"Can't Be Done"

Ep. 100: To Define Your Business Model, Follow the Money—with Emily Dong of Snout

Episode Summary

Emily Dong is the Founder and CEO of SnoutID, a company working to improve the patient experience at veterinary practices through the centralization of data. Prior to Snout, she built and sold Pawprint Inc., a pet health app designed to digitize pet medical records. Emily earned her BS in Accounting Information Systems, Entrepreneurship and Math Finance from USC.

Episode Notes

A lot of founders are focused on making their solution accessible to everyone, so they offer it for free. But you’ve got to make money if you want to build and sustain a successful business. So, how do you identify who sees the most value from your product or service and design a business model accordingly?


 

Emily Dong is the Founder and CEO of SnoutID, a company working to improve the patient experience at veterinary practices through the centralization of data. Prior to Snout, she built and sold Pawprint Inc., a pet health app designed to digitize pet medical records. Emily earned her BS in Accounting Information Systems, Entrepreneurship and Math Finance from USC.


 

On this episode of the podcast, Emily joins us to share the personal experiences that inspired her to found first Pawprint and then Snout, discussing the need for preventative veterinary care and the rising popularity of pet insurance in the US market. She walks us through the three phases of a startup, explaining how her role evolved as buy-in for her company grew. Listen in for Emily’s insight on balancing idealism with sustainability as a startup founder and learn her follow-the-money approach to creating a business model around the value you provide.


 

Topics Covered


 

The experience that inspired Emily to start Pawprint


 

The need for preventative veterinary care in the pet market


 

The rising popularity of pet insurance


 

What factors influence the cost of pet insurance


 

Emily’s take on the biggest challenges of entrepreneurship


 

How Emily’s startup evolved from B2C to B2B


 

How Emily dealt with burnout as a startup founder


 

Emily’s insight on the three phases of a startup

  1. Existential crisis (Am I working on the right thing?)
  2. Leverage personal conviction to generate buy-in
  3. People and org problems


 

Emily’s definition of success

Connect with Emily


 

SnoutID https://snoutid.com/

SnoutID on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/snoutid

SnoutID on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/company/snout

Emily on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/dongemily

Emily on Twitter https://twitter.com/emiidee


 

Resources


 

Pawprint https://www.getpawprint.com/

Chewy https://www.chewy.com/

Trupanion https://trupanion.com/

Healthy Paws https://www.healthypawspetinsurance.com/

Petplan https://www.gopetplan.com/

Pet Insurance by Nationwide https://www.petinsurance.com/

Adam’s MONEY IS GOOD Post https://adamdraper.substack.com/p/money-is-good

Amplitude https://amplitude.com/

Oura Ring https://ouraring.com/

Threes http://play.threesgame.com/

2048 https://play2048.co/

Tetris https://tetris.com/

Spenser Skates on Boost VC Podcast EP98 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BUsIryDX8cI

JK Rowling https://www.jkrowling.com/

Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card https://www.amazon.com/Enders-Ender-Quintet-Orson-Scott/dp/0812550706

Ender’s Shadow by Orson Scott Card https://www.amazon.com/Enders-Shadow-Orson-Scott-Card/dp/0812575717

Bill Gates https://www.gatesnotes.com/


 

Connect with Boost VC


 

Boost VC Website https://www.boost.vc/

Boost VC on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/boostvc/

Boost VC on Twitter https://twitter.com/BoostVC

Boost VC on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/boost_vc/