Founders Friday – Terry Peh
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This Friday, we are excited to feature Terry Peh, Founder of Good Dog People.
About Terry
In 2017, Terry left the corporate world to embark on his startup journey with Good Dog People (GDP), an online pet retailer that places dogs, people and the planet above all. His rationale was simple – ‘Pawrents’ often struggle to find safe dog food and reliable pet-care resources, and GDP could provide a one-stop platform to address all these needs.
About Good Dog People
Good Dog People (GDP) is a new type of online pet store that focuses on helping ‘pawrents’ and their pets to create more memories and live better together. In addition to sourcing for and selling responsible products, GDP is involved in several community- and cause-based projects. For example, it works with vets to empower pet-owners through vet-authored resources. It also works with social service organisations to support the work of animal-loving artists who have special needs. Lastly, GDP has lowered its carbon footprint through its “reduce plastic” policy – an initiative in line with Terry’s personal stance on fighting climate change.
What has been the most satisfying aspect of entrepreneurship for you and why?
T: To see the team move into unchartered waters and grow. Also to have customers, partners and the team recognising the good work we do, and believing in the vision of the company. I’ve also seen exponential growth in myself, a key reason why I left corporate to explore the world of entrepreneurship.
Drawing on your personal experiences, what traits do you think are essential for startup founders and why?
T: To have clarity in every part of your business, and the resilience to overcome challenges.
With clarity, you know why you’re setting this up, how to bring the business forward, where the weakest links are, etc. Building a business also means you’ll be running into challenges very often, and resilience makes sure you’re always moving forward.
Now when you put clarity and resilience together, most of the time you should be moving relentlessly towards the right direction. If a wrong calculated move has been made, you’d probably know soon enough to pull the plug or just sail with the wind.
What was the biggest challenge you faced in scaling your sales and why?
T: We’re in the retail business where margins can be very lean. Coupled with high acquisition costs, it’s very easy to be in the red. We were also competing with startups that had just completed their series A or B funding and had a high burn rate. This makes market penetration even harder.
How did you acquire your first customers?
T: Word of mouth, then we accelerated with paid advertising when we had more funds. When you’re bootstrapped, any word of mouth or free exposure helps.
What aspects were most important when you were first building your team and why?
T: Finding people with the same values and the conviction to commit. In GDP, while we can be very different and diverse individuals, we always emphasize the need to be aligned with the same values so we can always count and build on each other when we have to make decisions or take a stand when challenges or difficult situations arise. That said, we do not necessarily need to agree with each other at all times. There’s a common understanding in the team that it’s always 80% agreement but 100% commitment. Everyone is sensible and mature enough to recognise the importance of that.
On hindsight, if you to build your team again, is there anything you would do differently?
T: None at all. I’m very happy to have seen how far we have come together as a team. I’m also thankful and grateful to have these people sharing a part of their life with me and GDP.
What are the top 3 tips you have for investor pitching?
1)Start right with a sizeable addressable market and end with a compelling net profit.
2)Show them your vision.
3)Let your personality do the talking.
What sets you apart from other startups?
T: The people. I think there’s a good balance of idealism and pragmatism in everyone here, which makes the way we do things quite different from the competition.
Any other words of wisdom that you would like to share?
Stay tuned for next week's episode of Founders Friday
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