Our cat died late last week. Her name was Paris. She was 17 – a long life, in cat years. Although technically, she wasn’t our cat. Technically, she belonged to the super in the building next door when we’d had our ground floor Manhattan office, but as a tiny kitten living with three grown cats and a dog, all of whom would not let her get near the food, she had other ideas about staying put. And acted on them. Without hesitation. A true entrepreneur/go-getter so take heed, entrepreneurs and budding entrepreneurs: when you see a gaping need and find a solution/opportunity, go for it.

Our ground floor office had a huge walled in backyard. Little did we know that ground floor spaces in NYC tend to be overrun with mice and rats. Especially ones with large outdoor spaces. No matter how many accesses we plugged up and traps we set, they seemed to proliferate. We needed a cat – a mouser – but we didn’t live at the office, so getting a cat was a non-starter. Exterminators didn’t help much in our situation, either.

One day, after we had tossed no less than six spent traps that morning, we went out to the backyard to decompress. We heard a mewing and looked up at the wall. Perched there was a tiny kitten. We made eye contact and she fled.

Animals go in search of two basic things: food and shelter. She was wearing at tag when we first spotted her. She obviously had a home. It was food, we decided, and went to the store and bought cat food. And set it out for her before we left the office. She bit. Literally. (Go to Market Strategy) We then put the food out in the mornings, she’d come for it, and we’d movie it closer and closer each day to the office door until it was close enough for her to catch the scent of the vermin inside, and it was off to the races. She was an amazing mouser.  (Product/Market Fit, Traction)

We did find her owner, who didn’t mind that she spent more time on the other side of the wall. Paris was basically a feral cat, and she seemed to have found a new home – and a purpose. She loved the hunt. She spent more time outdoors hunting than inside. We had installed a cat door so that she could come and go as she pleased and had a place to escape the weather on cold or rainy days and nights. The office was her base during the day – she’d mostly sleep on the sofa to rest up for the nightly hunt. And no vermin dared to enter anymore. Her scent was everywhere. She’d made sure of it.

When the day came that we were moving on to another office, we’d purchased a cat carrier, but had no idea how we were going to get her into it. She’d spotted it and fled. The movers came, the office was empty save for the cat carrier. Paris returned through her cat door and warily ventured in. She looked around and saw that it was barren save for the carrier, jumped in, and yelled at us to close it. And she moved to a proper Manhattan apartment, on a high floor with no outdoor access.

She and our husband were oil and water. He’d never lived with a pet before, and she could feel that she was unwelcomed. We’d go to our new office during the day, leaving the two of them. He was working remotely from home at the time, and would be at his computer, with her across the room on her cat perch.

Oil and water.

One day he was having a particularly stressful day and his thoughts and heart rate were racing. He needed a break, so went to lie down in the bedroom. When she noticed that he wasn’t in his usual spot, she went in search of him.

Animals need to be aware of where their enemies are at all times. She cautiously ventured onto the bed, assessed the situation, put her front paws on his chest, and he immediately calmed down. She had found her new purpose. Everyone pivots.

And note that a problem/solution and product/market fit were still there.

We are gutted by her loss, but she did have health issues that come with age. She lived three years longer than our vet had predicted, and we are grateful for that. It hasn’t been easy. She had been with us from the start. Her start. In business, you lose good people, too, for various reasons. There are times when that’s not easy, either. But as we all well know, there is that point, as difficult as it may be for those of us who remain behind, when it’s simply time for one to move onward and forward.