Idea Napkin No. 1

1) Since childhood I’ve had a great love for animals, whether they were scaly or furry. As I get older my appreciation and love towards animals grows more and more. In the past, I have not only volunteered in county animal shelters and humane societies but I have also worked in animal hospitals. I’m always trying to make a positive impact in the lives of shelter animals, pets and pet-owners. Besides being a very dedicated student, I have gained a lot of experience in veterinary medicine due to my previous involvement making me very skilled in this field. My aspirations regarding my business ideas are for my clients to have a stress-free life with their pets, as well as helping lost pets reunite back with their families.

2) Thousands of pets end up in shelters every year, unsure of how they ended up there or where their loved ones have gone. In many cases pets have wandered off from home, nowhere to be found. This leaves owners with the doubt of ever seeing them again. The product I want to offer the public would be the perfect solution for escape artists, lost pets and worried families. My product will be a small GPS tracking system that can be implanted into animals, right under the skin causing no harm or side effects. In today’s market the only thing that comes close to this would be microchips, which is a miniature grain-like device that is placed under the skin. These devices work by giving the pet a unique 16 digit number within the chip, which can be scanned in shelters/veterinary clinics, once scanned a staff member can contact the microchip company and from there look up the owner's contact information. My product, which goes by the name of “SafeAgain” will have a distinctive difference, for example; instead of a number assigned to your pet, you will download the company app to your smart phone, after being downloaded a phone will be linked to the tracking device via satellite. If a pet goes missing the user can send a signal to the device with the phone and capture a live-feed of its current location. Along with the special chip comes a collar that will flash red lights indicating that the pet is lost. This feature will help indicate to strangers that the pet is in need and its owner is looking for them. As a pet-owner myself I can understand the concern of losing a pet or ending up in the wrong hands. SafeAgain will help keep families together and create even stronger bonds.

3) SafeAgain would be a product designed for customers that are willing to go that extra mile to keep their pets safe. It will be focused on marketing towards people in their early 30’s and up, such as household owners and families but not limited to just those individuals. College students and young professionals who have deep concerns or desires of their pet’s safety will also see the usefulness of this product. The main focus of this product is to help customers and their pets feel secure and at completely ease. My costumers will all share the same view when it comes to the care of their pets; that they become another member of the family and no one gets left behind.

4) While volunteering at shelters I would witness the heartbreak in people’s faces when we would tell them that their dog has not been seen or brought in. No one can understand how devastating it can be to lose a pet unless you’ve connected and cared for your own. With SafeAgain there wouldn’t be such as thing as being lost and not found, and that’s a huge relief for pet owners. Statistics show that one in three pets will become lost at a point in their lives. The chances of pets returning home after getting lost are very slim, therefore by implanting a SafeAgain chip in your pet it gives customers that reassurance that their loved ones will return home safe.

5) Even though microchips have been used in the past to reunite families, SafeAgain stands out with our unique satellite tracking system. Even though they are implanted exactly the same way, they work in vastly different ways. With SafeAgain pets will not have to be brought into a shelter or clinic in order for the owner to be contacted; the user will automatically be able to track their pet with the help of a smart phone and satellite signals, something that has never been seen with any microchip. The collar that comes along with this product also helps alert others that your pet is lost and is looking for their way home by displaying flashing red lights.

There are ways to make this product a possibility in the future and I believe that it’s an invention that we will see in a couple years down the road. While working in the animal industry I have had many clients ask if there’s a device such as SafeAgain. It is an investment I believe a lot of clients would be interested in. Just like every product in the market there are a lot of things that need to be fully evaluated and finalized. The featured collar is a concept that needs more work on due to the fact that collars cannot stay on forever and if it slides off there is no way of notifying strangers that the pet is away from home.