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Lea Burbidge Izquierdo & Francesca Albo
When Puppy Sphere first launched, it could have easily been dismissed as a novelty - a fleeting wellness trend built more for social media than serious scale. But over the past few years, it has grown into something far more substantial.
What began as an unconventional experiment has grown into a $14M+ business with 13 studios and more than 450,000 customers. Behind that growth are founders Francesca Albo and Lea Burbidge Izquierdo, who built the company without following the typical startup playbook.
In this conversation, they reflect on what it took to get here: bootstrapping from the ground up, navigating the realities of scaling a physical business, and going 4.5 years without outside capital. They also open up about the less visible side of the journey - the financial discipline, sacrifices, and moments of doubt that came with turning a “crazy idea” into a multi-location company.
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