MBA alumnus launches company to improve the veterinary industry

After learning about the business issues in the veterinary industry, Dustin Orr (MBA, 2020) used the entrepreneurship skills he developed in the Ted Rogers MBA program to start a company to help the sector.  

Orr co-founded the company Auxillio VetShield (external link, opens in new window) , which aims to improve the veterinary industry by providing business consultations for existing practices, and partnering with veterinarians to open new practices with a shared ownership model. Just a year after launching, the company opened its first shared ownership practice in Pincher Creek, Alberta.

Here is what Orr had to say about the need for a new business model in the veterinary industry, how the Ted Rogers MBA’s entrepreneurship track helped him create Auxillio VetShield and what his company’s plans are for the future:

Tell us about your organization/work:

Auxillio VetShield is a firm dedicated to improving the veterinary industry.  The industry has one of the highest suicide rates in the medical world, due to the stress of the industry on its practitioners.  We are in the field of decreasing this stress by helping veterinarians with one of their biggest causes of stress: business.

Auxillio VetShield provides two services to the industry:

a)    We consult for existing practices to help improve their business operations. We take a “boots-on-the-ground” approach by helping veterinary practice owners to implement the needed change, as we know they lack the time to do it themselves.   

b)    We build and open new veterinary practices and partner with veterinarians to run these practices. These new practices have a shared ownership model, where Auxillio VetShield manages the business while the veterinary partners manage the medicine.  This delegated ownership focus allows the respective parties to concentrate on what they do best, and lend their expertise to optimize that portion of the practice. This decreases stress on the veterinarian owners, improves the level of care given to patients and increases the vet’s overall financial opportunity due to the ownership.

What inspired you to start this company?

The origin of the idea came from a friend of mine who approached me over the Christmas break after my first semester in the Ted Rogers MBA program. He had previously built and sold four veterinary clinics and was a practicing veterinarian of 25 years. He saw issues in the industry, and together we began developing the concept through my MBA.  The further we got in my research, the more I realized this was a model that the industry sorely needed.

I co-founded my company from the entrepreneur track during my Ted Rogers MBA.  I used the second semester course to build my idea, research and prove/disprove my assumptions about the business model, determine the genuine needs of vets through research (I interviewed over 100 veterinarians in western Canada), find the current issues plaguing the industry today and come out of the MBA program armed with a plan, and enough confidence to actually give it a shot.

Why did you pursue your MBA and why did you choose the Ted Rogers MBA program?

After I sold my four location, 25 employee company in Alberta, I was interested in looking to improve my business experience.  I thought an MBA would not only enhance my opportunity to find something more engaging in the business world, but would also help to broaden my perspective.  I chose the Ted Rogers MBA program because of its focus on technology, innovation and strategy. I heard great things about the program and decided that its centrality to big business head offices in Canada would help with the perspective that I wanted.  I also found out after the first semester, that big business wasn’t for me, and that entrepreneurship was far more appealing.  

Also, since I was self-funding my studies, and moving with a wife and three kids, the program was priced at a point that was feasible for my situation.  I saw great, innovative things coming out of the Ted Rogers MBA program, and felt it was a great fit to broaden my horizons.

How did the Ted Rogers MBA program assist you on your entrepreneurial journey?

The entrepreneurship track was paramount to launching Auxillio VetShield.  It gave me the time, direction and insights needed to develop my idea, research the concept, prove and disprove my assumptions, pivot my idea and fine-tune the details in making this a reality.  The final business plan in that course allowed me to thoroughly analyze and work out my “go-to-market” strategy that we eventually put into action while I wrote the business plan.  When I graduated in October 2020, we had already been consulting for our first client for six months, and had secured cashflow and traction to build and open our first practice.

Almost one year after our company launch, we have opened our first shared ownership practice in Pincher Creek, Alberta (Peak Veterinary Hospital (external link, opens in new window) ), purchased land for our second hospital in Lethbridge, Alberta (opening June 2022), and are working on finalizing two more locations for our third and fourth hospital, which should close in roughly two months.  We have also been successfully consulting for two clients, and generated the cash flow needed to fund our operations and growth.