Paws For Life

While the retail market is continuing to feel pain, eCommerce continues to thrive. Paws For Life founder Michael Frizell has managed to ride that success by focusing on a specific niche – offering subscription services for pet food.

The business has customers identify the food they’re likely to buy most often, and then place an order to have that food delivered every six weeks.

Frizell noticed although the model had been successful overseas, no local players had adopted the subscription method – so he jumped in first.

He sourced funding from friends and family, and got to work building a website from the ground up.

But any start-up founder knows there are troubles along the way. Frizell says maintaining cashflow alongside growth has been a challenge, and as a result, says “focus is critical”.

“It’s easy to be distracted by opportunities in business but focused execution is what differentiates the successful businesses from those that flounder after launch.”

It’s easy to see why the subscription model has taken off, alongside the advent of subscription meal plans. Frizell’s emphasis is on the customer, maintaing an in-house customer service team. It’s all part of Frizell’s dedication to the end user, saying similar start-ups need to be “honest and open with everyone you deal with”.

“Relationships are very important and being open and honest will always place you in good stead!”