“We were supposed to be researching Swiss travel. We ended up finding something we weren’t looking for at all.”
We’re a small team based in India. A while back, we were doing market research for a travel agency client focused on Switzerland — the usual stuff, tourism trends, accommodation, what visitors search for, what locals care about.
Somewhere in that research, we kept bumping into a completely different topic: pet owners. Expats on forums trying to find a trusted vet. Families who’d just moved to Geneva asking if anyone knew a good dog groomer. People relocating to Zurich asking the most basic questions — “where do I even start?” — and getting buried under replies in three different languages, none of them quite helpful enough.
Switzerland has one of the highest rates of pet ownership in Europe. It also has three official languages, a huge international community, and — as far as we could tell — no single place that brought it all together clearly. The travel research took a back seat. We couldn’t stop thinking about this.
“The best ideas usually find you when you’re busy doing something else.”
We dug deeper. We read through expat groups, local forums, Reddit threads, Facebook communities. The frustration was consistent and quiet — not loud complaints, just people genuinely stuck. “I had no idea this service even existed in my area.” “Everything is in German and I don’t know who to trust.” “My cat needed emergency care and I didn’t know where to go.”
That was enough for us. We’re a small team that builds useful things on the internet — and this felt like one of the most useful things we could build.
So we built PetSphere. Switzerland’s most complete, multilingual directory of pet services — in German, French, and English. Every listing verified. Every category chosen because a real person, in a real moment of need, went looking for it and came up short.
We’re still learning Switzerland — its cantons, its quirks, its very strong feelings about dogs on public transport. We welcome corrections, suggestions, and the occasional firmly-worded email when we’ve got something wrong.
If you’re a pet owner, we hope this saves you time when it matters most. If you run a pet business, we’d love to help more people find you. Either way — welcome to PetSphere.