November 14th 2024
The smallest of sparks that would eventually become Pawfinity® began during what we consider the "dark ages" of the pet service business software days, somewhere between 2008 and 2009. There were only two solutions to pick from back then, both being installed PC software, and both incredibly restrictive and expensive. Neither of these solutions appealed to our founder as they opened their pet supply store in a small strip mall in Myrtle Beach South Carolina (USA).
A new business, new bills, new challenges (including learning to groom in real-time), and economic difficulties triggered by the housing market crash lead the business in a new direction after the first 18 months. The grooming salon and pet supply store was transitioned into a more efficient mobile grooming business. The challenges of mobile grooming were an incredible change from the salon. Generator and vehicle breakdowns, environmental obstacles ranging from humidity to freezing temperatures (yes, even at the beach), gas prices, scheduling, appointment routing and GPS, road rage... (ok, yeah. maybe that was on both sides every now and then 😂). The list goes on and on.
After the death of the second business Blackberry, and the loss of every client and appointment record, our founder decided it enough was enough. It was time to build something to protect precious client and appointment data. "Apps" were barely emerging with the very first iPhone and their performance was... not so great. The decision was made to leverage high performance web technology that would age well and evolve with the times.
"I wanted the service to be attainable by the average groomer, working to make a living, all the while supporting themselves and their family." - Bill, Founder
Fast forward to today. In the 14 years since the beginning, the Pawfinity® project which initially began life as an exceptionally modest client storage system, is in use in 12 countries, some where English is a second (or third) language. We continue to set the benchmark by which other pet service software is measured for speed, security, and uptime, and our performance in these 3 key metrics is currently unmatched.
Pawfinity® is developed today just as it was at the beginning, line-by-line hand crafted code written without the assistance of external frameworks or other pre-packaged software. Our team takes great pride in being "code purists" who still understand the quality of well-written custom code. The difference is night and day.
When we say we are the world's favorite pet service software, it isn't just because we believe it. It's because you've shown us that's what you believe, and we thank you - YOU ROCK!
There are some things Pet Pros should never have to worry about. 1) paying exorbitant rates for software to help manage their business and 2) anything about technology.
Pawfinity® is and always has been built, maintained, and supported by a team of professionals in the USA. Zero outsourcing. Zero grey-area data management. Zero third-party pressure or influence.