Meet The Disruptors: Danny Grannick Of Bristle Health On The Five Things You Need To Shake Up Your Industry
An Interview With Fotis Georgiadis
Not everyone will believe in what you believe.
As a part of our series about business leaders who are shaking things up in their industry, I had the pleasure of interviewing Danny Grannick.
Danny Grannick is the CEO & co-founder of Bristle, a consumer health company helping people measure, understand, and improve their oral health. Bristle analyzes saliva and provides insights into the kinds of microbes you have related to oral health & disease, including conditions like cavities, gum disease, and bad breath. Bristle provides personalized diet, hygiene, and oral product recommendations to rebalance the oral microbiome and improve oral health based on your results.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dig in, our readers would like to get to know you a bit more. Can you tell us a bit about your “backstory”? What led you to this particular career path?
Thanks for having me! I grew up in California, receiving my BA in Biochemistry from the University of San Diego. I spent a lot of time doing basic research in the field — but I was more interested in applying that research in real life. There’s a big gap between basic research and clinical application in science, and I wanted to find ways to make that gap smaller.
I’d been interested in startup companies since they are at the forefront of innovation. Luckily, San Diego is a hub for biotechnology — so I was naturally exposed to the most exciting advancements in science, including genomics.
When I graduated, I transitioned to the commercial side of biotechnology, working at Illumina — a pioneer in genetic sequencing technology. Not many people choose the commercial path over a more traditional PhD route, but it was strategic. I got to interact with companies and scientists across all disciplines and applications — oncology, rare disease, and synthetic biology, to name a few. It gave me a window into everything that was going on in genomics. Those early days in sales taught me unforgettable lessons in communication, negotiation, and creating vision.
Can you tell our readers what it is about the work you’re doing that’s disruptive?
When we talk about “oral health, “ many people think of “dental care,” but we see them as very different concepts.
In dental care today, conditions like cavities and gum disease are diagnosed based on the presence and severity of symptoms. For example, an X-ray allows dentists to identify tooth decay, interpret a pit, and operate procedures like a filling or a root canal.
The problem with a symptoms-first approach to diagnosis is that it takes the damage to occur before the oral disease is detected — requiring invasive and expensive procedures. We assume that dental conditions are unavoidable results of “bad” genetics, luck, or hygiene.
The reality is that specific microbes drive most oral diseases in our mouths.
Inside of our mouths is billions of microbes — fungi, viruses, and bacteria collectively known as the “oral microbiome.” Some of these microbes are beneficial while others are harmful — producing acid that erodes our teeth or toxins that lead to gum inflammation. When our oral microbiome is balanced (when we have more beneficial microbes than harmful ones), our risk for disease is low. An imbalanced oral microbiome puts us at risk for infection.
Reducing or eliminating the disease-causing bacteria microbes in our mouths lowers our risk for oral disease. By detecting these bacteria at the earliest stages, we can prevent or minimize the onset of painful, visible symptoms.
The problem was we never had a way to measure the oral microbiome.
We developed a saliva test that analyzes the oral microbiome to help you measure and understand your oral health. Detecting the root cause of oral disease at the earliest stages enables prevention-first care, focused on simple dietary and hygiene changes, proven to improve oral health and lower risk for infection.
Interestingly, evidence suggests that oral health links to other conditions in the body — including risk for Alzheimer’s, diabetes, and heart disease. In some cases, the bacteria in our mouths migrate to other parts of our bodies and cause damage, and changes in the oral microbiome can signal these issues. The mouth is the gateway to the body and the mirror of our overall health.
In this sense, dental care is just one component of oral health. We believe our technology will improve oral health outcomes by helping people prevent dental conditions, like cavities and gum disease, and help people address needs that extend far beyond the mouth.
Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?
This isn’t a mistake, but I think it taught me a valuable lesson.
When we (my now co-founder Brian & I) were starting Bristle, we knew we needed a technical co-founder with the scientific skills to take our vision and make it a reality. We started Bristle in the middle of the COVID pandemic, which basically shot our ability to network. There were no conferences, events, or meetups where we could potentially find this missing piece of our puzzle.
I ended up posting on Reddit to see if anyone had ideas for meeting scientific co-founders. I didn’t describe the company at all. David replied with interest in learning more.
The stars aligned. David sent me his LinkedIn, and I saw he received his Ph.D. in microbiology & immunology. He taught microbiology to dental school students!
We met over coffee the next week, discussed Bristle, and our founding team was created two hours later.
A common mistake for startups and aspiring founders is thinking ten steps ahead instead of just taking the first step. The ability to make quick decisions and act is invaluable for startup companies. I believe our founding is an example of how taking action in the face of uncertainty almost always results in progress.
We all need a little help along the journey. Who have been some of your mentors? Can you share a story about how they made an impact?
I’ve been fortunate to have worked with incredible people, and I think they all played a part in my personal and professional growth. One person I’d like to call out is Linda Mansolillo. Linda is one of the most tenacious and composed people I’ve ever met — I’m lucky to have her as a mentor, advisor, and friend.
In today’s parlance, being disruptive is usually a positive adjective. But is disrupting always good? When do we say the converse, that a system or structure has ‘withstood the test of time’? Can you articulate to our readers when disrupting an industry is positive, and when disrupting an industry is ‘not so positive’? Can you share some examples of what you mean?
I don’t think true disruption is ever purely positive or negative. Context is everything. There are also different kinds of “disruption” with other implications.
One type of disruption applies innovation to a static industry in a way that meaningfully shifts the power dynamics to favor the end-user. There’s a lot to unpack here.
First, let’s define “innovation” as better, cheaper, and more user-friendly than currently exists. We can provide more effective solutions to more people who benefit from it.
We can define a “static industry” as one that cannot or will not adapt to innovation because of entrenched interests that benefit specific stakeholders. In other words, the “status quo” maintains that innovation will negatively impact the very same people who decide whether or not it will be adopted.
Disruption always benefits some groups of people and not others — it depends on perspective. The moving assembly line helped democratize access to automobiles and (in many ways) transportation as a whole. Consumers and Henry Ford certainly saw this as a positive. Horse-and-buggy companies or the skilled mechanics paid to build expensive automobiles probably felt the opposite.
The question of whether or not disruption is a net positive or negative, for me, depends on who ultimately benefits the most from it. Positive disruption occurs when innovations improve the lives of those who need them the most.
You can have innovations that don’t disrupt and, instead, improve or optimize the status quo further. Many current applications of AI and ML fall into this bucket.
You can also have things that aren’t innovations yet — incredible technological advancements that are missing a key ingredient (more effective but wildly expensive or complex). Genomic sequencing was in this bucket for a long time and is only starting to cross the chasm into disruption.
Can you share five of the best words of advice you’ve gotten along your journey? Please give a story or example for each.
“Nobody would ever want this” is probably the phrase that has stuck with me. The response taught me three important lessons: 1) Not everyone will believe in what you believe, 2) it takes a lot of practice to refine and articulate what you believe, and 3) take advice when it’s relevant, ignore it when it’s not.
We are sure you aren’t done. How are you going to shake things up next?
The double-edged sword of the oral health crisis is the endless opportunities available. We expect to uncover new insights related to our oral health, including signals about overall health, new therapeutics, and a deeper understanding of the connection between our environment and our biology.
Do you have a book, podcast, or talk that’s had a deep impact on your thinking? Can you share a story with us? Can you explain why it was so resonant with you?
- The meaning of life by Hunter S. Thompson
- The War Prayer by Mark Twain
- Simon Sinek Start with Why
These pieces had a profound impact on my life; it’s hard to put any book ahead of the other. I’d recommend reading through each of them and coming to your conclusions!
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?
Let’s assume that you think you have a choice of eight paths to follow (all pre-defined paths, of course). And let’s assume that you can’t see any real purpose in any of the eight. THEN — and here is the essence of all I’ve said — you MUST FIND A NINTH PATH.
Hunter S. Thompson
Live for purpose. Find what makes you happy and chase it. Don’t let the status quo convince you otherwise.
You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. :-)
Our healthcare and educational systems are dismal. Make both of them free, equitable, accessible, and focused on patient/student outcomes. Pay doctors to keep patients healthy instead of treating them for disease. Pay teachers more — balance school budgets across communities, cities, and states. Let’s get our population healthy and educated.
Tax me more. Take a fractional slice from our large, tragically comedic defense budget. There are technologies available and changes we can make today that would have a massive impact on health and education, but “structures that have withstood the test of time” seem to be getting in the way.
How can our readers follow you online?
Check out our website (https://www.bristlehealth.com/) to purchase your oral health test or sign up for our newsletter. Follow @bristlehealth on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook, and feel free to add me on LinkedIn!
This was very inspiring. Thank you so much for joining us!
