Gabriel Gagliardoni is a dog lover. After leaving Venezuela for Argentina, in the apartment he was renting they prevented him from having pets. A feeling of nostalgia invaded him every time he came home. Something had to be done to remedy the situation.
“During that time, I was very homesick because there was no one to lick my face in the morning, and no one to greet me when I arrived. That led me to think that, although I couldn’t have dogs in my house, I could take care of and walk someone else’s dogs”, recalls Gabriel, marketing director of dog walker.
He decided to walk the pets of his neighbors and acquaintances. At first, without charging a single peso, because she did it for pleasure. However, he thought that there are many people who do not have enough time to spend with their canines, and these, in turn, can suffer anxiety from being locked up for many hours.
Initially, he created Woofi, a beta platform that would provide care and walking services for the dogs of people who could not be with them while they work. This idea did not take off with him, because before its launch he met his competition, dogwalker.com, who like him shared the same passion for canines. So Woofi was absorbed.
Today, more than a year after the merger, they are present in six countries, five of them in Latin America and one in Europe. His business looks promising, because only in Mexico it is estimated that the value of the animal care market by the end of 2022 could reach 2 thousand 735 million dollars, according to data from Euromonitor.
Furthermore, in the last 20 years, the growth of the global pet industry has tripled its size thanks to the millennial generation, and today it is a market of 17 billion dollars that is expected to continue to rise, according to a report by Deloitte.
Gabriel Gagliardoni / Photo: Courtesy Paseaperros.com
From soccer player to dog walker
Gabriel Gagliardoni was a soccer player and model for commercials. She was always characterized by fulfilling every dream that she proposed. He played soccer in Italy, but “I was unlucky”, he recalls, because for a year he suffered various injuries that prevented him from continuing to kick the ball.
Upon his return to his native Venezuela, he continued with his university studies in Economics, a degree that he did not finish because it did not match his goals. “Having dropped out of university has been one of the best things that has happened to me in my life,” says Gabriel.
However, the political and economic situation in his country forced him to start a new path in Argentina. But before leaving, together with his two friends and now partners, Edgar Anzola and Javier Rios, they started a profile on Instagram: the kilombo, account they opened with only $4,000 between the three of them, and now they have 3.5 million followers, making him one of the largest influencers in the region and one of the top in Argentina.
Currently, he maintains a relationship with hundreds of influencers in several countries and among his followers Lionel Messi stands out. This account monetizes through advertising that, according to the entrepreneur, has a reach 15 million monthly impressions and has been a fundamental watershed for Walkers .
Dog walkers and earn money
For Gabriel, the internet was his most powerful weapon to start his business, looked for information and validated that his idea already worked in other places, that was what triggered his desire to make it a reality. Some time later, just before going out to the market with Woofi, at the event of Endevor Argentina 2017 met Patricio Romero and Mauro Zadunaisky, who had a similar project with Paseaperros.com, so “instead of competing, we decided to merge,” recalls Gabriel.
Gabriel took the baton and now leads the team in Chile. Dogwalkers have been operating for two years, they started in Argentina, then Mexico, followed by Chile, Spain, Peru and Colombia; Currently there have been more than 85 thousand 500 ridesmore of 5,300 nights of accommodation and have more than 20 thousand walkers and caregivers globally approved.
“Many times we are not aware of everything our pets suffer when they spend hours locked up in the house while they wait for us, which can range from anxiety to health problems,” says the entrepreneur, “we want to make many people aware in Latin America and that if they want them, they can get a walker who can be with them while they work.”
However, this business not only cares about the canines, but also for young people who do not have a job, a problem that afflicts the entire region, or for those who are looking for an alternative as a method of relaxation and break with the routine.
“This is an opportunity to generate money with animals and that is also good for health,” says Gabriel.
According to the consulting firm Deloitte, living with animals brings benefits such as: reduce allergies, anxiety and stress, improve the health of the heart, mind and quality of sleep, among others.
To be a walker, in addition to being of legal age, you need to love animals, be committed and responsible. However, these are not the only requirements, but Dog Walker has a team that is in charge of filtering the profiles, in order to maintain quality in the community, of which only 24% of the postulates.
Team of Paseaperros.com / Photo: Courtesy Paseaperros.com
The business model is based on charge 20% per transaction made on the platform by walk and care services, the first being the most requested. Prices are regulated by the market, where the walker establishes the cost of the ride, as well as their schedules. In Argentina, the cost per ride is around 70 pesos, per hour and a half; in Mexico, the costs go from 60 pesos to 90 on average, for the same travel time.
The care service is given for periods such as the holiday season and they have veterinary coverage for any emergency. The dogs stay in the caretaker’s house, and the night is around 200 pesos.
If you want to hire, the user sends their location and the list of walkers in the area is displayed, there you can find out their profile, qualification and contact. Or, the days and times to walk the dog are published, the walkers apply and the user chooses. Payments can be made via debit or credit card.
Among his plans for the future is implement a GPS so that canine owners can see where their pet is located in real time, as well as a chat to send photos and videos to their owners, when they are traveling.
for Gabriel, dogs are synonymous with love and their main engine to get out of bed every day. “When you are going to undertake everything it is very complicated, but if you do something that you like and you have a clear purpose, everything can be achieved. So you don’t need a degree to achieve something, or to acquire new knowledge”.