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Dog-Walking Startup 'Wag' Files For Bankruptcy (sfgate.com) 89

Posted by BeauHD from the pawsitively-insolvent dept.
An anonymous reader quotes a report from SFGATE: During the 2010s' boom in on-demand services such as Uber and DoorDash, Wag staked a claim to the market for dog walking. It became a buzzy, high-flying company, at one point gaining a valuation of around $650 million, and grew to offer a whole range of tech products for pet care. But as the years passed, struggles mounted and profits remained elusive. On July 21, Wag filed (PDF) for bankruptcy. To stay alive, the San Francisco-headquartered company is now using bankruptcy court to restructure in what's known as a Chapter 11 process. Its lines of business -- including gig-work dog walking and sitting, pet insurance, and the veterinary tool "Furscription" -- will remain open, according to a news release. If a judge approves Wag's restructuring plan, it will take the company off the public markets and into the private hands of a company called Retriever.

On the same day of the bankruptcy filing, Wag's chief financial officer, Alec Davidian, submitted a document (PDF) supporting and explaining the move. He wrote that Wag's "monthly revenues declined rapidly after March 2020 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic" and pointed to $69.5 million in losses from 2022 through 2024. The losses weren't Wag's only problem. The company had taken out debt in 2022 when it went public, and in that loan agreement, it had set a minimum level of cash Wag would need to have on hand at all times. This year, Wag dropped below that amount, Davidian wrote. Wag also failed to find a third-party deal to get more money, the CFO noted, and its debt obligations are set to mature in August, meaning the company was "facing a dire liquidity crisis." So, Wag opted for the bankruptcy proceeding, in which it plans to eliminate the 2022 debt, which is currently held by Retriever. "Through the Restructuring," Davidian wrote, "[Wag] will emerge from these Chapter 11 Cases a stronger company, with a more sustainable capital structure that is better aligned with [Wag's] present and future operating prospects."

Dog-Walking Startup 'Wag' Files For Bankruptcy More | Reply

Dog-Walking Startup 'Wag' Files For Bankruptcy

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  • Oh holy shit (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Random361 ( 6742804 ) on Tuesday July 29, 2025 @09:10AM (#65552692)

    Oh holy shit. Who the fuck thought this was a good idea? Venture capitalists have to be some of the stupidest people in the history of humanity. But I guess they only have to score once. Jesus Christ.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by dbialac ( 320955 )
      Somebody who works more hours than they want to, for example somebody who has to work 2 jobs on certain days. An additional solution to the problem is to move the company to a city that has a significantly lower cost of living.

      • Move the company? S.F. probably has a huge customer base. Lots of people who bought covid puppies but don't have the time for them.

        Move to my neighborhood? Doubtful that would be a wise decision. My neighbors have more chickens than my dog knows what to do with.

        • Re: (Score:3)

          by spudnic ( 32107 )

          I'm assuming all gig work setup is done online. Why does it matter where the company is located? Their corporate headquarters could be anywhere.

    • Re: (Score:2, Interesting)

      by dada21 ( 163177 )

      Everyone I know who makes my equivalent AGI, except for my household, has 1+ dogs, work crazy hours, and have been told that their dogs are lonely and depressed.

      Not one or two people.

      EVERYONE. Dozens upon dozens of my clients, colleagues, peers, friends from grade school, etc, have a dog or two, and then they have to have someone come spend time with said dog when they're putting 10+ hours away from them.

      Wag/Rover/etc is part of their crazy consumer spending. I always am shocked to hear they're spending $

    • 6 days a week. My kid is using these services sometimes. you work literally 6, 12 hour shifts in a week while you're trying to build your career. In exchange for that you might get a middle class wage 10 or 15 years down the line.

      At some point your dog needs to get taken out and if there's nobody around to do it your options are to come home to a pile of poop or pay somebody to do it.

      In the old days you would have a neighborhood kid do it but our birth rate is something like 1.6 and a lot of those

      • Re:Because people work 12 hours a day (Score:4, Insightful)

        by flink ( 18449 ) on Tuesday July 29, 2025 @11:43AM (#65553128)

        I agree with you in that having to work 12x6 is fucked. However, if you are in that shitty position, you should not own a dog. Leaving a dog home alone that much with no companionship is just not good for them, even if you can afford a walker. Someone in that position should do the responsible thing, both for their own finances and ethically, and just not take on pet ownership.

        • Re: (Score:3)

          by Zak3056 ( 69287 )

          However, if you are in that shitty position, you should not own a dog.

          My wife and I figured that out during covid. We were both "essential" employees and by the time we took care of work and our two children, we had no time for anything else. Our dogs were living shitty lives and it killed us to do it but we rehomed them. I was upset about it but after it was done, I was even more upset that we hadn't done it sooner... because we let them live those shitty lives while we kept on keeping on trying to figure things out.

        • Meh, people get dogs before they realize they're going to be in that shitty situation.

          Also why is it that the solution to late stage capitalism is always for the individual to make their lives worse?

          This cult of personal responsibility is killing us all. The obsession with individualism and ignoring systemic problems is going to fight Us in the ass hard and soon.

          • Re: (Score:1)

            by Anonymous Coward
            If you actually care about your pet, you want it to live a happy life, not just enrich yours when you have time for it. If you don't think that way, go play Nintendogs or The Sims Pets instead of having a pet.

            No one's saying a person that works 12 hours a day shouldn't have a pet at all, just not a dog. Maybe go with a cat, which - depending on individual personality, but generally - is content with being left alone all day (with some things it can do on its own) and uses a litterbox. Or some rats, whic

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by flink ( 18449 )

            Right, I agree with you, but the solution to late stage capitalism isn't more late stage capitalism by hiring a gig worker to watch your dog while you are at your soul destroying job. It's not the dog's fault that we created this fucked up system. I'm not even a dog lover. I'm decidedly dog agnostic, but I feel bad for all these animals that were bred for human companionship and are not getting their needs met.

        • The rescue dog my kid has being alone for a while is probably still better than putting them down.

          There are a hell of a lot of abandoned dogs and cats right now because we are heading into a recession. The shelters can't even begin to keep up.

      • Re: (Score:1)

        by Anonymous Coward

        So you take some of the money you got from those six 12-hour shifts and you pay somebody to take your dog out to poop.

        Your kid is working six 12 hour shifts per week and wasting money on owning a dog? You just can't cure stupid.

        You're broke and constantly trying to get other people to subsidize your poor decision making and it sounds like you've managed to pass your poor decision making skills on to the next generation. Maybe if you'd taught your kid not to take on expenses they can't afford they wouldn't have to work six 12 hour shifts per week.

        • The unabled/entitled always stub their toe. You deserve MOD-3 for saying the plain truth, not a zero (0). But the Slash-Dot wokers hate anyone who calls out their border-jumping & mogrelized pander-pals. Several times I've had to call-out "/.'" editors to  repair this very point for myself.

        • Re: (Score:3)

          by uncqual ( 836337 )

          Perhaps his kid is working those long hours not just to earn money but to, at least in his mind, to help build his career.

          Or, maybe, he's at a promising startup that's yet to release a product (let alone go public) and has gobs of stock options and he's not really working "shifts" but ends up working those sorts of hours to help make the company the next Alphabet so he will be a centi-millionaire or better. Paying a dog walker is pretty cheap if that's the case.

          Or, maybe, he's earning a lot per hour and muc

          • Perhaps his kid is working those long hours not just to earn money but to, at least in his mind, to help build his career.

            Good insight -- which was explicitly stated: "you work literally 6, 12 hour shifts in a week while you're trying to build your career. In exchange for that you might get a middle class wage 10 or 15 years down the line."

      • If you don't have the time to care for it and be the dog parent it deserves, don't get a dog.

        • Correct, don't *get* a dog.

          However, oftentimes one has a dog, along with the time to care for it, and then life situations change (divorce, employer change) and help is needed.
          Re-homing a dog could be worse than a shitty life, depending on the breed...

    • Oh holy shit. Who the fuck thought this was a good idea? Venture capitalists have to be some of the stupidest people in the history of humanity. But I guess they only have to score once. Jesus Christ.

      Masayoshi Son, the CEO of Softbank, thought it was a great idea and invested about $300 million in it 7 years ago. At some point he sold his shares back and left, but I'm sure they were sold at a big loss. Most of Son's VC investments have been terrible and a lot are stunning in that exactly as you post, it makes you wonder why anybody would invest in that kind of company. A very small number of his investments were massively successful, probably just by random luck. A few are OK enough. Most are

    • Oh holy shit. Who the fuck thought this was a good idea?

      "From the people that brought you DrKoop.com, comes a new service for your dog..."

    • My understanding is venture capitalists expect about 1 in 20 of their investments to be successful. The rest, I guess, are tax write-offs. And they may be stupid, but they have to be stupid rich just to get into the game.

    • Oh holy shit. Who the fuck thought this was a good idea?

      It legitimately was a good idea. Objectively so, it was a perfectly profitable business. A lot of idiots keep pets as a status symbol, or do so without any thought as to the effort which goes into maintaining a healthy pet relationship. Paid dog walkers, pet sitters, and other animal services are a thing, as are friendly neighbours (I walked our neighbour's dog yesterday). It's an industry that predates an online booking system and will continue to exist beyond it.

      What changed was COVID forced people to be

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by ceoyoyo ( 59147 )

      The downtown dog owner types I know spend several hundred dollars a month on dog walking. Making a little web page to help match up dog walkers and clients seems like a pretty reasonable idea.

      On demand rather than regularly scheduled, well, maybe. Hiring 2400 people to run your little web page, not so much. Spending half a billion dollars building your little web page, also not great.

    • It might not be a billion dollar business, but if you run it lean I don't see why it couldn't be profitable. Also makes perfect sense to be a portal for veterinary services and insurance.

  • "Wag opted for the bankruptcy proceeding, in which it plans to eliminate the 2022 debt, which is currently held by Retriever."

  • What value added? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by zuckie13 ( 1334005 ) on Tuesday July 29, 2025 @09:15AM (#65552712)

    I mean - walking dogs. Takes person to actually walk them. How much value is any of the other overhead really adding. Just another bullshit business to pocket half the profits and underpay the actual worker.

    • Re:What value added? (Score:5, Funny)

      by know-nothing cunt ( 6546228 ) on Tuesday July 29, 2025 @09:20AM (#65552728)

      Seriously. They should have called it Bitch.

    • Re:What value added? (Score:4, Insightful)

      by PackMan97 ( 244419 ) on Tuesday July 29, 2025 @09:46AM (#65552788)
      But it's so hard to trust your retiree living next door or the high schooler down the street (both of which could use some extra cash). I'd much rather go onto the internet and hire a complete stranger. This way I never have to engage in any sort of meaningful relationships. It's an introverts world these days.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by mjwx ( 966435 )

        But it's so hard to trust your retiree living next door or the high schooler down the street (both of which could use some extra cash). I'd much rather go onto the internet and hire a complete stranger. This way I never have to engage in any sort of meaningful relationships. It's an introverts world these days.

        This is why it's so hard to get a rescue dog these days, they want people who will *gasp* take care of the animal they adopt. The problem is that pets are so often acquired and kept as lifestyle pieces and the owners don't take care of them properly. If you get a dog that requires exercise, it's up to you to walk the bleeding thing.

        Remember a dog is not just for Christmas, if sliced thinly enough there will be some left for sandwiches on Boxing day.

    • Just another bullshit business to pocket half the profits and underpay the actual worker

      Exactly this is the problem. Walk the dog for the neighbors once through Wag, then make your own (cheaper) deal (where the walker keeps more of the payment and the dog owner pays less) with the dog owner without Wag for all future walks.
      How did Wag honestly think they would stay in business?

      • The problem with making a deal with an individual is that sometimes that individual won't be available, will forget, or just won't want to bother. I know of several local small businesses that walk dogs, but they all have more than one person available for each shift. There's still the problem that each person can only walk one dog at a time (or maybe two dogs), so your dog might get walked at 11 a.m. one day and 3 p.m. the next day.

        I've never heard of Wag before, but I've seen TV commercials for dog walk

      • Walk the dog for the neighbors once through Wag, then make your own (cheaper) deal

        If you only walk one dog you're not doing much business and are probably not even remotely interested in negotiating deals.

        How did Wag honestly think they would stay in business?

        Why wouldn't they? They were perfectly profitable pre-COVID. What has changed isn't the business model, it's the underlying way people treat their pets. Why pay someone to walk the dog now when I'm home. Incidentally since I'm home I can walk the neighbours dog too. Could you predict that we would experience a global pandemic that would result in people staying home from work, ending up

        • If you only walk one dog you're not doing much business and are probably not even remotely interested in negotiating deals

          Wag takes 40% of the "per-walk" fee plus a $2.99 booking fee, so a dog walker could charge 20% less than Wag and still make more money per walk. There's nothing limiting you from taking on multiple dogs; Wag (or Rover) becomes your recruitment portal - you find customers through there, build a relationship through a couple of walks / overnights, then work directly with the customer rather than giving a 40% fee cut to the middleman. I don't see why anyone who wants to make money walking dogs would consistent

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by AvitarX ( 172628 )

        Don't dog walkers often group together dogs from a similar area?

        3 people paying $10/hour vs 1 paying $20 or some such.

        I've never been a dog walker, but I've always assumed the people with lots of dogs at the dog park are.

    • The insurance part would be the value-added layer. My girlfriend started a dog-caring business for an extra allowance. When you look closely at the subject there are a few complicated scenarios that you need to consider and most of them include the dog biting you or someone else. And you also have medical emergencies that the dog-walker may have to deal with, including having to put the dog down and getting sued by the owner for doing so. Having a rulebook to go by and insurance coverage for all these crazy

    • Re:What value added? (Score:5, Interesting)

      by garcia ( 6573 ) on Tuesday July 29, 2025 @11:02AM (#65552998)

      I watch dogs (primarily overnight--most for 3-7 days but some 1 day and some >7d) via Rover. I make around $1500/month (pre-1099) and after their ~20% cut (of which most people give back to me in tips).

      I WFH so the largely passive income is nice. I wouldn't have found as many people w/o a platform to do the heavy lifting for me in finding new dogs.

      I am not advocating that we need to have these sorts of things in the market, but it does make for nice extra cash. YMMV.

    • You could say that about literally any system that brings together any parties. Why do you need Uber? Just phone for a ride. Why do you need Doordash? Just call a restaurant. Websites are dime a dozen, why bother with Amazon, sell your own product. etc. etc.

      Much of our modern commerce is created based on the convenience of instantly connecting a need to a service provider. That's all these guys did, and they are one of many such companies operating in many industries in the same way.

      They replace Google and

      • connecting you to someone who could walk your dog at the push of a button.

        When it's about pets, like here (or kids, etc.) you don't want any rando.
        You need somebody who your pet is used to because they walk them regularily (resp. you'd need somebody whom your kids have built trust with).
        In this case calling somebody from your neighborhood or your extended family (for whom you don't need much intermediary beyond maybe a chat app or a neighborhood channel in a chat app) has actually added value compared to the "summon some rando on a button press" apps.

        The somebody you know and who

  • Dial HURRY-UP (Score:3)

    by Chris Mattern ( 191822 ) on Tuesday July 29, 2025 @10:37AM (#65552924)

    They also walk dogs.

  • Another one bites the dust!

    (woof)

  • General Services (Score:5, Informative)

    by Woeful Countenance ( 1160487 ) on Tuesday July 29, 2025 @10:49AM (#65552954)

    There's a short story by Robert Heinlein called We Also Walk Dogs [wikipedia.org] . The center of the story is a corporation called General Services, which started as a dog-walking service and then expanded to do anything anyone wants, for a fee (as long as it's legal, of course). The story implies that a lot of their income derives from rich people who have problems but are ballocks at solutions: due to a lack of imagination and a disinclination to solve their own problems. The top General Services agents have imagination, a vast knowledge of the available solutions, and an army of specialists available for hire.

    And their slogan remains, "We Also Walk Dogs".

    Would that work in the real world? I have no idea. Maybe there already are such organizations. A lot of corporations say they're selling solutions, but it often seems they cause more problems than they solve.

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by Alinabi ( 464689 )

      And their slogan remains, "We Also Walk Dogs". Would that work in the real world?

      Yes, it did work in the real world. Except the slogan is "We Also Sell Books".

      • While there is certainly a parallel in the arcs of their growth, Amazon and General Services have fundamentally different business models. Amazon has become "we sell anything" while General Services was "we'll perform any (legal) service".

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by Alinabi ( 464689 )
          You can hire a handyman on Amazon today, to come install an appliance, or assemble your furniture. I don't think it will be long before they offer murder services.

    • Would that work in the real world? [snip] Maybe there already are such organizations.

      It does work in the real world, and there are such organisations both as stand-alones and as divisions of premium airlines/hotels/etc. The industry term is "concierge service" - sort of an outsourced personal assistant to HNWs, and is not dissimilar to that which RAH describes.

      I have no idea.

      FTFY

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by flink ( 18449 )

      That's essentially what services like Mechanical Turk and Task Rabbit provide for upper middle class people. People who are legitimately wealthy have dedicated fixers and consiglieres they employ full time or keep on retainer.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by ceoyoyo ( 59147 )

      Lots of people and companies use fixers, local guides, handymen, personal assistants, concierges, etc.

      Some people even still have butlers.

  • Meanwhile in the 40k universe (Score:3)

    by ZiggyZiggyZig ( 5490070 ) on Tuesday July 29, 2025 @10:55AM (#65552984)

    Orc-walking startup Waaagh files for bankruptcy.

  • The /. synopsis reads like every original dot com bubble bankruptcy (man I miss fuckedcompany dot com, great insight form the people who were there) statement.
    "We grew too large too fast, but this restructuring will allow us to emerge stronger than ever!"
    Less than a year later they were just another footnote in the every-growing pile of stupid/failed dot com companies.

  • Setup an appointment, was away for the evening. They cancel on us..

    Never used it again and told everyone they cancel on you for something you need to depend on.

  • Pokemon Go's popularity 9 years ago resulted in an absolute explosion of volunteer dog walkers for stary dog holding places of various types. I had heard rumblings that there's still programs out there but for basically any dog. And they do it for free.

  • Like with the women around footballers?

    Hope it's dogs they're walking...

  • Yeah... That's what happens the next day if you allow your dog to have some of your leftover curry.

  • Turns out the only thing Wag was taking for a walk... was investor money.

    They promised to fetch profits, but just ended up chasing their own tail.

    The company rolled over and played dead—permanently.

    They were barking up the wrong financial tree from day one.

    They had a leash on success, but then it snapped.

    Who knew a company based on poop bags and poodles wasn’t recession-proof?

  • Ok, my title is half joking. But seriously? We've collectively gotten so used to just doing everything by pulling up some smartphone app, I think we've forgotten when it's a proverbial "sledgehammer to kill a fly".

    Dog walking is a lot like babysitting. Used to just be a real basic job you'd pay a neighbor kid/teenager to do when you needed it. Cash payment direct to the person and nobody messed with things like taxes on it or some middle-man wanting a cut of the proceeds.

    What next? Uber snow shoveling for y

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by ledow ( 319597 )

      My local "neighbourhood" social medias are full of people asking for dog-walkers, and full of people advertising dog-walking services.

      Surely if one is effective, the other shouldn't exist?

      The industry you describe is inherently local, and that can make it tricky to find anyone willing to cover your particular location. Kids aren't going to bus three towns over just to walk your dog for minimum wage.

      So an app does kind of make sense, in some way, to capture those larger orgs that do cover that area. Same w

  • If you don't know how to do it , Rufus Thomas [youtube.com] will show you how to walk the dog.

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