HonestDog

HonestDog was born out of a simple frustration: buying a dog in Germany was opaque, risky, and full of bad actors. Puppy mills disguised as reputable breeders, misleading health claims, and zero accountability.

I built HonestDog as a transparency platform — a place where buyers could find verified, responsible breeders and sellers could differentiate themselves through transparency. The MVP was built on Bubble, and I iterated relentlessly based on user feedback.

Key Results

• Raised $700K+ as a solo founder
• Scaled to €20M annual GMV
• Built the full product from zero — design, development, ops, marketing
• Managed the entire product lifecycle from ideation to scaling

What I Learned

Building HonestDog taught me that the hardest part of a startup isn’t the product — it’s the relentless prioritization of what matters most right now. Every day is a triage exercise, and your ability to make good decisions under uncertainty is what separates companies that survive from those that don’t.

It also taught me the power of building in public, talking to users constantly, and being willing to throw away code that doesn’t serve the user. Technical elegance means nothing if no one uses your product.