A mockup of SitStay’s new site shows off its recommendation engine. It’s a big part of the 19-year-old site’s redesign that is set to launch later this year. SitStay will present at the Straight Shot demo day tonight.

OMAHA —If anyone in Nebraska knows the value of a startup accelerator, it’s probably Jill Liliedahl, the recently hired CEO of SitStay, an e-commerce site for dog products.

Last summer, Liliedahl was the program manager for NMotion’s inaugural year in Lincoln.

This year, she’s a participant in Omaha’s Straight Shot accelerator, which will host its demo day Wednesday from 6–9 p.m. at Aksarben Cinema. The event is sold out.

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“I knew what an accelerator could do for a company,” she said, “but actually going through the process has exceeded my expectations and we got even more out of it than I thought we would.”

What’s perhaps most interesting about that is the fact that though it has a lean three-person staff, SitStay isn’t a true startup.

SitStay was among the first e-commerce pet supply companies when it was founded in 1995, making it nearly as old as Amazon.

But in the past 19 years, the competitive landscape changed: brick and mortar pet store behemoths established themselves online, web design trends changed, customized recommendations became popular.

SitStay didn’t keep up.

“What we’re looking at right now is a really crowded market space in the dog supply market,” Liliedahl said. “Everybody on team SitStay knew that the company was broken and not living up to its potential.

“We’re definitely treating it like a startup, and looking for a scalable, repeatable business model. What does that look like if we totally rethink it?”

So when Liliedahl (right) interviewed with owner Monte Froehlich for the CEO job, she told him that no matter who he hired, he should consider Straight Shot. He took her up on the idea, and she interviewed with the accelerator on her third day on the job in April.

Liliedahl said participating in the program has been a great opportunity because over the last three months, SitStay has received tens of thousands of dollars in consulting and advice it couldn’t afford otherwise, Lilledahl said. Mentors like former Proxibid CEO Bruce Hoberman, staff and leaders from dev shop Aviture, and current and former Hayneedle executives.

“We really benefited from having a whole new network of contacts and mentors—90 to 95 percent that we didn’t know before. There must be something to the much-talked-about Omaha-Lincoln divide,” she said. “I thought I would know a few more than that.”

They also were able to deploy that advice quickly while maintaining its existing customer base.

“We could test and experiment right away, and it’s not a question of rounding people up to try things out on them.”

But perhaps most importantly, SitStay benefited from having a deadline, Liliedahl said.

“You need a new direction by September 10, and 400 people are going to be watching, so you better have something to say.”

So what will Liliedahl be saying? She’ll be looking for strategic partners with experience in the dog supply industry. The e-commerce site will continue to serve the wider pet supply market, but will focus its marketing and growth on service and assistance dogs, which provide a lower customer acquisition cost and greater lifetime value.

“SitStay is not at all new to the service dog-assistance dog market,” she said, “but we will now focus on relationships with customers who will stay with SitStay for the life of not just one dog, but the service dog after that, too.”