Built To Sell Radio Episode # 296
Like many young couples, Ben & Ariel Zvaifler got a puppy and found themselves trying to figure out how to train it. They wondered what toys were safe and what kind of food to give to their brand-new puppy.
The couple figured they weren’t alone and decided to launch PupBox, a subscription box for new puppy owners that offered owners training guides, treats, and toys for puppies appropriate for their age and stage of development.
Shark Tank Invite
The company captured the imagination of the producers at Shark Tank, who invited them to appear. After a rigorous vetting, Shark Tank star Robert Herjavec offered to invest $250,000 for a 15% stake in PupBox, which was doing about half a million dollars in subscription revenue at the time.
The Zvaifler’s took the money and invested in marketing to grow the business which was thirsty for cash. As they burned through the Shark’s money, they decided to look for a strategic investor who could fund their growth. They approached Petco, who looked at their business and decided to make an acquisition offer instead.
In this episode, you’ll discover:
The difference between growing through organic vs. paid search.
How PupBox lowered churn.
Why The Zvaifler’s turned down Herjavec’s request for a board seat.
Why Ariel’s second child was the trigger she needed to start documenting her Standard Operating Procedures (grab The Definitive Guide to SOPs here).
The surprising reason shorter subscription terms may yield lower churn rates.
Why around half of Shark Tank offers made on the show never close.
How to guarantee you get the budget to hit your earn-out.
Why asking for a Vice President title at your acquirer’s company is important.
A layman’s definition for “unit economics” and “convertible notes”.
Why the Zvaifler’s were surprised their Petco stock became valuable.
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More About Ben & Ariel Zvaifler
Ben and Ariel Zvaifler are entrepreneurs passionate about starting and scaling businesses. Ben and Ariel started PupBox together in 2014. PupBox was born out of personal experience. Ben and Ariel adopted their furbaby Maggie when she was just 8 weeks old, and like many first-time dog parents, they became totally obsessed. The problem was they had no idea what they were doing. They founded PupBox to try and facilitate the puppyhood process, for new puppy parents like themselves, by delivering all of the training information and products a new puppy owner needs, when they need it.
PupBox quickly found a product-market fit, Ben and Ariel graduated from the 500 Startups Accelerator program in 2015, and in 2016 PupBox was featured on ABC’s hit show Shark Tank. In 2017 PupBox was acquired by Petco Animal Supplies, one of the leading pet brands in the world. In 2020 PupBox was named by the International Advertising Bureau as one of the most disruptive direct-to-consumer brands in the US.
While at Petco Ben managed PupBox as well as Repeat Delivery, Petco’s pet food auto-ship business. Ariel leads the operational efforts at PupBox, overseeing supply-chain, merchandising, and distribution. Over the course of three years at Petco, Ben and Ariel participated in Petco’s digital transformation, and in early 2021 Petco went public on the Nasdaq.
Ben left Petco in early 2021 and is starting in on his next entrepreneurial journey, Cloud Water Filters. Cloud is a water filtration brand, building a network of lifelong customers around the single promise of toxin-free, nutrient-rich water. Cloud products are easy to use, technology-enabled, and deliver pure water peace of mind. Cloud will change the way consumers think about the water they drink.
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