Why I Flew to Hermosillo Before I Said Yes

When Vital Health came across my radar, my first instinct was skepticism. It usually is now. That is what happens when you lose everything because of people you trusted too quickly.

I had heard the pitch. I had seen the numbers. I had people I respected telling me this was worth a serious look. But I had heard all of that before. Good pitches are easy. Real foundations are not.

So I booked a flight to Hermosillo, Mexico.

What I Was Looking For

I was not going to see a product. I was not going to sit in a presentation. I was going to look Tony and Alex in the eye and ask them the questions that matter. The ones that do not have rehearsed answers.

What are you building toward? What happens to the field if something goes wrong? What is your relationship with money compared to your relationship with mission? What have you sacrificed for this? Why should I trust you with my reputation and the loyalty of my team?

Those questions tell you more than any deck or earnings call ever will. The way someone answers them, or avoids answering them, is data. I needed that data before I would say yes to anything.

What I Found

Dr. Tony Rodriguez built this company after losing his parents. That is not a marketing line. That is a reason. When someone builds from a place like that, they prioritize differently. The mission is not optional. It is personal.

Alex Reynoso started the manufacturing operation in 2019. Before there was a company. Before there was a field. He built the infrastructure first because he understood that without it, everything else was just another story. That kind of thinking is uncommon.

I walked that manufacturing floor. I saw the labs. I met the people who actually make the product. I watched how ownership talked to their team and how the team talked about ownership. Culture shows up in those small moments.

“What I found was alignment. Between what they said and what they built. That is rare.”

Why This Matters

I am not naive enough to think one visit tells you everything. But it tells you enough. It tells you whether the story and the reality match. It tells you whether the people running this company are building it for themselves or for the field.

What I found in Hermosillo was a company built by operators who came from the field and never forgot what that cost. That showed up in how they built the compensation. How they invested in technology for the builders. How they talked about the people at the bottom of the org who are working hard and deserve real support.

I walked out of that meeting certain. Not hopeful. Certain. That is a feeling I had not had in a long time in this industry. And I was not going to ignore it.