KennelBook
As described:StopNarrowed:NarrowNo as described. Go small, as the licence record book for England, with a day-45 kill test.
dog boarding & day care · ~£29 a month (~$40 at ~$1.35 per £; check the rate) · last reviewed (next review by 29 Dec 2026) · 21 cited sources
Start this week
- Tell me your hours per week available, whether you are in the UK, and whether you know a licensed home boarder or day-care owner who would advise for a fee or equity.
- Download the public animal-licence registers for 10 councils, and build a lead sheet of 300 home boarders and day cares with star rating and renewal date.
- Book 15 calls. Ask about their last inspection: what the inspector asked for, how long it took to find, what they use now, and what the licence cost.
- Build the hands-on kit: a register spreadsheet mapped to condition 9.1, a daily-log sheet, and an inspection-pack checklist. Offer it with a records review for £15–25.
Checkpoints and kill gates
Decide in advance what counts as on track. Missing a checkpoint means changing the buyer or the offer, not adding features.
Day 30
~15 hrs/week
6 paying
Full-time
10 licence holders paying ≥£15 for the hands-on records setup
If you miss it
No licence-holder advisor yet: stop and get one first. With one: switch from home boarders to day cares once. Missing twice means stop.
Day 45 (kill test)
~15 hrs/week
Same test
Full-time
Of 15 holders already using KennelBooker, Revelation Pets or similar, ≥5 say their tool fails them at inspection and they'd switch for the pack
If you miss it
If fewer than 5, the incumbents already do the job. Stop, or sell only the inspection pack as an add-on to their exports.
Day 90
~15 hrs/week
15 accounts, same rule
Full-time
30 accounts on the self-serve app, every pilot logging daily for 30 days
If you miss it
Cut to the core: register, vaccine gate, daily log, inspection pack. Drop bookings and deposits until usage returns.
Month 6
~15 hrs/week
$800 MRR (~20 accounts)
Full-time
$1.5k MRR (~40 accounts), ≤3% monthly logo churn, ≥5 real inspections passed with the pack
If you miss it
Pivot A: day cares only, at £39–69. Pivot B: an inspection-pack add-on that imports from KennelBooker, Revelation and Gingr exports.
Month 12
~15 hrs/week
$2k MRR (~50 accounts)
Full-time
$4k MRR (~100 accounts), ≥50% on annual, one association partnership live
If you miss it
Stop feature work. Fix onboarding time and the single best channel.
Month 18
~15 hrs/week
$3.5k MRR (~90 accounts)
Full-time
$7k MRR (~175 accounts), card deposits live
If you miss it
Add the Plus plan for kennels and catteries only if day cares are ≥40% of revenue.
Month 24
~15 hrs/week
$5k MRR, profitable
Full-time
$10k MRR, profitable
If you miss it
Above $5k: keep running it profitably. Below $2k: stop, or sell it to a pet-software buyer (Togetherwork buys in this space).
Do
1.Sell to licensed dog home boarders and small day cares in England only. Kennels and catteries come later, on the Plus plan.
Target: Every user can say it in one line: "It keeps my licence records so an inspection takes ten minutes."
Why: The record rules are national and verified: a register with 12 required fields, records kept 3 years, electronic records backed up (research/10). Scotland still licenses boarding under the 1963 Act, so it's a different product.
2.Build the register to the letter of the licence conditions. Every field in condition 9.1 / 17.1 (a)–(l), with one screen that shows what's missing per dog.
Target: 100% of pilot dogs have a complete register entry within 14 days
Why: The inspector checks this list. Generic booking apps store most of it but don't show gaps against the licence.
3.Make the vaccine check a gate, not a note. Parvovirus, distemper, hepatitis and leptospirosis must be current, and primary courses finished at least 2 weeks before arrival. The booking can't be confirmed until the certificate is uploaded and in date.
Target: Zero dogs boarded with expired vaccines across all customers
Why: That exact rule is in the guidance. A dog boarded out of date is the failure owners fear most.
4.Make daily logs time-stamped and uneditable after the day. Feeding, faeces and urine, exercise, behaviour, medication, and incidents, each entered in under 10 seconds on a phone.
Target: Pilots log every dog every day for 30 days
Why: The risk score marks a business down for records that are "out of date or appear to be being manufactured". Time-stamped entries answer that directly (research/10).
5.Ship the one-click inspection pack. Register, daily logs, incident and medication books, staff training records, emergency plan, key-holder details and vet registration, as one PDF plus CSV for a chosen date range.
Target: Pack generated in under 1 minute; ≥5 pilots use it at a real inspection by month 6
Why: This is the product. It turns a stressful afternoon of paper-hunting into a single download, and it's the moment customers tell other boarders.
6.Show the licence-length money. A 5-star low-risk rating gets a 3-year licence; 1–2 stars get 1 year. At £325–1,165 per licence (Liverpool £325–357 verified; the upper figure is not), holding 5 stars saves two licence fees every three years.
Target: Every case study opens with "licence fees saved" or "inspection time saved"
Why: That's the money outcome. It pays for a year of the Solo plan several times over (research/10).
7.Price flat and small, charge from day one. Solo £19, Day Care £39, Plus £69. 30-day trial, no free plan, 2 months free on annual.
Target: ≥50% of new accounts on annual by month 12
Why: Revelation Pets (£50–62), KennelBooker ($50–123) and PetPocketbook ($25) set the ceiling. You undercut on the Solo plan and win on the inspection pack.
8.Use council registers as the lead list. Every council must publish its licence holders, often with star ratings and renewal dates. Contact holders 60–90 days before renewal.
Target: 1,000 licence holders in a lead sheet by day 30; ≥3% trial rate from renewal-timed outreach
Why: It's free, public, legal to use for B2B contact under UK GDPR legitimate interest (check), and the renewal date tells you when the pain peaks.
9.Partner with the Association of Dog Boarders, which represents licensed home boarders and day carers and runs a members-only Facebook group. Offer a member discount and a free "inspection-ready records" webinar.
Target: One association partnership signed by month 4
Why: One trusted voice in the group is worth more than any ad. It's the "community, not ads" pattern the catalog found in every boring winner.
10.Add card deposits through Stripe Connect with a small platform fee (≤1%), opt-in, from month 9.
Target: ≥30% of accounts taking deposits by month 18
Why: Deposits cut no-shows for boarders, and payment volume is where Gingr and PetExec make their margin. Stripe holds the funds, not you.
11.Automate onboarding completely. Import from a spreadsheet or KennelBooker/Revelation export, a guided "first inspection pack" checklist, templated emails, one weekly office-hours call.
Target: ≤20 minutes of founder time per new account after account #30
Why: At £19–39 a month, a hand-held onboarding loses money.
12.Publish the free inspection checklist and SEO pages ("dog home boarding licence records England", "what does the council inspector check", one page per council's renewal process).
Target: ≥40% of trials from search or referral by month 12
Why: Boarders search at renewal time. These pages do the selling while you're offline.
Avoid
1.A full boarding suite sold against Gingr in the US
Why: $109–209 per location, integrated payments, 7,000+ customers across Togetherwork's pet brands. You have nothing they lack.
2.The PetExec-migration wedge
Why: The 1% fee started on 1 Sept 2025. A year later, those who wanted to leave have left, Franpos and Kennel Connection run switcher pages, and a migrating facility needs full-suite parity on day one.
3.Kennel-map, run-occupancy and grooming features for 50-run facilities
Why: That's Gingr's and Revelation Pets' home ground, and those buyers expect a mature product. Your buyer has 1–4 dogs at home or one day-care room.
4.Promising "compliant", "guaranteed 5 stars" or "inspector-approved"
Why: The council decides. You provide records. A boarder who loses stars after trusting that claim is a complaint, a refund and a Facebook post.
5.Holding client money or running your own merchant account
Why: Use Stripe Connect. Being in the funds flow means FCA payment-services rules, chargebacks and fraud.
6.Giving veterinary or medication advice in the app
Why: Record what the vet said and what was given. Never suggest doses, treatments or whether a dog is fit to board.
7.Scotland, Wales, Ireland or the US before England holds
Why: Scotland still licenses boarding under the 1963 Act; Wales and Ireland have their own rules (unverified detail). Each is a new rulebook.
8.A free plan, lifetime deals or AppSumo
Why: Home boarders on a free plan stay on paper for everything that matters and fill your support inbox.
9.Native iOS and Android apps before $5k MRR
Why: A PWA handles the phone logging. Two app stores double the release work for a £19 product.
10.AI that reads vaccine cards and declares them valid
Why: A misread date that lets an unvaccinated dog in is your liability. Use AI to pre-fill, and make the boarder confirm each date.
11.Collecting more owner and dog data than the licence needs
Why: UK GDPR. The register fields are the list. Don't store owners' ID documents or bank details.
12.Paid ads before month 6
Why: The buyer list is public and small. Ads to "pet businesses" buy groomers and walkers who don't need a licence pack.
13.Using "KennelBook" publicly
Why: KennelBooker already sells kennel software in the UK. Confusion, a takedown and lost search traffic are all likely.
14.Adding features when a checkpoint fails
Why: A miss means the wrong segment (home boarders vs day cares), the wrong price or the wrong channel. Change that first.