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‘You Are Not From the Pet Industry. You'll Fail’

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Anil

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3 min read

06 Dec, 2024

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People often ask me one question: how did I make such a big shift from the creative design field to the pet care industry? After building a successful career in design, I decided to follow my passion for something else I truly love—pets. Was the transition smooth? Is this new journey just as rewarding? Keep reading to find out!


I am an artist at heart, a designer by soul, and an entrepreneur by choice. - I truly enjoy introducing myself this way.


I founded Lollypop Design Studio – one of the largest design studios in India. It was acquired in 2019 but I decided to stay on and scale it globally with the support of the parent brand. I always believed that I wouldn't explore anything apart from art, design and tech. It was my safe space. 


But lo and behold, destiny had different plans for me. I reconnected with my childhood friend, and he reignited my long-lost love for pets, particularly dogs. I decided to invest in his startup, a pet store chain www.petwarehouse.shop, despite knowing little about the industry. Why, you ask? His passion towards creating a pet store chain that was affordable and approachable for all users won me over.


I had four indie dogs when I was in school, and I was very attached to them. I struggled in school as I would spend a lot of my time with the dogs or exploring art, much to my parents’ disappointment. 


And like many Indian parents, they gave me a choice between staying at home, or keeping the dogs. There began my journey of honing my selling skills, as I convinced my mom to keep the dogs – not just one, but all four of them! Oh, what a childhood I had! 



Fast forward to 2020. My dream house was an architectural blueprint that was ready to turn into our home. Our first brief to the architect was to have enough space for dogs to run around. As I started researching about dogs, and subsequently, pets, I saw that India didn’t have one single portal that provided all the information we needed. A one stop portal to help pet lovers make the right choice.


That's it, this one-liner turned into this massive portal that I am building.- Happy Pet (www.happypet.care). 


When I bounced the idea off my friends, family and pet industry folks, the advice I received was variations of “Don't build it. It’s too big a dream. You'll fail. You don't belong in the pet industry.” 


I don’t blame them. They are my wellwishers and wanted me to make the right choice. A safe choice. 


Not surprisingly, I am one of those people who goes against the current simply to see if I can stay afloat. When Lorem and Ipsum – my two Cane Corsos and my heartbeats – entered my life, the entire concept just clicked. 





Less than a year down, Happy Pet has evolved from a startup into a passion, dedicated towards building a pet ecosystem that unites pet lovers and all businesses and service providers for better pet care.


Today, we are a portal that has information about every pet in India. From dogs and cats, to fish and birds, we aim to connect every pet lover and parent to the ecosystem that helps them and their pet thrive.  


This is what we have achieved so far from just an idea to reality. 


  1. Breed information: For new pet lovers and parents to make the correct decision for their family and their pet.
  2. Smart Tools: To choose the right breed for yourself, and the right name for your pet.
  3. Shelters and Rescues: To learn more about them, and to contribute by volunteering, adopting, fostering, and donating. 
  4. Verified Dog Breeders: To give new pet parents the opportunity to get pets from the right breeders.
  5. Pet media house: A go-to global pet news portal covering policies, the latest developments, startups, and exciting innovations in the pet industry.
  6. Pet Events: The first platform to list all pet events across India.
  7. Pet Store: An ever-evolving directory of all pet-stores across India.
  8. Pet Influencers: An ever-growing list of pet influencers for brands to collaborate with. 
  9. Pet startups: The first ones to bring you news about start-ups, from fundings to all new innovations in the pet industry.  
  10. SAAS platform: Happypet.tech - a software to upscale your pet business  
  11. Pet Parent app: A brilliant all-in-one app that allows pet parents to effortlessly manage records, connect with fellow pet owners, and locate nearby stores and pharmacies—all at the touch of a button.


While I concentrated on building the product, more than on promotions (against popular advice) it has paid off. Today, we have over 50K unique, organic visitors monthly and it warms my heart to no end to see our google rankings go up day by day. 


Having put in my personal funds to start, and then reaching out to family for investments until revenue starts flowing, Happy Pet is well on its way to becoming the best pet portal in India.  


The team, My backbone 

A dream team is something every founder craves for, and I'm not boasting when I say I have one. From day one, these guys have brought to life every crazy idea that I have come up with, without delays. More? They have kept my spirits up when things seem to get tough. 




Things like the Breed selector and Name generator? An idea that came out of a chai meet, and was made real by this fantastic team in 2 days.


Remember those who had said I won’t be able to do it? I presented Happy Pet and all it has to offer to them recently, and they were wowed. There is no better feeling in the world than to convert your nay sayers to yay sayers. 


Is it so different? Not really. As a designer I solved problems for my clients. Here we solve the problems of pet parents and pet lovers through design and tech. 


Has it been easy? - definitely not. Has it been fun - hell yeah!

Conclusion

Where do we go from here? Stay tuned for a detailed article about the journey – how we got started, the challenges I faced, and most importantly - what next in this beautiful second journey.

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