Bootstrapped and thriving: How dog training app Woofz hit $20M ARR without VC funding

While most startups have been chasing funding through the VC freeze, there's another way — bootstrapping.  nove8, developer of a leading dog training app, Woofz decided to bootstrap.

It successfully scaled from $5.2 million to $20 million in revenue in one year and reached profitability without VC funding — you read that right. 

With over 21 million downloads, they've become the #1 app in their space. No funding rounds, no vanity metrics. Just a clear mission, smart strategy, and relentless execution.

I spoke with CEO Natalia Shahmetova about how they achieved it. 

Woofz is a dog training app designed to help pet owners improve their dog's behaviour through step-by-step lessons, daily goals, and behavioural insights.

Developed with input from certified trainers, the app offers personalised daily lessons, behaviour correction tools, and positive reinforcement techniques. It also includes interactive features like a clicker, whistle, walk tracker, and progress gallery to keep training consistent and engaging.  It's aimed at making training more accessible, consistent, and engaging for everyday dog owners.

Shahmetova has 15 years of experience in marketing and digital marketing. She admits, "I started my journey when mobile apps were barely a thing. It feels like a lifetime ago."

"Why are there so many apps for humans, but not for dogs?"

Six years Shahmetova she started working at Gismart, a British-Belarusian mobile app company with a wide range of apps. She joined as a product marketing manager and eventually led the entire monetisation flow.

Then in 2020, the company started working on a dog-focused app. She shared:

"It resonated deeply with me. I asked myself, why are there so many apps for humans (like yoga or five-minute workouts) but almost none for dog owners?"

Shahmetova has always loved dogs. 

"I had dogs all my life. Funny story—when I was little, I was terrified of dogs. So my parents, who are from Eastern Europe, brought a dog home to help fix that. You know the saying, "If you can't swim, throw yourself into the lake"? That was their approach. And it worked. From the age of six, I've been in love with dogs.

When I was 15, I actually considered going to veterinary school instead of studying economics, that's how deep my love for animals goes."

Shahmetova kept wondering why nobody had digitised dog training properly. 

"You had YouTube videos that were long and boring, non-interactive, or offline dog school books, but no app that brought everything together in a user-friendly way," she shared.

The opportunity of COVID lockdown

There was one competitor at the time, but the team decided to move ahead and build its own during the COVID lockdown.

"People were stuck at home and looking for reasons to go outside — and walking a dog was one of the few excuses you could use. We noticed a boom in dog ownership during that period."

The team didn't launch Woofz right in the middle of COVID, but that was when it realised the niche had huge potential.

By 2024, Shahmetova transitioned from her marketing leadership role at Gismart to become CMO — and later CEO — at nove8, which spun off from the original company.

"We were just 10 people then, and honestly, not many people believed in the niche," she recalls.

During that time, the peak trends were all human-focused: fitness, entertainment, AI tools, and social media. 

"But Shahmetova saw something different. Her team tested numerous hypotheses, investing heavily in paid marketing across key platforms like Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and Snapchat. 

"We wanted to show people that dog training with an app was not only possible but also a cost-effective option."

To be clear, nove8 had initial private equity backing because it started under a bigger company. 

"But in early 2024, we spun off as our own company. Still to this day, we don't have any VC behind us,  just private equity.

And we've been profitable since last year. So it feels like we're building a real business, not just chasing growth for growth's sake."

The need for a dog training app

Dogs can behave perfectly with a professional dog trainer, responding to commands such as sit, stay, bark, and don't bark. But when the dog is alone with the owner, they forget everything.

Woofz helps build a strong bond between the dog and the owner. It simplifies the instructions, explains the psychology of dogs, and gives dog owners multiple ways to try the same command so they find what works best for them and their dog.

In terms of user personalisation, Woofz started with a digital library built with input from trainers. Now it's moving toward a Duolingo-like experience. During onboarding, users go through a detailed quiz: What's your dog's name? Breed? Age? Health issues? What do they already know? What do you want to teach them?

According to Shahmetova, "Based on that, we generate a personalised training flow. If your dog already knows basic commands, we skip those. If there are behavioural issues, we start there. We're also testing AI to understand user needs better and make suggestions accordingly."

Chashing international growth 

Now Woofz is available in 10 languages, with a team of 70 staff and rapid yearly revenue growth.

About 70 per cent of Woofz users are in the US, but it also has traction in  Latin America, the UK, Europe, and, more recently, China. 

nove8 is also collaborating with US organisations that help people get emotional support animal (ESA) certifications. 

The competitive landscape, and why Woofz (and nove8) is still ahead

Today, there are two or three major competitors to Woofz, as well as many small ones. 

"When we started, almost no one else was doing this," Shahmetova says.

"We invested heavily in this niche early on, and that's why we're ahead; we believed in the market before it was obvious to everyone else."

She admits that, "sometimes it feels like a cute, fluffy niche, but it's actually serious business with serious numbers. And yes, it's competitive. But we're confident because we've built something real and meaningful.

nove8 has plans to evolve into Woofz a "super app for dog owners — "Not just training, but health, wellness, maybe even food and grooming eventually."  Its exploring different verticals and figuring out more dog owner challenges that need solutions. 

In the crowded app market, Woofz stands out by giving dog owners exactly what they need. Its success proves that real growth doesn't always require chasing VC dollars, just a clear understanding of the user, actionable solutions, and the belief in a niche before the rest of the market.