We didn't set out to build software.
We set out to walk dogs.

It started with a handful of leads and a lot of heart

In 2011, Duncan and Jess started Duncan's Dog Co as a dog walking service in South West London. It was just the two of them and a growing list of dogs who needed looking after during the day.

The business grew quickly. What started as a handful of walks turned into a full schedule. Then clients started asking about daycare. Then boarding. Before long, Duncan and Jess were running one of the busiest independent pet care businesses in the area.

Growing pains

Over the years, Duncan's Dog Co grew into one of the longest-standing, five-star licensed doggy daycares in the UK. They moved to a beautiful woodland facility in Surrey. The team grew. The client list grew. And the admin grew with it.

Bookings came in by text, email, phone, and Facebook. Invoices were raised manually, one by one, every week. Routes were planned on paper. Staff schedules lived in WhatsApp groups. It all sort of worked. Until it did not.

The missed booking

One day, a loyal customer's pickup was missed. A booking had slipped through the cracks. It was the kind of thing that happens when you are juggling too many systems and not enough hours. It was embarrassing. It was avoidable. And it was the moment everything changed.

That customer happened to be a developer. Instead of leaving a bad review, he said something unexpected: “I will build you something.”

And he did.

From prototype to platform

That first version was rough. But it worked. Bookings stopped falling through. Invoices went out on time. Routes made sense. Over the following years, the software was refined, rebuilt, and improved. Every feature was tested in a real business, every day, by real people.

It was not built in a lab by people guessing what pet businesses need. It was built in the mud, in the woods, at the front desk, and on those late Sunday evenings that used to be spent on invoices.

Sharing it with the industry

After years of running Genera internally, Duncan and Jess realised something. Every small pet business they spoke to was fighting the same battles. The same spreadsheets. The same missed messages. The same Sunday evening dread.

They decided to share it. Not as some corporate product launch, but as one small business helping others. That is why Genera exists. It is software built by people who have been up at 7am with muddy boots, chased late invoices, and stayed up planning the next day's schedule.

We have been where you are. And we built the thing we wish we had from the start.