The pet supplies market is vast, but until recently the issue of dealing with dog ‘business’ in city dwellings had hardly been addressed. We talk to Tobi Skovron, the entrepreneur behind Pup-Pee Solutions, a product that has many scratching their heads asking, why didn’t I think of that?
Pup-Pee Solutions is just over 12 months old, but the little business dealing with the issue of doggy-doo is already exporting its Pet Loo solution to seven countries, not to mention its 450 Australian stockists.
But Pup-Pee Solutions didn’t start out with commercial aspirations. About four years ago a couple in their mid-20s, Tobi Skovron and Simone Iglicki, went in search of a solution to be able to keep a dog in their rented Melbourne apartment without the dog ‘messing’ in the unit and without having to take it for walks on the nature strip at 3am. They couldn’t find anything except puppy pad-type products, which Skovron says were an unnatural and expensive option.
A self-confessed go-getter, Skovron saw an opportunity and the idea for the Pet Loo started to take shape. “I felt if I could combat this situation, not from a commercial point of view, more from a personal point of view, I could buy Sim a dog.”
Iglicki is the pet and people person in the duo, while Skovron is the business mind behind Pup-Pee. He has a background in corporate health and personal training, while she’s worked in pet shops and as a vet nurse while studying an animal-assisted therapy degree at university. “I’m driven not from a financial standpoint, but from Sim’s passion for animal companionship,” explains Skovron. “While I’m not passionate about the dogs doing their wees and poos, I am passionate about people of all lifestyles being able to own a pet and keep that companionship going.”
And while dog number one for the couple did come along while the Pet Loo was in production, dog number two came along as soon as the product was available. And the dogs are such a huge part of the couple’s life they’re either at the office or travelling interstate with Skovron, or they’re with Iglicki at the hospital, working as a therapy tool for the elderly.
The first of the Pup-Pee products, the Pet Loo, started with a soil and grass patch in a wooden box. But this posed too many issues with keeping the apartment clean, and the grass died every time a dog urinated on it, because of the acidity.
Through trial and error the product evolved, and took three years to go to market. Skovron admits that while product development was quite rapid, the slow start-up was mainly due to financial barriers. The couple weren’t in a position to throw everything they had at the potential business, in case it failed.
But with encouragement from people around them, they decided to borrow money to begin production, and because of the product’s potential they didn’t find it hard to secure finance. “I had a couple of key people I could approach, and because of the uniqueness of the product and what it could do, people just didn’t hesitate,” says Skovron. “They recognised the benefit, and they recognised the potential not only for the Australian market, but for a global market.”
The final product is an 83cm square platform with synthetic grass (which dogs recognise as real grass) on top of a corrugated tray. The grass has porous holes at its base, so liquid seeps down to the collection bucket, and even the messiest of dog poos are lifted easily off the grass, as it doesn’t absorb moisture.
“We started with 12 samples. One went on my balcony, one went to [TV vet] Dr Harry for his impression, and 10 went to stores,” says Skovron. “Once stores started ordering them, I sent an application to The New Inventors and they put us on the show on July 5, which was our official launch last year.” Then he employed a PR agency to draw media attention to the ABC’s show.
The response to their appearance on the TV show, as well as associated press coverage, was overwhelming and has steamrollered Pup-Pee Solutions to becoming a global business in less than a year. The business has been rewarded with top honours at The New Inventors People’s Choice Awards, the 2006 Pet Industry Award for Product of the Year, and the product was featured on Dr Harry’s show.
“Without sounding arrogant, I’ve had that much media coverage I can’t actually keep up,” reports Skovron. “We’re putting on stores so fast and I’ve got all of my resources going into manufacturing and getting my sales reps out on the road, I haven’t had time to upload all of our media exposure onto our website.”
Starting to Export
The opportunity to export also opened up for Pup-Pee through The New Inventors. The business’ Taiwan partner saw the program on the local Australian television channel, six months after it aired here, and he’s now one of Skovron’s most loyal customers. Nevertheless, Pup-Pee’s first export order went to the US, and when asked why he’s tackled such a big market first, Skovron says he’s “not here to muck around”.
“I’ve got to tell you, the dollars to one side, it’s not my drive, but I’m not here to just say we’re doing ‘okay’, I’m here to really go hard.”
While the domestic market is stronger than exports at the moment, Skovron predicts this won’t last long, given the product lends itself so well to apartment dwellings in the likes of China, Singapore, Japan, and New York City, and having just come back from a successful trade fair in Hong Kong he now sees them exporting into 30 countries by the end of the year.
Since production increased so rapidly, Pup-Pee have had to shift manufacturing to an Australian-owned manufacturer in China, which meant protecting themselves thoroughly under a licensing agreement with the manufacturer, as well as securing patents, not only for their existing products but on 20 other designs and patents they don’t plan to bring to market, for a protection strategy.
Skovron attributes the success to the couple simply getting off their backsides and pursuing the idea. “I can’t tell you how many people have said they’ve thought of doing it. But they didn’t, and I’m just fortunate I’ve got that in me. My dad was very entrepreneurial, and I think those genes have been passed down.
“As far as the product is concerned, I just think everyone loves pets, and I know for a fact people are buying the Pet Loo and then saying what type of dog do we want to buy, and not the other way around, which was usually the case.”
They have had some valuable advisers helping along the way. “A lot of what we’re doing is coming naturally and we’re just being ourselves, but from a business standpoint we rely on several key people to guide us.”
Skovron says he constantly gets people wanting to buy into the business, and while it remains his and Iglicki’s baby for now, they started the business with an exit strategy and are likely to sell it in the next five to 10 years. “One day Pet Loo is going to be sold because I’ve set it up that way. I’m developing this product and building this brand for someone to come knock on my door, and Tobi Skovron is going to have to do something else, something even bigger.
“Having said that, though, I’m only 12 months into it, and I’m still passionate about everything I do. I’ve made some amazing contacts and I’ve built a good name for the company, and I’ve built a personal name and rapport with our customers.”
In the meantime the founders plan on going full steam ahead with growing the business, they’ve just released a smaller version of the Pet-Loo, the Mini-Wee, to cater for different markets, and are looking to source products which complement theirs, and establish Pup-Pee Solutions as the premium brand.
