Embrace Pet Insurance Blog

Paid internship summer 2009 at Embrace Pet Insurance

We have one intern chosen so now I'm posting about another. Come join us for the summer - it's going to be a blast!

 

is looking for an intern to join our summer program in our Mayfield Village offices (781 Beta Drive, Mayfield Village, OH 44143). Embrace Pet Insurance

 

If you are a new high school grad who’s off to college in the autumn or a current college student who is:

·         a tech savvy data hound – someone who’s good at detective work on the web and is detail oriented

·         someone who can pick up the phone and talk to people (no sales involved)

·         someone who is flexible and doesn’t mind the changing environment of an early stage company

·         a pet lover who is not allergic to cats or dogs (we have a pet-friendly office with frequent 4-legged visitors)

·         a reliable person who works hard

Then we are looking for you.

 

Here’s what you would get out of it:

·         $8/hr for a 40 hour work week June - August

·         work experience in a venture-backed early stage company that would be very hard to come by otherwise

·         a great resume addition

·         a valuable reference (assuming one was deserved!)

 

Please email your resume and a cover email on why you think we should hire you over anyone else who is applying to Laura Bennett lb@embracepetinsurance.com.

 

Looking forward to hearing from you [or forward to your friends/family who might know someone!]

Support our small pet-related businesses: waggintails

 

I've followed Waggintails for 5 years now. John Gigliotti, the founder, is really passionate about quality foods (read healthy and safe) for pets and has an exceptional online business that satisfies that niche admirably.

So, I was moved to action when I received the email below:

Dear Friend

I lost a good customer the other day. 

I was out of what the product needed, and she was able to find someone else that had it.  “I can’t keep my dogs waiting,” she emailed me.  

She had been with me for three years.  It hurts.

It hurts because I’ve built my whole business on always going the extra mile for my customers and trying hard to earn your loyalty.  And right now, with the economy slumping and with so many of our suppliers hurting, too, it just isn’t possible to always deliver the ship times you’ve come to expect.  I know that puts everyone in a difficult situation.  You can’t feed your dogs and cats apologies.

I could explain it all, but I’m sure you don’t want to hear it.  You may even be hurting, too.  In fact, if you’re feeling the slowdown in your own life or business, you definitely have my empathy. 

I just hope we can get through this together.  I can’t afford to lose another good customer at times like these. 

I wish I could promise things will be better next week or next month, but I don’t want to make a promise I can’t keep.  All I can say is, I will continue to do everything I my power to serve you, just as I always have.    

My values haven’t changed, and I know yours haven’t either.   I still sell only products that are good and healthy for pets.  And nothing matters more to my than your pets’ health, and your satisfaction.

There is one thing you can do to help.  If you can place your orders with some extra lead time during these difficult times, it would be very much appreciated.  I don’t want your pets to go hungry or have to switch brands.  And I definitely don’t want to lose another good customer.

With sincere thanks for your business — and your patience,  

John Gigliotti

So if you care about quality pet foods and small business in the US, please visit the Waggintails website.

Better yet, visit the Embrace Pet Community website first and get 10% off non-sale items by clicking through the Featured Partner field top right. We get nothing for your click except the satisfaction that a good business is being supported by people who care.

What do you think of John's email above?

Who or What is PetInsuranceReview.com anyway?

There was a very interesting comment from Chris on a post I did about PetInsuranceReview.com as follows:

I am skeptical about this petinsurancereview site as it does not give any indication as to who is responsible for it's content. Who decides which reviews make it onto the site, and who makes sure that there is no bias. What's more, how does this site pay for its operating costs as it has no visible advertisements, and we all know that no one would maintain a site without a bit of payback... Are the companies themselves involved in this site? Are some companies more involved than others? Very odd...

These are very valid questions that need answers so I asked Mike Hemstreet who runs the site to respond so I could post the answers. Here's his reply to me:

Hi Laura,

Thanks for giving me a chance to respond to the post. I suppose I could do a better job at clarifying these issues on my site. Anyway, here is my answer:

PetinsuranceReview.com is run by Michael Hemstreet and is not affiliated with any insurance company. The goal of the site is to provide objective information and customer reviews to assist pet owners researching pet insurance. The site makes money when a user fills out a form requesting quotes from multiple insurers. This service is available to any pet insurance company that wishes to participate. Whether or not an insurance company chooses to participate has no effect on the content of the site. (Embrace does not participate and they are prominently featured and have one of the highest ratings.)

I take several steps to weed out fraudulent reviews, including scanning the reviewer’s IP address and looking for similar language or sentence structure in multiple posts. While I can’t guarantee the legitimacy of every review, I believe a reader can obtain an accurate view of a company by looking at the cumulative effect of dozens (or hundreds) of reviews.

Mike

I only know Mike from when he contacted us back in September 2006 when he launched the site.

Hope that helps clarify the situation - hopefully Mike will put something up on the site as well. 

Related Posts:
Customer reviews for Embrace Pet Insurance
Pet Insurance Reviews by Customers
Evangelism at its best
Invisible Voices blog entries on pet insurance
"Mo’s How-to guide on getting the most out of pet insurance" on Invisible Voices

News: Embrace Pet Insurance Secures Over $2 Million in First Institutional Funding Round

You may have seen our press release this week - we've just raised our first round of institutional funding. Woo-hoo!

In the evolution of developing company, it's quite a big accomplishment to pursuade professional investors to take a plunge in one's company, particularly in this economic environment, so we feel very positive about our next phase of growth.

“We are excited about NCT Venture's decision to invest in our company and see this funding as a tremendous vote of confidence in our product leadership and growth strategy, particularly in these difficult economic times,” said Bennett, Chief Executive Officer of Embrace. “This investment will help us continue to deliver the industry’s best pet insurance product suite to pet parents, grow our sales and marketing support, and become one of the few in the industry to do so profitably.”
[That Bennett, she's such a know-it-all :)]

We're particularly pleased with NCT Ventures as our investing partners. They are entrepreneurs as well and know from experience the ups and downs of entrepreneurship. We are looking forward to working with them to grow Embrace.

NCT Ventures (www.nctventures.com) is a Columbus, OH-based venture capital firm that is founded by entrepreneurs. The NCT investment team is passionate about people and they believe an idea is only as good the entrepreneurs behind it. Over the past 20 years NCT has helped build and grow many successful companies and they get excited about sharing experiences, methods and time with entrepreneurs through hands-on operational support. NCT’s investment focus is in marketing, logistics and disruptive business models that are headquartered in the Midwest.

Now that we have raised some money, don't be looking for an Embrace Super Bowl ad any time soon (nor a placement on a cable home renovation show - please stop calling!)

It's time to stay focused and continue to grow. This difficult economy is going to be a test but when we make it through the other side, we'll be a better company for it.

Now, back to work; no time for slacking...

Interview on entrepreneurship with Laura Bennett

A few months ago, Akemi asked me if I'd answer a few questions about entrepreneurship for her website, which I was happy to do. It turned out to be more fun than I thought.

A snippet for you:

What is the best part of being an entrepreneur for you?
It’s such a cliché but it comes down to being able to build something from nothing that solves people’s problems. There’s no feeling like it.

I also like that if I am going to work hard, I might as well do it for my own benefit since I put my all into whatever I do. And finally, I’m not sure I could work for anyone else now – I would be such a horrible employee. I have too many opinions about how things should be run, particularly around company culture, and I’d drive everyone crazy.

The rest is here.

Lily and Barnes visit our new office

We're well ensconced in our new digs and now that we have our own space (as opposed to sharing with another early stage company), we can bring in our pets and allow them to wander the halls.

Lily and Barnes came for the day yesterday and they had mixed reactions. Barnes was a little more curious but Lily at one point completely disappeared and ALL of us ended up looking for her.

We finally found her under my desk, not on the cat shelf there (who knew that desks came with such things!) but under the drawers under the desk, tucked right into the back in the shadows. She's a wily one!

Have you ever taken your dogs or cats to work and how did that work out for you?

Guest Blogger: Lea on what dog mom geeks do on lunch!

While on the phone with a pet parent client recent, one of our office dogs barked or whined, and when she heard the noise in the background she asked "Are you working from home?" She was quite surprised when I told her that no, we just bring our dogs to work.

Embrace is just one of many employers that encourages friendly dogs to visit the office.  Google lists dogs at work as a perk of employment and Chipotle has a webpage dedicated to their office dogs.  It's great therapy during a long day, it encourages you to take a walk on your lunch, and certainly helps a dog release some of that extra energy.  There's not a dog here everyday, and we do rotate, so that everyone gets a turn and special attention each visit.

Today Belinda's little Yorkie, Daisy came in to meet my foster dog, Otis.  It could have gone a little better, but it made for cute videos...

Might be a teeny-weeny break in service Friday afternoon

As we are moving offices Friday Dec 28, our website may be down for a short while as we move our equipment and Embracers here and there.

Thanks for your patience as we get ourselves sorted out to Embrace you better.

Now back to packing...

Laura Bennett interviewed in Success Secrets series over at Startup Spark

Goodness me, I missed this one that was posted on November 12th over at Startup Spark.

I was interviewed by Shannon Cherry on entrepreneurship and pet insurance before I went away for 2 weeks and promptly forgot all about it. Thanks to a tip from Darren Rowes over at ProBlogger, I set up a tracking feed and promptly found the interview. Thanks Darren, you are a star!

This interview went pretty well and I had fun doing it. It's got lots of juicy stuff on pet insurance, business plans, how Embrace started, and the benefit of complementary business partners, among other things.

Even people other than our competitors might be interested in listening in. Enjoy! :)

Tips for courting angel investors

OK, a little off the pet insurance topic but if you are raising money for your business, check out my tips on pitching to angel investors recently published American Venture Magazine.

I'm always raising money for Embrace so when they asked, it wasn't too difficult to come up with something pertinent.