Nobody's Coming to Save You: What a Wyoming Ranch Taught Me About Building Vis

Leading a surgical program? Apply for the Vis Pre-Surgery pilot here. 60 days. Limited cases.

After attending Tech Week, I've been thinking about how slowly surgical prep and post-op care have evolved, and how much room there is to make the experience better for patients. As a physician and founder, I'm building toward a model of surgical support that's clearer, more modern, and actually built around the person going through it.

Growing up on a cattle ranch in Wyoming, you learn fast to be resourceful and resilient. Nobody is coming to save you. A calf comes at 3 a.m. when it's 40 below, and he gets a spot in front of the kitchen heater because it is the warmest place in the house. The tractor breaks down the day the hay is ready to bale. You fix it. Then you finish the job. Failure isn't an option, because Mother Nature doesn't care what time it is or how far you are from town. You do what needs doing. Every time.

I carried that with me onto a stage a few weeks ago at Connecticut Tech Week, pitching Vis Pre-Surgery at the Founder Finals. I sat in a room full of founders building things I couldn't have explained to you a month earlier, algorithms, chemical compositions, ideas that took me three tutorials just to follow. But I recognized every one of them immediately. Not the work itself. The chest-tightening anticipation right before you show someone the thing you built alone at 2 a.m. It's the same feeling as an artist pulling the cloth off a canvas for the first time. You brace for the silence. You want it to be received. And somewhere underneath the nerves is this quiet hope that the thing you made in isolation actually means something out here, to people who never had to build it and aren't obligated to love it.

What got me was the room itself. Founders who'd met in person twenty minutes earlier were rooting for each other like old friends, because everyone in that room knew exactly what it cost to get on that stage. That kind of support doesn't come around often. When it does, you'd be a fool not to let it move you.

The morning after, I flew home to that same ranch, not for calving this time, but to care for my mother, who has advanced Alzheimer's. Two very different spaces. The same instinct underneath both: you show up, and you take care of what's in front of you, now.

So I'm done waiting for the perfect moment to scale Vis.

Over the next 60 days, I'm launching a pilot program for Vis Pre-Surgery, and the number of cases available is limited. I want programs that are serious about improving surgical outcomes and reducing complications, not just curious about a new product. Qualifying surgery centers and hospitals get one case at no cost, in exchange for documenting patient outcomes. This is a real upgrade to preoperative nutrition protocols. Not another flavored carb drink.

Vis Pre-Surgery is a physician-formulated medical food built to support the body's metabolic needs before, during, and after surgery.

If you lead a surgical program and want in, reach out now. 60 days. Limited cases. Let's go. Complete this form and you are on your way.

photo credit: Conor Flynn