Meet the companies attending this year's Dublin Tech Summit...
Name of company: WoofAdvisor
Name of founders: Gerry Molloy
Tell us about your company...
WoofAdvisor is a two-sided business model: it’s a business platform with a community backbone, and a community platform with a business backbone.
We bring like-minded pet lovers together, providing them with content that is relevant, independent and trusted, providing a resource that helps them plan all aspects of travelling with their pets.
In the process, we help pet-friendly accommodation providers, and other key players in the pet sector - pet insurers, pet food manufacturers, pet sitters, pet service providers and pet brands - connect and engage directly with this community of committed pet lovers.
To date we have identified in excess of 4,000 dog-friendly Hotels, Guest Houses & B&B's across the UK & Ireland, and we continue to add to this every day.
Pitch us what you do in one line...
We make travelling with your dog as easy - and as much fun - as possible.
What makes your service unique?
Although online reviews and referrals via social media are increasingly important in purchasing decisions – particularly when it comes to people and their dogs - there are no services offering this in respect of the pet travel sector. This is possibly because pet travel is seen as a niche market.This may be technically correct but dogs are big business….and it’s a growing market! In the UK, 27% of households have a dog (or dogs) - that's 6.5m households. In the USA, the figure is close to 50% or over 60m households. Fastest growing target market? Millennials! While the baby boomer generation was the traditional mainstay of the pet travel market, the landscape is changing rapidly with Millennials increasingly to the fore.
Why are you coming to Dublin Tech Summit?
We see the Dublin Tech Summit as the best opportunity available in Ireland to showcase and the business opportunity behind it to a relevant audience.
In addition, we believe that the #Startup100 programme provides a unique opportunity in terms of attracting investment and sourcing a technical co-founder.
What advice would you give to an early-stage startup?
Reach out to industry experts and/or investors with a relevant track record, at as early a stage as possible. Don’t be afraid to ask for guidance and advice, the more the better before submitting formal applications, participating in pitch competitions etc.
What advice would you give to yourselves starting out?
Pretty much the same: you can never get too much feedback, get different perspectives, or be challenged too much on your business case/model, value proposition, understanding your target market….
What are your plans for the next 12 months?
Develop a footprint in a number of targeted cities in the UK, while also beginning the same process in two cities in USA + Germany in second half 2017.
What is the most exciting thing in tech right now?
Has to be AI and Robotics, given the scale and speed at which it is coming, and the number of areas that will be immediately and dramatically impacted - e.g. what’s happening with the Amazon Go store in Seattle, which uses a combination of computer vision, aggregation of data from different sensors and machine learning.
Why does the Dublin Tech Summit matter?
It’s the only show in town! There is no other opportunity bringing together this mix of leaders, experts, investors, attendees and media face to face under one roof. It affirms Dublin as the place to go to meet influencers and investors, and keep up to speed on what’s happening in tech globally.
Tell us something that we need to know...
WoofAdvisor was one of seven participants on Bank of Ireland's StartLab incubator.
