What is the name of your business?

Puppi

how long have you been a 1909 member?

About 1 year

in a nutshell, what is IT that you do for a living?

I love building beautiful and powerful digital platforms. I represent a paradigm shift in software development and can take your idea from napkin to your phone in as little as a week.

{^it’s true. he built our 1909 accelerator gamification app in no-time! we’re still blown away…}

What is your why? How did you get to where you are today?

My story starts in Long Valley, NJ, a small town with more deer than people. In town, I was known as the social butterfly, who drove a giant van, and could sprint around the track as fast as the local deer. Around 7th grade, my dad tragically left our family. Leaving my mom to care for me and my three siblings (My mom and all women in a similar scenario deserve more credit than the world has to offer). During this devastating time, we had a dog named Buddy. Buddy was a slightly overweight Goldendoodle with shaggy hair and 100 pounds of unconditional love. Regardless of the harsh realities hitting our family, Buddy’s dopy and optimistic presence quickly filled the vacuum in our family dynamic. This was the first time I experienced the power of what a dog can bring into people’s lives. Losing a father figure impacted me in ways that I’m still dissecting to this day.

One way this influenced me was that I grew up very fast. I placed a tremendous amount of pressure on myself to be a great role model for my younger siblings and those around me. I never tried any drugs and, like a father I would have wanted, found joy in supporting others. A silver lining to this situation was my outlet became volunteer service and philanthropy. In my sophomore year of high school, I got accepted by The Seeing Eye Foundation to be a Puppy Raiser, and I was given my first 8-week-old German Shepard puppy, Leslie.

I spent my next two years training Leslie on the basics of how to support a blind person while also being a typical high schooler. This involved tethering Leslie to my bed every night, putting on her green Seeing Eye bandana, and exposing her to as many places as possible so she’d be comfortable in public.

I remember my first night bringing Leslie home. I tethered her to my bedpost as a blind person would; I turned off the lights and laid in bed. Right as I was about to fall asleep, I felt a hard tug on my bedpost. Then another. And in sad confusion, Leslie began whimpering uncontrollably. I knew she was scared, and I needed to comfort her, or else neither of us were getting up for school tomorrow. I rolled out of bed and curled up next to her on the cold floor until she calmed down, and we both fell asleep on the floor. This quickly became the routine for our first few weeks together. Two years and many memories later, I sadly had to give her back to the Seeing Eye. It was time for her to go through more intensive training and be matched with a blind person. It was a bitter-sweet experience, but it felt so rewarding to help bring Leslie into someone’s life. A few months later, we welcomed another German Shepard puppy, Hobbs, into our house to do it again.

I moved to New York City after I graduated college. I subscribed to the corporate lifestyle where I consulted on cyber security risks for companies like Deloitte and Google. My time in the corporate frenzy put me in a state of high stress and left me little time for my own well-being. I remember being fully drained as I was walking down the city street after a long business trip. As I approached my apartment, I crossed paths with a visibly happy, but stressed, dog walker. She was being dragged by a Goldendoodle who was almost the size of her. The doodle just wanted to say “hi” to everyone he passed, and the walker was just along for the ride. I had a flashback to my dog Buddy and my time with the Seeing Eye Foundation. I remembered all the joy those experiences brought me. I wanted to experience the companionship of a dog again, but my lifestyle wasn’t conducive to having one. I didn’t want to be a dog walker for the money, and animal shelters in the city had a 6-month waitlist.

I wished there was a way for me to spend time with a dog again. That’s when the idea for Puppi was born. Puppi is on a mission to make the world a happier place by spreading the love of dogs. We connect dogs with the people who love them for free playdates. Dog owners get access to genuine free dog care, and dog lovers enjoy the companionship of a dog when it fits their lifestyle.

My co-founder, Vincent, and I unsubscribed from our corporate lifestyles to pursue the risky entrepreneur path. We could fill a novel with our four years of failures, lessons learned, and areas we grew as people. We’re excited to kickoff Puppi’s first beta test in the West Palm Beach, Florida area in July 2022.

What are some challenges you've had to overcome while running (or starting) your business?

The biggest hurdle that comes to mind was trying to start a digital platform without having the necessary UI/UX/Development skills to create the product ourselves. This put us at the mercy of investors and development firms in order to make the vision happen. Neither Vincent or I come from money, so raising a family and friend round was risky and painstaking. After we mustarded up enough money from family, friends, and personal finances, we hired a remote development firm that we trusted, and they butchered our project. From the ashes of that project, I fell in love with the process of building digital platforms and spent the next 3 years teaching myself everything I can about software design and development.

What is one piece of advice you'd give to someone starting out on this Business Owner path?

Before you go off on your own, ask yourself “Why am I taking this risk?”. If your response resembles being a millionaire or picking your own hours, then my harsh advice is don’t go off on your own. The reality is… the millions won’t happen like the “gurus” say they will and your hours will expand far outside a 9 to 5. If your response echos “I’m passionate about X”, then full steam ahead. When to money and lifestyle don’t come as quickly as you expect, it’s your sentimental values and your "Why" that’ll power you through your toughest times.

What is your favorite life lesson?

True happiness comes from things you cannot buy.

Why is 1909 important to you?

Community (1909 didn't pay me to say it).

The reality is I didn’t know anybody in West Palm when I moved down from NYC. I struggled to find people in West Palm I could relate to on my tech entrepreneur struggle bus. 1909 brings a fascinating breadth of people under one roof to share our small wins, share our huge failures, and nerd out. 1909 helped me find my people. The cold brew on tap is great too.

You're grabbing lunch in Downtown WPB - Where are you going and what are you getting?

Quick bite: Jimmy Johns - Gargantuan Sub with extra hot peppers. Then dipped in Moore's Buffalo sauce.
Sit down: Grease - “This pretzel burger is making me thirsty” Burger

*Dillon & the NYC doodle (that re-ignited the spark…)*

If you could change one thing about West Palm Beach - what would it be? why?

Affordable housing needs to be moved to the forefront of West Palm Beach politics. There’s a tremendous amount of change happening right now here. These changes are exciting for those with money and a terrifying omen for those without money. Heavy hitters are quickly migrating in from all over the world to buy real estate and convert their investments into profits.

The fight for 314 Clematis Street is a perfect example of what’s happening on the ground. In 2019, the West Palm Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) bought 314 Clematis to be converted into a market for small businesses. An amazing concept that many mature cities around the US have successfully implemented. Sadly, the CRA was never able to turn this vision into a reality and in 2022 the CRA was one council meeting away from selling the building to a large development firm. The proposal was to abandon their support of local businesses and add another corporate restaurant with a parking lot next door (which was only reserved for the proposed 2nd floor luxury offices).

Over 50 members of 1909 attended that council meeting to remind the CRA why they bought that building in the first place. In the end, I applaud the CRA for sticking to their word and accepting 1909’s bid to convert that space into a small business market and business incubator. However, this was a fight for just one two-story building in a sprawling city. We need to keep our politicians accountable or else West Palm Beach will blindly be sold to the largest bidder.

How can we see your work or get in touch with you?

LinkedIn
Email: dillon@puppi.com
Website: Puppi.com → Coming July 2022

MEET DILLON SCHADE