key takeaways
- Joe Spector, 45, is the CEO of Dutch, an online telehealth service for pets.
- In a new interview, Spector shared that Dutch had no subscribers in the first few weeks after launch.
- Here’s how Specter got its first customer, and more than half a million customers.
In July 2021, Joe Spector had all the right ingredients to launch his new venture. was working on specter dutchAn online veterinary care service that will cater to pet owners in their time of need. For a membership fee, subscribers can access unlimited medical care and medication.
Spector had the experience to make Dutch successful. He was previously the co-founder of $9.3 billion Telehealth startup his and hers, and what they helped propel the company forward $1 billion Initial public offering in January 2021.
He had funding: Specter had raised $5 million in seed funding from a venture capital firm Agradoot Ventures Dutch to start.
Connected: He grew his business from a $5,000 investment to over $1 million in revenue – here are his 3 profit tips for small business owners
He also had the right people: Using the initial money, Spector hired five employees, including a chief medical officer, two engineers, and legal and marketing personnel, to work on Dutch with him.
the only problem? At the time of launch, Dutch had zero subscribers.
“It was crazy, because we had just raised $5 million,” explains Spector. entrepreneur In a new interview. “I had a lot of sleepless nights and ulcers, and it was a lot of pressure. It wasn’t that we raised this money, but these five people decided to quit their jobs to work with me in this business.”
Spector and his team began talking to potential clients about their pricing, and uncovered what Spector calls his “biggest mistake” – copying Hims & Hers’ pricing structure too closely. His & Hers offers a single price for telehealth visits and medication, bundling both costs together into a single price for various purposes such as weight loss and hair regrowth. Spector copied that model by going to market with a single price for Dutch, $50 a month, which included talking to a veterinarian, as well as any possible medications for the pets.
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However, they soon discovered that human health care was different from pet health care. If pet owners did not need the medication or only needed a small amount of the medication, they were reluctant to pay $50 a month. They didn’t want to subsidize people who needed a lot of medications for their pets at that one price.
“Starting to talk to potential customers about our pricing gave us insight,” says Spector.
Spector decided to separate the two costs and make the cost of membership, which includes veterinarian visits, one fee, and the cost of any possible medication, a separate fee.
“Once we made it clear to consumers what they were getting, we really started to move toward acquiring customers,” Spector says.
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In August 2021, a month after launch and pricing, Dutch got its first customer. Since its launch, the startup has had over five lakh customers sign up for one of its subscription plans. The business is “almost profitable” according to Spector. It recently transitioned from offering monthly and annual subscriptions to Annual-only subscription It costs $132 per year for unlimited veterinary services and coverage for up to five pets.
“Over the last three years that we’ve been in business, we’ve seen our revenue double year over year,” says Spector. “Now that we have moved to annual-only memberships, our retention potential has also doubled.”
Spector says he challenges the standard of what an entrepreneur should be because he comes from humble beginnings. When Spector was 10 years old, his family immigrated to the United States from the then Soviet Union, now Uzbekistan. When they first arrived in America they lived on welfare and food stamps. As an immigrant founder, Spector, now 45, says he didn’t have the safety net of good parents who could help him if his entrepreneurial ventures failed.
Spector says people used to tell him he wasn’t talkative or “sales-y” enough to be a startup founder. His mistake in the beginning was to think that an entrepreneur was someone who had certain characteristics and he was trying to fit into that mold.
“An entrepreneur can be anyone who wants to be an entrepreneur,” says Spector. “You don’t need permission.”
Connected: This 29-Year-Old Woman Quit Her Job for a $13k-a-Month Side Job
key takeaways
- Joe Spector, 45, is the CEO of Dutch, an online telehealth service for pets.
- In a new interview, Spector shared that Dutch had no subscribers in the first few weeks after launch.
- Here’s how Specter got its first customer, and more than half a million customers.
In July 2021, Joe Spector had all the right ingredients to launch his new venture. was working on specter dutchAn online veterinary care service that will cater to pet owners in their time of need. For a membership fee, subscribers can access unlimited medical care and medication.
Spector had the experience to make Dutch successful. He was previously the co-founder of $9.3 billion Telehealth startup his and hers, and what they helped propel the company forward $1 billion Initial public offering in January 2021.
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