. And what it is, is a medical alert
09:29product in disguise. So there's no shame in carrying one of these because your grandkids are going to be
09:35going around saying like, oh, that's an aging population product, right? It's, you know, a cell phone.
09:41It is a medical alert product that actually allows, you know, your kids to actually be able to peep in
09:48in case there is an emergency, not if there isn't one. Let's be honest, everybody expects to have
09:54privacy. And we actually believe that's a third trend, which is, you know, how do you do medical
09:59alert products that just provides an amazing safety net for people who are aging at home, but gives them
10:07the privacy, right? Nobody wants their like adult kids to be popping in on them all the
10:11time. But every adult kid who is a sandwich generation person wants to provide that safety
10:16net under their parents. And so when you use our Freedom Alert Max, you know, you cannot just
10:21randomly use the video feature to check in on your parents randomly when they're just going about
10:27their lives, right? You know, only when there's an emergency, can you use your mobile app to basically
10:32say, oh my goodness, you know, an emergency went off. And so you can actually go and take a look.
10:37It has a front and a back camera, right? To basically allow you to see whether or not
10:42your parents are prone on the floor, right? And we think that these are the type of IOT trends
10:48as well that people need to see. They need to see basically sensors and capabilities to basically
10:53check in on your parents that also allow you to have privacy at the same time.
10:57Yeah, I'll tell you what it looks like. Something I need to get from my mom and dad very soon.
11:00It's, I mean, it's this awesome technology. And I was wondering when you, you know, look at what you guys
11:05are doing related to IP and hot areas like AI. What kind of work is the company doing on that
11:09stuff right now? Yeah. So as I've mentioned, we are super busy making sure that we actually have
11:15a very comprehensive and strategic patent. I think that, you know, one of the things that people
11:20should think about when, you know, investing in companies and doing work at a company is that
11:24ultimately, you know, when people are looking at us, they should be looking at us as a technology
11:29company, much like the way that we see ourselves as a technology company. And so the patents that we've
11:34generated are interlocking. They allow us to block out competitors. And they are in the areas of AI
11:41tokens so that we can actually maintain privacy, even things like, you know, game theory so that
11:47we can understand whether or not these issues involved in sort of the things that we're creating
11:51in terms of scenarios. You know, we, we think through things because, you know, at the end of the day,
11:57people, you know, rely on us for safety. And so we do things like physics engines so that,
12:03you know, we think about, hey, if the AI is creating all of these scenarios about what's
12:07happening with grandma, that none of it is something that's like, you know, hidden dragons,
12:12you know, catching tigers, because there's no way grandma's going to be doing that. And so what it
12:18does is it sort of double checks, right, on these things. And so these things are meaningful,
12:22and they're important because they actually make sense to keep somebody safe, right? And we're trying
12:27to make sure that, you know, we're utilizing technology in a way that is helpful for everybody.
12:33And so today, when people spend a lot of time talking about, you know, AI, they're talking
12:36about things like, you know, doing searches and generating cool pictures, but sometimes,
12:41you know, somebody has six fingers, right, in the pictures. And those are kind of fun and interesting
12:46to do. But really, what I'm bullish about is some of the work that we're doing around patents
12:51related to fall detection, related to AI, in terms of figuring out, you know, whether or not
12:56somebody's safe or not. And doing, for example, moving us from a business is just about being
13:01really excellent. And we're really trying to be excellent about being a reactive technology,
13:05right? So if you fall, we know that that's a real fall, we can validate it as a real fall.
13:09And that's really important and get you the help that you need, right? Because that concept of getting
13:13help within an hour is real for personal safety and health, right? But we want to get to predictive
13:19analytics. And that's really the exciting piece of this, right? Which is you're investing in patents
13:24and a company that's looking at predictive technology so that we can try to prevent a fall
13:28and try to prevent an emergency issue from happening in personal safety and space, right?
13:34And so for us, you know, that's what we've been really focused on in three and a half years. And so
13:40for a startup, you know, three and a half years with 18 patents, and most of which, you know,
13:45we've already, you know, have a really good feel for, that we're, we feel very confident
13:50that we're going to get, that's a lot of work already for a startup, much less a public company,
13:57right?
13:57It sure is.
13:58Incredible stuff you guys are doing. Shailene Simmons, the CEO of Logicmark, that was an
14:03absolutely fascinating conversation. Thank you so much for joining me today.
14:07Thank you so much, Dan, and happy holidays to you.