Key Takeaways
- Matthias Hofmann saw a growing shortage of eye care providers as an opportunity to rethink how routine vision tests are delivered.
- After a smartphone vision-testing startup failed to catch on, he realized convenience mattered to people more than the test itself.
- Eyebot’s 90-second kiosks aim to make eye exams easier to access while helping retailers address a shortage of optometrists
Getting a vision test can take weeks or even months, depending on where you live. Blame it on a simple supply-and-demand problem. More than 40,000 eye doctor positions were open in the U.S. last year, while the number of people needing vision care continues to grow as the population ages and more screen-watching children develop myopia.
“Customers can’t get a prescription to buy glasses,” says Matthias Hofmann, co-founder and CEO of Eyebot. “They’re waiting three or six months for an appointment. And retailers can’t sell glasses because people don’t have the prescription.”
To solve this impasse, his startup has developed a self-service kiosk that can generate an eyeglass prescription in about 90 seconds. The Eyebot kiosks are now rolling out at select Walmart and Sam’s Club locations as well as vision care retailers across eight states, giving shoppers a chance to update their prescription while stocking up on dog food and paper towels.
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Right problem, wrong answer
Hofmann didn’t arrive at Eyebot overnight. He spent more than a decade trying to make vision care more accessible, beginning as an engineer at EyeNetra, one of the first companies to develop smartphone-based vision testing.
On paper, it looked like a billion-dollar idea. In reality, consumers never embraced it. The exams were accurate, but they required too much from users. Download an app. Follow detailed instructions. Hold the phone the right way. Complete the test correctly.
“It was a UX problem,” Hofmann explains. “People don’t have an attention span for more than 10 minutes. You have to make it work for grandmas.”
The experience taught Hofmann a lesson many founders learn the hard way: solving the right problem isn’t enough. You also have to solve it in a way people will actually use. He stopped asking how to build a better vision test and started asking a different question: “What if getting a prescription was as easy as another stop on a shopping trip?”
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From smartphones to kiosks
The years spent chasing smartphone vision testing changed the way Hofmann thought about the business. “It became very clear to me that the prescription is a means to an end,” he says. “People are asking for easier exams,” Hofmann says. “They’re asking for no appointments, no scheduling, no planning — convenience.”
Retailers, meanwhile, had a problem of their own. “They have all the equipment there to do eye exams, but they can’t find the doctors,” Hofmann says. Eyebot’s solution is to put vision testing inside stores where people are already shopping. At the Eyebot kiosks, people can complete a self-guided vision test in about 90 seconds.
Not everyone in the eye care industry is convinced. Some optometrists worry consumers could confuse a prescription update with a comprehensive eye exam. Hofmann says that’s a misunderstanding of what Eyebot is trying to do. Every prescription is reviewed by a licensed doctor, and patients who need additional care are referred to specialists. “We’re filling the gaps,” he says, not replacing doctors.
Vision quest
Hofmann sees today’s kiosks as the beginning. Future versions could expand beyond eyeglass prescriptions to include contact lens prescriptions, screening for eye disorders and referrals for patients.
“We’re not in the business of diagnosing eye diseases,” he says. “That’s something for a doctor to do.” The goal is to catch problems sooner, steer people to the right care and make basic vision services more accessible to people who might otherwise go without.
Too often, Hofmann says, those are lower-income people working two jobs, without vision insurance or the time to schedule an appointment. “We’re the first point of care for their eyes.”
Key Takeaways
- Matthias Hofmann saw a growing shortage of eye care providers as an opportunity to rethink how routine vision tests are delivered.
- After a smartphone vision-testing startup failed to catch on, he realized convenience mattered to people more than the test itself.
- Eyebot’s 90-second kiosks aim to make eye exams easier to access while helping retailers address a shortage of optometrists
Getting a vision test can take weeks or even months, depending on where you live. Blame it on a simple supply-and-demand problem. More than 40,000 eye doctor positions were open in the U.S. last year, while the number of people needing vision care continues to grow as the population ages and more screen-watching children develop myopia.
“Customers can’t get a prescription to buy glasses,” says Matthias Hofmann, co-founder and CEO of Eyebot. “They’re waiting three or six months for an appointment. And retailers can’t sell glasses because people don’t have the prescription.”
To solve this impasse, his startup has developed a self-service kiosk that can generate an eyeglass prescription in about 90 seconds. The Eyebot kiosks are now rolling out at select Walmart and Sam’s Club locations as well as vision care retailers across eight states, giving shoppers a chance to update their prescription while stocking up on dog food and paper towels.