It’s been two years since Jiminy’s founder and CEO Anne Carlson launched her new sustainable pet food company, but she couldn’t tell us why she created it. The story turned out to be too emotional for Anne to share publicly. It was a “story of purpose.” This conversation was the “inspirational story” of her story, which inspired a former Del Monte executive to tackle climate change by identifying new protein sources in pet food, starting with crickets. It was an incident. Since founding the company, Anne and her team have raised her $6 million in seed money, secured sales at 1,100 of her Petco stores, built a direct-to-consumer business, and what Generated millions in annual revenue. Now, Anne faces new storytelling challenges as she looks to raise Series A funding to dramatically expand her business.
Jiminy CEO Anne Carlson with her dogs Tuco (bottom) and Timber (top).
But this startup story begins with Anne’s origin story.
While at Del Monte, Anne aggregated and sold pet food assets and helped rebrand them as Big Heart Pet Brands.In 2016, JM Smucker Company acquired a new pet brand and Anne I started thinking: Around this time, Anne had a conversation where most parents would eventually discuss whether they would like to have children with adult children someday. She doesn’t want to bring them into a world evolving because of climate change. She wanted her daughter to experience the same joys of raising her family, and she felt a little guilty for not doing enough to change the story. You might have felt it, Anne says, looking back.
Ann knew from her experience in the pet food industry that an estimated 25% to 35% of domestic meat production is used for dog and cat feed. Dogs alone consume 32 billion pounds of protein each year. In the United States, raising cattle and chickens requires large amounts of land, water, and feed, so the environmental impact of feeding pets is significant. In researching alternatives, Anne discovered that insects, especially crickets, were a vast source of protein that required only a fraction of the resources required to produce traditional meat products. For example, cricket production produces 99% less greenhouse gases than chicken production. Jiminy’s was created to address this macro problem. Anne’s early pitch focused on this big picture story.
But this is where things get more complicated and the real storytelling challenges arise. To raise , you also need to convince investors that there is a huge market of pet owners looking to feed insect-based foods to their dogs. It’s a common issue for everyone.they told us their Story, but they haven’t introduced a true protagonist in the product story yet. customer It has a set of needs that only Jiminy’s can solve.
The good news for Anne is that millennials and Gen Z pet owners are very aware of and bothered by the causes of climate change. They are also very knowledgeable about new solutions. They also make up nearly half of all dog owners in the United States.Now Anne has a hero in her new story.
Jiminy’s chewy cricket treats
Anne tells the story of Lauren, a millennial Jiminy customer whose dog Mordecai is “her baby.” Lauren, like Anne’s daughter, is so concerned about climate change that she’s using her Crewdle, a “greener” peer-to-peer video conferencing solution, instead of her Zoom, to help her stay safe during the pandemic. decided to broadcast the wedding to That’s the big picture. But when it comes to her adorable deaf rescue dog Mordecai, Lauren worries about her dog’s gut health. Mordecai isn’t much fun to be around when he’s suffering from a stomach ailment, and Laura also wants food options she can offer her pet throughout her day. Custom meal services are expensive and have too many packages. If there are different forms of pet food that are healthy for dogs, I would be more than happy to try more sustainable pet food. Lauren has heard that insects are a new source of protein, and she wants to try something new.
Jiminy’s line-up of insect-based pet food is complete.
Jiminy answers the phone. Jiminy’s is a sustainable pet food made with insect protein. For example, if Lauren switched from traditional meat-based pet food to Jiminy’s pet food, she would save between 200,000 and 2,000,000 gallons of water each year, depending on the size of her dog and whether it was chicken- or beef-based. You can (Jiminy has an eco calculator to figure this out). The food is nutritious, prebiotic and hypoallergenic. Contains dietary fiber, iron, vitamin B2 and vitamin 12. Finally, Jiminy’s offers a number of foods that your dog can eat throughout his day, from wet food to treats.
On her roadshow, Anne leads her emotional origin story and soon pivots to Lauren’s story. Learn why you’re passionate about it and why customers like Lauren are buying it. Mordecai is now a healthier dog and more fun to be with. Lauren feels she is doing her part for the planet. It’s her powerful one-two punch that Anne hopes will help her raise her $8 million Series A to expand her business and promote a healthy future for her one animal at a time. .
