Key Takeaways Joe Spector, 45, is the CEO of Dutch, an online telehealth service for pets.
In a new interview, Spector shared that Dutch had no customers the first few weeks after launch.
Here’s how Spector got his first customer, and half a million more.
In July 2021, Joe Spector had all of the right ingredients to launch his new venture. Spector was working on Dutch, an online veterinary care service that would meet pet owners at their moment of need. For a subscription fee, customers could access unlimited medical care and medicine.
Spector had the experience to make Dutch a success. He was previously a co-founder of the $9.3 billion telehealth startup Hims & Hers, and he helped lead the company to a $1 billion initial public offering in January 2021.
He had the funding: Spector had raised $5 million in seed funding from venture capital firm Forerunner Ventures to get Dutch started.
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He also had the right people: Using the seed money, Spector hired five employees, including a chief medical officer, two engineers and legal and marketing personnel, to work on Dutch with him.
The only problem? At launch, Dutch had zero customers.
“It was crazy, because we had just raised $5 million,” Spector tells Entrepreneur in a new interview. “I had very many sleepless nights and an ulcer, and it was a lot of pressure. It wasn’t just that we raised this money, but these five people decided to leave their jobs to come work with me on this business.”
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