Dear Valued Customers,
Thank you for your support during the time I served over 700 customers. I developed a straightforward process to setup, train and support customers in the working dog world to enable easy and affordable use of a large-screen GPS tracking system to keep up with multiple dogs and team members in dynamic environments more successfully.
In addition to the remote customer setup and training sessions that came with every system, I provided ruggedized cases, anti-glare screen protectors, vehicle mounting solutions, custom-built maps, and the installation of property boundary map overlays. All of these things in a single, affordable and easy-to-use package were unavailable from major manufacturers at the time.
In October 2016, I experienced sudden 200% overnight growth that highlighted my complete reliance on my own hands-on involvement in every remote setup and training session. Despite working unsustainable hours trying to handle every facet of the business, I was unable to hire qualified technical training and support staff in time. This led to my health emergency and surgery in February of 2017, after which I could not continue operations.
I issued full refunds to recent hardware purchasers who had not undergone setup and training, and spent the time that followed in recovery with family. For existing customers with remaining time on their 1-year technical support, I regret that I was unable to fulfill the full term. I take full responsibility for not developing a more sustainable process sooner.
Lessons learned: This experience taught me the critical importance of building scalable systems and processes early, proactively hiring and training team members before explosive growth hits, and setting boundaries to protect the business, my customers and my health. These lessons have fundamentally reshaped how I approach operations and leadership.
This page serves as the official record of the business’s operations and closure.
Thank you again,
Cody Baker
Founder & Operator, GPS Dawg