Petfolk: Building the Future From Our Past
Three years ago, when Dr. Audrey Wystrach (aka my big sister) pitched me on her vision of what the future of veterinary medicine could look like, it looked very similar to what we had already seen in our past..
Let me explain:
Audrey has always reminisced that when she was 7 years old, she fell in love with veterinary medicine by following around our local vet, Dr. Jim Pickrell. Our family knew Dr. Pickrell quite well, as Audrey, myself, and our 4 other siblings grew up on a ranch in southern Arizona, which required house visits by a veterinarian in order to care for all of our large animals. Because we were in such a rural setting, the doctor practiced medicine very differently than what others were used to: with an emphasis on phone calls, mobile visits, etc. He spent whatever time he could educating us — the pet parents — and especially that 7-year-old child of his pet parents.
Dr. Pickrell was a ball of joy, and it is no wonder that Audrey credits him as her source of inspiration for getting into the veterinary field. He loved animals, his pet parents, and he loved veterinary medicine. He was a special vet and a special person in our community.
Audrey’s vision was first and foremost to bring back joy to the veterinary field for everyone involved, as we remembered it from our own past. Her vision was called “connected care”, meaning the veterinary team would be there for the pet parent 24/7 via whatever means necessary, just as Dr. Pickrell had done for us. Audrey’s plan was to use clinics, mobile vans, and even virtual medicine (telemedicine). This diverse offering would match the best-in-class hospitality services with beautiful new facilities, an amazing brand, and modern technology. The medicine would be transparent, fear-free, and inclusive, and our vets would spend time educating our pet parents as much as they could (and maybe a few new 7 year-olds). Audrey wanted to connect her love for pets with a modern vet practice that — simply put — would revolutionize veterinary medicine.
Fast forward to three years later, and I am excited that we are building this vision: Petfolk. We currently have 3 locations (with more than 20 on the way) and 11 mobile vans (with dozens more on the way), we offer 24/7 virtual support, and our team has seen over 40,000 pets, and counting. We are also the #1 ranked vet clinic in every market we practice, with an NPS of greater than 95. We are early in our journey, but we are building Audrey’s vision, and so far, our pet parents love it.
We are thrilled today to announce that we just received a ton of money, closing our $40 million Series A round; this money will be used to accelerate our expansion. The round was led by White Star Capital and myself, and we were joined by a handful of badasses — and I mean this literally. Our investors include professional race car drivers, country music stars, other founders, and business mavens. We are incredibly honored to have these fellow pet lovers on our journey; they include (in no particular order):
Miranda Lambert, Dierks Bentley, Midland’s Mark Wystrach and Cameron Duddy, Jimmie Johnson, Erik Jones, Danica Patrick, Ty Haney (Founder of Outdoor Voices and TYB.XYZ), Trina Spear and Heather Hassan (Founders of FIGS Scrubs), Carter Comstock and Alberto Lopez Toledo (Founders of Freshly), Matt Lombardi and Kevin Moran (Founders of Beam), David Nolan and Kevin Glynn (Founders of Butternut Box), Mayur Gupta (CMO of Krayken), Bob Davis (Founder of Lycos), Jason Finger (Founder of Seamless & Upper 90) and Billy Libby (Founder of Upper90), Mark Cushing (Founder of Animal Policy Group), Chris Kelly (Founder of Antelligence), Arthur Rubinfeld (Founder of Airvision, prior Chief Branding Officer of Starbucks) and Seth Waugh (CEO of PGA of America).
I am also extremely excited and proud to officially announce that I have joined Petfolk as Co-Founder and Co-CEO, alongside my big sister. We are just starting our professional journey together, but we are on a mission to reinvent veterinary services while building the largest veterinary brand in the world, and we’re off to a great start. Stay tuned!
