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After I built and exited two healthcare technology companies, including the largest cloud-based Electronic Health Record platform in the U.S. that reached a $700 million valuation before its acquisition, I had the obvious path of starting another venture in healthtech — a crowded, well-funded category where investors already understand the playbook and I have a proven track record.
And that’s exactly what most founders do: Chase the same categories. Those markets have a clear story. The budgets and findings exist. The pitch deck writes itself. The downside is simple, too. Competition shows up fast. Customer acquisition costs rise, and products start to look the same. Founders spend energy fighting (and paying) for attention instead of solving hard problems.
As opposed to this, I decided to buck trends and do the opposite of what would have been easier (and what was expected) — I started a company completely from scratch in an industry that I came to realize from personal experience was in desperate need of innovation: pet adoption. The question I got from those around me: Why?
The merits of neglected vs. Well-funded markets
Neglected industries look different. You find real pain, low software adoption and a lack of modern infrastructure. The two biggest competitors in this category are over 20 years old and most of the rescues and shelters we serve have (literally) no budget for technology. These outdated systems combined with a worsening pet surrender crisis saw 6.5 million cats and dogs entering shelters and rescues nationwide last year, and 920,000 cats and dogs were euthanized.
The beauty here is that you connect with people who also care deeply about the work and will adopt tools that actually help. Animal welfare fits this pattern. Shelters and rescues manage living beings with unique medical histories, behavioral needs and safety risks. They handle foster networks, volunteer coordination and constant intake pressure. Yet many still rely on manual processes and a patchwork of software that does not connect.
That gap creates opportunity, but it also creates responsibility.
How healthcare helped shape this path
When I helped scale healthcare platforms, I learned lessons that transferred directly into this new venture — as is the case for many founders who choose to pivot. Standardization enables scale. Healthcare platforms improved when they made data structured and portable. Pet adoption, I came to realize, needed the same thing.
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