A Company Built to Solve a Narrow, Persistent Problem When Erik Rivera founded CertaPet in 2014, emotional support animals (ESAs) occupied a legal and clinical gray zone that confused both patients and providers. Telehealth was still developing, federal guidance was fragmented, and people seeking legitimate mental health support often had no idea how to find clinicians familiar with ESA requirements.  Rivera, a former Navy EOD special operations officer, did not set out to merely create a