Based in Brighton, Lee founded Play9 from sheer frustration at not being able to find toys durable enough for his Rottweiler. Three years later, that frustration has become a growing international pet brand, with products now reaching customers in the US, Germany, and across Scandinavia.
From dog owner to dog toy designer
Play9 started the way many great products do: by solving a problem nobody else had bothered to fix. Lee and his wife had spent years buying toys their Rottweiler would either destroy within minutes or find a way around entirely. One day, they decided to build something better themselves.
"As a bit of a joke one day, we thought we could come up with something better," Lee recalls. "So we 3D printed a prototype, and fast forward three and a bit years, it's just taken off."
The toy they designed was more than just durable. It worked as a slow feeder, supported rehabilitation, and filled gaps that existing products simply didn't address. Word spread fast. What had begun as a passion project became a full product line, now including a premium range of dog treats focused on nutrition and wellbeing.
Building on their own terms
From day one, Lee made a deliberate choice to self-fund Play9. Investors came knocking early, but the terms on the table didn't match where he wanted to take the business.
"I was very aware of how much value was in what we were building," he says. "I didn't want to give away equity at year one." That decision meant managing cash flow carefully, but it also meant Play9 stayed entirely his.
The manufacturing and retail model creates a natural cash flow gap. Stock has to be produced, marketed, and sold before payment comes in, a cycle that can stretch two to four months. Managing that gap, while simultaneously running digital advertising across multiple channels, calls for financial tools that can keep pace.
Play9 is now live in the US, with Germany, Holland, Norway, and Sweden in progress. The ambition is clear: building the company up without compromising the genuine innovation and care for dogs the brand was built on.
A credit card that keeps pace
Lee opened his Capital on Tap Business Credit Card account when Play9 was still finding its feet. The speed of the process surprised him. "Within less than 24 hours, we had a £20,000 limit ready to use," he says. "I remember thinking: is this real?"
The card quickly became central to how Play9 operates. With significant digital advertising spend running on a daily basis, the rewards accumulate fast. "The rewards really do add up," Lee says. "Every few months you get a couple of hundred quid in cashback on all business spending. It's worth switching to Capital on Tap just for that."
Those rewards built up quickly enough that Lee was able to use his cashback to cover the cost of upgrading to Pro. "Once I saw there was airport lounge access on the Pro plan, I was sold," he says. "I was running a lot of ads through the card, so the rewards built up quickly. Within a few months I had enough cashback to cover the cost of the Pro membership itself. The card essentially paid for its own upgrade."
The Priority Pass™ airport lounge access has since become one of the most tangible benefits for Lee's day-to-day. "In the last year, airport lounge access alone has saved me close to £1,000 on food and drinks when I'm travelling," he says. "If I'd known how good the Pro membership was, I'd have signed up on day one."
To maximise returns further, Lee uses Preloading to earn an additional 1.25% cashback, something he recommends to any business running regular ad spend. "If you spend the two minutes it takes to switch to Capital on Tap," he says, "you're just getting extra money back." For cash flow crunches, Bill Pay has also proven its value. "Bill Pay has been really useful," Lee says. "When you've got an HMRC bill due but you're not getting paid for another month, being able to use Bill Pay to cover it in the meantime takes a lot of stress out of running the business."
Throughout all of it, what Lee comes back to most isn't any one feature. It's the experience of dealing with the support team. "Every time I've called, the team has sorted it," he says. "I've had 10 out of 10 customer service every single time. I genuinely think I'm probably your happiest customer."
For small businesses growing on self-funded terms, that kind of reliability makes a real difference. Apply for the Capital on Tap Business Credit Card today.
The Priority Pass™ membership programme is provided by Priority Pass Limited and is subject to the "Priority Pass Conditions of Use," available on their website.
