TDJ:Paul, thank you for taking the time for this interview. Your company strikes me as interesting, as technology, apps, etc. are nothings that I have much experience with, and the same probably goes for most of our readers. However, from what I’m seeing and hearing, your system works perfectly well for people like me that are a bit“behind times.” I’m eager to get started, so let me just ask you,“What made you start a business like this?”
PM:Ok, so as being a dog breeder and having a kennel, you always get the questions when people pick up their puppies that involve things like vet info, nutrition questions, microchipping details, etc. One question I got asked a lot was, where do I register the microchip? At that point I was not in the microchip industry and so I didn’t really know where to send them.
Being involved in the breeder world I did get the opportunity to join a startup microchip registry company. It wasn’t long after I joined that I realized the vision that me and some of my colleagues had were quite different from the route the company wanted to take. So I decided to part ways and start my own company and to put our great ideas to work so that we could better serve the breeders, brokers, pet stores and give the pet owners something very unique and useful.
The biggest thing we got out of the experience with this past company was we saw the need for the visions we had and how much it is needed in the industry. We also knew that the system we would build needed to be easy to use, and then also be easy to explain to customers, breeders, pet stores, etc.
TDJ:Wow! So, after working with the old company, you saw that the need exists for what you were doing, right, so what did moving forward look like?
PM: The world of development is huge and broad. We needed to find a team of good developers, because none of us at that point knew anything about developing something like this. When we found the right developers, we needed to share the vision with them, so they could start to build and categorize the different sections of the app. What we did was we set up a team of 14 developers, and it took over 8 months to build it. We needed a breeder system, a broker system, a pet store system, a Pet Owner system, and then an admin panel for us, and then all of these had to work together, so it took us a lot longer than we expected. The system we built allows pet info to be passed along to the end customer and also rebates can be tracked as well. We really focused on designing a system that is easy to use, and then we also did a lot to make the process easy to understand. We launched around Christmas of 2021, and since then we’ve just continued adding a lot of features and systems.
TDJ: So, can you explain how your product works and what it is?
PM: At its core, it’s a digital Pet Profile accessible through an app. The profile can be as simple as a microchip registry along with a lost and found featured QR ID Tag, or as detailed as a pet owner wants by documenting the pet health records, Vaccine & Dewormers, Vet visits, training and more.
The Pet provider’s Vaccine and dewormers that have been given to the pet automatically are in the pets profile at activation. (with no extra effort by the breeder) Pet providers also have the option to Pre-load the pets profile by uploading documents to the pet profile presale. Like VHR’s Birth Certificates, Contracts, and more.. (This part is optional for the Pet provider)
The QR ID tag with the lost and found function helps pet owners reunite with pets quicker than ever! If your dog becomes lost at any point, anyone who finds it can scan the qr code on the tag with a smart phone and it will show the pet’s info,(including the microchip number) pet owners contact, and a way to contact pet owner through the scan. When a QR ID tag is scanned by a friendly pet finder, pet owner receives a notification stating that the pets tag has been scanned, also allowing them to check the GPS location in the app to see where the pet tag was scanned. Another neat feature of the QR ID Tag is that when “Document Visibility” is turned on, scanning of the QR ID Tag does more! This feature allows documents stored on the pet profile to be visible with the scanning of the QR ID Tag.
With our system, the pet owners can basically go paperless, which is really nice. Whether they’re on vacation, at the vet’s offce, at the groomers, wherever, they can always access the info they need. Also, each pet profile gets its own email address, this allows vets, etc, the ability to send the whole pet report to that pets email address, and then it can be saved in the app and can also be shared with a boarding facility, another vet, or anybody that needs information.
TDJ:Ok, so talk to me about your breeder program, how can a breeder participate?
PM:Right now, we have a system for pet stores, brokers, breeders, and customers. When it comes to the breeder program, we’ve got a few different options. The first step is to create an account. Part of the process of creating the account is entering your vaccine and dewormer schedule. (This can be done at sign up with a team member of Global Pet Security) Breeders who want to create an account can either do it online at connect.globalpetsecurity.com or they can call the office and one of the staff members can set it up for them. 330-231-4094
After that you are now ready to order tags with or without microchips. We sell a combo of 20 tags/20 microchips/20 envelopes for $40 or you can buy just 20 tags and 20 envelopes for $10. Each tag will have your vaccine and dewormer schedule on it and is ready to be sent home with your pet.
Pet owners can activate the tag by creating a profile through the app for a one-time fee of $125 for the life of the pet, Breeder receives a $10 rebate! It’s that simple.
One thing we’ve learned along the way, breeders that talk about this with their pet owners have a 80% plus retaining rate, the breeders that stick the informational envelope in the folder and don’t speak about it receive as little as 15% retaining rate.
The next option we have is called a Preregistration Option. With this option, the breeder can show the customer the system when they arrive to pick up the puppy, and ask them if they’re interested in purchasing the app. If the customer chooses to do that, the breeder can use this as an upsell, and charge the customer anything up to the regular price of $125.00. At that point if the customer would like to buy it from the breeder, the breeder would log into his account and preregister the tag for the customer and pay a fee of $65 to us. The breeder would collect the money from the customer for whatever price they agreed upon, so whatever he or she charged on top of $65 is profit to the breeder. The last option we have is the one called the Retail Tag. What happens here is the breeder buys an activated tag, and what that means is that they can give this tag to the customer as a complimentary gift for adopting a puppy and when the customer downloads the app, our system connects it to you as the breeder, and then we bill you on a monthly basis for $50.00 per tag for any tags that have been activated. This is a nice option for breeders to use as an advertising tool, when they can mention that they are giving this nice digital profile and microchip registry, valued at $125.00. The nice part is, it only costs the breeder $50.00, plus the small fee for the pack of tags.
TDJ:Is there nothing else out there like it, and if there is, how is yours different?
PM:There are a lot of other microchip registry companies out there, but none of them have a digital pet profile with the options that we offer. You see, every microchipping company should have their system integrated with the American Animal Hospital Association, which is the nation’s largest microchip database. Whenever someone downloads the app and enters the pets microchip number it goes into the AAHA database. Let’s say a vet scans the microchip, he or she will go to the AAHA site, put in the microchip number, and then it shows which microchip registry company it belongs to. One thing that sets us apart is the fact that we have a microchip lookup on our website that when the microchip number is entered it shows the pet owners’ contact info. Most of the other systems require you to reach out to the company, and then the company needs to reach out to the pet owner.
TDJ: Paul, the world of technology, satellite, and tracking keeps evolving. How do you plan to stay relevant?
PM:We’re always researching, developing, and listening to requests from our breeders and customers, and that’s one of the reasons we’ve been doing so well in staying ahead of the competition.
We’re dedicated to staying up to date with technology. Our team of developers are constantly analyzing what we can do with current and future technology to better serve the pet owners and the breeders.
TDJ:What has been and what continues to be your path to market for this product?
PM:Right now, we’re working with breeder’s a lot. They are who we started off with initially, it’s our hub, and so we continue to travel to a lot of the seminars and breeder expos all over the country. We are creating a huge breeder customer base by consistently showing up at these places. Breeders are starting to notice us, and we get a lot of people come up to the booth and say “Hey, we see you all the time, what is it you actually do?” When we explain the system to them, they say “Well, yes, why wouldn’t I?” We have our product in some vet clinics as well, and also in some retail stores.
TDJ:Do you think this is a product that you would see in a place like PetSmart, or any other major retailer?
PM:Well, yes, we do see that as being a possibility, and are trying to decide what that would look like. Getting into these big retailers is a hard thing to do, but because of the need that’s out there, yes, I could see it happen.
TDJ: What’s been one of the biggest hurdles for you in starting up this business?
PM:Introducing to people that there’s a new way of doing things. It’s kind of like solving a problem that people don’t know exists. We first have to show them that there’s a problem, then show them that we have a solution. We have a lot of Amish breeders that use our system, and when they see our product first, they think, “Oh, I can’t use this system because I don’t have internet access.” That’s not the case, and it’s been a bit of a challenge to get that across to some of them. It seems what we have is a techy thing, but the reality is, you don’t need a computer to make this work, and so that’s been a big hurdle to cross. When we designed this, we knew that we’re going to have to make this something that is “plain community friendly.”
Another hurdle is getting these plain community breeders to understand what their puppy customers want when it comes to technology. Since not all breeders are up to date with technology, and don’t necessarily want to be, we have to bridge the gap between them and their customer. Even for the end consumer, it’s like we’re bringing them a solution they didn’t even know they need, but once they see it, they recognize that, “Hey, we need this.”
TDJ:Have you ever been at the point within this business where you said “I Quit”?
PM:No, I mean, I’ve invested so much time and energy into building this great company that quitting is not a reality. Has this paid off yet? No, a business like this can take years to pay back, but at the pace we’re going now, a nice payoff looks very possible. This business is definitely growing, and on the upward trend. There’ve been tough times, but that’s to be expected.
TDJ:Any final words of wisdom for anyone out there staring a company?
PM:Don’t give up too soon! Nobody starts a new company and everything goes exactly as they had planned. There will be a lot of frustrating times but that’s part of starting a new business. You just can’t get anxious about it and quit. Stick to it, you might not get paid back as soon as you expected, but in the end it all works out.
TDJ:Paul, thank you very much for your time,I know you’re on the road heading to another trade show, so best of luck there and with your company as a whole!
Ok, so we agree that it’s efficient, if all you care about is cutting down on chore time. However, rationing and feeding twice a day instead of on a free choice basis has some serious upsides.
The Supreme Court has ejected North Carolina’s appeal in a dispute with animal rights groups over a law aimed at preventing undercover employees at farms and other workplaces from taking documents or recording video.
Some of the benefits of permanent structures are more stability, as well as the fact that the building can be repurposed at any point, if a breeder decides to move or leave the industry. The thing is, almost all of the features and options that are available in permanent structures are now also available in portable buildings, so that’s nice.
