Opinions which can be expressed by entrepreneurs are their very own.
Amy Zalneraitis never set off to be within the animal feed business.
As a creative director in the style industry, she built a successful profession that was removed from the world of dog nutrition. But when her younger sister Alissa was diagnosed with colon cancer within the late stage within the late Nineteen Thirties, Amy’s life took an unexpected turn.
Alissa had built a flourishing raw pet food business in Austin, Texas, which she had expanded nationally and continued into the last week of her life. When she was over, there was no time to save lots of. Production needed to be continued, meat deliveries needed to be made, and customers relyed on the food. Amy and her family jumped in and turned their tragedy right into a flourishing business.
Today we feed RAW at the highest of the disturbance of the 45 billion dollar house-tier food industry within the USA, wherein freshness and raw food from 2025 to 2029 are estimated by $ 3.2 billion.
In a recent episode of One Day with Jon Bier, Amy shared her journey from the reluctant entrepreneur to passionate lawyers for higher animal nutrition. Here are essential findings from our conversation.
The problem with pet food
According to Amy, the biological machinery of the dogs will not be laid out for constant blood sugar suggestions from the soluble carbohydrates from the kibble. The results serve because of this: 60% of the dogs within the USA are obese or chubby, and 50% will fall ailing on the age of cancer. For many dogs, most of their calories come from ultra-processed food, meals after eating.
“Why do we accept that as normal?” Amy asks. Their solution is to feed dogs their original evolutionary weight loss plan of raw food.
Challenging conventional wisdom – kilching
Amy knows that something must be done to teach the buyer, but in a constructive way. Therefore, she pays attention to being nuanced in her sales approach.
“We have to be very brave in our news because we disturb a room,” she explains. “But we have to make sure that we have no shame tone.” Most pet owners love their dogs and family and don’t want to harm them knowingly.
“The transition can sometimes be difficult for people. They spend a lot more money and they want to see that these results happen,” she says. The solution? We feed the RAW customer support team, helps people within the transition period, especially since dogs who’ve been eating food for years may have time in order that their intestinal microbioma can adapt.
Know their role
Some founders have difficulty letting go – not Amy, who has a refreshing perspective on their strengths and restrictions. “I’m not a CEO at all,” she admits. “My brain doesn’t work that way.” Instead, she includes her role as a creative and passionate brand lawyer. The company recently brought a CEO and CMO with which Amy is named “the worst, clever women” with which it has ever worked. “I don’t even feel as smart as you and I love it because you only know what to do. We all work together in this very complementary way.”
Building identity
One of the primary major steps from Amy after securing the financing from outside was the strong investment in brand development. She hired preacher, a creative agency in Austin, to create the identity of RAW. “It was a very collaborative process – the colors, the look, the feeling, the mood,” she explains.
The investment paid off: “It really helps us to highlight. It gave us credibility.” In an industry stuffed with so -called “crappy branding of Pet Food”, this early give attention to the brand identity contributed to feeding raw.
Stay strong by the fights
For Amy, entrepreneurship was a profound teacher of resilience. “Learn not to stay down too long when you are put down,” she says. “I think it can feel really overwhelming to keep putting yourself in the face … but sometimes the most ingenious thing we did was that we didn’t give up.”
One of her most difficult periods got here before the business was put into operation from month to month. Even when people asked what she was doing, she kept faith. “It will work. I know that this will work,” she said.
At a very dark moment, a text buddy really useful that “how I built it”. The podcast became her lifeline. “It saved me because I realized that there were other people like me,” she explains. “You have to protect your mind and energy when you are in this room because most people tell you that you are crazy.”
