Episode #501 - Revolutionising Pet Care With the Dental Wand - with Victor Carpio

In this episode of ScaleUp Radio, Kevin Brent sits down with Victor Carpio, the innovative founder of Inventor Smart Care, to discuss how a passion for solving a common pet health problem led to the creation of a world-first product: the Dental Wand – a toothbrush designed specifically to let cats control their own dental care. Victor shares the journey of launching a startup in a niche but high-potential market, including the challenges of developing a product for animals, bootstrapping through multiple prototypes, and preparing for national TV exposure on Dragons' Den. He also dives into the mindset shifts required for scaling – from selling directly to consumers to forging B2B partnerships and managing growing logistics demands. This episode is a treasure trove for product inventors, early-stage entrepreneurs, and anyone fascinated by the mechanics of turning a big idea into a real-world solution. Highlights From This Episode: Inventing With Purpose: Why Victor focused on solving a real health issue affecting 85% of UK cats, and why understanding your “why” is more important than just having a patent. From Cat Behaviour to Product Design: The surprisingly complex R&D behind the Dental Wand and how AI and 3D printing could help future inventors save time and money. Scaling Smartly: Transitioning from D2C to B2B, the growing pains of supply chain management, and the critical importance of not being reliant on a single supplier. The Dragons’ Den Effect: What happened when Victor pitched to the Dragons, and why the real win wasn’t the investment offer, but the brand exposure. Customer Insights: How deep psychographic understanding and a sophisticated email nurturing system helped Victor acquire customers for less than £5. Make sure you don’t miss any future episodes by subscribing to ScaleUp Radio wherever you like to listen to your podcasts. For now, continue listening for the full story from Victor.   Scaling up your business isn't easy, and can be a little daunting. Let ScaleUp Radio make it a little easier for you. With guests who have been where you are now, and can offer their thoughts and advice on several aspects of business. ScaleUp Radio is the business podcast you've been waiting for. If you would like to be a guest on ScaleUp Radio, please click here: https://bizsmarts.co.uk/scaleupradio/kevin You can get in touch with Kevin here: kevin@biz-smart.co.uk Kevin's Latest Book Is Available! Drawing on BizSmart’s own research and experiences of working with hundreds of owner-managers, Kevin Brent explores the key reasons why most organisations do not scale and how the challenges change as they reach different milestones on the ScaleUp Journey. He then details a practical step by step guide to successfully navigate between the milestones in the form of ESUS - a proven system for entrepreneurs to scale up. More on the Book HERE - https://www.esusgroup.co.uk/   Victor can be found here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/victor-carpio-404914125/ meow@inventorcat.co.uk   Resources: Pet Industry Federation - https://petfederation.co.uk/ Start with Why by Simon Sinek - https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/start-with-why-15th-anniversary-edition-how-great-leaders-inspire-everyone-to-take-action-simon-sinek/7820616?ean=9781405977593 Atomic Habits by James Clear - https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/atomic-habits-the-life-changing-million-copy-1-bestseller-james-clear/2458373?ean=9781847941831 Headway app - https://makeheadway.com/onboarding Mailchimp - https://mailchimp.com/landers HubSpot - https://www.hubspot.com/products Gather - https://www.gather.town/