Automating Pet Policy
Compliance at Scale
If you’ve ever rented an apartment with a pet, you know the process goes something like this: You fill out a form detailing what type of pet you have, the breed, the size, the status of its vaccines. Perhaps you agree to a pet deposit, and that’s it.
For property owners, however, that process is deeply flawed. There’s no guarantee the information provided is accurate. A “lab mix” on paper might be something very different in reality. There’s little insight into whether a tenant is a responsible pet owner, often a far more meaningful indicator of safety than breed alone. And by the time misrepresentation is discovered, it’s usually too late to address.
John Bradford — a long-time real estate investor, entrepreneur, and member of the North Carolina legislature — had experienced that pain point firsthand. In it, he saw an opportunity. He created PetScreening, a technology-driven platform designed to streamline pet screening and improve outcomes for both tenants and property owners.
With the concept in place, the next step was finding a technology partner to help bring the business to life.
The Opportunity
When evaluating a new venture, Dualboot looks for founders with deep market insight, domain expertise, and the resources to execute. John brought all three. He had spent more than a decade in the real estate industry, understood the operational realities property owners faced, and was running a profitable business capable of funding a new product initiative.
Just as important, John had prior experience building software. He knew exactly what he needed—and what he didn’t.
The development
The engagement began with collaborative discovery sessions to map the business model, clarify product requirements, and align on a go-to-market strategy. From there, Dualboot worked closely with John to translate the concept into a functional, scalable application.
Wireframes and mockups were created, reviewed, and refined before engineering began. From initial design through launch, the process took less than five months.
Testing started within John’s own property management firm, where PetScreening ran in beta for two months. This was followed by a closed beta with approximately ten additional firms, allowing the team to continue iterating while the platform began generating revenue. In October 2017, PetScreening officially launched to the public.
Because the MVP reached market quickly, the team retained the flexibility—and budget—to iterate aggressively based on real user feedback. As adoption increased, Dualboot scaled the software team in stride, ensuring the platform could keep pace with growing demand.
The Solution
The challenge
PetScreening solved a real market problem—and adoption accelerated quickly. That success introduced a new challenge: onboarding demand began to outpace manual processes.
The team evaluated their options. One approach was to add staff to manage onboarding manually. The alternative was to automate onboarding through system integrations and APIs.
“Just throwing a person at it doesn’t mean you’ll get someone onboard,” John explained. “A lot of our clients are entrepreneurs growing their own firms and doing everything themselves. You have to make it automatic and instantaneous.”
The decision was clear. Rather than increasing headcount, the team focused on building technology-driven onboarding workflows that reduced friction, lowered cost of sale, and allowed PetScreening to scale efficiently—without compromising reliability.
The Impact
At Dualboot Partners, the goal is to handle the technology so founders can focus on growing the business. That commitment was critical in PetScreening’s early days—and it continues to define the partnership today.
In the years following its initial launch, PetScreening quickly validated both the market need and the strength of its execution. The platform achieved 21% month-over-month growth, expanded its internal team with dedicated operational leadership, and began attracting customers organically through inbound demand. During this period, PetScreening also drew interest from the largest multifamily management company in the U.S. and was recognized as Vendor of the Year by a leading industry conference—just one year after its public debut.
Years later, Dualboot and PetScreening continue to work together as long-term partners, evolving the platform to support increasing scale, regulatory complexity, and customer demand. That sustained collaboration has translated into measurable industry-wide impact.
In 2025 alone, PetScreening delivered measurable impact across its customer base, including:
- $87.9 million in reclaimed pet-related revenue for property managers and asset owners
- 1.3 million administrative and legal hours saved through PetScreening’s assistance animal review process, aligned with HUD and Fair Housing Act guidelines
- 12,000 lost pets reunited with their families through the FidoAlert national pet alert system
- 5.1 million FidoAlert lost-pet text messages sent nationwide
Together, these outcomes reflect how PetScreening has grown from a promising concept into a market-defining platform—and how Dualboot’s role has evolved from early execution partner to a trusted collaborator supporting long-term scale and impact.
