Penciled

What do they actually do

Penciled builds an AI front-office assistant for outpatient physical-therapy clinics that use WebPT. It connects to a clinic’s WebPT account, watches for events like cancellations or gaps in a patient’s plan of care, and handles outreach over two‑way SMS to propose times, confirm appointments, maintain a waitlist, and rebook openings. When a patient accepts, it writes the booking straight into the clinic’s WebPT calendar and sends confirmations; it can also auto‑cancel unconfirmed slots so they can be refilled (docs/quickstart | penciled.com).

The product is live today with named PT groups and chains using WebPT; the company says it books “thousands of appointments each month,” with typical uplift like “11%+ more visits occurred” in case studies (company‑reported) (penciled.com | YC page | pricing). SMS is the primary channel today; inbound voice automation is on the near‑term roadmap, with phone capability targeted for January 2026 (company‑stated timeline) (docs/quickstart | pricing/roadmap).

Pricing is published per therapist per year (example tiers: about $3,600 per therapist/year for Starter and $2,800 per therapist/year for multi‑seat Growth), and the firm also notes a flat fee per AI‑booked appointment in hiring materials (pricing | job post). The company emphasizes deep WebPT integration rather than EHR replacement and highlights recent integration reliability improvements via internal APIs (docs/quickstart | Integuru spotlight).

Who are their target customer(s)

• Independent single‑clinic PT owner or clinic manager: Loses time and revenue to manual booking, confirmations, and last‑minute cancellations; wants to reduce staff hours spent on repetitive scheduling tasks. Penciled automates two‑way SMS booking, confirmations, waitlists, and writes appointments back into WebPT to replace that work (docs | pricing).
• Regional operations director at a multi‑clinic PT chain: Needs consistent occupancy and predictable revenue across sites but can’t scale manual front‑desk processes or fill cancellations efficiently. Penciled centralizes automation tied to WebPT so cancellations and bookings are handled automatically at scale (YC page | job post).
• Front‑desk receptionist/scheduler: Spends large portions of the day texting/calling patients, confirming appointments, and re‑entering bookings into the EHR—repetitive and error‑prone. Penciled takes over two‑way SMS confirmations and books directly into WebPT to reduce manual work (docs | job post).
• Clinical director or revenue manager focused on plan‑of‑care adherence: Missed follow‑ups and unfilled slots harm outcomes and revenue; needs reliable nudges and waitlist fills. Penciled automates plan‑of‑care scheduling, reminders, and waitlist filling to improve visit completion (docs | pricing).
• Practice owner or IT lead wary of disrupting the EHR: Doesn’t want to rip out WebPT or risk unreliable integrations that break schedules. Penciled layers on top of WebPT with an emphasis on stable, lower‑latency integrations and uptime (docs | Integuru spotlight).

How would they acquire their first 10, 50, and 100 customers

• First 10: Founder‑led, hands‑on pilots with local WebPT clinics; offer short, discounted or free trials with white‑glove onboarding, then capture before/after metrics and quotes for case studies (docs | pricing).
• First 50: Package a standard onboarding playbook; run webinars and targeted ads to clinic managers; activate WebPT ecosystem partners/integrators and incentivize referrals using early case studies and reliability proof points (YC page | Integuru spotlight).
• First 100: Hire lean sales/CS to sell into regional chains; launch self‑serve elements (website scheduling and intake) to cut onboarding time; list in relevant marketplaces and attend industry events to drive inbound (pricing | docs).

What is the rough total addressable market

Top-down context:

The U.S. physical therapy services market is roughly $50B+ (2024) and dominated by outpatient settings, with an estimated ~38,000 outpatient PT clinics and a highly fragmented provider base (Grand View | Harris Williams PT overview).

Bottom-up calculation:

BLS estimates about 267,200 PTs in 2024 across all settings; outpatient accounts for roughly 39–43% of PTs, or ~110k–115k therapists. At ~$3,000 per therapist/year, U.S. outpatient PT software spend for an add‑on like Penciled is on the order of ~$330M–$345M TAM for PT clinics alone (BLS | APTA demographics).

Assumptions:

• Outpatient share of PTs ≈ 42% based on APTA/BLS ranges (39–43%).
• Average effective price ≈ $3,000 per therapist/year using Penciled’s published tiers (pricing).
• Initial serviceable market is clinics on WebPT; WebPT indicates 20k+ clinics and claims >40% outpatient rehab market share, which would bound early SAM below full TAM (WebPT press | WebPT+Clinicient).

Who are some of their notable competitors

• WebPT (native front‑office + Reach): WebPT is the dominant PT EMR with built‑in scheduling, reminders, digital intake, benefits verification, and patient engagement (Reach). Many PT clinics may rely on these native tools instead of adding another layer (WebPT front office | WebPT Reach).
• Prompt EMR: All‑in‑one PT/OT/SLP practice platform with scheduling, documentation, billing, reminders, and waitlists; replaces the EMR rather than layering on top.
• Phreesia: Ambulatory patient intake and access platform used across specialties for digital intake, eligibility/benefits checks, and scheduling workflows that can overlap with front‑office automation.
• Artera (formerly WELL Health): Patient communications and orchestration platform for health systems and clinics—two‑way texting, reminders, and automated outreach that can address no‑shows and scheduling gaps.
• Luma Health: Patient access and communication suite with self‑scheduling, waitlists, broadcast SMS, and automation to fill cancellations and reduce no‑shows.