Founding Story: A Dog’s Dinner Party That Changed Everything

The Visionaries Behind Bark

In 2011, New Yorkers Matt Meeker (co-founder of Meetup) and Henrik Werdelin (Danish entrepreneur) bonded over their rescue dogs, Hugo (a 130-pound Great Dane) and Morten, during a conference on a cruise ship. Frustrated by the lack of innovative, size-inclusive dog products, they teamed up with Carly Strife, a branding expert and former Uber executive, to launch Bark (originally BarkBox) in 2012. Their mission? “To make dogs as happy as they make humans.” This marked the beginning of the Bark pet care revolution.