Inside Zach Moore's Journey Building Onawa Pet, The Future of Dog Connection
The bond between humans and dogs is as old as history itself. Dogs are believed to have integrated into human communities as long as 40,000 years ago, learning to coexist with us for security, resources, and shelter.
And though dogs still play a central role in many of our lives today, our relationship with them looks very different. Modern dog owners bring dogs into their lives to support mental health and community, and many spend significant time and money attempting to decode their pets' emotions and train their behavior.
With three dogs at home and a passion for making pet ownership more accessible, Zach Moore saw first-hand that behavioral issues and training challenges were a blocker for many aspiring dog owners. So he set out to launch Onawa Pet and help owners develop stronger relationships with their dogs.
Introducing Onawa Pet: Decoding Your Dog's Emotions
Onawa Pet is building a smart dog collar designed to help owners understand their dogs' emotions and behavior.
Owning a dog today is expensive—vet bills pile up quickly and training services can cost $3000 or more. Meanwhile, there’s little low-cost technology available to help owners understand their dogs' health and emotional state.
Onawa’s smart collar is a first-of-its kind solution that will enable owners to decode their dogs’ emotions through state-of-the art sensors and analytics. Instead of spending thousands on training, owners can better understand their pets’ needs and adjust behavior and lifestyle accordingly, all while building a closer connection to their four-legged family member.
The team is currently developing their beta product and building a waitlist of passionate pet parents to test the platform.
Zach Moore’s Journey to Onawa Pet
As an owner of three dogs, Zach has experienced the joys—and challenges—of puppy parenting first-hand.
“There are a lot of things that are challenging about having a dog, whether it’s knowing when to go to the vet, how to get the most from training, or how to design a dog-friendly lifestyle,” Zach notes. “It’s something that’s come up a lot in my life—I’ve gone into the office with them, I’ve traveled with them, even stayed in hotels. We’ve done just about everything.”
But Zach believes that if someone wants a dog, they deserve to have one, regardless of their circumstance, living situation, and work schedule. So he set out to build a solution that would make it easier for people to integrate dogs into their lives.
In the long run, Zach aims for Onawa, which translates to “awake” in the Algonquian language family, to be the “future of dog connection,” and that whether someone has a dog or is thinking about getting one, Onawa is part of the journey.
Having launched just nine months ago, Onawa has already grown to a team of four with hires across marketing, industrial design, and product. With their beta product in development, Zach is currently focused on raising Onawa’s angel round.
Zach’s Advice for Fellow Founders
Early-stage founders often focus on building a transformative product. But the most important step to take first, Zach emphasizes, is to validate that there's an intense emotional need being addressed by the solution you're building. Start by connecting with your audience and learning about the pains they’re feeling—from there you can build the product that meets their needs.
And once you’ve found product market fit, it’s critical to get your business foundations in place so that you can focus on building. Zach recommends teams get incorporated quickly, as it makes it easy to move forward with investment as soon as VCs show interest and secure influential advisors. As you build, he recommends automating as much back-office administration as possible, using all-in-one solutions to consolidate operations.
By using platforms like Every, Zach explains, his team is able to maximize time spent on critical business drivers. “All the people on the team are focused on product and messaging, we're not thinking about administration and back office stuff. I think we can make it to a decently-sized team without any back office, which is a huge savings.”
To learn more about Zach’s journey, you can follow him on LinkedIn. And if you’re interested in trying Onawa Pet for your dog, you can sign up for the waitlist at onawapet.com.
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