We were lucky to catch up with Dr. Zac Pilossoph recently and have shared our conversation below.
Dr. Zac, appreciate you joining us today. Can you share a story with us from back when you were an intern or apprentice? Maybe it’s a story that illustrates an important lesson you learned or maybe it’s a just a story that makes you laugh (or cry)?
The very first points of influence that drove me to where I am today as a veterinarian and an evolving entrepreneur can be drawn back to 2018 while pursuing an internship program for Veterinary Neurology. After a very conventional initial graduate schooling period, this experience is where I would be first introduced to the idea of “cannabis medicine,” but not in the way you would expect. This exposure was actually via pet parents who were coming into the clinic and looking to ask questions about incorporating cannabis and its derivatives like CBD into their pets’ lives, so essentially extra-curricular to the internship program itself. And to my surprise these pet parents knew way more about this topic than I did, which started to frustrate me. I felt it odd that I was not exposed to this seemingly well-known topic in my training, and that when I asked to find out more about it. I was often told that anything not conventional should be considered as not having substantiality, that it was all anecdotal. Nonetheless, rather than writing it off or dismissing these pet parents, I became more and more curious. I quietly started investigating this potential therapeutic option further. Sure enough, it turned out there was so much information that I was completely oblivious to regarding the cannabis plant and all the research behind its use for a variety of health conditions. Not only did I then start to become low-grade obsessed with the future of cannabis, but this made me wonder what else was out there in the medical field that I wasn’t aware of. What other therapeutic options existed that were independent of the conventional education I received but that could provide additional or complementary options for patient health and well-being? Essentially this engrained curiosity would fuel the next few years of auto-didacticism and lead me to where I am today. Still always more to learn of course, but definitely at present on a path I am happy with and proud of consistently.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
Presently, I wear a few hats as a veterinarian. The first is my clinical component, where I act as a multi-state licensed traveling emergency veterinarian. I have a professional relationship with dozens of specialty care veterinary hospitals across numerous cities and states where I help to run their emergency departments on an as-needed basis. The second is running and operating my baby growing business Nayked Pet. However, the Nayked Pet platform provides three separate but complementary services in and of itself. The first is our integrative-holistic telehealth service suite accessible worldwide, where we offer a variety of targeted consultation types not readily available in conventional veterinary facilities. The sessions are designed to be complementary to in-person petcare and pet parents work directly with myself to put together targeted health plans that makes sense specifically for their pet based on the consultation type chosen. The second is our premier human-grade, completely all-natural, vegan hair and skincare line for pets. This line was co-formulated by myself and a great friend of mine who happens to be a human holistic skincare expert. The line was designed to be safe for both long-term preventative maintenance and for short-term situational use in pets dealing with a wide variety of dermatologic conditions. Additionally, each product transparently displays every single ingredient from start to finish with no secrets or synthetics included in the formulation. Lastly, Nayked Pet has its “Preferred Partners Circle,” an exclusive cherry-picked collection of other pet wellness companies that have been meticulously screened and are who I do believe are the most trustworthy in their own respective areas. These figures range of from human-grade pet food companies to supplement manufacturers to a host of other health services. Essentially, the Preferred Partners Circle is where community pet owners go to find additional resources that an experienced medical professional has already reviewed and approved of for them.
Most importantly, we want our community members and all pet parents reading this to understand that our ultimate goal at Nayked Pet is to provide the most advanced, trusted and transparent wellness options for pets across the world. All other factors aside, without the support and faith of our pet parents, Nayked Pet would cease to exist. Cutting corners and prioritizing bottom lines are not how we foresee growing the brand. Gaining the respect and trust of pet parents and veterinarians alike is the way in which we envision Nayked Pet becoming a globally-recognized name. Those are the principles I prefer to live by and am proud to grow Nayked Pet around. We believe that sticking to these principles will organically foster and grow a network with the same interests and intentions for their pet’s health and comfort.
We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.
Several years to almost a decade ago right at the start of my entrepreneurial efforts, I was in a chapter of life defined by ambitious naivety, with passions and goals in mind but a huge deficit in wisdom and direction. A time where I thought I was ready start applying what felt like a good framework of knowledge to the real world but had been yet to do so in any capacity. Since I didn’t really know where to start, I decided that attempting to meet and befriend some noteworthy figures in circles would be the best move in order to start building the right connections. To be honest, I expected this to be a difficult task but to my surprise, with only a little work I came to find many of the people in these circles would quickly find ways they could “collaborate” with me in one way or another. In all honesty, I knew in the back of my mind that this was a little odd, but still super exciting as such a young figure who had just entered the space. So, without really thinking twice, I would find myself blindly saying yes to every potential opportunity, telling myself these invites were priceless and to worry about the implications and logistics sometime later. And although the superficial recognition felt great at the time, this ambitious naivety phase would initially turn out to be physically and emotionally exhausting. The losing end of each relationship was where I found myself time and time again. Whether it be giving substantially more effort than I was ever getting back, being asked for financial input upfront with the false promise of guaranteed returns later on, or just simply being asked to stretch my time way too thin, each proclaimed opportunity ultimately led to a dead end. Disappointment became frequent as I watched supposed friends and business partners make off with my intellectual content and financial contributions, leaving me with nothing, with the last of them actually syphoning over a quarter million dollars cash from me by the end of it all. Ultimately, I found myself swallowing huge in financial losses, without a home to live in, and with absolutely no genuine connections to the circles I had fought so hard to be included in. Living to make other people’s ideas come to life had definitely not resulted in the outcome envisioned at the start, as the evidence would prove, and I became heavily discouraged for about a year before finally finding the mental fortitude to take all this adversity and develop a new plan of action. It’s definitely not an easy task, picking yourself up from the ground time and time again, but as many entrepreneurs know from similar experiences, it is necessary along the journey of becoming a successful entrepreneur for sure.
Any advice for growing your clientele? What’s been most effective for you?
Nayked Pet’s position and focus as a wellness brand has and will always be gaining the trust of its community. 95% or more of the companies out there today are selling a product. Very few are offering a commitment to consistency and reliability, while also having a product to sell that lives up to those expectations. Abiding by this principle is how I believe we have gained and grown our community so far. I never want to be thought of as just another pet product brand even if it takes a little longer for us to grow than if we did use other marketing tactics. I see Nayked Pet separating itself from everyone else by being the figure pet parents look up to as the source of trust and transparency. My entire team is trained to emit this type of energy as well, so we are all on the same page. And pet parents definitely do express their appreciation for our customer care, whether or not they wind up buying a product or pursuing a telehealth consultation. Which I am ok with. At this phase of the company’s existence, I am less concerned about numbers are more concerned about building a reputable influential image, which I believe will be the right move for the long-term health of the company.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.naykedpet.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nayked_pet/?hl=en
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheNaykedPet
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/nayked-pet/?viewAsMember=true
Image Credits
Photo 2: Rachel Fusaro
Photo 4: Dr. Meghan Barrett