BusterBox - From Zero to Thousands of Happy Dogs

The Story of a Brand

Ramon Vela

Business, Entrepreneurship

5 • 145 Ratings

🗓️ 30 July 2025

⏱️ 58 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

In this episode of The Story of a Brand, I sit down with Gary Redmond, co-founder of BusterBox, a subscription box that delivers joy straight to your dog’s doorstep.

What started as three friends looking to create something fun and meaningful quickly became one of the fastest-growing dog subscription brands in Europe. Gary shares the ups and downs of starting a business from scratch, from packing boxes by hand in a tiny apartment to now serving thousands of happy dog parents every month.

What I loved most about this conversation is how scrappy and determined Gary and his co-founders were in the early days. They didn’t wait for the perfect funding or ideal setup—they just got started. Along the way, they learned how to build customer loyalty, scale their logistics, and make dogs (and their humans) incredibly happy.

It’s a story about building with heart, hustling through hard times, and chasing big dreams one treat at a time.

Here’s what we cover:

* How BusterBox started from a small apartment in Dublin with no investors

* Why direct feedback from dog parents shaped their entire product strategy

* The moment they knew they had product-market fit—and how they doubled down

* Lessons from scaling a subscription business in the European market

* Why “the dog is the customer, but the human is the buyer”

Join me, Ramon Vela, as I listen to this fun and insightful conversation with Gary. Whether you're a dog lover, an entrepreneur, or both, this episode is packed with inspiration (and probably a few tail wags too).

For more on BusterBox, visit: https://busterbox.com/

If you enjoyed this episode, please leave The Story of a Brand a rating and review.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Another major one, I think, that probably would have stood us in Goodstead a few years ago
0:04.0	was probably just around margin because you can be so focused on, I suppose, getting sales and showing numbers, particularly in the beginning when it's, you know, probably a lot of validation seeking and like, you know, probably not a lot of, you know, real business going through your head, particularly if you're young and you're, and you're just getting started and you don't have previous experience.
0:01.7	But like, you know,
0:02.7	we were kind of always focused on sales and,
0:05.2	and, going through your head, particularly if you're young and you're just getting started and you don't have previous experience. But like, you know, we were kind of always focused on sales and
0:24.6	sort of revenue. But I suppose a little bit we might have overlooked actual margin and
0:29.6	understanding the metrics of the business and understanding all those things. And I know it's
0:33.9	difficult to understand for someone who's new, but I would just say the sooner you can learn and the sooner you can try to understand your business metrics, your margin, your lifetime value.
0:42.4	If we knew that a little bit earlier, we may have saved ourselves some hassle, basically.
0:46.9	Yeah.
1:03.0	Hey, everyone. Hey everyone, this is Ramon Vela, and this is another episode of the story of a brand.
1:06.8	Like always, we have an amazing guest in brand that we're going to feature on today's show.
1:13.6	But before we do, if you're a better for you CPG brand thinking about Amazon, let me ask you something. Are you scaling or just surviving? Because here's the truth. Most agencies throw your product on Amazon and hope for the best.
1:22.6	But Revive Amazon marketing partners isn't most agencies.
1:28.3	The problem is that Amazon is hard.
1:31.3	The algorithm changes. Competition is brutal.
1:34.3	And if you're in the better for you space, you're not just selling a product, you're selling a mission.
1:40.3	And that's where Revive comes in.
1:42.3	Led by a former CPG founder with a successful exit, Revive brings real brand site experience to your Amazon game.
1:50.7	They take on a limited number of brands, only the ones they truly believe they can scale.
1:57.5	And if Amazon isn't the right channel for you, they'll tell you straight up. This isn't
2:03.7	an integrated partnership, not a plug and play. You get niche expertise, full transparency,
	...

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