In this week’s show, Joe Vennare chatted with Scott Marcaccio, co-founder and CEO of Myodetox about:
- Reinventing the traditional physical therapy model with a focus on customer experience, brand, and pro-active treatment
- A disciplined approach to capitalizing the business, including raising money from experienced fitness executives and Equinox Ventures
- Driving 13 hours for a pitch meeting when the airport was shut down from bad weather
- His approach to company culture and team building at a fast-growing company spread out over multiple location.
Check out an overview of the conversation below or listen to the entire episode for more.
What’s the Myodetox mission?
SM: To change the narrative of how people think about taking care of their bodies by redefining the physical therapy space.
The traditional therapy industry is reactive, if you have an injury, you have to react to get care of. We’re progressing into a more preventive wellness narrative to teach people that, like fitness, therapy should be a regular part of your wellness routine.
What sets Myodetox apart?
SM: It starts with the brand and the customer experience. We’ve created a space that feels energizing and drives a little bit more community, bridging the worlds of health care and professionalism with this ability to make it part of your routine.
And while there are exciting things happening in cryotherapy, sauna, stretch, etc., these are all ancillary recovery tools. We’re owning the comprehensive, long term support which requires a level of holistic programming and expert care.
We only hire licensed physical therapists and chiropractors so anytime you come into a Myodetox clinic, you’re seeing a doctor-level healthcare practitioner. I think holding true to the quality of care we provide has been a huge differentiator.
What’s your approach to growth?
SM: If you think of building a business that’s going to last for many years, the product quality needs to be 10/10.
There’s a level of trust and expectation for consumers to ensure whoever they’re seeing has been adequately trained and in line with our overall curriculum. So we had to think long and hard about pursuing growth while maintaining the product quality.
We didn’t initially have plans to scale, but as the brand started to snowball through the first year, we realized this could be something.
When it came to making decisions to take on capital, we did it slowly. For the first three years we bootstrapped everything, maxed out credit cards, and didn’t really pay ourselves. We then brought on capital from a group of angel investors with great industry experience.
We haven’t gone out and raised a big growth equity round yet, but we’ll look to do that sometime in mid 2021.
What tips can you share on building a network?
SM: A big win for us was our persistence to keep showing up. The level of networking opportunities in your hometown pale in comparison to when you spend a week in LA or New York, so we started to intentionally get to those places and show up to every event.
It’s a process. It took 2-3 years for us to build the network. As people buy into your story and see the authenticity in how you’re trying to build a generational company, and not just trying to make a quick buck, they become willing to invest in relationships.
And it’s a two way street. We constantly try to go over and above to take care of people.
There’s also a level of “we’ll do whatever it takes with no excuses” we try to bring to this game because we realize, especially being a Canadian company, we have to dig harder to build our network so we really try to go out of our way to do so.
What do you focus on as a leader?
SM: Our team is just north of 200 people, and I had no experience leading a large team before. I learned the first 5-10 hires in a company tend to set the culture forever. Every new person is going to look at the existing team to figure out how to behave and what is and is not acceptable.
Our internal leadership philosophy centers around two main pillars — servant leadership and intrinsic motivation. In short, making sure that our therapists are taken care of and team members feel like they can set their course in the company and work their way up.
I spend a lot of time traveling because nothing replaces facetime. I also realize I can’t be everywhere at once and I need to rely on my team. So, about 30% of my week is just dedicated to leveling my team up. Whether that’s doing one-on-ones at a certain scale, you need to put great management structure in place otherwise things start to fall apart quickly.
And, I think my leadership style is quite instinctual. I have a good sense for what’s going to be overwhelming to the team and what’s going to pull out their best.
What’s the vision for Myodetox?
SM: This year we’re opening about 6-7new stores on our roadmap and 8-10 next year.
Beyond that, the larger vision is creating the first truly national brand of consumer physical therapy. We hate using the word physical therapy in general, but we need to anchor it in some space and more broadly in this recovery longevity space.
There’s no trusted national brand, and over the next five years we see a pathway to opening an additional 60 to 70 stores domestically across Canada and the US and internationally that gets us excited about our ability to influence more of the mainstream culture.
**Note: Scott’s answers have been edited for brevity and cohesion.
About Scott Marcaccio:
Scott Marcaccio is the Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Myodetox, a lifestyle physical therapy brand operating ten locations across Los Angeles, Vancouver, and Toronto. The company offers a unique hands-on therapy system that focuses on resolving injuries and optimizing your body, delivered by best-in-class physical therapists.
Through the power of their brand-first approach and industry-leading social media strategy, Scott has led Myodetox to forge ongoing partnerships with global brands including Nike, Equinox, and Lululemon. Myodetox is leading today’s conversation on why taking care of your body is essential to your daily life.