Powering Pet Registration at Scale with AWS

Dualboot helped PetScreening leverage AWS to process massive data volumes, scale effortlessly, and support rapid growth in the real estate industry.

PetScreening, a pioneering pet registration platform, emerged from the vision of John Bradford, a seasoned real estate investor and entrepreneur. Recognizing the inherent flaws in traditional pet screening processes, John sought to create a solution that would streamline the process for tenants and property owners alike. Partnering with Dualboot Partners, PetScreening embarked on a journey to transform an idea into a high-growth business venture, leveraging technology to redefine pet registration in the real estate industry. They are now growing 22% month over month.

PetScreening operates within the real estate industry, offering a digital platform that simplifies pet screening processes for tenants and property owners. With a focus on enhancing safety and efficiency, PetScreening revolutionizes how properties manage pet-related inquiries and registrations.

The Opportunity

Traditional pet screening processes lacked accuracy and efficiency, leaving property owners vulnerable to misrepresentations and safety concerns. Without a reliable solution, property owners faced the risk of accommodating unsuitable pets and potential liabilities, hindering business operations and tenant satisfaction.

Why AWS?

PetScreening’s success story is deeply intertwined with its strategic adoption of Amazon Web Services (AWS) solutions. Here are some key features of the solution that have contributed to PetScreening’s remarkable growth:

Scalability: From its humble beginnings to its current state of processing up to 35k RPM with 400GB of data, PetScreening’s project has experienced exponential growth. AWS provides robust scalability options, allowing PetScreening to seamlessly expand its infrastructure to accommodate increasing demands.
Cost Management: Leveraging AWS Reserved Instances in Amazon RDS, PetScreening achieved a significant 20% reduction in its RDS bill. This cost-saving measure demonstrates the efficiency and optimization capabilities of AWS, enabling PetScreening to allocate resources more effectively.
Serverless Architecture: By harnessing the power of AWS Lambda, PetScreening effectively minimized server capacities and efficiently processed large volumes of photos. Utilizing the Free Tier usage of Lambda, PetScreening incurred no additional costs, demonstrating the cost-effectiveness of AWS serverless solutions.
Database Storage: AWS RDS offers PetScreening seamless setup options for read-only replicas and automated backups, essential components for a growing project. This feature ensures data integrity, availability, and reliability, supporting PetScreening’s mission-critical operations.

Through its partnership with AWS, PetScreening has seamlessly transitioned from a small startup to a mature product with exceptional scalability, availability, and the ability to handle substantial data sets and user traffic. AWS has played a pivotal role in fueling PetScreening’s growth journey, providing the foundation for its success in the competitive landscape.

The Solution

Dualboot Partners was uniquely qualified to address PetScreening’s technology needs, offering a blend of product expertise, industry knowledge, and strategic guidance. With a proven track record of delivering software solutions, Dualboot Partners emerged as the ideal partner to bring PetScreening’s vision to life.

Dualboot Partners collaborated closely with PetScreening to develop a comprehensive solution that streamlined the pet screening process and enhanced user experience. From design to launch, the process took less than five months. When it was ready for testing, they unleashed the application at John’s property management firm, which ran the first iteration of PetScreening for two months in beta mode. Then, they opened the application up to a closed beta — a group of about 10 firms that used the product for three months. They continued to iterate and iron out the kinks, while Pet Screening started generating revenue.

AWS ECS for managing containerized app instances including autoscaling
AWS ALB for balancing incoming requests between app targets (ECS tasks)
AWS EC2 spot instances for CI/CD pipelines in Gitlab
AWS S3 for photo and document uploads
AWS RDS (PostgreSQL) as a main database with read-only replica + automatic snapshots
AWS ElastiCache (Redis) for caching and as a storage for background jobs (Sidekiq)
AWS CloudWatch as a base app monitoring/alerting tool and logs aggregator
AWS CloudTrail as an Audit Log
AWS SSM as a parameter store
AWS Lambda to create users’ photos thumbnails for social networks and other third-party services
AWS MSK to sync between RDS databases

“With Pet Screening, I knew I needed a development team, and I knew I needed someone to run point between that team and me. Dualboot Partners was a natural fit. Not only did they understand the technology; they understood the business problem we were trying to solve. Plus, when you get a fractional CTO, you can put more of your money into the development, which is really what gets your product ahead.”

John Bradford

CEO

The Impact

The implementation of PetScreening’s platform led to significant improvements in efficiency, accuracy, and tenant satisfaction. By automating the pet screening process, PetScreening reduced operational costs, minimized risks, and accelerated business growth. PetScreening is now growing 22% month over month, used by over 200 property managers, implemented across 500k doors and averaging 4 new property manager sign ups per day.

Next Steps

PetScreening is poised for continued success, with plans to expand its market presence and enhance its platform capabilities. With ongoing support from Dualboot Partners and a commitment to innovation, PetScreening remains dedicated to revolutionizing pet registration in the real estate industry.

About Dualboot

Dualboot Partners is a leading software development firm. As an AWS Partner, Dualboot leverages its expertise and resources to empower businesses like PetScreening to achieve their goals and drive sustainable growth.