NW Sports Partnership Story

Interview with Bruce Snell, Owner

1. What were the challenges in owning your own business that motivated you to explore partnering with a larger company?

The challenges included keeping up with regulations, compliance issues and credentialing, and being unable to grow our brand.

Upstream created a platform to help me grow my practice and mitigate my personal risk, while providing our valuable staff with equity-sharing opportunities.

As I entered the later part of my career, monetizing my practice while continuing to expand it also came in to play.

2. What did you see the benefits to be in such a partnership?

I was able to concentrate on the aspects of my practice that I enjoyed the most while allowing Upstream to handle the things that I was not good at or wasn’t as engaged in. It also allowed me to lead and mentor my staff in the opportunities afforded them by Upstream, such as partnerships, residencies and fellowships, that would have been impossible in a business of my size at the time.

3. How would you describe your experience with Upstream so far?

Upstream has delivered on all that was promised to me. Many aspects of this partnership have been even more valuable than I expected, while giving me room to find where I fit best as a leader. Upstream has enabled me to maintain my company’s culture. While it aligned with my own (which was a critical decision-making factor), the Upstream culture has gained prominence with the way it becomes disseminated through our staff.

4. What year did your partnership begin? And how many clinics did you have at the time? 

We started our partnership in April 2017. I had five clinics at that time; we just opened our 11th clinic this month (July 2020).

5. What advice would you have to others that may be considering a similar opportunity?

First, align the company’s value systems with yours and try to find out whether the entity lives its mission or it’s just a page in a handbook.

Decide on your personal goals for the remainder of your career as well as the goals and opportunities for your staff.

The partnership model allows you to continue to grow rather than sit back and enjoy your previous success.