What led you to start Onus?
We founded Onus in 2015. The three founders are Chaz Faulhaber, myself and Dr. Ben Wilks, who is a board-certified ER physician. We each bring something unique to the table. My background is medical and pharmaceutical sales, and I helped start another company as well, so I have a little bit of entrepreneur experience. Dr. Ben is an ER physician and has years of medical experience. And Chaz came from an advertising agency, so he has a marketing and branding brain and created our unique brand.
The way people think of “wellness” goes beyond the gym. What stands out to you about this surge in interest, and how does Onus set itself apart in the wellness segment?
I think people took a magnifying lens to their health during COVID, and it just became a hot topic in medicine. I think people realized that they needed to be proactive instead of reactive with their health. We were fortunate to already be in the space and a forerunner, and we’re fortunate to be a part of that movement even before it really took off.
I think what really sets us apart from the competition is our ability to do these truly medical services. We have an excellent team and not only of experienced ER nurses—not all IV therapy places hire ER—but because our doctor is a board-certified ER physician, he feels medical protocols and standards are extremely important. We maintain those high standards, but now we have a team of nurse practitioners as well. While other IV therapy places may add other modalities like compression boots or Botox, we’re able to take a real customized approach to the individual because we have nurse practitioners that can look at their health and make great recommendations on what they should do to optimize their proactive wellness.
We have a nature-inspired lounge. It’s a distinctive brand, and Chaz created that with his creative brain. A lot of IV clinics feel very medical in nature: blues, whites, exam rooms and white coats. We want you to feel relaxed and inspired by nature with lots of browns and greens. There’s lots of nature-inspired photography to make people feel relaxed. They’re in an ER environment, but they shouldn’t feel like it.