What Separates Medical Aesthetics from Retail Aesthetics with Dominic Mazzone of VOS Collection

Skin Anarchy

In this episode of Skin Anarchy, Dominic Mazzone, CEO of VOS Collection, discusses the fundamental differences between medical aesthetics pl

Key takeaways

• Medical aesthetic platforms built by entrepreneurs—like VOS Collection—prioritize clinical autonomy over corporate mandates.
• Physicians who are equity partners in their clinics report higher satisfaction and better patient outcomes due to retained control.

Main topics

• Medical aesthetics platforms vs. private equity models
• Clinical freedom in aesthetic medicine

Notable quotes

"I'm not a private equity guy. I'm an entrepreneur... acquiring other entrepreneurs."

Conclusion

Dominic Mazzone's vision for VOS Collection demonstrates that success in medical aesthetics comes

Transcript preview

Speaker 1 (0:00) Hey guys, welcome back to Skin Anarchy. This is a very special episode because we're going to be diving deep into the world of medical aesthetic platforms and understanding like what goes on behind the scenes when it comes to the different practices that you might see from your favorite derms and doctors at large and just understanding that world of aesthetics. So without further ado, please welcome Dominic Mazzone, who is the CEO of VOS Collection. Welcome, Dominic. So excited to host you. Speaker 2 (0:24) Ekta, thank you so much for having me and obviously great to see you again as well. Speaker 1 (0:29) No, it's wonderful to connect. And I'm so, so glad that you agreed to do this because this is a topic that I've never been able to like touch on on the podcast. And I know it's for a lot of people, like it's very difficult to understand. But before we go there, I really want to introduce our listeners to you and your wonderful background because your career is so impressive. So if you can walk us down memory lane and tell us what got you into business and the world of medicine. Speaker 2 (0:53) Well, I appreciate you. I appreciate that. Impressive is not the word that I would use. I would say it's been eclectic at best. So just, you know, from the start, I've been a serial entrepreneur since I was 16. So I started my first business when I was 16 years old. By 17, I was... booking American bands in Tijuana, Mexico, which sounds like the craziest thing. But I was from San Diego. And again, I was an entrepreneur from the start and was doing that. So I started and ran a lot of businesses, got a lot of corporate polish in the telecom world, which was good. Most entrepreneurs that I meet that never had actual corporate experience are wild. And I think, you know, being in the corporate world kind of ends up polishing off kind of the sharp corners. And so. I would say that that was a fantastic experience. But I have at this point started 19 businesses. Many of those were not great, but I learned from every single one of them. And, you know, the business obviously we're here to talk about today is is Voss Collection. And what I you know, for me, this is. My favorite business. Why is it the most successful business? Yes, but it's also my favorite because this business is so much fun. This industry is so much fun. And a lot of times, like when you're starting businesses, you want to be able to go back sometimes and go, oh, I wish I started this way or wish I did it that way. I don't feel that way at all about this. I feel like I started this business with all the right intentions. with all the right principles and kind of philosophies from the very beginning. And I'm fortunate that that was the case. And because of that, we have such this incredible foundation, which is now Voss. Speaker 1 (2:29) I mean, that's amazing, by the way. I mean, 19 businesses, all of that experience. I mean, it's really interesting because, you know, in the world of medicine, I think a lot of people know this, but a lot don't, that doctors don't get any training, you know, when it comes to the business side of running a practice, understanding how can you expand one day, you know, when you're not in the hospital anymore. All of these things are just never taught to us. You know, we never learn it. So seeing Voss Collection and what you've... been able to accomplish and the way the tier of physicians that are, you know, working with you. I mean, that is incredibly, incredibly impressive. And I'd love for you to actually start there is understanding like the business of medicine, the business of practicing medicine, if you can kind of get us started, you know. Speaker 2 (3:13) Yeah, I just, Speaker 1 (3:14) I think it's a really Speaker 2 (3:15) important point that I never really thought of until you just said, you know, doctors are never taught business. There's not a whole curriculum for that. But you know, what's interesting is When it comes to entrepreneurs, there really isn't a curriculum around general EQ and understanding how to manage people and lead people and these types of things. You're never taught that. They try to teach it, but you don't really learn it until you do it. And I think when we think about the business of medical aesthetics as a platform, those types of things, I think what's happened and we see a lot around us is, you know. Private equity comes in. They want to start a platform. They start buying stuff. They start rolling it up. They corporatize the living hell out of it. And it loses its mojo. And you end up a lot of times with that, with a lot of providers that end up being pretty unhappy as well because they are corporatized Speaker 1 (4:07) like crazy. Speaker 2 (4:08) I think for me, that was probably the most helpful in having all of my... startup experience and build experience is I started with the first point of I'm not a private equity guy. I'm an entrepreneur. And what I was doing was out acquiring other entrepreneurs. And I had a really clear understanding of where that mindset is and what it means to start something and what it means to have your identity attached to it and what it means to say, well, oh, my gosh, I'm now going to sell this to Speaker 1 (4:36) someone. buddy and am I going Speaker 2 (4:38) to Speaker 1 (4:38) lose what I Speaker 2 (4:40) built? And so I, what's been so helpful for me is those first principles of, okay, we're making an acquisition, but if I treat it truly like I'm, it's Speaker 1 (4:51) a Speaker 2 (4:51) partnership, then. It's going to go back, which, by the way, they are partners. Like all of all of the the physicians that have owned clinics in the Voss Collection, they all owned equity in the Voss Collection. They're all shareholders. They're all my partners. But the difference is, is I actually treat them like partners. I really respect what they bring to the table. And I also very much respect their clinical freedom. And I think this is where private equity makes a huge mistake quite a bit, which is telling these incredibly. talented individuals how to practice. I think that's a big mistake. And I think especially in aesthetics, because aesthetics is that just perfect combination of art and science. Speaker 1 (5:30) And Speaker 2 (5:31) first of all, telling a dentist how to practice is probably really tough. I've never had to do it, but I think that's pretty tough. Telling an incredibly talented aesthetic provider how to practice violates. So many different things from a clinical perspective. But now you're also telling them how to do their art. And I think that's where private equity has traditionally made a massive mistake. What we've done is taken a very different approach and just said, OK, no problem. We're going to Speaker 1 (5:57) take all the things that people hate. Bookkeeping. Nobody really likes Speaker 2 (6:00) bookkeeping. Nobody really likes HR or procurement or those types of things. Well, those are the things that we definitely will take a heavier hand in because that's. what we know how to do. But when it comes to that patient showing up inside that room with the clinician, hands off. We don't tell people what products to use or any of those kinds of things. They have 100 % clinical freedom on what they want to do. And our North Star is remarkable outcomes and results. That's Speaker 1 (6:29) all it is. Speaker 2 (6:29) So whatever it takes to get there, that's what we do to get there. And so to me, What I've seen from the data, and we are sitting on a treasure trove of so much data, is that clinics that are spending more time with their patients, introducing their patients to more treatments in combination to actually achieve fantastic results has a direct correlation on the financial performance of that clinic. So what I would say is good outcomes and good results is actually good business. Speaker 1 (7:00) No, that's really profound that you said that, because this is where I think there's a huge level of just not understanding in the medical community about what it means for venture to come in and what that means for your practice as a medical specialist. You know, like that is the that's the big missing link, I think, in the understanding component, because I'm not going to lie to you. I remember when I first graduated medical school, I was like, oh, yeah, the people who have private practices, they're like sold out. You know what I mean? Like they're, I don't know, they've like kind of hung up the coat on the ethics part and it's not true. That's not true. You know, and I feel like that's where what you're saying is just so relevant to especially like newer physicians that are coming into aesthetics because aesthetics, when I look at aesthetics as an outsider, I see it as this is one of the hardest specialties, not because of the science and all the scores you need to get in, but because you have to always have that moral compass with your patients and you have to always know that. These are people who need help making decisions. Every patient does, you know? And like, I've had these countless conversations with some of the wonderful doctors that you work with as well, you know? And they've actually reiterated this idea of like, no, like I have to sit my patients down and explain to them, this is what's going to move the needle for you. And this isn't. Speaker 2 (8:14) And Speaker 1 (8:14) talk about things like the golden ratio. Talk about the, you know what I mean? All these things. And so I can't imagine a world where you have venture involved in a practice and they're telling you what to talk to your patients about. products to push to them, you know, that kind of thing. Yeah, Speaker 2 (8:29) sorry, so many things to unpack there, if I may, just take 60 to 120 seconds to do that, which is, first of all, Private equity has gotten a bad name in medicine for probably a really good reason, because many times it comes in and in the past it could have been heavy handed. And I even know in the world of medical dermatology platforms, as well as aesthetic platforms, giving the provider a quota. Wait a second. No one went to school to go get a quota. And that's not doing what's best for the patient. Right. And so what's best for the patient? That's just the North Star. Let's keep. coming back to that. I think the other thing that's really important is sometimes it's funny, like we go into a practice and we're talking to the lead physician and they get to know us and they're like, oh my gosh, we know you and we know all your doctors. And oh my God, you have the deepest bench of globally recognized key opinion leaders in the world that are part of Voss Collection. We know you're great. Well, then sometimes we'll talk to an associate and the associate goes, well, I've talked to my other associate and they said private equity is bad. So I don't want that. And you know what? It probably is bad. I'm trying to culturally run the most uncorporate corporation I possibly can. That's my goal. From a standard operating procedure perspective, I'm trying to run a very tight corporation. But from a cultural perspective, I'm trying to do that. And my job and my team's job is to help facilitate all these incredible physicians and nurses and PAs coming together and