EECS 441 company presentation

1. Andrew Bull (albull)

2. ig: @pedro_has_a_lil_snoot

3. “Making Dog
Ownership Easier
For Everyone”

4. Problem that it Solves
Busy dog owners need trustworthy dog
walkers to walk their dogs when they
can’t get home during the day to let their
dogs out

7. Financials
- Burning around $4M/month
- Most of the spending is on celebrity endorsements/ad campaigns
- Not profitable yet, but…

8. Funding Rounds

9. Business Model
- On Demand matching of vetted dog walkers to dog owners
- Charges ~$20 for a 30 min walk
- Takes a 25% cut of the payment
- Expanding into other areas of dog care

10. The Story -- Founding
- Joshua Viner had sold his dating service, ChirpMe, to Europe’s Massive
Media in 2013
- He wanted to get a dog, but everybody told him he was too busy to take care
of one
- In 2014 he founded Wag! to solve this problem

11. The Story -- Growth and Controversy
- Rapidly grew to serve hundreds of cities
- Lost Dogs and Subsequent Mishandling
- Damaged Reputation

12. The Story -- Softbank and Changing of the Guard
- Softbank invested $300M for a reported 45% stake, ~$650M valuation
- Replaced Joshua Viner with Hilary Schneider as CEO

13. Secret Sauce

14. What’s Hot?

15. What’s Hot?

16. Wag!
LA Based
On-Demand Model
5% acceptance rate
Human Celebrities
Walking, Training
(coming soon)
Rover
Seattle Based
Marketplace Model
15% acceptance rate
Dog Celebrities
Walking, Boarding,
House Sitting, Check-Ins
vs

17. Predictions….
- This will become the new standard in pet care
- Wag!’s aggressive marketing should solidify it as a household name
- Marketplace vs. On-Demand

18. Sources
http://www.latimes.com/business/technology/la-fi-la-tech-20160801-snap-htmlstory.html
https://pitchbook.com/profiles/company/112027-33
https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/wag
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-wag-softbank-20180201-story.html
https://www.wsj.com/articles/want-a-job-as-a-dog-walker-its-just-like-getting-into-harvard-1507214545
http://labusinessjournal.com/news/2018/jan/30/dog-walking-app-wag-lands-300m-softbank-new-ceo/
https://www.recode.net/2017/12/15/16780158/softbank-wag-funding-deal
https://wagwalking.com/about
https://www.crunchbase.com/acquisition/massive-media-acquires-chirpme--560f6270
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-10-16/wag-the-uber-for-dog-walking-is-drawing-uber-like-scrutiny
https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/olivia-munn-invests-in-dog-walking-app-wag-and-joins-company-as-creative-strategist-300521908.html
https://www.ispot.tv/ad/wFJp/wag-on-demand-dog-walking-featuring-olivia-munn