Andrew Townsend
Business Purring Along for Entrepreneurs
Andrew Townsend credits the Runway Program at Florida Gulf Coast University with giving him the skills to launch a successful Kickstarter campaign to fund his idea for a cat café that’s still purring along five years later.
Townsend and his partner, Amber Redfern, saw an opportunity to solve a big problem within the pet industry. Animal shelters are commonly overcrowded and underfunded, and struggle to match animals with new owners.
“I wanted to give something back to the community,” said Townsend, a lifelong animal lover.
Through the business-incubating Runway Program in the Daveler & Kauanui School of Entrepreneurship, Townsend began validating demand for a cat café that offered adoptions. He administering surveys and set up informational tables at community events before launching a Kickstarter campaign that raised $20,000 from 230 donors. He and Redfern conducted market research and visited cate cafes in six states.
Their Cattyshack Cat Café came to life in 2020 at Gulf Coast Town Center near the FGCU campus. Since launching, the café has helped 2,400-plus furry friends find forever homes.
Because where others see problems, FGCU entrepreneurs see opportunities.