Clarification: Is it Facebook that is building this feature or some other company? Answer from Interviewer: Facebook. This feature will be in the Facebook App/Website.

To start with on an overall objective level, I would like to take a answer first if this feature aligns with FB’s mission and goals – Facebook’s mission is to connect and empower people and I believe this feature is aligned on that objective as it helps pet owners connect with other pet owners, pet lovers or neighbors who are willing to help each other or pet lovers or people looking to make some money in their spare time.

From a business goal perspective – this will drive an initial engagement from pet owners looking to find a dog walker. I say initial because once the pet owner is satisfied with a dog walker and the dog is also accustomed to the person, the switching costs for the pet owner is high. The pet owner is high likely to stick with the same walker and exchange phone numbers and have conversations either via messenger or through whatsapp/messages.

From an ad perspective – depending on how we build the platform (more to come later) the portal can be source to show ads for different pet products and gain ad revenue.

Customer segments, pain points and needs:

I see this as a two way market place, pet owners who are looking for a dog walker (demand) and dog walkers (supply). To that effect, I will segment the customers on both the sides

Demand Side:

Lifestage: Working professionals (single household or married both working) – –

Motivation 1: They are busy at work or getting to work from 7 am to 6:00 PM and have household chores to do once they are back. They are concerned that (1) their dog is not getting enough exercise (2) is at home unattended for long durations of time.

Motivation 2: They are concerned that sometimes they might end up having to work for longer hours at work or visit somewhere else and their dogs cannot hold their bio break for long and might starve if the pet owner is late.

Motivation 3: They have to visit nearby on a day trip and want someone to walk their dog.

Motivation 4: Socializing the dog for behavior

Older folks or folks with special needs that have a service dog or a pet:   

Supply side:

Pet owners who are willing to walk their neighbors dog and also help socialize their dogs with other peoples dogs. They may do it for free or for a nominal money

Pet lovers who do it as a passion

People who want to make money as they go for a stroll

Supply side customer segment prioritization: To start with we will focus on busy working professional (single or married) as they are familiar with internet, on how to use facebook.

Demand Side Customer pain point and journey Map:

As a dog owner I want to search for available dog walkers in my neighbourhood

As a dog owner I want a trustworthy dog walker who will treat my pet well

As a dog owner, I want a safe and secure way to let a dog walker in and out of my house

As a dog owner, I want to compare different dog walker based on their past experience, reviews and feedback

As a dog owner, I want a secure way to exchange messages initially with the dog walker without revealing my phone number, address.

As a dog owner, I want to be able to reach my dog walker in situations I will be late to get back home and ask the walker to take my dog for a walk

As a dog owner, I want to make sure the dog walker is treating my dog well during the walks

As a dog owner, I want to be able to leave feedback/reviews – both positive and negative

Supply side Customer pain point and journey Map:

As a dog walker, I want to create a page for me highlighting my experience with the kind of dogs, pricing, location, past positive feedback and reviews.

Prioritization:

Since this is a two way market place, I would focus first on the supply side to build a pool.

MVP:

To build a pool, I would first reach out to facebook users who have a dog, have interests in pet, have liked a pet post etc.

To help them to create a page – I would auto create/ create a template for the web page where they can import their pet photos or solicit feedback from their past clients if any.

Will ask the dog walker to submit a questionnaire to vet any past crime, auto attest for any drug habits, smoking etc.

As a validation and GTM: I would start small and pick a couple of neighborhoods where there are dog parks, open spaces. I will also pick high income areas, downtown etc. to start with.

Demand side:

Once I have a supply pool (N to be determined), I would reach out to facebook users who have uploaded multiple dog photos with the same set of dogs (use image processing), have liked pet accessory pages etc. and let them know about the feature. Reason for multiple is to reduce the probability of false dog owner recognition as users might have taken a pic with someone else’s dog etc.

Leverage facebook messenger for communication

Will target FB users who have a smart home device/security device that they can unlock/lock while away to help the dog walker in and out of the house

Initial MVP will transact only in cash

In the next stage if this is driving enough engagement – I will add security feature such as a small live camera on top of the dog to see what they are doing and how the dog walker is treating the dog.

Live location sharing with the dog owner, in case the dog doesnt have a tag.

Build a calendar for the dog walker to let dog owners book slots

Metrics:

Metrics is trickier as once the dog owner and dog walker have met and exchanged phone numbers, most communication might happen outside of FB

Once the dog owner is satisfied the number of visits or searches for dog walker will drastically reduce. This will also impact the ad’s seen in those pages.

Positive metrics:

Number of first time visits and messages exchanged in FB messenger.

Click through on pet product ad’s

References and reviews

Negative metrics:

Repeat visits – this indicate that there might be a matching problem between dog owners and walkers.