The Exchanges

Q Entrepreneurial spirit. I love it. So tell me about, um, how you built, um, Barclay HQ. What was the, the idea behind it? Why, what made you decide to build this company? For sure. Yeah.

A So I always sat and I remember I used to sit in a four by four cubicle, um, for one of the SaaS businesses that I used to work for. And I always just kind of thought of ideas and drafted ideas of my own app or SaaS business. Um, and I was always kind of trying to find a niche market because I really liked Um, the messaging of going deep, not wide, that sort of thing. Um, the grooming industry kind of fell onto me by accident. Um, I adopted a dog and then I started bringing the dog to local groomers and I noticed that they were using pen and paper, um, operate their business. Um, so with my SAS experience and my entrepreneurial spirit, I thought, wait, there must be a better way for them. Um, so four and a half years ago or five years ago at this point, I went online to see what tools were available for these pet groomers. If there's anything Specific for that industry. Um, there was very minimal, um, and what was out there, I didn't think had the features that they needed, um, nor were they marketing it correctly. Uh, so I kind of jumped all in and, uh, started Barkley HQ.

AI assessment note: “I adopted a dog and then I started bringing the dog to local groomers”

Q you're going after, and it really makes a value prop really clear for customers, because if you're a dog groomer, and it's specifically made for them, ah, you know, the chances of you building the best software for that specific customer is just so much higher. So now, now I'm wondering, how did you get your first customers? How did you get dog groomers to To adopt this, this software.

A Yeah. So actually, um, before I think I even started developing the software, I just created some presentations and I actually went to the local groomers and sat with them and told them what I was working on. Um, a few of them validated the idea. Uh, so then that's when I started putting the developers to work. I'm a non-tech founder. So I had to source the developers to actually build the product. Um, so once I had enough validation from these local groomers, I started building the product. Um, actually funny story. One of my best customers, even to this date was one of the early signups. They had multiple locations. I didn't know that I actually just went in there, um, dropped off like a little marketing package for the owner. Um, weeks later, they got back to me. We met at a pizza restaurant cause I didn't have an office at the time. Um, and they gave me their input. They said, we love what you're working on because we're using all these different tools and it's just a mess with all of our customer data, etc. Um, so from that pizza restaurant, I literally signed up multiple locations and, uh, got to work. So they were really early adopters in adding, uh, what features it should have, what direction we should go in terms of the functionality of the software.

AI assessment note: “I actually went to the local groomers and sat with them and told them”

Q Nice. And what were they, just out of curiosity, I, I'm not a dog, I'm not in the dog growing business, but what are the, the main pain points that, um, your company saw?

A For sure, yeah. So the big one was we replaced the big paper calendar by having a, a digital calendar. Um, so if you walk into a pet grooming business, chances are, Some of them are still on these big paper calendars, but that's hard for a groomer to manage their business. Cause if someone calls or messages them on Facebook, they want an appointment time. The groomer has to go to that calendar. So if they lug it around with it, it was really the digital calendar first, then it was a CRM tool. So you'll notice that these pet groomers who are running on pen and paper, they had these paper cards and they would have file cabinets and they would go and look up the client's history. So just a big mess of a paper everywhere. So we were the CRM tool, but then I also even came up with the phrase Uh, PRM. So CRM obviously stands for Customer Relationship Manager, but because groomers, clients are pets, I called it a pet relationship manager. So attract the clients and the pets details like breed, um, um, behavior of the pet, size of the pet, all sorts of things.

AI assessment note: “the big one was we replaced the big paper calendar by having a, a digital calendar”

Q people. If anything, before building, because you might be going in a completely wrong direction. So, okay, so you got the idea, you started building a product, you validated it, you got some customers. When was that moment where you feel like you really had product market fit? Did you have kind of a day or time where you thought, well, this is actually growing into, you know, significant business?

A Yeah. So I would, I would say when I went all in was after that meeting where the Big business, um, validated my idea. Um, but even before that, just the feedback that I was getting from the local groomers in Toronto and north of Toronto, um, I kind of knew that I was on to something here and they were kind of even like giving me their pain points with existing softwares. They've tried what softwares they're using that they've kind of mutated to work for their business. Um, so I really built a close connection with all of my clients, especially early on. Um, so I kind of knew I was on to something. I would say once I passed the 25 paying customers, that's when I was, like, really confident that, you know, this thing was gonna go full steam ahead.

AI assessment note: “once I passed the 25 paying customers, that's when I was, like, really confident”

Q I love it. Let's move on, um, to the acquisition. Um, so why did, um, uh, you, like, when did you have the moment where you decided to sell the business? What, what was that like? Was it something you always had on your mind? Was it a day you thought, hey, I'd like to cash my chips? What was the thought process behind that?

A Yeah, a little bit of both of those. I kind of started the business with Always wanting the end goal to be getting acquired. Um, I just thought that'd be super cool to have on the resume and to go through that process. Um, did I think it was going to happen in four and a half years? No, probably not. Uh, once I got to the company to a point where I was like, okay, I could make a pretty good money if I let go of it now. Um, that's kind of why I decided to sell. It was also at the point where I was kind of, um, I think I burnt the, burnt the candle on both ends. I was kind of burnt out myself. Um, working very long hours and et cetera. So I was like, okay, I think it's time to put this company in a different founder's hands or a different company's hands so they can run with it and take it from, uh, so zero to a hundred, from 100 to 1000, they can do.

AI assessment note: “I kind of started the business with Always wanting the end goal to be getting acquired.”

Q was going to be high. Um, so I guess, um, now how did you, so that's a lot of, um, attention in terms of buyers reaching out and signing NDAs, calls on your end. How did you land on the final buyer? What, Made them stand out. What made you comfortable moving forward with them? Was there anything in particular that made you comfortable to sell the business to them?

A Yeah. Cause a lot of the offers were the exact same. Um, so I was really looking for a founder that would put as much passion into it as I had at the start. Also somebody who had, um, I guess, complimentary skills or even better at me in some areas, um, to really make Barclay HQ successful. Um, going through this process, like I said, In the beginning, um, I was really close with all of my clients. Um, so I wanted to make sure that they were well taken care of. So I was really looking for someone who would put like, uh, a big effort into, uh, client services. I really wanted someone who is going to have funding for digital marketing, all the things that the business needed to go to.

AI assessment note: “I was really looking for a founder that would put as much passion into it”

Q Yeah. So you came in this not knowing what to expect, or maybe you did. Um, but if you could go back and have someone, Tell you like three pieces of advice. What would that be?

A Actually, it's interesting. The last year of the business ended up being, uh, performing so much better operationally. And I completely give credit to having a P and L. So my advice for any founder, whether you want to sell your business or you just want to have a business and run a business day one, you open up an Excel sheet and you start tracking with a P and L. Cause this is going to allow you to track your income, your expenses, where you're spending money, where you don't have to spend this money and things drastically change when you can actually see it all across the The, the Excel sheet or Google, um, sheets, whatever you're using, but having that P and L is a, is a big thing for sure. And it makes it easier if you do want to get acquired because you've already have all that work done.

AI assessment note: “my advice for any founder... day one, you open up an Excel sheet”