Creating an App to Run Your Dog Walking Business

In this episode I’m talking to Diana Akelman, a pet tech entrepreneur who founded PetPocketbook. Her app helps pet sitters and dog walkers run their business so they can focus on what they’re passionate about - caring for pets. I was interested to learn that Diana has been working on this business for 10 years, but the product has only been live for the last 5. We talked about how important it is to stay persistent and never give up on your dreams. It can take years to find the right people to bring your vision to life, and then years beyond that to get feedback from customers to fine-tune your product into something that’s functional, looks good, and helps people. She now serves hundreds of dog walkers and pet sitters. I also enjoyed hearing Diana’s story of going from dog mom to human mom and the challenges that came with that. She’s passionate about bringing attention to the fact that we shouldn’t be expected to swoop in and instantly be super moms - or super bosses or super dog moms. This whole journey can be scary. Diana points out that often the scariest part is the unknown, so she’s a big believer in doing a lot of prep work. Listening to her story, I saw a lot of similarities between how she prepared to run a business, how she prepared to be a dog mom to her Siberian Husky Remington and how she prepared to become a mom to her daughter. As we near the end of the year, I’m excited to share that this podcast will be hitting 250 episodes at the end of December. I need your help to put together a best-of episode! Please reach out and let me know about your favorite podcast interviews and moments.