A boarding kennel owner in suburban Denver gets a frantic call on Friday afternoon: a family's flight leaves in 4 hours, and their regular boarding facility is full. Can she take their golden retriever? She checks her paper calendar, counts available kennels, and realizes she can't remember if the Reynolds' dog is leaving today or tomorrow. She asks the family to hold while she flips through a binder looking for vaccination records.
The US pet boarding market is $9+ billion and growing. Pet owners treat boarding like daycare — they need to trust the facility with their 'fur baby.' But most small boarding facilities (10-30 kennels) run on paper calendars, binders of vaccination records, and memory. Gingr ($95-265/mo) is the market leader but targets larger facilities with complex operations and staff management. For a small kennel run by an owner and one part-time employee, it's overkill.
The gap is a focused boarding scheduler at $49-99/mo for small facilities: visual kennel calendar (which kennels are occupied when), online booking with deposit collection, vaccination tracking with expiry alerts, feeding schedule and medication notes per pet, and owner communication (photo updates, pickup reminders). Not daycare features, not grooming features — just boarding done right. Recurring holiday customers are the lifeblood of boarding businesses, so CRM features for repeat bookings are essential.
💰 Revenue Blueprint
Three-tier value ladder to monetize from day one
Up to 20 kennels, booking calendar, vaccination tracking, basic reporting
40 kennels, online booking, feeding/medication notes, owner messaging, photo updates
Unlimited kennels, deposit collection, recurring bookings, staff accounts, advanced reporting
📊 Market Evidence
The Market Gap
Gingr ($95+) is complex and expensive for small facilities. Time To Pet focuses on pet sitting, not boarding. No simple boarding-focused tool at $49-99/mo with visual kennel calendar and vaccination tracking.
🏆 Competitor Landscape
How existing players stack up in this market
| Competitor | Pricing | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Gingr | $95-265/mo | Pet care business software |
| PetExec | $75-275/mo | Daycare + boarding software |
| DaySmart Pet | $49-199/mo | Grooming + boarding management |
| Time To Pet | $49-199/mo | Pet sitting + dog walking |
| Easy Busy Pets | $50-200/mo | Pet business management |
Pet care business software
Daycare + boarding software
Grooming + boarding management
Pet sitting + dog walking
Pet business management
🛠️ Recommended Tech Stack
Suggested tools and technologies to build this idea
Why this stack: Simple, focused tool for boarding-only facilities. Visual calendar for kennel availability. Vaccination tracking with auto-expiry alerts.
Strengths
- ✓$9B US pet boarding market
- ✓Pet ownership at all-time high
- ✓Recurring bookings = predictable revenue
Score Breakdown
Good market signals with room for growth
Market (20%) + Revenue (20%) + Trend (15%) + Competition (15%) + Build (15%) + Pricing (15%)
🚀 Start Building
Copy a prompt into your favorite AI coding tool and start building this idea right now.
Build a SaaS product called "Pet Boarding Scheduler". ## Product Overview Booking and management for pet boarding, daycare, and grooming businesses. ## Problem Pet boarding facilities use paper calendars or complex enterprise tools. Need kennel-specific features like vaccination tracking ## Solution Booking platform with kennel management, vaccination verification, feeding schedules, and owner communication ## Target Audience indie hackers, small businesses, and solopreneurs ## Tech Stack - Next.js 15 (App Router) with TypeScript - Tailwind CSS v4 for styling - Supabase for auth, database, and storage - Vercel for deployment - shadcn/ui for UI components - Framer Motion for animations ## MVP Features to Build 1. Landing page with clear value proposition 2. User authentication (sign up, sign in, forgot password) 3. Core product functionality based on the solution above 4. Dashboard for users to manage their data 5. Pricing page with at least 2 tiers (free + paid) 6. Basic settings/profile page ## Known Competitors Gingr, PetExec, DaySmart Pet, Time To Pet, Easy Busy Pets ## Key Risks to Address Standard market entry risks ## Deployment 1. Set up Supabase project and configure environment variables 2. Deploy to Vercel with `npx vercel --prod` 3. Set up custom domain 4. Configure Supabase RLS policies for security ## Instructions Start by creating the project structure, then build the landing page first. Use server components where possible. Make it mobile-responsive from the start. Focus on getting the core value loop working before adding polish.