April 16, 2007
Puppy power | A well-connected Maine investor team plans to launch a dog-themed Web-&-catalog business
By Sara Donnelly
Idexx founder David Shaw made his name manufacturing diagnostic products for veterinarians, but now he's betting there's money to be made on the consumer side of pet care. Shaw and a high-powered team of local investors is expected to launch a large-scale, Web-based pet-supply company sometime this year, one aimed at the nation's booming pet market.
According to a job posting for an online content manager currently running on the website Mediabistro.com, Fetch Enterprises LLC is a "well-financed, exciting" concern that will target "affluent dog owners who are passionate about their dogs." Fetch is described as an "upscale multi-channel website and catalog business with integrated content, social networking and product commerce" with a launch team including "successful web and catalog marketing professionals" from a variety of big-name firms.
Fetch is the creation of the Black Point Group, an investor team with offices in Portland and New York City. Among Black Point's principals are Shaw; Gretchen Kruysman, a co-founder of Magic Attic Club and former marketing director at Thos. Moser Cabinetmakers; Robert Suva, a former division vice president for technology futures at Idexx; Peter McGrail, former chief financial officer for the largest privately held payroll processor in the country; and Peter Troast, formerly head of marketing for The VIA Group and American Skiing Company.
"[The pet industry] is large and growing and we see a unique opportunity," says Troast, Black Point's head of Internet and new media business incubation. Troast would not comment on Fetch's launch date, start-up costs, or projected first-year revenue. He said the staff includes Web and catalog marketing specialists from companies like Johnson & Johnson, L.L. Bean and Lands' End. Troast says the company has hired five full-time employees and several part-time workers so far, and intends to employ staff nationwide. The company will not have a bricks-and-mortar component, Troast says.
Bob Vetere, president of the American Pet Products Manufacturing Association, the leading nonprofit trade organization for pet products importers and manufacturers, says a site like Fetch's, combining product sales with original content, could be very successful in the booming pet industry. Vetere says there are online pet products retailers with large offerings, like PetSmart and Doctors Foster and Smith, but none that also offer educational content for pet owners.
"If these folks deliver early in identifying themselves as a source of information, I think there's going to be a huge following for that kind of website," says Vetere.
A growing market
Vetere says that American spending on pet products and services has almost doubled over the last decade. The APPMA, based in Greenwich, Conn., predicts consumers will spend nearly $41 billion on their pets in 2007, and much of the money will support the small businesses that make up the majority of the pet industry. (And though APPMA has not tracked sales by type of pet, Vetere says about 76 million of the roughly 350 million pets in America are dogs.) Of APPMA's roughly 1,000 member manufacturers, Vetere says three-quarters of the companies generate annual sales revenue of $2 million or less.
But in recent years, big companies have begun to take notice of an industry that serves the two-thirds of the population that owns pets. Companies including Mars, Nestlé, and Procter & Gamble have acquired pet companies like Iams and Purina, and Vetere says smaller pet companies merging into larger companies is a trend that will increase. Start-up costs for an operation like Fetch's, Vetere says, can run into the "many millions" if the site targets a national audience.
Local owners of pet-related businesses think Fetch Enterprises could be a slam dunk.
"The pet industry is ripe for this kind of thing," says Alex Fisher, owner of Planet Dog, a pet toy manufacturer and retailer in Portland, of Fetch's planned mix of editorial content and products. Fisher hopes to supply Planet Dog products to the Fetch site. "The industry is hot anyway and if anyone can do it, David [Shaw] and his team can."
According to the Maine Department of the Secretary of State, local lawyer Christopher Smith registered "Fetch Enterprises LLC" on January 8, 2007. Representatives from Fetch attended the pet industry's largest annual trade show, the Global Pet Expo, in February in Orlando, Fla., and requested samples from product manufacturers including Lupine Inc., a New Hampshire dog collar and lead company. Fetch has also approached Cameron Woo, the publisher of The Bark, a publication in Berkeley, Calif., that has been called the "coolest dog mag ever" by Esquire. Neither Troast nor Woo, however, would elaborate on the nature of those talks.
The Mediabistro.com advertisement for an online content manager says duties will include interaction with freelance writers, editors and proofreaders, and editing a "constant flow of content including reference articles, feature stories, product reviews, and user-generated content." The job's salary is listed as "under $100K" and includes stock options.
The name Fetch Enterprises may sound familiar. For seven years, Kathy Palmer has run a pet products store in Portland called Fetch. Palmer, who says her company's name is legally trademarked because she has used it for years, has retained a Washington, D.C., lawyer who specializes in intellectual property law in preparation for Fetch Enterprises' launch. Black Point Group's Troast says Fetch Enterprises owns the national trademark but "has no problem with [Palmer] keeping the name of her store."
According to a job posting for an online content manager currently running on the website Mediabistro.com, Fetch Enterprises LLC is a "well-financed, exciting" concern that will target "affluent dog owners who are passionate about their dogs." Fetch is described as an "upscale multi-channel website and catalog business with integrated content, social networking and product commerce" with a launch team including "successful web and catalog marketing professionals" from a variety of big-name firms.
Fetch is the creation of the Black Point Group, an investor team with offices in Portland and New York City. Among Black Point's principals are Shaw; Gretchen Kruysman, a co-founder of Magic Attic Club and former marketing director at Thos. Moser Cabinetmakers; Robert Suva, a former division vice president for technology futures at Idexx; Peter McGrail, former chief financial officer for the largest privately held payroll processor in the country; and Peter Troast, formerly head of marketing for The VIA Group and American Skiing Company.
"[The pet industry] is large and growing and we see a unique opportunity," says Troast, Black Point's head of Internet and new media business incubation. Troast would not comment on Fetch's launch date, start-up costs, or projected first-year revenue. He said the staff includes Web and catalog marketing specialists from companies like Johnson & Johnson, L.L. Bean and Lands' End. Troast says the company has hired five full-time employees and several part-time workers so far, and intends to employ staff nationwide. The company will not have a bricks-and-mortar component, Troast says.
Bob Vetere, president of the American Pet Products Manufacturing Association, the leading nonprofit trade organization for pet products importers and manufacturers, says a site like Fetch's, combining product sales with original content, could be very successful in the booming pet industry. Vetere says there are online pet products retailers with large offerings, like PetSmart and Doctors Foster and Smith, but none that also offer educational content for pet owners.
"If these folks deliver early in identifying themselves as a source of information, I think there's going to be a huge following for that kind of website," says Vetere.
A growing market
Vetere says that American spending on pet products and services has almost doubled over the last decade. The APPMA, based in Greenwich, Conn., predicts consumers will spend nearly $41 billion on their pets in 2007, and much of the money will support the small businesses that make up the majority of the pet industry. (And though APPMA has not tracked sales by type of pet, Vetere says about 76 million of the roughly 350 million pets in America are dogs.) Of APPMA's roughly 1,000 member manufacturers, Vetere says three-quarters of the companies generate annual sales revenue of $2 million or less.
But in recent years, big companies have begun to take notice of an industry that serves the two-thirds of the population that owns pets. Companies including Mars, Nestlé, and Procter & Gamble have acquired pet companies like Iams and Purina, and Vetere says smaller pet companies merging into larger companies is a trend that will increase. Start-up costs for an operation like Fetch's, Vetere says, can run into the "many millions" if the site targets a national audience.
Local owners of pet-related businesses think Fetch Enterprises could be a slam dunk.
"The pet industry is ripe for this kind of thing," says Alex Fisher, owner of Planet Dog, a pet toy manufacturer and retailer in Portland, of Fetch's planned mix of editorial content and products. Fisher hopes to supply Planet Dog products to the Fetch site. "The industry is hot anyway and if anyone can do it, David [Shaw] and his team can."
According to the Maine Department of the Secretary of State, local lawyer Christopher Smith registered "Fetch Enterprises LLC" on January 8, 2007. Representatives from Fetch attended the pet industry's largest annual trade show, the Global Pet Expo, in February in Orlando, Fla., and requested samples from product manufacturers including Lupine Inc., a New Hampshire dog collar and lead company. Fetch has also approached Cameron Woo, the publisher of The Bark, a publication in Berkeley, Calif., that has been called the "coolest dog mag ever" by Esquire. Neither Troast nor Woo, however, would elaborate on the nature of those talks.
The Mediabistro.com advertisement for an online content manager says duties will include interaction with freelance writers, editors and proofreaders, and editing a "constant flow of content including reference articles, feature stories, product reviews, and user-generated content." The job's salary is listed as "under $100K" and includes stock options.
The name Fetch Enterprises may sound familiar. For seven years, Kathy Palmer has run a pet products store in Portland called Fetch. Palmer, who says her company's name is legally trademarked because she has used it for years, has retained a Washington, D.C., lawyer who specializes in intellectual property law in preparation for Fetch Enterprises' launch. Black Point Group's Troast says Fetch Enterprises owns the national trademark but "has no problem with [Palmer] keeping the name of her store."
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