Whoever crowned NYC as the city that never sleeps knew what they were talking about. Between big meaningful jobs and maintaining a social life, balance isn’t always the easiest thing in the world for city people or their furry companions. In an effort to address your dog’s anxiety, Maev provides community and wellness products for city dogs and their people.

When it comes to the pet industry, co-founders Katie Spies and Christine Busaba realized that there was no single brand catering to a growing segment of consumers who were craving community and viewed their dog not only as a pet but as a vital member of their household. The dog mama. You know who you are. The type of girl who decided to buy a dog even though everyone around you said it was not a good idea. The feminine juggler, the woman who works long hours, has a demanding social life, and yet is still looking to commit to something other than herself. And, the seeker. A woman in her early to mid-thirties who is still single and decided to purchase a dog for social companionship in the hopes of making new friends. Maev sees and hears you, this one is for you!

“It’s hard to raise a dog in a city that isn’t designed for the dog or the woman, and we want to support and help inspire her in doing this hard thing”, says Katie.

Maev is a wellness company for city dogs and it’s humans in NYC, with a core focus on, you guessed it, the woman. Through Katie’s first-hand experience of getting a dog, George, a greyhound back in 2015 (named after her father), she became fascinated with this psychographic and interviewed over 50 women to understand their pain points. While most people think having a dog is amazing, and yes it is true, the reality of the situation is never spoken about or shared. Maev wants to address this reality with their community and blog, Maev World.

“We want to create a brand that people will shout from their rooftops to connect with.” - Katie

In addition to its community, Maev sells raw meals, bone broth, vitamins, and accessories. Their strategy is not solely focused on product, but rather on identity recognition, brand, and content. Katie tells us how “if you take a look at the D2C landscape right now, we are still in V1. Companies are selling the same product or a slightly better version than the existing offering, but going direct to consumers, online and removing the retail middleman. Meanwhile, the biggest challenge in the pet industry currently has been creating healthier food options and distribution.
We know that community-oriented businesses are more meaningful than a utilitarian commodity sold online and we are trying to crack that code by addressing our target market.”

“We want to start with the healthiest and most accessible food.”- Katie

Katie mentions how her background in industrial design and product thinking influences the way she interacts with the world. “Food for dogs is a way to help reduce their anxiety”, says Katie. In an attempt to approach the problem differently, Katie worked with multiple Vets to formulate what would become raw meals and packaged it into ice-cream pints. “We created a design system that could be consumerized by freezing food into individual cubes you don’t have to touch, cut, or portion size. Just pour it directly into the bowl”, says Katie. In fact, dogs like the crunch from the ice!

Maev co-creates products with its consumers via its private VIP slack channel and has tested with over 400 women who provide product feedback and insights on owning a dog. In the early days, (back in the summer of 2018), Katie joined a “women in tech” meetup group to identify what would become her target market at a low cost. To take things further, she also became a dog walker for 9 months in SF before attending Harvard Business School as she was so fascinated by this “consumer”.

On Finding a Co-Founder

Co-founders Katie and Christine met each other during a “forced bonding” session for a project-based class while in their first year of grad school at Harvard Business School (HBS or B-School as the cool kids say). “We immediately clicked and became friends almost instantly. We had never seen each other on campus before, and then all of a sudden our lives were intertwined and we saw each other everywhere”, says Katie.

As for their roles and responsibilities, Katie heads up the company as its CEO, while Christine handles everything from brand, content, and community as its CMO. When not working on Maev, Christine can be found consuming content, visiting McNally Jackson bookstore in SoHo for inspiration, and geeking out over history topics.

Neither Katie nor Christine had a background in entrepreneurship (other than a few tutoring sessions in high school) but were drawn together over their passion for city dogs and their people. They moved to NYC upon graduation in May 2019 to build Maev.

The Childhood

Born in Kansas City, Katie grew up in a family of lawyers, judges, and politicians. “I was very money motivated as a kid and would always find ways to negotiate and increase my allowance”, says Katie. “I was constantly building things and collecting animals. Lizards, frogs, random creatures, anything that could be found in my backyard.” It makes complete sense that Katie would launch a dog company years later, right? Probably not. Such is the beauty of the startup ecosystem and our founders. They almost NEVER tend to have experience in the venture they set out to build.

The Advice

One of the challenges the Maev girls have faced while building out the company was navigating family members and investors who didn’t understand what they were trying to accomplish. Their advice for those looking to build something:

Change the way consumers think by approaching the problem in a new way.
Identify the external reason why you are launching a company and who you are looking to create value for.
Seek out diverse people with similar experiences for product testing.
Build a community online and offline and put a human face behind this. This tactic will resonate more with consumers.
Co-create content with your community by allowing readers to submit articles, provide feedback, and produce user-generated content.
Create a slack channel of hyper-engaged ambassadors.
Keep a solid tribe around you.

For those dog mamas who are looking to level up their dogs' diet, mention promo code “radiche” for 20% off when you shop Maev.

Photos courtesy of Maev.

Written by Alysha Malik.