Dog Food, Deliberate Decisions and Durable Growth w/ Mike Frizell and James Edwards, Co-Founders of Pet Circle [S3.E2]

Mike Frizell and James Edwards, Co-Founders of Pet Circle, are
the quiet achievers of the Australian consumer business scene.
Their story is largely untold and unknown. Whenever newspapers
publish lists of Australia’s largest e-commerce players, Pet
Circle is always a surprise omission to those in the know. Having
grown at an astronomical rate over the last decade to now over
$300m in revenue, Mike and James have built a business second
only in size and scale to Kogan – the undisputed pure play online
retail king in the country. This has been done without press
releases, and public acknowledgement, but certainly with the
deliberate decision making that  enables durable long term
growth. Many start a business and then adapt to patch the holes
as they go. This is far from the Pet Circle scaling story – from
day one both ensured the boat was water tight – from back end
technology processes, to the front end consumer experience. I
loved uncovering their magic to what is certainly one of
Australia’s finest examples of growing an online business.


This series is set against the backdrop of Covid 19 and both
Australia and the rest of the world on the precipice of the
biggest economic slowdown since the great Depression. Millions of
people are now working from home, and never has there been larger
catalyst for structural changes to how we all live our lives. But
it is also a time that has seen a huge divergence in outcomes for
many businesses – some have exponentially grown due to these
structural shifts, some have sadly put up the shutters, never to
return.


Pet Circle certainly falls into the category of the former, but
super growth set against this backdrop has its own challenges as
well, and it was great to get some perspectives of how Mike and
James have thought about this real time.


This scaling up story  really is a masterclass in how to
grow a online business in the digital age.


For those interested in further insights and commentary, TDM
Growth Partners has been posting to their new medium publication
– TDM tidbits – which can be found at medium.com/tdmtidbits, or
it might be easier to follow @tdm_growth on twitter and get all
the news and views there.


You can always find me on twitter @eddiecowan.