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Babson Business: Pawspot, Inc.

Name of business: Pawspot, Inc. ; www.pawspot.com 

Mission: To become the premier web-based localized social network for pet lovers.

Began: Founded 11/2005; launched 7/06.

Initial Investment: $490,000 seed round – me personally $75,000.

Broke Even: Per business plan, will reach break even Q1 of 2008. Where: Woburn, MA

Founder: Frank D. Guinan, frank@pawspot.com, 508-375-0420

Babson Connection: Alumnus of both programs '83 and '90, respectively.

Employees: 4 full time.

Founder's Past Life/Business: After being a professional student at Babson – CFO $20MM steel fabricator; small business consultant/accountant.

How The Idea Began: Original idea came from Mark Roberge, which he conceived in 2004 as a response to a close friend's difficulty finding adequate pet care for his dog while taking a vacation.

Initial Preparation to Germinate Idea: Mark leveraged his education at MIT Sloan to tweak and test the idea with the academicians @ the school. We connected 8/05 to discuss possible synergies – we founded the company together in 11/2005.

Favorite Thing about the Business: The localized element – being able to help people find local resources to better manage their pet's life is extremely rewarding. I also enjoy the team – a very hard working bright group of guys.

Worst Thing About the Business: Raising money!!

Biggest Challenge: Raising money!!

Lesson Learned: Need lots of investors – hard to find one or two people to invest sizeable amount of funds – we needed to anticipate average investments of < $25K. Also, in building the site, we need to keep our ears tuned to the community – they are the best source of info to successfully build the site.