K9 Cuisine: What is your story-how did you get into the veterinarian business?
Hope: While my partner and I are not veterinarians, we got into the pet health and well-being business for three reasons:
First and foremost, we are both huge animal lovers and had always wanted to do something in the pet space, but wasn’t quite sure exactly what that might be.
We observed and tracked the tremendous growth in the pet category and realized this was very fertile business territory.
Most importantly, we identified an unmet need – the fact that pet owners did not have ONE trusted online resource they could go to for credible and timely information about the health and well-being of their pets. For us it was the perfect hat trick.
K9 Cuisine: What is the secret to your success-how have you gotten to where you are today?
Hope: I believe the secret to our success is four-fold:
We are passionate about what we do and quite tenacious – let’s just say “no” and “if” are not words in our vocabulary.
We did our due diligence rather than rushing to market with what we thought was a good idea. Rather we researched the market for almost a year ensuring that when we did go to market, our strategy was dead-on and that the timing was right.
Because we are not veterinarians, we surrounded ourselves with leaders in the veterinarian industry – Pfizer Animal Health, AAHA, the AKC, the CFA, top-tier vet schools, among others. There support and credentials lend an unparalleled level of credibility to everything we do in the marketplace.
We built a site rich in integrity – of design, content (all content is vet-approved one time per year and about 90% of our content is original and written exclusively for WebVet), and the fact we don’t diagnose, treat or editorialize and always direct pet owners back to their vets for care specific to their pets’ needs. We are a complement/supplement to the veterinarian community, not a replacement for it.
K9 Cuisine: What makes you different?
Hope: I think much of what I mentioned above makes us unique but also our backgrounds. While we don’t come from the vet world, we do come from an arena that is quite important when building a brand – brand marketing and media. I built my career in the advertising and brand marketing sector working for some of the largest global agencies including McCann Erickson, Leo Burnett, DDB and Y&R and also spent time on the corporate side working for Coca Cola and NBC. My partner’s expertise lies in the media/entertainment space having worked with iconic brands including HBO, ESPN and E! The value here is that while you can build something magnificent, if you don’t know how to seed and grow that brand over time, it ultimately has little value. And one last thing . . . we have a great brand name in WebVet. A brand name can be a very powerful marketing tool.
K9 Cuisine: What is it about animals that you love?
Hope: Pretty much everything! I grew up in the South and was surrounded with everything from dogs and cats to horses and goats – and I grew up in a big city (Atlanta). I come by my love honestly as my entire family LOVES animals – my mom still has her horses and dogs, my brothers have dogs, cats, rabbits and chickens (pets of course), my sister has dogs, birds and even a pet pig named “Piggy” and I, living in NYC, have a dog named Max and two birds Pi and Piou Piou.
But beyond growing up with tons of animals, what I love most about them is their intuitive nature, compassion and ability to not only love unconditionally, but to forgive. And nothing lowers my blood pressure more effectively than loving on my dog Max.
K9 Cuisine: What is the neatest part about your business?
Hope: Hands down: I get to do something I love every day of my life now! More clearly defined . . . I’ve been given incredible opportunities to explore the veterinary and animal worlds through relationships with teaching hospitals such as the Animal Medical Center in NYC, vet schools like Cornell and Penn and even non-companion-related organizations like the Bronx Zoo and the WCS. I feel incredibly blessed with these opportunities.
K9 Cuisine: Where do you see the vet industry going?
Hope: Not being a veterinarian, I’m not the best qualified person to answer that question, but I can tell you some of things I’ve learned that I’ve found fascinating.
Many believe it’s now harder to get into vet school than it is to get into medical school.
The majority of new vet students and, as a result, vets are women. Approximately 75% of new entrants into vet schools are women. My understanding is this is due in part to the fact that vets don’t get into this business to get rich, they get into because they love animals and also that, somewhat surprisingly, this is a career in which it’s quite acceptable to work part-time so it’s ideal for women who want to both work and raise a family.
As pets are considered and treated more and more like members of the family, we’re seeing more specialty practice areas emerge.
K9 Cuisine: How does your company fit into that-what are your future plans?
Hope's dog "Max"
Hope:I’m not sure it’s all directly related, but we recognize the veterinary community as a growing and VERY important part of our business. I can’t get into specific details at this point in time, but suffice it to say that while our primary focus in currently on the consumer side of the business, we will be rounding out our business model to become increasingly engaged on the B2B side of the business.
K9 Cuisine: How can people find out more about you and your company?
Hope: To learn more about what WebVet has to offer, you can visit the site at www.webvet.com. If you’d like to learn more about me or WebVet as a business, I can be contacted directly at hope@webvet.com or 212-879-3152.
