Entrepreneur Kirsten Brand hoped for a life-changing investment from the Sharks when she presented Pawnix on Season 13 Episode 15 of ABC’s ‘Shark Tank.’ The problem of loud noises scaring and petrifying dogs is something pet-owners have always struggled with.
However, Kristen appeared to find a solution by simply moulding the concept of noise-cancelling headphones into a unique headwear for dogs. The product seemed quite interesting, making us want to take a detailed look at the company. Well, here’s what we found out.
Pawnix: Who Are They and What Do They Do?
Kristen Brand completed her college education from Michigan State University before taking up a job in Design and Manufacturing at Cactus Corrugated Containers. She even held the position of a Carton Design Specialist and Sr Structural Designer at Graphic Packaging International and has more than eight years of experience working in the packaging department for Mars Petcare US.
Being an animal lover, Kristen is very fond of her dog. However, her dog has always been scared of loud noises and once even bolted during a firework show. Although the dog was thankfully rescued, the problem got Kristen thinking, and she was surprised to find that there weren’t any solutions readily available.
Besides, if one is to go by statistics, the number of cases of lost dogs increases significantly on and around the 4th of July, while thunder phobia and storm anxiety also affect them seriously.
Kristen went through numerous methods to calm her dog down, but her efforts were mostly in vain. However, she suddenly hit upon the idea of using her noise-cancelling headphones on her dog, and surprisingly, that seemed to calm it right down.
Excited at having hit upon a solution, Kristen went through numerous prototypes before coming up with her own variant. Pawnix is headwear made especially for dogs with noise cancellation headphones built-in. Usage is also quite easy as one just needs to slide the device over the dog’s head before turning it on.
Where Is Pawnix Now?
Although Kristen started Pawnix back in 2017, she began looking actively for investors in 2020 and launched a Kickstarted campaign. Unfortunately, the campaign fell short of its goal, but she raised north of a couple of thousand dollars on Indiegogo.
Upon its release, Pawnix grew quite popular, and Kristen even travelled to set up pop-up booths at different locations hoping to spread the word and increase her customer base. At present, Pawnix has quite a substantial following on social media, and the company prides itself on assembling every product by hand inside the United States.
Phoenix noise-cancelling headphones are now available in four different sizes for different breeds, while customers can also have their pick of several vibrant colours. Moreover, each headphone will set you back by $199 and can be bought directly from Pawnix’s website or the online retail giant Amazon. It is incredible to see Kristen prosper, and we hope success never eludes her or her company in the long run.
