Turning Pet Faces Into Millions 💰

Issue #161

March 3rd, 2025

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Quick Hits:

🐶 Two of Gene Hackman’s dogs were found alive

😡 Someone crammed 14 dogs into a crate in Long Island and left them there

❤️ Meet the “Tinder for pets” app

👩 A woman is contemplating the future of her relationship with her boyfriend because he refuses to live with dogs

🥇 Successful pet influencer marketing campaigns

In today’s newsletter, we chat with Jake Chambers, the co-founder of Pupsentials. 

Can you share the story behind Pupsentials? What inspired you to start the company, and how did you develop the concept?

Kyndall & I started Pupsentials in our garage in 2021. We have always loved dogs, but really loved how unique each and every pet is. We always say, there’s everyone else’s dog, and then your dog. We love celebrating what makes them special. Kyndall was a talented artist and had an art background, I had a background in fashion and e-commerce, so it felt natural to start a business together around something we love, dogs.

Thus Pupsentials was born. We knew nothing about embroidery, but we knew we wanted to offer something premium that would last a lifetime. So we had to figure it out. We went to over 20 local vendors in Fort Worth, Texas with the concept, a 1 of 1 highly detailed and colorful pet embroidered sweatshirt. Everyone laughed and said we were crazy. A bunch of No’s led us to buying our machine and learning ourselves. We never looked back. And here we are today. 

You manage everything in-house. Can you walk us through your supply chain and explain how this approach has helped you optimize costs?

Yes, by being in control of our supply chain, we can determine each individual fixed and variable cost in our business, we have control over what we can control and dont depend on others. We are able to get economies of scale, the more pets we create, the bigger our production grows, the more efficient we become. A huge improvement was developing our own custom blanks, it took a lot of time, but we are now in control of inventory, the quality of garment, and a side effect is cost savings. That was huge.

In the beginning, we didn’t optimize for costs, we focused on validating the model and product. Once we had feedback and data, we could optimize for costs. If we focused on costs first, we would have tried to perfect something and delayed our start, instead of starting and figuring out as we go.

Your revenue has grown significantly - from $3 million last year to a projected $9 million this year. What key factors contributed to this rapid growth?

Product and experience. Every business is unique and different. What allowed us to grow was being able to have an infrastructure to handle the demand. Before we were always limited and had a cap on production, even last year. Even though there is more demand, we turned down so much revenue because we care more about the customers having a good experience and being here for a long time.

We constantly build to delight our customers and handle more demand and deliver faster. So it’s not necessary that we focus more on marketing, but focus on building our backend to handle the demand we already couldn't support.

What is your current marketing budget, and what is your customer acquisition cost (CAC)? Which marketing channels have been the most effective for Pupsentials?

Right now we have 2 seasons for Pupsentias (January-August) and (December), we spend more conservatively during January - August mainly on Meta & Google around $20-$25k per month. During September-December, we scale while watching our metrics anywhere from $5k-$20k per day since people are looking for the ultimate dog lover gift. We maximize our value. Our blended CAC is $30. When we can create a great offer and handle demand, it goes down. When we focus on organic activities like working with our 5,000 ambassadors or influencers and celebs, our cac goes down as well.

I think what is really important is knowing your numbers, your MER, and having a team, and systems in place to watch closely so you are not overspending, and actually profitable. Profit>Revenue. 

Given the highly visual nature of your product, how instrumental have partnerships been in driving your success?

Partnerships have been huge, and what separates Pupsentials from others. We know if we can be top of mind, and focus on the best quality partnerships, we dont compete on price, but on being the best quality and value a customer can get.

What technology stack do you rely on to streamline your operations and enhance efficiency?

Right now we use a few great custom apps, Notion, Slack, Proofer App (for artwork), and Shopify Plus, to manage and make sure customers are happy with each step since these are custom-made 1 of 1 orders.

Which product in your lineup is the best-selling, and what do you think makes it so popular?

The custom embroidered sweatshirt - everyone loves a great soft sweatshirt, especially with their furfriend always on their heart everywhere they go. It’s a great conversation starter and is seen as the ultimate pet parent.

As entrepreneurs, we all have to master a range of skills, from marketing and supply chain management to automation, design and much more. In your experience, which skill has been the most crucial for success?

I think the skill is to be resilient, stay positive, and build a great team around you. There will always be setbacks, good and bad days, and the key is to keep going, figure it out, and stay dedicated. Even with skills in any category, you will be challenged with adversity, but that is how you respond and stay true to your vision. 

My one skill was being obsessed with our customers and creating a product they would love, listening to feedback, and doing that every day. If you can get sales and keep going, you can eventually figure all the rest out. It will never be perfect, and always a journey, but if you can get revenue profitably, that sure helps.

We are in year 3 of Pupsentials, and it feels like we are getting started.
Big love, wishing everyone reading all the success! Any questions or help you can reach me at [email protected]

Best, Jake.

This week, Marisa Hoskins covers:

Medicinal Mushrooms: Powerful Allies in Cancer Prevention and Healthy Aging

Here's what really excites me about medicinal mushrooms in the pet wellness space: their research-backed potential for cancer prevention and healthy aging. As someone deeply passionate about extending our dogs' healthy years, I find the research particularly compelling.

Studies on Maitake mushrooms have shown promising results in cancer prevention through their unique polysaccharides, particularly D-fraction, which demonstrates significant anti-tumor effects. Meanwhile, Turkey Tail mushrooms have been extensively studied for their immune-modulating properties, with research showing they can help strengthen the body's natural defenses against cancer cell growth.

But it's not just about cancer prevention. The antioxidant properties in these mushrooms actively combat aging at the cellular level. Lion's Mane, in particular, has shown remarkable potential for supporting cognitive function in aging dogs - something that's becoming increasingly important as our pets live longer.

The pet wellness market is ready for more sophisticated, research-backed solutions in this space. There's real opportunity here to develop products that make these powerful ingredients accessible to pet parents who are increasingly focused on prevention and longevity.

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See you Wednesday!