“We don’t want to be the biggest. We want to be the best. We want you to experience the Dript treatment once and never go anywhere else again.”

A Dript nurse can come to your location to deliver hangover relief or illness support in as little as 30 minutes.

“I’ve seen people go from 0 to 100 in as little as 15 minutes”, says Austin startup female founder

about her experience as an on-demand IV therapy nurse. “Once, we were able to nurse a man from a bachelor group party back to health and he was able to make his flight just in time, looking and feeling better by a mile. 30 minutes before that, his friends were doubtful he could make it. He was so grateful. We are there to serve people who need help the most and those who are not in the best shape to travel or drive on their own. And it’s not just for hangovers. We’ve cared for sick and totally healthy people, as well.”

With the Dript platform, one can book IV therapy services with any of Dript’s licensed nurses and providers in their network — wherever and whenever. Once a drip is chosen from 9 signature cocktails and the service is booked online, a nurse comes to the customer whether it’s in their home, place of business, hotel room or office. These infusions come pre-determined or can be customized to tailor to a client’s condition. Marianne says they have infusions to help with hangovers, fatigue, low energy, athletic recovery and symptomatic support of everyday ailments such as stomach bugs and common colds and can take as little as 45 minutes from start to finish. “When you get a drip, the fluids, vitamins and meds such as those for nausea and headache do not have to be absorbed in the gut to start working. Since the delivery is straight to the bloodstream, you get the full dose and effect in as little as a few minutes. For someone with a raging headache or actively vomiting, that almost-immediate relief is priceless.” Dript has no brick and mortar stores and provides services on-demand.

“It was imperative that we are completely mobile to not only be able to grow and scale sustainably but also so that we are not held back by the gargantuan costs and lack of quality control tied to most brick and mortar business models. We also serve a demographic that has convenience and efficiency as their primary drivers for decision-making.

“Making the drive to a storefront can cost them an hour or more, and that’s a lot of time lost for them.” Services are available as early as 6 A.M. and as late as 10 P.M. In the future, Marianne’s goal is for Dript to serve 24/7.

Choose from one of 9 signature IV “cocktails” from the the Dript website or get guidance from their team.

Previously a nursing director for another brick-and-mortar Austin startup offering the same service, Marianne saw the increasingly rapidly changing landscape and recognized the need for an on-demand IV therapy service model. Against her bosses’ original wishes and with only a hesitant last minute permission, she hauled a truck full of full-sized supplies and equipment to a customer’s house during ACL week in 2017. “I didn’t have mobile supplies, nothing was convenient and everything was incredibly heavy. I did not have an exact plan in mind but I knew what needed to be done and how it would work out. I couldn’t say no to an opportunity like that.” And did it work out.

“People love to be in their own environment whether it’s just being by themselves or with their friends. You can outfit a nice storefront with all the amenities and comfort — but nothing beats being in your own space. And as a nurse, the work is fun and extremely fulfilling. You have a certain degree of autonomy and flexibility of time.”

When Marianne realized that her goals and vision weren’t in alignment with her bosses, she knew she had to go out on her own.

The road for Marianne and her co-founder Sergio Morales has been anything but easy — in fact, it was incredibly challenging and at times really tested their tenacity and self-belief. She received her first rejection in 2018 and it completely shattered her. “I thought that by just someone telling me they believe so much in me and they’re willing to invest, it would be enough”, she recalls. “In hindsight, I approached him with a short, generic email and an idea. And that’s exactly where I went wrong, it’s just an idea. I didn’t even have a business plan. I had no MVP (minimum viable product). If I wanted people to pay attention, Dript needed to exist.” Marianne then went on to craft the Dript brand, develop the product and establish the company culture she envisions for Dript. To stay focused on Dript, she took odd non-nursing jobs to make money — one of which is a personal shopper for a grocery delivery service. “The work is incredibly hard and you have to do it, regardless if it’s in the middle of a freezing winter night or triple-digit summer days. Sergio and I did that work for many months but we never forgot about Dript. In fact, our gig shopping experience was critical at how we would set up the system for our future nurses and team members. We learned what we wanted being gig workers ourselves — autonomy, great pay, a robust and painless platform to do our job, and a work culture that supports and empowers us.” Over the years, the two continued to work for their respective jobs to earn income.

“When you have no major connections, no pedigree, no savings or disposable income — building and sustaining a business is almost impossible. It really demands a high level of tenacity and grit.”

Through all their jobs and gigs, one thing remained constant and that was Dript. In 2021, two months after starting her flight attendant stint, an opportunity came across to restart Dript. The deal ultimately didn’t work out but Marianne and Sergio knew they had stoked the fire and nothing was going to stop them this time.

“Back then, we were insecure, unsure of ourselves and our abilities. Despite our backgrounds and successes, that impostor syndrome kept creeping up on us. We’ve had plenty of external and internal struggles but we just have to keep moving forward and keep putting in the work.” Marianne proudly says that everything you see connected to Dript is the work of a team of two — Sergio and her. “At least for now”, she says. Sergio turned Marianne’s scratch paper vision and website framework into reality singlehandedly and all the graphics, video and photos you see were done by the duo. “What would have taken startups to produce in a year and with thousands of dollars, we have been able to accomplish in a fraction of the time and with no upfront costs. We’re really proud of that.”

(left) A childhood photo of Dript’s co-founder Sergio Morales. (right) One of the “scratch paper” website framework Marianne created.

Today, the team of two boasts of their unshakeable sense of identity, value and tenacity. In late April, this proved to be true when they closed on their first fundraising round with a $100k investment from Austin serial entrepreneur and sales extraordinaire Chris Wiser of The Chris Wiser Agency and 7figuremsp fame (7figuremsp.com). Chris is ultra successful and has helped hundreds of managed service providers achieve seven-figure recurring revenues. “Chris gets it. He understands what we’re trying to achieve and is in it for the long haul. We are extremely grateful to have an angel investor like him on our side who’s vested and engaged. Now we understand all the rejections we’ve received and have to give. It has all been worth it.” Marianne says this fresh injection of capital will allow Dript to serve people beyond Austin, bringing safe, efficient and effective, high-quality IV therapy services to more people across the US and soon, across the world.

“Times are changing and we have to keep up in order to not only be left behind but truly enjoy what life has to offer. There’s so much to do, so much to see and so much to be. IV therapy is no longer a service reserved for Hollywood A-listers and boardroom executives — it’s for anyone who decides they shouldn’t wait to feel better to get back to their day — to productivity, fun, to a state of wellness.

“Our customers come from all walks of life and we either see them once — say while they’re visiting — or as much as weekly. Everyone has different needs and goals. When you want to make the most out of your day and your time, you can do it the traditional way or for those extra special occasions — you can try a Dript infusion.” Marianne has administered 4,000+ IVs in her collective experience as an IV nurse and has seen it work time and time again. When asked about the criticism surrounding a service such as IV therapy being given for non-medical reasons and outside of the hospital environment, Marianne says, “we will never make any claims that IVs can treat any ailments or conditions; what we can only do is make the clinically-proven, widely-used and established medical treatment which is IV therapy more accessible to people who otherwise do not necessarily need an ER visit. Dript staffs Registered Nurses who are not only highly experienced in their own right but also undergo comprehensive and recurrent training with Dript in safe medication administration, infection prevention among other things. When a Dript nurse arrives, the customer would have already completed a virtual assessment by a provider and then gets an in-person assessment by that nurse. On occasion, a customer is turned down because of clinical contraindications. “We will never give a drip we won’t get ourselves. When we say that our drips have some of the highest doses of antioxidants and vitamins out there, we mean it. All our processes, protocols and workflows are designed with one goal in mind — and it’s so that our nurses are empowered to deliver the safest, most effective and most efficient service possible.

“We don’t want to be the biggest. We want to be the best. We want you to experience the Dript treatment once and never go anywhere else again and we’ve proven that with our small but loyal circle of customers so far. We can’t wait for more people to experience it.” Marianne says.

Dript boasts of being woman-founded, minority-led and ‘built with care’ in Austin.

Dript’s services will be available across Austin starting May 18, 2022. To check out and book Dript’s offerings and services, head to their website at www.dript.co