Pawla Abdul (CMO)
07064b104f
Update all marketing site references to reflect the project's AGPL-3.0 license: - Hero badge on homepage - Footer text on homepage - Blog post links (launch and why-we-built) Co-Authored-By: Paperclip <noreply@paperclip.ing>
155 lines
9.0 KiB
HTML
155 lines
9.0 KiB
HTML
<!DOCTYPE html>
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<html lang="en">
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<head>
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<meta charset="UTF-8">
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<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0">
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<title>Why We Built Groom Book — And Why Groomers Deserve Better Software</title>
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<meta name="description" content="An honest look at the pet grooming software landscape — and why we decided to do something about it.">
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<style>
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* { margin: 0; padding: 0; box-sizing: border-box; }
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body { font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, sans-serif; line-height: 1.7; color: #333; max-width: 700px; margin: 0 auto; padding: 20px; }
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header { background: #1a1a2e; color: #fff; padding: 60px 20px; margin: -20px -20px 40px; text-align: center; }
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header h1 { font-size: 2rem; margin-bottom: 15px; }
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header .date { color: #a0a0a0; font-size: 0.9rem; }
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h2 { color: #1a1a2e; margin: 40px 0 15px; font-size: 1.5rem; }
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h3 { color: #333; margin: 25px 0 10px; font-size: 1.2rem; }
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p { margin-bottom: 15px; }
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ul, ol { margin: 15px 0 15px 25px; }
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li { margin-bottom: 8px; }
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.highlight { background: #f0f8ff; padding: 15px 20px; border-left: 4px solid #4CAF50; margin: 20px 0; }
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.story { background: #fff8f0; padding: 20px; border-radius: 8px; margin: 20px 0; font-style: italic; }
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.story p { margin-bottom: 10px; }
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.story .attribution { font-style: normal; color: #666; font-size: 0.9rem; }
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.code-block { background: #1a1a2e; color: #fff; padding: 20px; border-radius: 6px; overflow-x: auto; font-family: 'Courier New', monospace; font-size: 0.9rem; margin: 20px 0; }
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.code-block code { color: #a0a0a0; }
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.code-block .prompt { color: #4CAF50; }
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.comparison-table { width: 100%; border-collapse: collapse; margin: 20px 0; }
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.comparison-table th, .comparison-table td { padding: 12px 15px; text-align: left; border-bottom: 1px solid #eee; }
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.comparison-table th { background: #1a1a2e; color: #fff; }
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.check { color: #4CAF50; }
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.cross { color: #e74c3c; }
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a { color: #4CAF50; text-decoration: none; }
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a:hover { text-decoration: underline; }
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footer { margin-top: 60px; padding-top: 30px; border-top: 1px solid #eee; color: #666; font-size: 0.9rem; }
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.back-link { display: inline-block; margin-bottom: 20px; color: #666; }
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.signature { background: #f9f9f9; padding: 20px; border-radius: 8px; margin-top: 30px; }
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</style>
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</head>
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<body>
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<header>
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<h1>Why We Built Groom Book</h1>
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<p class="date">March 2026</p>
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</header>
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<a href="../" class="back-link">← Back to Home</a>
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<div class="story">
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<p>My groomer's name is Maria. She's been grooming for 22 years. She has a small salon with two chairs, a bathtub for the big dogs, and a wall of laminated breed standard cards that her mentor gave her in 2002.</p>
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<p>Maria's software? A binder with client contact info, a paper calendar on the wall, and a calculator.</p>
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<p>When I asked her why she didn't use salon software, she said: "I looked into it. It's $180 a month, it's complicated, and the one I tried locked me out of my own data when they changed pricing."</p>
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<p class="attribution">She represents thousands of independent groomers. This is for her.</p>
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</div>
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<h2>The State of Pet Grooming Software</h2>
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<p>If you run a salon, you basically have three options:</p>
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<h3>1. The legacy desktop software</h3>
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<p>$150-250/month. Runs on Windows. Looks like it was designed in 2003 (because it was). Requires a dedicated computer that can't do anything else. No mobile access. No online booking. But it "works" so you stick with it.</p>
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<h3>2. The SaaS platform</h3>
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<p>These are the Vagaro/Jill-of-All types. Monthly fees, sometimes percentage-based on bookings. They're web-based which is better. But they own your data. If you stop paying, you lose everything. Some take 15-30% of your booking revenue. They often cater to salons AND stylists AND wellness businesses — grooming is just one checkbox.</p>
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<h3>3. Generic scheduling tools</h3>
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<p>Think Calendly, Acuity, Square Appointments. They're fine for appointments but know nothing about grooming: no breed-specific timing (a poodle trim takes different time than a Doodle shave-down), no coat type notes, no deposit handling for no-shows, no pet profile history. You're constantly working around the tool.</p>
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<div class="highlight">
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<p><strong>Here's the thing:</strong> grooming has unique operational needs that generic software will never address well.</p>
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</div>
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<h2>What Groomers Actually Need</h2>
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<p>After talking to dozens of groomers, a few themes come up constantly:</p>
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<ul>
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<li><strong>Time by breed and coat type.</strong> A 15-pound Doodle with a shave-down takes 3x longer than a 15-pound Bichon Frise with a bath-and-brush. Generic scheduling tools don't understand this. Groomers end up double-booking or rushing.</li>
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<li><strong>Client and pet history in one place.</strong> "Oh, this dog got matted last time, I need to use a different brush" — that context needs to live in the profile. Paper files work. A whiteboard works. But when you have 200 clients and 3 groomers, you need something better.</li>
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<li><strong>Deposit handling.</strong> No-shows hurt. Charging a deposit at booking and automatically retaining it for cancellations is table stakes for any modern booking system — but most grooming software doesn't do it well.</li>
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<li><strong>Working offline.</strong> Mobile groomers — the ones who show up at your house with a van and all their tools — often work in areas with no cell signal. A PWA that works offline isn't a nice-to-have, it's essential.</li>
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<li><strong>Your data, your server.</strong> This is the big one. Groomers have watched platforms get acquired, change pricing, or shut down. Nobody wants to build their business on rented software.</li>
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</ul>
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<h2>What We Built</h2>
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<p>Groom Book is open source, self-hostable pet grooming business management software. It runs on your server (or your laptop, or a $20/month VPS). It does everything a small salon needs:</p>
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<ul>
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<li>Appointment scheduling with groomer calendars</li>
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<li>Client and pet profiles with history, coat type, behavior notes</li>
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<li>Service catalog with breed-specific timing and pricing</li>
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<li>Online booking portal (24/7 client self-service)</li>
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<li>POS, invoicing, tips, receipts</li>
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<li>Automated SMS and email reminders</li>
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<li>Revenue and utilization analytics</li>
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<li>PWA — install on your phone, works offline</li>
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<li>Staff impersonation with full audit logs (for managers)</li>
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</ul>
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<p>And because it's open source, you can hire any developer to customize it, or run it on your own infrastructure. Your data stays yours.</p>
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<h2>The Price</h2>
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<p>Groom Book is free. AGPL-3.0 license. We built it because the problem is solvable and the existing solutions are exploitative.</p>
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<p>If you want to run it yourself, you can have it running in 5 minutes:</p>
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<div class="code-block">
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<code><span class="prompt">$</span> git clone https://github.com/groombook/groombook</code><br>
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<code><span class="prompt">$</span> cd groombook</code><br>
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<code><span class="prompt">$</span> docker compose up --build</code>
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</div>
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<p>If you want someone else to host it for you — managed hosting, backups, updates — that model can work too. We might build that someday. But you'll always have the option to self-host.</p>
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<h2>Who This Is For</h2>
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<p>Groom Book is for:</p>
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<ul>
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<li><strong>Independent groomers</strong> running a one-person shop who are tired of paper and whiteboards</li>
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<li><strong>Small salons</strong> with 2-5 groomers who can't justify $200/month for legacy desktop software</li>
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<li><strong>Mobile groomers</strong> who need offline-capable, PWA-based scheduling</li>
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<li><strong>Developers</strong> who want to contribute to software that helps small businesses</li>
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</ul>
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<p>It's not for:</p>
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<ul>
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<li>Enterprise salon chains (yet — maybe never)</li>
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<li>Businesses that want a fully managed SaaS with 24/7 support contracts (look at Vagaro or Phorest)</li>
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</ul>
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<h2>The Future</h2>
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<p>We're just getting started. Groom Book v1 covers the essentials. Here's what's on the roadmap:</p>
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<ul>
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<li>Multi-language support for international groomers</li>
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<li>SMS via Twilio (not just email reminders)</li>
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<li>Waitlist and cancellation queue</li>
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<li>Groomer commission tracking</li>
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<li>Integration with QuickBooks and other accounting tools</li>
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</ul>
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<p>If you want to follow along: <a href="https://github.com/groombook/groombook">GitHub</a>.</p>
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<div class="signature">
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<p>Maria — if you're reading this: I hope this helps. You deserve software that respects your time and your business.</p>
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<p>To everyone else: if you know a groomer who's been making do with a whiteboard and a binder, show them this. They have options now.</p>
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</div>
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<footer>
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<p><a href="https://github.com/groombook/groombook">View on GitHub</a></p>
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<p style="margin-top: 10px;">Groom Book — Open Source Pet Grooming Software</p>
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</footer>
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</body>
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</html>
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