Starting a ketamine clinic: Should you get investors or not?

Like any business, starting a ketamine infusion clinic requires some money. But where should you get that money? Should you get investors or not? In this blog we’ll explore this topic and your options. 

There are plenty of factors that affect how much you need to start your ketamine clinic.

How much do you need to start?

The first step is to identify how much you actually need to start a ketamine clinic. And honestly, the answer isn’t as straightforward as it seems. This is because there are several factors to consider before you can determine this. And these factors will mostly depend on the location you select. 

Some of the factors to consider include: 

• Whether you will be renting or building an entire office space of your own

• How big the clinic space will be

• How much of the work you will be doing as opposed and if you will be outsourcing any of the tasks

Start up costs will vary per individual depending on how you answer the questions above. This is why we cannot state the exact costs for you because we don’t know what your plans are. But to give a rough estimate, we recommend having $75k-150k in a business checking account for initial startup costs and a cushion for six months to one year of expenses. 

Curious to know more about the initial costs of starting a ketamine clinic? Read our blog How Much Money Do You Need To Start A Ketamine Clinic? to learn more.

Whoever invests the most in your ketamine clinic – whether it be you or someone else – calls the shots.

Should you solely rely on your own money or somebody else’s?

The reality is that money equals influence. So if you use your own money, naturally you get to call the shots. If you get money from another source, whether that be banks, VC’s, or a friend, they get to call the shots instead. 

Sure, you may be the brains and the person actually performing the infusions, but at the end of the day, if someone besides yourself didn’t provide the majority of the investment costs of starting, then you probably won’t have much control.

But that isn’t always a bad thing. If you don't have the money to start it all on your own and if you find individuals who want to invest and you believe would work well with you, then that could work. It’s all about finding investors who would truly care for you and your business.

If you lack the funds to start a ketamine clinic, there are other options for you to choose from.

What happens if you don’t have enough funds?

In connection to finding the right investors for your business, there are several options for you to choose from:

• Sharks - they charge ridiculous fees and interest rates.

• Dolphins - these are venture capitalists who take a large portion of your clinic’s equity

• Fishes - these are your friends, wealthy family members, and acquaintances

• Coral Reefs - this involves your savings

Now do note that some options are better than others. We highly discourage you from loaning from sharks because they bite! As for the other options, choosing which one will depend on your risk tolerance and your personal finances. We personally believe autonomy is key starting out!

Learn more about How To Fund Starting Your Ketamine Clinic in our blog.

We were tired of being told what to do so we made sure to use our own money when we started our own ketamine clinic.

Real World Example: How we funded our clinic

You may be wondering as to how we started our ketamine clinic. Well, we used our own money. We had been tired of being told what to do by administrators who were not working directly with patients. Our concern when starting out was that we might find ourselves in a similar situation if we didn’t choose the right investors. 

Unless your investor is there at the frontline, they would never truly understand where you’re coming from. If they share the same duties you have, then that would be a different story. That was when we decided that we wanted to maintain as much control of the running of the business as we could. So we kept our expenses as low as possible and started out doing everything ourselves. And when we mean everything we mean EVERYTHING. Once we got into a good rhythm, we then began to outsource and hire staff. We learned to wear so many hats!

At the end of the day, getting investors or not is up to your personal choice and where you currently are in your life and career.

Conclusion: The decision is yours

We laid out some facts and factors here to help you determine whether you should get investors or not. The answer is not something you can determine overnight and you will need to consider how much you can and are willing to spend for your clinic.

Think about how much of the shots you want to call and how much of the risk you are willing to take. We trust you will make the right decision after you’ve done your own due diligence. 

Need more advice when it comes to starting your own ketamine clinic? Join our email list and be notified about the next free webinar and open registration for Ketamine StartUp 101.

Many businesses rely on investors to get started. So should your ketamine clinic get investors as well? That will depend on several factors, which we will talk about in our blog.

---

---