Fresh Patch

How did creating real grass patches for dogs come about as a business idea?

My wife and I downsized from a house with a yard into a condo with a balcony. Chloe (our dog) was extremely upset about the move. To make her happy, I began purchasing sod from our local garden center and constructed a “mini lawn” on the balcony. Chloe loved the grassy area — the problem was that maintaining it became a chore. That is when I came up with the idea for our convenient, fully disposable grass delivery service.

What was it like getting ready for and then going on Shark Tank?

Getting ready for Shark Tank is like preparing yourself for a boxing match. You know who you’re going up against and you have plenty of time to get yourself ready for success. I watched all the previous shows. I learned my company numbers inside and out. I knew exactly what to expect when they opened those doors into the tank.

How has ShipStation helped you with your business?

ShipStation is powerful software. I run this company from a laptop and I often have nightmares about what would happen if my laptop broke. My latest dream involved my 4 year old daughter throwing it down the stairs. If she did end up breaking my computer everything would be OK because all of our important information is safe with ShipStation in the cloud. Every order, every customer, every store/channel we sell our products through… all that information funnels into ShipStation and can be accessed on any computer. I couldn’t imagine running a subscription service without it.

What’s your favorite ShipStation feature?

Tags. People order our product weekly, bi-weekly, and monthly. When new orders come in we tag them a certain color depending on the frequency of delivery. This is how we can easily keep track of who gets which shipments on which given week.