Pawvlov's first customers are storm-belt (FL/TX/GA) owners of 20-60 lb dogs with a documented noise-anxiety event, sourced via DACVB behaviorist referrals, Reddit/Facebook DM outreach, and Furbo/Petcube negative-review mining. Before any hardware ships, they're offered a $99 30-day Storm-Season Coaching Cohort — manual, operator-delivered desensitization coaching with a week-over-week calm-vs-anxious log — which doubles as the classifier's first labeled dataset. Proof to keep building: 15+ paid cohort enrollments by day 30 against 150+ qualified conversations, and a validated classifier (>95% accuracy, <2% false-positive fear-reward) by day 90. Kill if cohort conversion or waitlist growth stalls, or if the classifier can't clear validation even after the documented audio-only pivot.
1. Positioning
Recommended: 'The anti-Furbo — the only pet device built to calm an anxious dog, not entertain a bored one,' sold first as a $99 storm-season coaching + beta-device cohort rather than a $249 checkout button. Leads with the physical inversion: silent vs. loud click, floor-reachable vs. flung treat, calm-gated vs. on-demand.
2. ICP
Storm-belt (FL/TX/GA/LA/OK) and apartment-firework-exposed households with a single 20-60 lb dog and an owner-documented noise-anxiety event in the last 6 months; buyer is the primary caretaker who already owns a ThunderShirt. Excludes separation-anxiety-only, aggression, or medical cases, multi-dog kennels/breeders, and remote-dispense seekers.
3. Buyer persona
Dana, 34-52, owns a 20-60 lb dog that shreds blinds or self-injures during storms; already owns an unused ThunderShirt, has Googled trazodone safety, follows r/dogs or a rescue Facebook group, and opens outreach that names the specific Furbo-startle failure mode she's lived through.
4. Trigger events
NWS severe-storm watches in storm-belt ZIPs, viral Reddit/Facebook posts about destructive storm reactions, 1-star Furbo/Petcube reviews mentioning fear, the 6-week July 4th/NYE run-up, vet/trainer seasonal posts, pet-insurance anxiety-claim spikes, and DACVB behaviorist waitlists hitting capacity.
30 names from direct DACVB behaviorist referral asks, 40 from Reddit/Facebook comment-and-DM outreach filtered to a specific storm/firework incident in the last 90 days, and 30 from Furbo/Petcube 1-2 star review mining — every name manually enriched for dog size and storm-belt geography before outreach.
7. Cold call script
60-second opener referencing the owner's specific storm post, explains the no-click/floor-tray/calm-gated mechanism, asks for a 10-15 minute call to assess beta fit — never pitches a sale.
8. Cold email script
Subject 'Saw [dog]'s storm story'; body names the specific failure mode, offers the storm-season coaching + beta cohort with a DACVB behaviorist reviewing cases, single CTA for a 10-15 minute call.
9. LinkedIn / trade forum script
Forum-native reply to an r/reactivedogs Furbo-startle thread, explains the silent/floor-tray/calm-gated inversion, and invites qualified owners (20-60 lb, documented anxiety) to a no-sale beta conversation.
10. Partnership outreach script
Email to a named DACVB behaviorist acknowledging their waitlist, positions Pawvlov as automating between-session homework, asks for 15 minutes of clinical review plus a referral path for overflow cases.
11. Discovery questions
12 open-ended questions covering the last bad reaction, prior attempts (ThunderShirt/meds/trainer), whether the owner is usually present during storms, what 'better' would look like, treat-camera experience, pricing reaction ($2,100 anchor), willingness to accept a log-only beta period, size qualifier, decision-maker mapping, and feedback openness.
12. Objection handling
Table covering 'already have a solution', 'too expensive', 'not my decision', 'send me info', and 'too small/big (multi-dog)' — each response reframes toward the $99 concierge cohort rather than pushing the $249 device.
13. Offer test (concierge MVP)
$99 30-day Storm-Season Coaching Cohort: manual, operator-delivered desensitization coaching via weekly calls + video review, before any hardware ships, producing a calm-vs-anxious log and doubling as the classifier's first labeled dataset.
14. Pricing test
Three tiers: $99 concierge coaching cohort (pre-device), $249 beta device + 3 months free (device-only WTP test), and $249 + $9.99/mo full retail (steady-state economics test at the Calmer Canine-anchored price).
15. Landing page CTA test
Three CTA variants A/B tested: low-friction waitlist signup, $99 coaching-cohort application (qualifying questions), and a no-email interactive calm-window demo link — hypothesis is the cohort CTA converts lowest-volume but highest-quality.
16. Design partner criteria
20-60 lb dog with documented anxiety event, weekly 15-min check-ins, 2+ video submissions/month, consent to a dispense-DISABLED log-only launch period, unpaid slot for a free 12-month device+subscription, anonymized (never raw) data rights, 90-day sunset on inactivity.
17. First customer conversion process
12-stage CRM scaffold from lead capture through qualification, discovery call, concierge offer, payment, video collection, day-15 progress review, design-partner offer, beta device ship (log-only), dispense enablement, and conversion to paid $249 + $9.99/mo retail.
18. 30 / 60 / 90 day goals + kill criteria
30 days: 150 leads, 40 discovery calls, 15 cohort enrollments, 500 waitlist signups. 60 days: 30 cohort enrollments, 10-dog trend data published, 5 beta slots shipped log-only, 3 active behaviorist referrers. 90 days: 50 cohort customers, classifier validation complete, 250+ paid pre-orders, 1+ named SAB behaviorist. Kill if <15 cohort payers by day 60 despite 150+ conversations, classifier fails >95%/<2% validation even after the audio-only pivot, or waitlist stays under 250 by day 45.