An early-stage company, built by the customer, one careful step at a time.
Collar & Compass started with my own dog. She’s getting older, she’s not well, and I’m not sure she can handle 22+ hours in the cargo hold of a plane. Flying our family first class and paying a pet shipper would have cost us around $50,000. A private empty-leg charter came in far cheaper, and we’d all be on the same plane. That got me wondering: if several military families shared that plane, could it come close to what they already pay to ship a pet alone?
What I’ve learned so far
- 29 survey responses from Navy and Marine families in Japan in 2 days, with no ads
- 38% have rehomed or left a pet behind on a PCS, and 69% know another family who has
- 69% would use a full-service pet move
- 83% would split a private pet flight, most at under $2,000 per pet
- 300,000 military families move every year
Built for $20
The brand, this website, the waitlist, the welcome emails, an app prototype and the first survey were all built for $20. I don’t spend money until I’ve done the homework.
The plan
- Phase 1, now: set the company up properly, legal included, and build traction and an email list
- Phase 2: build the software
- Phase 3: build the team
The ask
I’m raising a $1.75M pre-seed round to set the company up, build the platform and the team, with 24+ months of runway. Use of funds: team 69%, marketing 11%, product 9% and operations 11%.
First milestones: 1,000 waitlist families, 10 partner letters of intent, and one shared charter priced with a real operator.
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Dominique Nielsen, Founder