#23 - Disney for Dogs

**SPEAKER_1** (0:00)
All right, everyone, we have a quick ad for HubSpot, but I wanna let you know, I actually use HubSpot and I use their sales tool, which is what this ad is for. HubSpot sales platform, it makes it just easier to sell stuff, to do it faster, to look at your pipeline, to see what sales are gonna happen. Just prospect to cold outreach and get more customers faster and easier. Plus, it's easy to learn and free to start. So you guys can check it out, hubspot.com/sales.

**SPEAKER_2** (0:25)
Who's that good looking boy? Today, we are gonna be opening our first BarkBox for my dog, Rustin.

**Henrik Werdelin** (0:37)
I made my first million by trying to make it Disney for dogs. I think when you build a big business like we have now, you wanna try to come up with these glorious stories about like how insightful you were. It wasn't really a big deal. Like I think it was kind of like the least shitty idea of the day. We definitely didn't think it would be a big business.
I think what we saw pretty quickly was that it was working.

**SPEAKER_4** (1:04)
You guys are doing somewhere on the order of 250 million in revenue annually. Five million is not enough.

**Henrik Werdelin** (1:12)
10 million.

**SPEAKER_4** (1:13)
15 million.

**SPEAKER_5** (1:13)
20 million dollars.

**SPEAKER_1** (1:14)
100 million dollars. Half a billion in revenue.

**SPEAKER_5** (1:16)
850 million dollars.

**SPEAKER_4** (1:18)
One or two people in a bedroom actually the threats to these like giant multi-million dollar companies because you have creativity and you have nothing to lose.

**SPEAKER_1** (1:26)
Add another zero to that price buddy.

**SPEAKER_2** (1:28)
Add two more zeros.

**Henrik Werdelin** (1:30)
My first million.

**SPEAKER_5** (1:34)
Every week we sit down with self-made millionaires and ask them, how did you do it? I didn't start a podcast. I started my own personal business school and the teachers are the successful entrepreneurs behind the biggest brands and businesses that we find today.
I wanted to know the real stories with all the details like how did you get your first 100 customers? What did it feel like when shit hit the fan? I ask them, how did you spend your money now that you're rich? And what would you do if you were starting over from scratch again today?

**SPEAKER_4** (2:02)
If you're like me and you want to own your own business instead of living a nine to five job, this is the podcast for you. The Hustle presents My First Million.
We're here, it's nice to meet you.

**Henrik Werdelin** (2:18)
Thank you.

**SPEAKER_4** (2:19)
I'm excited to talk to you. So let's tell the people what it is that you did and what you've built. So tell us, how did you make your first million?

**Henrik Werdelin** (2:27)
I made my first million by trying to make a Disney for Dogs.

**SPEAKER_4** (2:32)
Disney for Dogs?

**Henrik Werdelin** (2:33)
I think that was always kind of like the idea. I made my co-founders and we love our dogs and we wanted to make cool stuff for them. And so that was the premise.

**SPEAKER_4** (2:42)
And why Disney? Is that like, are you a massive Disney fan?
What do you like about Disney?

**Henrik Werdelin** (2:46)
I think any sane person is a massive Disney fan. I think from a business point of view, though, what's fascinating with them is that it's a little bit tough to peck what they are, right? They make toys, they make theme parts, they make content, they make all these different things. And so I think what was intriguing for a slightly kind of neurotic entrepreneur like myself was this idea that you could anger your businesses, not in a product that you were making, but in a promise or a problem you're solving for your customer.
And we wanted to make our dogs happy.

**SPEAKER_4** (3:14)
Were you a dog person on a scale of one to crazy dog person? Like I have a dog, I'm crazy about my dog. I see people in the dog park who are like, they own four dogs, they eat off the same plate type of thing. Give me a sense of the spectrum. Where are you at just before you started this business? Was that your life passion or?

**Henrik Werdelin** (3:33)
No, I think maybe appropriate Monday morning confession. I think I'm a little bit with you. I love my dog. My dog is my little child, and I will do anything for her. I'm not necessarily somebody who have 100 dogs at home. I think in many ways, it's the same way that I have with my kid. I love my son, but it's not that I'm going, there's 20 babies on the plane.