What We Won't Pretend To Know
Our philosophy on building honest pet technology
The pet technology industry is full of extraordinary claims. Devices that promise to read your pet's mind. Apps that claim to translate animal emotions with scientific precision. Collars that supposedly know what your dog is feeling better than you do.
Pet owners—people who love their animals deeply and want the very best for them—are presented with promises that sound like magic dressed up in AI jargon. And because that love is real, those promises are tempting.
We think pet owners deserve better. They deserve companies that respect their intelligence. They deserve tools that do what they claim, and honesty about what technology can and cannot do.
What We Believe
We believe in verifiable value.
TinyTail does things you can actually check. It remembers what you told it about your pet. It surfaces relevant information when you need it. It helps you organize your pet's health history and make informed decisions.
These aren't claims about reading minds. They're claims you can verify by using the product. Tell Tiny your dog is allergic to chicken, and next time you ask about food, it will remember. That's not magic—it's useful software doing exactly what it says.
We believe AI should augment, not mystify.
AI is a tool, not magic. It's genuinely good at some things: remembering information, finding patterns, retrieving relevant details quickly, and having natural conversations. It's not good at other things—like knowing what your dog is "really feeling" inside.
When we use AI in TinyTail, we're clear about what it's doing. It's helping you keep track of information. It's giving you a knowledgeable companion to talk through concerns. It's not claiming supernatural insight into animal consciousness.
We believe your pet's mystery is not a problem to be solved.
The bond between you and your pet is beautiful precisely because it's not fully explainable. You learn to read each other over years of shared life. You develop intuitions that no algorithm can replicate. That silent understanding when your dog knows you're sad, or when your cat chooses to sit with you—that's not a bug in the system. That's the whole point.
You know your pet better than any algorithm ever will. Our job is to help you be a better pet parent, not to replace your intuition with a confidence score.
We believe in the difference between "helps you decide" and "tells you what to think."
TinyTail gives you information to make decisions. When your pet seems off, we help you think through what you're observing, remember relevant history, and decide whether to monitor at home or visit the vet.
We don't claim to know if your pet is anxious, happy, or sad. We help you track symptoms and patterns so you and your veterinarian can figure it out together. The judgment stays with you—where it belongs.
What We Won't Do
We won't claim accuracy percentages for things that can't be measured. If there's no ground truth to validate against, we won't invent numbers that sound scientific.
We won't cite research that doesn't directly support our claims. "Informed by" is not the same as "validated by." We'll be honest about what the science actually says.
We won't use jargon to make simple features sound revolutionary. If our app remembers things, we'll call it memory—not a "Cognitive Retention Matrix."
We won't pretend AI can do things it can't. No technology can access your pet's subjective experience. We won't pretend otherwise.
What We Will Do
Build useful tools that do exactly what they claim. No more, no less. If we say Tiny remembers your pet's preferences, you can test that claim yourself.
Be transparent about what our technology can and cannot do. We're good at helping you organize information and think through decisions. We can't read minds.
Respect your relationship with your pet. You're the expert on your companion. We're here to support that relationship, not insert ourselves into it.
Keep improving based on what actually helps pet owners. Not based on what makes for impressive marketing copy, but on what makes a real difference in your pet's care.
The Commitment
Pet owners pour money, time, and endless love into their companions. The least they deserve is honesty about what technology can and cannot do for them.
TinyTail is built on a simple premise: earn trust by being trustworthy.
We'd rather under-promise and over-deliver than join the race to make the most impressive-sounding claims. Your pet deserves real help. You deserve real honesty. That's what we're here to provide.
As a pet parent myself, I know the anxiety when your furry friend is acting strangely. I know the frustration of late-night searches trying to figure out what's wrong. I know the temptation to believe any technology that promises to finally let you understand what your pet is thinking. I've been there. That's exactly why I started TinyTail—not to sell you false promises, but to build something that actually helps.
Yupeng Wei
Founder & CEO