STARTUP STAGE: SpotOn wants to make ride-hailing easy for pet owners

Describe both the business and technology aspects of your startup.

SpotOn is pet-centric ride-hailing service. We match passengers and their pet(s) with the perfect pet-friendy driver. We have a state-of-the-art app that connects pets and their pet parents with drivers willing to take them. Our matching algorithm ensures proper matching of passenger to driver and vice versa.

We offer a total user experience. If you have a large dog, we don’t send out a Smart Car. If you are a driver and are allergic to cats, you will not get a cat request. We have safety harnesses and back seat covers to keeps pets safe during travel and cars clean.

What inspired you to create this company?

My two boys. I had two amazing dogs: Raja, an 85-pound chocolate lab who’s since passed, and Krishna, a 50-pound lab-pei. It was always extremely difficult for me to get a ride with other ride-shares when I had one or both of them with me.

I own a car - I just didn’t always want to take it, to the airport, for example. Or to a meet a friend at a dog park. Now imagine that scenario for someone who doesn’t own a car at all.

Give us your SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) analysis of the company.

• Strengths: Our focus is on the pet sector. Coming from the lens of a consumer, we have built our product to cater specifically to a pet parent who needs a service that’s just not commonly available. Our product takes the guesswork out of commuting with a pet. It provides a sure, safe, convenient and reliable service in a space where it was not available before.
• Weaknesses: We are often associated with Uber and Lyft, the big behemoths who share our space. We just launched in our first market, New York in September 2018, and people expect us to be everywhere.
• Opportunities: This has not been done before, and it’s the perfect time for us to be in the market to create a new offering in the ride-hailing space.
  
  Our B2B focus allows us to have a different model than the others in this space. We have been partnering with pet-friendly companies, organizations and events. We have shown that companies like Google want to partner with us to offer our service to the Dogglers that come to their New York City offices on a daily basis. This focus is our key to growth and scaleablity.
  
  We are currently testing out unaccompanied pet rides for the busy pet parent. Can’t say much yet as we are in the process of developing a pilot with a major pet retailer.
• Threats: Similar threats as for any other company, that someone with more resources could come in and take over.

What are the travel pain points you are trying to alleviate from both the customer and the industry perspective?

Traveling with you pet is commonplace these days. Many airlines have frequent flyer miles for pets. More and more hotels are pet-friendly. Cities are promoting leisure travel for owners and their pets.

But there is no convenient way to get around to those places with your pet, especially if you don’t own a car. The typical modes of transport when visiting a city either don’t allow for it or make it difficult to get around with your pet.

So you've got the product, now how will you get lots of customers?

We launched in September 2018 and New York City is our first market. We have been focusing on the pet-owning population and organically growing our rider base through more grassroots marketing.

We focus on pet-friendly events and partner with pet-friendly companies (Google and WeWork, for example). We are also partnering with veterinarians in New York to provide their customers with rides to and from the hospitals and clinics.

We have been speaking with airlines, airports, hotels and restaurants that are pet-friendly. Once we expand outside of New York, we will target cities that promote traveling with your pet.

As we are a dual-sided marketplace, we also have to reach out to would-be drivers. We have been able to secure lots of drivers on our platform by using a multi-pronged approach: Our existing drivers are referring drivers to us - it’s the best form of recruitment! They trust their own. We are also partnering with fleet companies to harness their drivers - this includes New York taxis.

Tell us what process you've gone through to establish a genuine need for your company and the size of the addressable market.

Before we launched, I wanted to confirm there was real problem - that I was not creating a problem, then the solution for it.

I experienced the need first hand. I had two big dogs and whenever I would order an Uber or Lyft, I would be rejected. I wanted to find out if other pet owners were having the same problem.

I went to the United and American terminals at Los Angeles International Airport and spoke with every person who was coming in with a pet. I think I must have spoken to over 300 people. After speaking with them, I realized that they were having the same pain points as me.

After that, I started a pilot program to determine if people would actually use the service. I was Driver #1. After a few months, we’d taken over 500 rides and I had my friends drive for me. All the rides were free as we didn’t have any permits, but many riders did donate money to the drivers for their time.

That’s when I knew we had something! Also, from the pilot I was able to tailor the service, adding features specifically for the pet owner, thus differentiating us from the others.

Pre-launch, we were able to sign up close to 50,000 pet parents in New York who were interested in our service. Through this database we were able to survey pet parents and identify our top three use cases:

1. Work place rides
2. Rides to the vet
3. Rides to/from airport/train station

Taking these three factors into account, we estimate that our addressable market is roughly $10 billion in the United States.

How and when will you make money?

We are making money now! We are the most profitable ride-hailing business in New York. We make more money ride for ride than Uber or Lyft. This takes into account that we pay drivers more!

Our business model is simple: You take a ride, you pay for it. We will be offering a subscription option to customers soon and also have lucrative data that we can potentially sell.

What are the backgrounds and previous achievements of the founding team, and why do you have what it takes to succeed with this business?

We have the drive and passion to make this a success. John Bentley, my co-founder, brings experience in technology and experience as an Uber driver, which enabled him to learn about the ride-hailing system.. He worked with me for over three years on IT projects for my marketing company, which I founded and ran for 12 years.

I built a mobile app that promoted specials in entertainment areas based on a short-duration window. I also founded the Ultimate Dog and Ultimate Dog Festival in Torrance, California.

We are both pet owners and frequently (almost daily) experienced the pain points that drove us to found SpotOn.

What's been the most difficult part of founding the business so far?

Being a female in a male dominated field.

Generally, travel startups face a fairly tough time making an impact - so why are you going to be one of lucky ones?

Because we’re not just one industry. We are bridging the gap between the pet industry and the rest of the world!