Dr. Natalie Marks | CEO of VANE
Natalie Marks went from clinic owner to national media voice to CEO of VANE, the angel network connecting vet-tech founders with the practitioners who actually use their products. In this Q&A, she breaks down why culture is a clinic's hidden infrastructure, what separates fundable founders from forgettable ones (hint: coachability), and why the biggest gap in veterinary innovation isn't the product — it's context.
There are veterinarians, and then there are people who understand the machinery behind veterinary medicine — the economics, psychology, workflows, and human dynamics that determine whether ideas succeed or don’t.
Natalie Marks operates at that rare intersection. As a former hospital owner, national media voice, industry advisor, and now CEO of VANE, she evaluates not just products but the founders behind them. Our conversation pulled back the curtain on what truly drives adoption, why culture is the hidden infrastructure of clinics, and the traits that separate fundable founders from forgettable ones.
As a co-owner of Blum Animal Hospital, what was the hardest operational lesson you learned that vet school never prepares you for?
The hardest lesson was that managing people is infinitely more complex than managing patients. Veterinary school trains you to diagnose, treat, and communicate with clients — but nobody teaches you how to have a difficult conversation with a team member who isn't performing, how to be a human resource manager, how to build a compensation structure that retains great talent, or how to navigate the financial reality of payroll when an unexpected equipment repair hits.
I learned quickly that culture doesn't build itself. You have to be intentional about it every single day, or the default culture — one driven by stress and burnout — fills that vacuum for you.
Other Interviews
More conversations with founders, operators, and investors building the future of pet care.
Alexandru Bacita | Co-Founder & COO, The Cat Health Company
Cats are living longer, but the drugs for age-related disease have not kept pace. The Cat Health Company, a clinical-stage biotech, has three drugs in trials and 11 more preclinical candidates, and has out-licensed its first therapeutic. Co-founder and COO Alexandru Bacita explains why cats compress the drug-development loop, how the company targets muscle loss and kidney disease first, and why the route to longevity runs through veterinarians and pharma partners.
Elias Weiss Friedman | Founder, The Dogist Company
Elias Weiss Friedman spent a decade turning street photography into The Dogist, one of the largest dog-focused audiences online. Now he's testing whether that trust extends to physical products, starting with Vitality, a vet-formulated antioxidant chew built with Dr. Angela Rollins. He talks about the discipline of brand extension, the operational learning curve of a first physical product, and what a decade of stopping strangers on the street taught him about people, not just dogs.
Sarah McLean | Co-Founder & CEO, Big Damn Dog Co.
A joint supplement label that stopped at 60 pounds sent Sarah McLean looking for a product that did not exist. Big Damn Dog Co. is the bootstrapped answer: giant-breed formulations, dosing built for 120-pound dogs, and a customer list the founders still call by phone. Six months after launch, its Gravy Blend already accounts for roughly 40% of joint supplement sales.