When a scary experience inspires your business ✨
When we go through the motions we’ve done countless times before, we never consider this time, something might go wrong.
At that point, we have two options. We can suck it up and deal with the consequences and frustrations of a process that doesn’t quite work.
Or, we can do something about it.
When Lauren Anders Brown, Co-Founder and CEO of PadsPass, found herself separated from her sweet dog that day, she had never dreamed of being a founder.
The traumatic experience of having her dog taken away sparked something in her…
Ad she was determined to figure out a solution so travelers, and their pets, don’t have to suffer.
When choosing her own path started to make sense
“...I was looking at my boss, thinking, ‘I don’t want to do this for the rest of my life.’ I had been given this golden ticket but I was like, I’m not a fit for this. It’s too much. I would see how stressed he got with figuring out all the logistics… So I stopped working on major motion pictures.”
When it came to a career, Lauren’s life was set. Her father ran a studio in New York so she grew up around the film industry, and all that came with it.
Celebrities, sets, cameras, lighting… Her behind the scenes access helped her learn the trade, leading her to become the filmmaker she wanted to be since childhood.
But this inside peek led her to a harsh reality check. Once she was placed on the staff for her first TV show, she quickly realized, this wasn’t the life for her.
Taking what she had learned, she made the shift into documentary work, where she could film in low-resource settings and conflict zones around the world, focusing on global health and human rights issues.
But then, another reality check.
Stuck in Bermuda during the pandemic without any of the equipment she needed to film, she felt powerless. A new thought entered her head: What if I couldn’t make a film ever again?
As the world started to open back up and film work looked a lot different, Lauren’s friend asked if she’d come on board to help his startup.
Figuring it might be wise to learn something new, just in case, she agreed. It opened her eyes to a whole new world of startups and entrepreneurship and it got her thinking.
Before Covid, Lauren had traveled quite extensively and she always brought her 4-legged sidekick.
Over the course of 13 years, her dog had been on 75 flights. But the 70th flight was a pivotal moment in Lauren’s story.
It was a trip they had taken many times and her dog was screened by the same vet as usual, but everything went wrong.
An appointment too close to the trip, an incorrect dewormer, and wrongly-approved paperwork meant that when they landed, her dog was taken.
All these memories came flooding back when she was in the startup setting, and with a little experience under her belt, it was time to figure out a solution.
Starting the journey without a roadmap
“I realized that this was a completely untapped industry, because you have to kind of be insane to want to bring everything together. The government requirements and airline requirements for each destination and every place that your pet has been, it was not going to be a small thing.”
Lauren was about to commit to a huge undertaking, but her passion for this project kept her moving forward.
Knowing her small startup experience wouldn’t be enough, she enrolled in an accelerator program in Bermuda and worked toward creating her first prototype.
Veterinarians loved it. It saved them time and made filling out daunting documentation easy.
Even still, creating something that hadn’t been done before meant there was no blueprint. And as a new founder, she dealt with the constant doubt of wondering if she was doing anything right.
Reaching out to a mentor, and serial entrepreneur, she willingly absorbed any and all advice she could get.
She connected with local entrepreneurs too. Even though they were in different industries, they had experienced the struggles and concerns she was facing. And now, she didn’t have to face those alone anymore.
She found various legal advisors and built a team. And the more positive feedback she got, the harder she worked.
When in the film industry, she became a workaholic… Until exhaustion, anger, and burnout made her realize working 7 days a week wasn’t sustainable.
Moving into documentary work, she was able to find balance. Shifting into her own startup, she’s thrown that back out the window.
“Now, everything has flipped. I'm working non-stop again because I'm at a really critical point. I'm just about to do our second fundraise and we’re getting great traction.”
But now, Lauren can sense when she’s starting to get burnt out and even when there’s a lot to do (is there ever not?), she’ll take a step back and give herself a break.
And while no one on the team pushes back or objects, she still feels a bit of guilt. When the to-do list is never ending, how can she possibly stop working?
Embracing the title of CEO
“For the longest time, I resisted calling myself the CEO of my own company. I just didn't feel like I wanted to have that name, I didn't want to carry that weight. I was the founder, I was the visionary, I knew exactly where we needed to go… But at the same time, I didn't feel like I was a CEO. It was definitely Imposter Syndrome.”
Getting past the initial hurdles of founding her business, Lauren started to experience some of the unexpected mental challenges many of us face.
First, she had a hard time believing she was a true CEO.
A mentor she had after her accelerator program lovingly explained that if she was going to start fundraising, she’d have to accept her role as a CEO, and be okay with it.
Seeing others slap “CEO” after their name but not run businesses in the way she wanted to, she started to realize that the title could look different for everyone.
And for Lauren, knowing she would truly do anything to see her company succeed helped her accept she was true CEO material.
When potential investors started inquiring about PadsPass, she realized she’d need a bookkeeper. Being in the initial stages, however, she didn’t want to foot the bill for one.
So she learned how to do it herself.
She bought the software, took classes, got 1:1 help, and soon, she was keeping her own books.
“That was the moment where I was like, ‘I'm a CEO. I’m learning to do stuff that I don't want to know how to do, and maybe I didn't know before, but it's all to move the business forward.’ …It made me proud to save that money and to be able to use it in other ways. As founders, we have to be scrappy and do what we can to keep going.”
Embracing this newly “earned” title helped her keep her head up through other struggles too.
Whether it’s the feeling of loneliness that pops up, the difficulty of working on something so novel, there’s no blueprint, the uncertainty around what metrics to use or what copy to write… Or the overwhelm, the frustration, the tight budget, Lauren kept her eye on her North Star.
The desire to figure this out and help other traveling pet parents kept her going, no matter what.
It’s not just the travelers that benefit
“The part I care most about is just making sure that whatever money you want to spend on your pet, or your vacation, or yourself… That you can do it without any stress. That's what keeps me going.”
When Lauren was asked by a respected advisor, “What’s your exit number?” the answer was always clear.
It wasn’t a number in the millions. It was simple: How many countries can I go to with my dog and not think about it?
Having experienced the struggles of traveling with a pet firsthand, it’s easy to stay focused when the very thing she’s creating will prevent others from going through the hassles.
Travelers get to move from place to place without worrying if everything was done correctly and pets get to reunite with their owner promptly after landing.
But it’s also the vets who benefit. They become visibly excited when they use the PadsPass health certificate generator or discover that paperwork now takes just minutes to complete.
Various governments trust and approve this service because it keeps everything in order, all in one place, making it easy for officials to check off that their 4-legged visitor is good to go.
Permits that used to take up to 48 hours have been completed in as little as 20 minutes.
Listening to what people need and committing to make something that would actually, and then hearing their praises, is a constant reminder that Lauren’s work is truly helping so many people.
“I know it can be really scary and intimidating to get feedback… To do user experiences, do focus groups, or even just a one-on-one, because of that fear of rejection. But you also get the really nice parts of hearing people say, ‘Thank you so much for building this, thank you so much for making this, thank you.’”
And interestingly, it’s not just the money-spending people or the adventure-taking pets who benefit… It goes much deeper than that.
When Lauren was filming documentaries, she started to understand why all this paperwork, vaccinations, and restrictions are really put in place.
Biosecurity is a real thing, and when you’re visiting places that don’t have certain diseases or pests, introducing something foreign could become catastrophic for the flora and fauna.
Key takeaways from the ongoing journey
Though Lauren’s journey is far from over, a few things have really stuck with her over the years.
🌱 Time is super precious
“When you give your time for some things that are within your scope and sometimes, a bit outside, you do get something back.” Opportunities will always come up, but they all might not be aligned, so choose how you spend your time wisely.
🌱 Partnerships are key
“Having good, sound partnerships, especially when you're early starting, is a great way to build authority and find out where your product-market fit truly is.”
🌱 It’s okay to be overwhelmed
“It's an overwhelming thing being a founder, and it doesn't mean that you're doing it wrong. You're doing a lot and you’re allowed to feel overwhelmed. It’ll pass.”
You get plenty of advice. What you rarely get is a pause. Each month, we’ll share a simple prompt to help you step out of execution mode and consider what “founding well” looks like in your world right now.
When you're responsible for a business, it's easy to view every hour through the lens of usefulness. But underneath the deadlines, decisions, and demands, there's still a person with interests, curiosities, and desires that exist independently of what they produce. This is a chance to spend a few minutes with that person.
Feel free to pull out old fashioned pen and paper, or create a new doc just for journaling, and spend a few focused moments thinking about the following:
- What would I do more often if I trusted that enjoyment was reason enough?
- If I didn't need to be productive today, what would I be curious about?
- What activities make me lose track of time in the best way?
- What did I love before it had to be useful?
- What have I been telling myself I'll do 'someday'?
There’s no right or wrong answer. If nothing comes up, that’s okay too! Use this as space to notice what is real for you today. A few messy lines are enough.
If you're comfortable sharing your insights with us, let us know at foundingwell@vallelegal.com.
