Wag, a startup that helps connect pet owners and dog walkers with a mobile app, has touched down
in San Francisco. The company, formerly only in operation in Los
Angeles, recently added the tip of the Bay Area as its second locale.
Wag vets dog walkers using background checks, and then
insures their activities. Dog owners can schedule walks for their dogs,
and track their pooch in-app while it is out on a stroll. A 30 minute
walk costs $20 — Wag takes a 40 percent cut, a fee which it said is
either on par with current market norms, or slightly better.
I spoke to the company a week after its launch in San
Francisco, inquiring how initial traction has been in its new market.
Wag declined to provide hard numbers, but did disclose that, as a
market, SF has grown around three times as fast as LA originally
performed.
The company intends to launch in ten cities over the next
twelve months it informed TechCrunch. As you might expect, Wag looks for
density among both working professionals, and dog populations when
selecting new markets.
Wag appears to be pursuing an expansion strategy that has
been employed by a number of on-demand startups: Solidify your home
market to understand your economics, add nearby markets to
begin geographical expansion, and then increase your tempo. Instacart
had a similar expansion curve, for example.
Of course, growth takes cash. Asked by TechCrunch about
its current fundraising activities and goals, Wag declined to comment on
the record. The company did note that it expects new markets to become
profitable after their first two or three months of operation.
Among Wag’s users base, 95 percent have never used a dog
walker before, according to the company. That metric implies, provided
that it holds up as Wag’s user base itself grows, that the company is
expanding the market for dog walking, not merely servicing the extant
demand pool in a new fashion.
Currently, Wag offers one-on-one dog walks. The company
has plans to introduce group dog walks which could sport a lower
per-walk price for Spot. That capability is roughly a half year out,
according to Wag. If Wag can reduce the cost of having a dog walked,
that could help make the service affordable for more people, perhaps
even making pet ownership more accessible to a broader set of income
tiers.
In the age of Uber for everything, Wag fits among a host
of other on-demand startups looking to deploy quickly-sourced labor to
service long-standing pain points.
The proof will be in the growth.