Rethinking Kibble

Issue #63

May 7th, 2024

Quick Hits:

🍖 Trying to eat on a budget? You might want to try eating dog food (please don’t)

🐊 Where’s Wally? The beloved internet alligator is missing

🐶 In response to Kristi Noem, bipartisan lawmakers announced the start of a dog lovers caucus on Capitol Hill

🚨 “Ok I’m ready to go” smart dog pulls fire alarm at the groomer to tell his mommy he is "ready to leave"

This week we speak with Terri Rockovich, co-founder & CEO of Jinx. Inspired by her own struggles in finding a food brand that worked for her dogs, she decided to create her own company and rethink the food we feed our dogs.

You’ve always loved animals, not just dogs, but all animals, even from a very young age, did you ever think this passion would become a career?

I wanted to be a veterinarian from a very young age. When I got to college and started playing Division One soccer, I realized that I was going to have to pick a major that was more accommodating to my schedule. As I started to pursue a business career, I really didn’t think I would end up in the pet industry until I adopted a dog who had a host of health issues… in addition to a sensitive tummy and a picky palette.

It was during my time caring for Blitz that I became really frustrated with the nutrition options in the category. How could there be so many choices, but nothing was working for my dog? That’s when I teamed up with my former co-workers and we decided to solve for the shared frustrations we had as pet parents: Why is everything that’s good for your dog so expensive? How can we simplify the purchasing, delivery, and feeding experiences? What does it take to make a proportionally appropriate diet for modern dogs that also tastes delicious for the end user? 

Before Jinx, you had spent years working in startups such as Casper, ModCloth, and Outdoor Voices. How much did that experience help you when you finally branched out and launched your own company?

Working for so many fast-paced, hyper-growth brands really allowed me to build a playbook of what worked vs what didn’t work. I took meticulous mental notes on the moves that founders were making, and what resulted in sound business decisions. The hardest lesson that these companies endured was: DO NOT spend your way to growth and DO NOT throw money at problems just because you have a high cash balance in your bank account. There were also incredibly unique ways to approach team management via authentic leadership styles and how to build a brand that felt different in a very congested and consolidated space. These were all tactics and techniques that we kept in mind as we were going through the formation, launch, and growth stages of Jinx.

Originally you launched as DTC but quickly shifted to retail and found a lot of success there. You are currently at 7,500+ retail stores including: Walmart, Target, Albertsons, Safeway, Shoprite, Giant, Stop & Stop, and more... and you are one of the fastest-growing pet food brands in retail, pacing to land over $70m in revenue this year. Why did you decide to shift to retail?

The subscription commerce environment is a lucrative one, especially for replenishable products that are hard to buy in-store (too many options, often out of stock in your dog’s favorite recipe or the size bag that you need, heavy to transport home). We loved the direct-to-consumer model because it allows for trying the product with a risk-free guarantee, buying your dog’s main meal and any complementary treats in a single destination, and then subscribing to a recurring shipment of your dog’s goodies in a hassle-free style.

The DTC business grew handsomely through the pandemic, but softened when retail started to open back up and had very unpredictable customer acquisition costs. The movement to retail was a natural one, securing an exclusive launch with the largest retailer in the world (Walmart) and a series of staggered launches into other mass-format stores over the course of the next 24 months. We have successfully been able to 10x our business from an eCommerce-only model in 2021 to a focused distribution strategy in 2023.

As a follow-up question, what plan did you execute that made you find so much success in this channel?

We chose to bypass the specialty and independent channels and go directly to the mass market, with a thoughtful go-to-market launch plan… including a little help from one of our most notable and appealing investors: Chris Evans and his dog, Dodger. We started small, launching 1,000 doors at Walmart, and steadily grew our retail footprint over time as we collected data and learned what products had the best customer reception at the shelf.

We continued to work closely with our retailers to bring new innovation into the aisles, and build out an in-store brand ambassador team that would help the pet parent decipher all of the in-aisle options. These are the types of product offerings and service features that we so badly desired by dog parents.

You are the first pet brand to enlist an A-list celebrity (Chris Evans) as an endorsement partner (and investor). Tell us about that.

Chris started as an investor, and when we sent his dog (Dodger) product to try… he loved it so much that he wanted to figure out a way to work together in a more multi-dimensional capacity. Chris embodies everything we admire as dog parents: he has an enduring love for Dodger and treats him like he’s part of his family. During our first meeting and then eventually our first creative production together, it was obvious how much Chris adored his pup, and how so many pet parents can relate to that undeniable companionship. 

While there is a shift to raw/gently cooked food, 90% of pet parents still buy kibble. How do you approach a market with so many legacy brands owned by a few major players?

We chose the hardest category to build equity in (food) with the most saturated food format (kibble). We did this because we knew there was white space, and a need for a better-for-them brand in the largest food category in all of pet. Our proportionally appropriate diet, clean ingredient labels, and added focus on important health aspects like gut health, allow us to compete with brands across all food types. Since our dogs cannot talk to us (if I had a genie wish, this would definitely be it) we need to evaluate the appropriateness of what we are feeding them by their stool quality. It’s the most objective way to decipher if your dog is processing their diet well – and we can confidently say that our digestibility, palatability, and stool quality scores compete with the most well-known legacy brands and the most-coveted brands in the specialty channel. 

PAWS right there!!! Don’t forget to subscribe 👇👇

As of last year, you've raised over $50M in total. What have you found resonates with investors and how do you find the "right" investors to partner with?

Jinx has raised just over $50m since its inception, and I know it’s because we have an incredible product with a compelling brand in an enormous category. As we were going through the research and development phase, we were meticulous about product decisions, branding/positioning, and packaging. I believe investors very clearly understood the problem: solution equation that we were presenting (Why doesn’t a brand exist that pet parents AND dogs love, plus doesn’t break your wallet every month?).

We haven’t changed much in terms of our foundational branding and nutritional philosophy since starting the business, and I believe that’s because, as pet parents ourselves, we identified and solved for real problems that exist in the category at large.

You invested 18 months in R&D. What went into that? How did you fund it? What were some hurdles?

Having an exceptional product feels like table stakes. Why even try to put something new on the shelves, in digital or physical environments, if it cannot compete with the diets that have been perfected over decades? In addition to having a product that outscored some of the top diets in the market, objectively speaking in terms of digestibility, palatability, and stool quality, it was important to ensure that formulation was appropriate for the cohort of dogs that we were solving for: modern dogs with modern lifestyles.

The reality is that most dogs need moderate levels of important nutritional elements like proteins, carbohydrates, fats, vitamins, and minerals. Dogs that receive an over-delivery of any combination of these items could develop serious health issues, like obesity, leading to a host of other problems. It took assembling a team of experts (nutritionists, veterinarians, formulators, and manufacturing experts) to craft the right series of core product offerings that would be able to withstand a very noisy and saturated category.

A large chunk of our Series SEED round funded our R&D and testing efforts, ensuring we were able to put something into the world that we were proud of.

What advice would you give to other early-stage entrepreneurs looking to enter the pet food industry with a focus on better-for-you options?

The pet category is filled with a sea of similar items, which becomes obvious when you walk down the pet food aisle in any retail store. My advice would be to design something aspirational for the mass market that has clear points of differentiation, a compelling margin profile, and make sure you price it in an attainable position – that way, you will be able to scale it quickly once you get some sales momentum.

You reached the end, you deserve a treat 🍖

Be part of the pack - For more news, links, and entertainment follow us on social media (links below) and fur - ward this to your best human friend.

Finally, How do you stop a dog from barking in your front yard?

Put him in the backyard.

See you Thursday!