Dr Vladimir Khourda, founder of Forge
Founder of Forge

Dr Vladimir Khourda

I trained as a maxillofacial surgeon, moved into orthodontics and co-founded a three-clinic group. I later spent time inside Publicis Health. I paid an agency invoice for a year before I built this one.

Background
1
I trained in hospital surgery

Maxillofacial surgery first, then orthodontics and private practice.

2
I co-founded three clinics

As an owner, which means I read the P&L rather than a report about it.

3
I worked inside Publicis Health

I saw how medical marketing runs on pharmaceutical budgets, and what survives contact with a small practice.

4
I paid 23,000 EUR for one patient

What an agency billed me over a year. It delivered a single patient, who came in for a cleaning.

Why I ended up running a marketing agency

I trained as a maxillofacial surgeon and moved into orthodontics. With two partners I co-founded a group of three clinics in Paris, which means I spent years reading a P&L rather than a report about one. I later spent time inside Publicis Health, where I saw how medical marketing is run when the budgets are pharmaceutical rather than practice-sized.

While the clinics were running, I hired an agency. Over a year I paid them more than 23,000 EUR. They held my Google and Meta ad accounts in their own name, not mine. They spent a fraction of the budget and kept the rest. In twelve months the work produced one patient, who came in for a cleaning, while I was selling orthodontic treatment.

I only found out because I pulled the accounts myself and read the raw numbers. Nobody had told me the accounts should have been mine, that ads move in weeks while search takes months, or that a report ending at impressions is a report built not to be checked.

I was not careless. I was busy, and I assumed a full schedule meant the problem was handled. I built Forge because that assumption is expensive, and almost every practice owner I meet is making it.

How that changed the way I work

What I write about

I write the reference pages on this site myself. They are the pages I needed and could not find when I was the one signing the invoice.

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