BI 317: How SaaS Company Babelbark Is Reshaping the Pet Care Industry with Roy Stein
June 9, 2020
Roy Stein is the founder of BabelBark, the only existing platform worldwide catering to pet needs and services. He has managed to grow the business in 18 months with the help of his 16 remote employees, whom he acquired by word of mouth, and learning how to share a press release on LinkedIn.
Today, BabelBark is used by 300,000 pet owners, 900 pet businesses, and 300 pet clinics, making caring for pets and running a pet-related business more convenient. The company continues to engage its clients by continuously introducing new features to the app.
How did Roy do it? How did he accomplish a seemingly ambitious idea? Listen to the full episode and learn how you can grow your SaaS business by attracting new talents on LinkedIn.
Today, BabelBark is used by 300,000 pet owners, 900 pet businesses, and 300 pet clinics, making caring for pets and running a pet-related business more convenient. The company continues to engage its clients by continuously introducing new features to the app.
How did Roy do it? How did he accomplish a seemingly ambitious idea? Listen to the full episode and learn how you can grow your SaaS business by attracting new talents on LinkedIn.
Episode Highlights
[03:01] About BabelBark
*Babel Bark is the world's only technology platform connecting the entire pet ecosystem in one application.
*It is an all-in-one place for pet parents, pet businesses, and veterinarians.
[03:44] Who Is BabelBark for?
*The first target customers are millennial and Gen Z pet parents because they are tech-savvy.
*The second sector is pet services, which include walkers and groomers.
*The third sector is the veterinarians who can provide telemedicine services.
[04:47] Pricing Model
*Pet parents can download their free app. The paid app, Alpha Pack, costs $2.50 a month.
*Pet service providers and veterinarians save a lot of money with BabelBark’s cloud-based client management.
*Their users pay an average of $54 dollars per year.
[06:43] Brief History of BabelBark
*The company started five years ago.
*BabelBark now serves 300,000 pets, 900 pet businesses, and more than 300 clinics.
*Listen to the full episode to discover the challenges Roy and his team faced when they started developing the app.
[09:40] Growth Rate & Employees
*The company has 16 employees and operates on a work-from-home setting.
*They have raised over $9.5 million in five years.
[11:06] Advice for SaaS Founders
*Keep your eyes on the market. Learn to adjust to meet the market’s needs.
*Hire by talent. Nobody wants to invest in a company that might blow up because of internal politics and lack of professionalism.
[13:02] User Acquisitions Systems
*They focus on millennial pet parents.
*Target your marketing efforts to the specific market you're going after.
*Listen to the full episode to learn which digital platforms give them the greatest ROI.
[16:47] BabelBark’s Success on Instagram
*Carousel ads, connected with target words people are interested in, work well.
*An external marketing team works on BabelBark’s digital marketing.
*The combination of visual and marketing assets built for a specific target market gets the best return.
[18:31] Where BabelBark Directs Traffic
*Clients may be directed to BabelBark’s home page or a specific landing page.
*Informative ads about the value of the BabelBark app have no landing page.
[20:06] Customer Lifetime Value
*Utilizations over a lifetime per user hasn’t drastically dropped off.
*The usage on the platform is way higher than the amount of users joining the platform.
*The COVID-19 pandemic is an outlier and skews statistics.
[22:17] Onboarding Experience
*BabelBark’s growth is product-led. They utilize marketing cloud systems to update their users about the app’s features.
*They use their product capabilities to push the users to complete their profiles and use the system more often.
*BabelBark owes its virality to pet businesses and vets who ask their clients to join the portal.
[26:39] BabelBark’s SOPs
*BabelBark is a start-up, and Roy found that you’re more likely to get slapped when you stay inside process lines. It’s the opposite for large corporations.
*On the development side, they have very clear development processes, and they document a coding of everything that's happening.
*On the operational side, they also have clear account management procedures.
*Their processes are documented on Google Drive, Jira, and Salesforce.
*Listen to the full episode to know how their company of 16 employees works.
[29:48] How to Share a Press Release on LinkedIn
*Apart from word of mouth, LinkedIn is the most effective recruitment tool for them.
*They work with an account manager who knows how to share a press release on LinkedIn. LinkedIn charges them $700 for the service.
[32:13] Interview Process
*Listen to the full episode to know the interview process of the company.
*The company relies on instinct, chemistry, and management experience when assessing applicants.
*The senior executives are always involved in the assessment.
[34:01] Advice for Start-Ups
*As a manager, your job is to let your team soar.
*Trust the people you hired.
*Remove all roadblocks to free up the runway for your team’s takeoff.
Resources links can be found at https://brightideas.co/317/
[03:01] About BabelBark
*Babel Bark is the world's only technology platform connecting the entire pet ecosystem in one application.
*It is an all-in-one place for pet parents, pet businesses, and veterinarians.
[03:44] Who Is BabelBark for?
*The first target customers are millennial and Gen Z pet parents because they are tech-savvy.
*The second sector is pet services, which include walkers and groomers.
*The third sector is the veterinarians who can provide telemedicine services.
[04:47] Pricing Model
*Pet parents can download their free app. The paid app, Alpha Pack, costs $2.50 a month.
*Pet service providers and veterinarians save a lot of money with BabelBark’s cloud-based client management.
*Their users pay an average of $54 dollars per year.
[06:43] Brief History of BabelBark
*The company started five years ago.
*BabelBark now serves 300,000 pets, 900 pet businesses, and more than 300 clinics.
*Listen to the full episode to discover the challenges Roy and his team faced when they started developing the app.
[09:40] Growth Rate & Employees
*The company has 16 employees and operates on a work-from-home setting.
*They have raised over $9.5 million in five years.
[11:06] Advice for SaaS Founders
*Keep your eyes on the market. Learn to adjust to meet the market’s needs.
*Hire by talent. Nobody wants to invest in a company that might blow up because of internal politics and lack of professionalism.
[13:02] User Acquisitions Systems
*They focus on millennial pet parents.
*Target your marketing efforts to the specific market you're going after.
*Listen to the full episode to learn which digital platforms give them the greatest ROI.
[16:47] BabelBark’s Success on Instagram
*Carousel ads, connected with target words people are interested in, work well.
*An external marketing team works on BabelBark’s digital marketing.
*The combination of visual and marketing assets built for a specific target market gets the best return.
[18:31] Where BabelBark Directs Traffic
*Clients may be directed to BabelBark’s home page or a specific landing page.
*Informative ads about the value of the BabelBark app have no landing page.
[20:06] Customer Lifetime Value
*Utilizations over a lifetime per user hasn’t drastically dropped off.
*The usage on the platform is way higher than the amount of users joining the platform.
*The COVID-19 pandemic is an outlier and skews statistics.
[22:17] Onboarding Experience
*BabelBark’s growth is product-led. They utilize marketing cloud systems to update their users about the app’s features.
*They use their product capabilities to push the users to complete their profiles and use the system more often.
*BabelBark owes its virality to pet businesses and vets who ask their clients to join the portal.
[26:39] BabelBark’s SOPs
*BabelBark is a start-up, and Roy found that you’re more likely to get slapped when you stay inside process lines. It’s the opposite for large corporations.
*On the development side, they have very clear development processes, and they document a coding of everything that's happening.
*On the operational side, they also have clear account management procedures.
*Their processes are documented on Google Drive, Jira, and Salesforce.
*Listen to the full episode to know how their company of 16 employees works.
[29:48] How to Share a Press Release on LinkedIn
*Apart from word of mouth, LinkedIn is the most effective recruitment tool for them.
*They work with an account manager who knows how to share a press release on LinkedIn. LinkedIn charges them $700 for the service.
[32:13] Interview Process
*Listen to the full episode to know the interview process of the company.
*The company relies on instinct, chemistry, and management experience when assessing applicants.
*The senior executives are always involved in the assessment.
[34:01] Advice for Start-Ups
*As a manager, your job is to let your team soar.
*Trust the people you hired.
*Remove all roadblocks to free up the runway for your team’s takeoff.
Resources links can be found at https://brightideas.co/317/