Going to business school was one of the best decisions I ever made. People clown MBAs all the time—say it’s a scam, a networking tax, or that you can just YouTube your way to a business education. And yeah, you can learn discounted cash flow from a textbook, but you can’t replicate that 3 a.m. group chat where someone half-drunk on bourbon drops an idea that actually changes your life.
That’s what happened with Wagabond.
It was supposed to be just another assignment in my Entrepreneurship class. My guy Alex—Army veteran, disciplined to the bone—pitched a problem that hit me sideways. It wasn’t a polished pitch deck or a TED Talk moment. Just a spark. But it stuck.
We didn’t have a prototype. Hell, we didn’t even have the skills. None of us were coders. I could barely spell JavaScript. But I couldn’t let it go.
The Problem We Couldn’t Shake
Pet ownership in 2025 is somehow both bougie and prehistoric. You can order groceries in under 20 minutes, but try boarding your dog and suddenly you’re faxing shot records like it’s 1997. Switch vets? Better start digging through a shoebox of papers in your closet. Flying with your cat? TSA gonna treat you like you’re smuggling plutonium if you don’t have the right form.
I watched friends text their old vets like it was a booty call just to get a vaccine certificate. It made no sense.
That pain point became the obsession. What if every pet record lived in one place? What if sharing a vaccine record was as easy as sending a text?
That’s where Wagabond comes in.
From Napkin Sketches to Something Real
We didn’t know how to build an app. Not me, not Alex, not Dorian. But what we did have was the MBA superpower: resourcefulness. The grind mentality. The belief that if you don’t know the answer, you know someone who knows someone who does.
So we started dirty. Wireframes on napkins after class. Mockups in Canva. Late-night debates in group chats. Dorian—our in-house design whisperer—turned those scribbles into visuals that actually looked like something. Alex kept us disciplined, treating every idea like it was a mission brief.
Piece by piece, we went from “class project” to “hold up, we might actually be onto something.”
The Long Road to the MVP
This wasn’t fast. This wasn’t glamorous. No TechCrunch cover story, no VC check with champagne corks. Just sweat equity.
But persistence stacks.
Now, after years of grinding, Wagabond is in development. In six weeks, we’ll have an MVP. Seeing our idea finally live and breathing feels like watching your favorite mixtape artist finally hit the Billboard charts.
Wagabond is simple but powerful: a digital passport for pets. One app. Every health record. Vaccines, boarding forms, shot history—all in your pocket.
No more digging through drawers. No more stressing at the airport. Just click, share, done.
What Business School Really Gave Us
MBA programs won’t teach you how to code. What they do give you is a community that sharpens your vision and holds you accountable. They drill resourcefulness, discipline, and the ability to pitch your half-formed idea to anyone who’ll listen until you finally find the right “yes.”
That’s the story of Wagabond. An idea born in a classroom, fueled by late nights, and carried by belief stubborn enough to outlast doubt.
This fall, it gets real.
👉 Be the first in line at www.wagabondpets.com.
Because your dog deserves better than a manila folder.