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Ask HN: Pet lovers review my startup

news.ycombinator.com

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Re: Ask HN: Pet lovers review my startup

#11

Post by cjwake »

girlvinyl wrote: post #6

I think this is a great idea. I subscribe to r/dogs on reddit and you cannot imagine the amount of people who ask "should I get a dog?". The answer is generally "yes," but I advise them to make friends so they'll have a list of people to call on if they get stuck at work, etc. You're so right, there ARE a lot of people who can't have pets but would love to care for a dog for a weekend or take one out during the week…

Thanks for the note, you're absolutely right! I actually used Spotwag last week and ended up connecting with a friend that recently lost their dog of 20-years. They aren't ready for a new dog just yet, but having my dog (Jackson) around for a few days certainly helped them, and got them one step closer to bringing another dog into their family.

I know another woman that actually volunteers at the Humane Society once per month for 8-hours just to be around dogs, because she would love to have one of her own, but cannot given her work schedule as a consultant.

Re: Ask HN: Pet lovers review my startup

#12

Post by kimsterv_again »

caixa wrote: post #9

I'd absolutely use this product. As much as I'm sure it improves the listings, I'd recommend not making the photo required. First of all, other non-required info (such as pet type) seems more important, and second of all it requires digging through my photos. I'd be likely to add a photo when I'm looking for someone to catsit, but it was a deterrent for me to add the cat in the first place.

Good feedback. We've heard this before as well. I'm just stubborn and like looking at the photos. When we roll out the redesign, we'll add a silhouette and not make it required.

Re: Ask HN: Pet lovers review my startup

#14

Post by cjwake »

caixa wrote: post #9

I'd absolutely use this product. As much as I'm sure it improves the listings, I'd recommend not making the photo required. First of all, other non-required info (such as pet type) seems more important, and second of all it requires digging through my photos. I'd be likely to add a photo when I'm looking for someone to catsit, but it was a deterrent for me to add the cat in the first place.

Thanks so much for the feedback, that is a great point. We wanted to make the signup easy, covering just the basics, but you're right that digging for photos is not always the easiest task. We've adjusted this a little in the redesign we're working on, but I think we could always do more to simplify.

Re: Ask HN: Pet lovers review my startup

#16

Post by caixa »

cjwake wrote: post #7
TomGullen wrote: post #4

Looks like a good idea although I'm not your market. I don't think your monetising it as far as I can see at the moment, do you have plans for this in the future?

Thanks for the note! No monetization right now - we wanted to make connections easy for people first, but we envision processing transactions. It can be weird passing money between friends, so we've thought about gifting, as well as credit card payments to remove the cash barrier for people. Eventually you'll be able to connect with friends of friends and professionals too, in which case we would handle the transacti…

I always find it awkward to ask for money when I petsit, and my friends who petsit for me often feel the same way.

I do like to give something back, and usually end up buying a bottle of wine or a gift card in return. There could be some interesting opportunities for selling gifts (pet-related or not) in addition to processing cash payments.

Re: Ask HN: Pet lovers review my startup

#17

Post by cjwake »

thealoof wrote: post #13

I don't have much to add and am not a pet owner, but just want to say that I think it's a great idea and that the design is nice and clean. Great job.

Thanks so much, appreciate the words of encouragement! Though you're not a pet owner, I'd encourage checking it out further if you want to checkout or hang with a pet at any point - I have a few friends that started pimping themselves on Facebook, asking all pet owner friends to signup so they could watch their pets. One is already angling to spend time with a few puppies. :)

Re: Ask HN: Pet lovers review my startup

#18

Post by cjwake »

caixa wrote: post #16
cjwake wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thanks for the note! No monetization right now - we wanted to make connections easy for people first, but we envision processing transactions. It can be weird passing money between friends, so we've thought about gifting, as well as credit card payments to remove the cash barrier for people. Eventually you'll be able to connect with friends of friends and professionals too, in which case we would handle the transacti…

I always find it awkward to ask for money when I petsit, and my friends who petsit for me often feel the same way. I do like to give something back, and usually end up buying a bottle of wine or a gift card in return. There could be some interesting opportunities for selling gifts (pet-related or not) in addition to processing cash payments.

Haha, yes! We've actually seen some trades for beer, wine or even dinner. So definitely some fun opportunities to integrate gifts. We've also talked to BarkBox about the potential for something pet related in the future, and are looking at some similar pet and non-pet-related gifts. :)
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