The Dog Days of Startup Life:How Courtney Honda and Slava Borisov Built Pupte - Episode 81

About this episode

Courtney Honda and Slava Borisov discuss how they built Puptqe, a pet business focused on community and experiences rather than just products.

You know, sometimes the best business ideas don’t start with spreadsheets, market research, or a carefully written business plan. Sometimes they start with something much simpler. A passion. A community. Or in today’s case… a love of dogs. Now the pet industry is enormous. In the United States alone it’s well over a hundred billion dollars a year. But despite that massive market, many pet businesses still look pretty much the same. Retail shelves, products on hooks, and a checkout counter. But what if a pet business wasn’t just a place to buy things for your dog? What if it was a place designed around the relationship between dogs and their humans? A place built around community, experiences, and connection. That’s exactly the idea behind Puptqe. Today I’m joined by Courtney Honda and Slava Borisov, the founders of Puptqe, a fast-growing brand that’s rethinking what a pet business can be. Instead of focusing only on products, they’ve created a space where dog lovers gather, socialize, attend events, and celebrate the bond we share with our four-legged companions. But like most entrepreneurial stories, the road from idea to reality wasn’t perfectly straight. It required risk…

People in this episode

Host: Mike Konrad

Guests: Courtney Honda, Slava Borisov

Topics covered

• startup life
• pet industry
• community building
• entrepreneurship
• business innovation

Keywords

• startup
• pet business
• community
• entrepreneurship
• Puptqe
• dog lovers
• business ideas

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Puptqe

Places: United States

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