For the love of pets, LWL Member, Sinal and Veer flew from Australia to India
For the love of four-legged furry friends and her own unique experience as a pet parent, LWL Victoria Sinal Shah, along with her husband started Petsy, with a mission to help ordinary pet parents become extraordinary.
It might sound crazy, or perhaps adventurous, or maybe even both, we invite you to indulge in a story that will hopefully inspire and motivate – the story behind Petsy through the eyes of the co-founders, Sinal& Veer.
Loaded with high-quality food, fun and boredom busting toys, grooming products, lots of good advice and much more, Petsy is an e-commerce platform based in India for one, and all.
How did the idea of Petsy come along?
Petsy has its humble beginnings from a very personal story; as dog lovers and pet parents of the world’s best dog (yes, every pet parent says this). Baxter came into our lives and changed it forever. For us, Baxter is a companion that always loves, a friend that never judges and a child that is always ready to have some fun. He is truly the heart and soul of our family. Having introduced Baxter, it is fair to say that after becoming pet parents we have become far more sensitive to the needs of animals around us. Hold this thought as we take you on a journey of a few miles to Mumbai.
A couple of years back, we stumbled across a stray dog suffering from fleas and ticks lying on the road in Mumbai. With an eager desire to help it, we went searching for the appropriate treatment. We looked in every corner and struggled. Something as simple as flea and tick treatments was almost impossible to find, and when we did find something close to it – there was no guidance on how to use it! With this struggle in mind and through sheer love of pets and animals, the idea of Petsy was born.
We started working on Petsy from 2018, researching and getting our ground work ready. Moving from a place like Perth to Mumbai, everyone thought was crazy and that we were doing the absolute opposite of what many people have done. So many people thought we were taking a step in the wrong direction – we had quit our jobs as CAs in the top accounting firms and left everything aside to move to Mumbai. However, for us it was our dream and passion that made us so strong-willed and there was some sort of thrill in defying the odds to be honest! It was a challenge and something we were ready to take on. With sheer determination, we were able to launch our online platform, Petsy, on September 21, 2019.
How important is it to educate pet parents for enhanced brand prosperity?
Petsy is a platform curated to bring joy not only to the pets but pet parents too. I truly believe that Petsy empowers a pet parent when making a decision on what product would be best suited for their pet through education and guidance. In elaborating on education for pet parents, I think this is of utmost importance. Firstly, pets as a species by nature means that they cannot speak for themselves. Ofcourse, some might say that pets do speak, only to those who listen! However, my point here is that in looking after pets, we make choices for them based on what we believe is right or wrong. It’s imperative that we appreciate pets as a different species and understand what is right or wrong for their biological makeup – whether its food and nutrition, or providing the right mental stimulation, or caring for them as they grow older – there is education and awareness embedded within this right through. Where pet parents are informed and educated on how to best look after their pets, this in turn means that they make better choices in looking after their pets and thereby strengthen the human-pet bond.
What learnings, if any, did you gain from the pandemic where there was an urgent need to manage one’s pets?
Broadly speaking, loneliness has been a significant issue that impacted the mental and physical health of people during the lockdown. Increased agitation, irritation, depression are just some of these effects. However, several studies including some conducted by the University of York and the University of Lincoln, showed that sharing a home with a pet appeared to act as a buffer against psychological stress and was linked to better mental health. I think this speaks for itself when we talk about the impact a pet has on one’s lives.
Talking about parenthood, in particular, the pandemic and lockdown embellished new routines and new norms. For pet parents, the lockdown meant spending more time bonding with pets, finding new ways to mentally stimulate and interact with pets, caring and grooming pets and much more. If anything, we have seen a rise in the number of people getting pets and this sort of links back to our earlier topic of an increased acceptance of pets as companions.
It’s not all a completely rosy picture though, as lockdowns have lifted, and people have resumed their lives pre-lockdown, there has been an increasing number of abandoned pets and I think this really reflects on the misunderstanding of the commitment it takes to look after a pet. I hope we are able to positively influence this, but it remains a sad reality.
I think the main lessons learnt are:
- Understand the commitment it takes to look after a pet before you bring one into your home.
- From a business perspective, it’s extremely important to remain agile, dynamic and be open to adapting with changing circumstances. From Petsy’s perspective, being open to change and agile allowed us to serve pet parents throughout the pandemic and lockdown and this was a testament to our promise of being pet parenting partners.
What challenges do you face in the business – from a product or education point of view?
The challenges are similar for any e-commerce business – the rising shipping costs and the need to match up to fast commerce trends! I think it will be a matter of balancing between the two and managing customer expectations that will always remain a challenge in the business.
What is the future for women in the pet care business?
The pet industry is one full of young and bright minds! When it comes to the future of women, I truly believe that the pet industry is one where we can thrive and see growth – both personally and professionally.
There are 5 lessons I’ve learnt with Petsy that I could share with any woman starting on an entrepreneurial journey:
- Competition is fierce and aggressive. However, the most important thing that matters is that you follow your passion, your path and not be distracted by the deterrents.
- There will be 100 people who will have a negative opinion, but there will always be 1 person who has the positive one. Forego the 100 for the 1.
- Don’t be afraid of copycats. It only means that your idea was that great. A quote by T Lewis always reminds me, “in a world of copycats, being yourself is liberating and powerful”.
- Critically analyze before accepting anything at face value
- Don’t be afraid to ask for what you believe in (within reason of course!)
What are Petsy’s plans for the future?
A technological focus for the future, a desire to continue building robust supplier and customer relationships, and most of all creating an impact in the lives of animals through community connections and education, Petsy is invested to positively transform the pet industry in India.
