/biz/ - Business & Finance

>>713494
What product

>>713494
>9,300 units of my product today

The problem is can you supply it by contract dates?

>>713494
post product then, at 9.3k orders you have nothing to worry about anyone stealing.

>>713516
>>713538

>>713516
Definitely, it's very scalable, which was one of my core traits I worked toward when creating a product.

I wanted something consumable, scalable and agile in that I could change in a month or two the look or packaging

>>713552
Congrats OP! I'm curious, how many ordered through your havepaws website, and how many ordered through other distributors?

>>713557
Not much though the site but I focused on retail and distributor from the beginning

>>713555
Also curious, what did you do to market your product? And how did you manage to scale manufacturing?

>>713560
I did Facebook ads for about a month, but other than that I just cold call at least fifty people every week and do prospecting in Twitter and Facebook by sending out at least twenty to thirty a day on those

And it's scalable in that the process is easily duplicated. Basicałly I dehydrate meat wih a mix I put in it, so it's set and forget for twelve hour.

Really one person could do a thousand a day by themselves, it's just labor intensive.

I've considered a co packer but quality control would be out of my hands at that point and I don't really want that

>>713562
Well summbich. That's great OP, shoot for the moon!

And don't forget to keep coming back to 4chan once you've made it so you can shitpost all day in your retardedly expensive home on a much more powerful computer than you really need. That's really what life is about.

>>713571
But seriously, good work, that's really cool.

>>713571
That is seriously one of my main fantasy goals, I just want to be able to sit at my computer, shitposting and playing games without being worried about the future because as of right now my stress levels are through the roof all waking hours.

I also would like to do random vidya give aways on /v/ and maybe pay a few anons bills who are really struggling

I want to give back to 4 chan for giving me a place of solace and comfort all these years

>>713552
Well all I have to say is very good job.

You have a good set up here though, you said you don't want someone else helping because of quality control which is understandable but you could branch out into other pet treats etc. so easily now that you are in the door, you could get really big if you expand sensibly and take on helpers.

Just something worth considering.

grats anon, i literally cannot imagine what it would be like to create a product let alone have someone buy it lol

>>713562
Sounds just like my ejuice line . you jave to have a website but fuck small orders when i can just do 400 at a time from rote. Boring though.

Good job man im glad someone on /biz/ is doing well

>>713552
How do you do the packaging? It looks neat

Is it like treats for cats?

Also next time star your thread off better, not with some damn feels

>>713552
I remember you from /an/ congrats Anon. I was too busy posting about my fake outdoor cat with blood in it's stool that I'm too poor to take to the vet and need some home remedies because it hasn't been moving a lot.

>>713552
Well done, sir.
Much talk on here, little action.

I would seriously just polish up that packaging though. 99designs has pro graphic designers and you can run contests on there for submissions.

Personally I would make that logo bigger or a bigger cat/dog picture, rather than putting 'for cats' on there twice. I could easily have eaten that thinking it was just jerky if I saw it in a cupboard,
So would help avoid lawsuits and confusion.

Is there any reason why it is 'for cats'? My dog eats fucking anything anyway. Why cut out 50% or more of the main pet market?

I would seriously consider a brandname that has a maximum of five to six letters though, maybe split test it later, since you already have everything else in place, then dump the less successful one.

Sites like namemyblank.com and sloganslingers.com let you run a contest for a couple hundred professional submissions for as little as $50.

Just my two cents (never sold this kinda thing, but I do some consulting now and then)

>>713656
Oh, almost forgot, that sounded a bit negative.
I would make the clear section a little bigger,
I like 'Cheeky Chicken' though and the general copy/layout looks good.
Good Quants for a product new to market though.

Once it's dependable after 3 months or so, consider a couple SMALL sample bags as throwins or give a hundred or so to a giveaway website, since they already have a list.
Myfreesamples.com etc or hand out to a few pet stores locally.

Congrats OP, well done.


>>713659
>>713656

Look at this idea guy lol

>>713656
>>713659
I think the way he has done it is better than the way you suggested. The dog market is flooded with treats from this and that company, the dog culture is different and people love buying accesories to train and spoil their pet canines. Cats are different and have much less competition let alone anything fun and exciting like OPs jerky:D

Go to a pet store and check out the cat section next time, they are small and the floor space for dogs is sometimes triple the amount for cats. But OP could own that market. Whereas in the doggy dog world of the wolf's cousin, his product might sink beneath the waves of other dog jerkies out there. I myself have a brand I buy and it's just jerky like OPs jerky:D

I think your opinion on the packaging is also juvenile. The "for cats" twice really shows that it's for YOUR CAT, but the logo has a dog? This hammers in for me that it's for cats, but good enough for dogs and some people have cats and dogs but a cat can't eat dog treats. Or atleast people wouldn't tend to that, also if you have a friend who has a dog you could share treats if you happen to have your cat with you or something weird like that. I like the packaging, it's shiny/fancy/funny/classy/cute.

>cheeky=funny
>wood background=fancy
>script writing=classy
>shiny=shiny
>cute=logo

Thinking of any new flavors OP?

>>713494
Oh yeah, I saw you on /an/ one day last year! Congrats

>>713579
Can you give me GTA V?

>>713587

Thanks man, it's taken a little over a year and tons of redesigns to finally get something I really thought was ready for market.

Helpers are definitely an option, by co-packer I mean having a manufacturing company make, package and distribute your product. A lot of brands on the shelves don't even make their stuff, they just sell and market it.

>>713596

It feels like surreal sometimes, like I'm going to wake up and it was all just in my head, like this kind of thing doesn't happen to someone like me.

>>713598

Tell me more about your ejuice, and the bulk orders are definitely better, individual sales, Amazon and Farmer's market are logistic nightmares. They take up a ton of time and eat your margins down to nothing because of the amount of time needed.

>>713629

It's just foil pouches I get printed, then apply heat to the top and it seals itself. I throw an 02 absorber in there that basically makes it vacuumed sealed without the vacuum sealed look.

>>713648

>not with some damn feels

It's always time for feels anon.

We do dogs too

>>713652

I wish I could help, but I'm pretty poor at the moment too, I don't take a salary and my girlfriend and I have been existing off pretty much only peanut butter, ramen noodles and monsters

>>713656

We've got a "For Dogs" as well. It's on there because your message has to be 100% clear at an instant or people will just pass you over.

I'm in the pet food market and picked up a bag the other day that didn't explicitly tell me what animal it was for and I was turning over and over trying to figure it out

>>713659
We'll definitely do giveaways and things like as soon I can afford them.

I already ship treats to shelters and things like that for free...I just don't tell my financial backers about that, because they would be PISSED :)

>>713668

Thanks man

>>713675

Our next ones coming out are "Poppin' Pork Jerky Chips" and "Bossy Beef Jerky Chips"

I'm glad you like the look, I have to give my designer credit though, we both go to the same College and found eachother through a professor there, she does excellent work.

>>713692

See above, Poppin' Pork and Bossy Beef

>>713700

/an/ really helped me go from an idea to a real product, I am ever grateful for all the help I received in those threads.

>>713711

One day, I still don't even take a salary out of the company

Way to go!

/biz/ can really use more /biz/

>>713761
What were your startup costs? what are your margins?

>>713494

OP, what sort of regulations, if any, do you have to comply with? Did you have to register your product(s) somewhere?

>>713494
Congrats OP, happy for you.

Tell me this truthfully:

>Have you ever tasted the Cheeky Chicken

>>713579
/v/ deserves nothing and video games makes them sad, go to lesser known boards such as /lit/ or /an, hell, even /ck/ or /adv/ needs some money.

>>713759
>cheeky chicken

>>713892
It cost around 30k in total, and my margins are around 30-50% depending on how a deal goes.

>>713893

FDA defers all regulations to the Agriculture department, so I have to deal with them occasionally, once you have a facility that is a certain size you have to start dealing with all sorts of regulations, we are planning on maybe moving to a facility soon, dunno on that yet.

>>713906

I eat it all the time, I leave bowls of it out that I feed to my pets and myself, it's all human grade stuff that goes into it.

>>713913

We are all same same inside anon (pic related)

>>713916

That name actually came from me saying "You are one right cheeky ....." in an Australian accent to myself all the time.

I get phrases stuck in my head and will say them aloud all day long

>>713652

Change it's food to sensitivity dry and if that doesn't fix it but your cat has no problems digesting it consider gastro-intestinal/sensitivity wet food. Not sure how much it costs where you are but it is probably worth considering, if you really don't have a lot of money to take it to the vet.

Best case scenario is it could just be stress, I suppose. I'm not a vet but I work in an animal shelter working mainly with cats and maybe this'll help. If that doesn't work, if you're on benefits and live in the UK you can usually get reduced cost for veterinary services and sometimes free with the PDSA, depending on your situation.

>>713932
Would you consider producing jerky aimed at human consumption also in the future?

>>713989
It's a possibility, but definitely out my scope right now.

If you take too much on at once, you end up crashing.

And I would have to create an entire other brand that has a whole different market

This thread reminded me that my very first client ever was a small-scale manufacturer of pet treats. They made pizza-themed treats for dogs, if I recall correctly.

The business was run by a young married couple, and they made decent money as I recall. They were well on their way to a comfortable lifestyle, with the possibility of a nice upside if the product caught on with a national retailer or was bought our by a national manufacturer.

Unfortunately for them, they allowed their horrible personal lives to infect the business. The husband turned into a coke fiend and snorted away much of the profits. The wife, also not blameless, got caught sleeping around. This all precipitated a messy divorce and a legal battle for the company.

Left without stable leadership, the business basically withered and died on the vine.

I only mention it because its an important lesson for small business owners: keep your personal shit out of the business (easier said than done) and be careful who you team up with because you'll have to deal with their baggage too.

>>714023
Any advice is good advice, you can only learn from listening to other people who have been around and seen more than you have.

My girlfriend is like my right hand man in the business, we've been together almost 5 years now, but as you say, and what everyone else has told me is that business can ruin relationships pretty quick

I haven't incorporated yet, and she hasn't asked for any equity, but I plan to give her some

>>714026
An incorporation document or shareholders agreement is a good way (probably the best way) to deal with the "what if" scenarios needed to keep the business viable if relations breakdown among the partners. I hate to sound like a cynic, but I can't tell you how many client consultations start off with the following sentence: "The business was going great, and then one of my partners ...."

Its even tougher when its a gf, a family member, or a wife. Its not easy to plan out in advance what will happen to the business if you break up or grow apart, but its still the right thing to do.

>>714035

Definitely, I've invested too much of my youth into this to not account for all future possibilities.

My main partners are my Dad, and my girlfriend.

Neither one is materialistic, or really seems to care too much about money, my dad drives a focus hatchback from ear 2000's and is a partner at private petroleum company, and my girlfriend has literally never asked me to buy her something in the 5 years we've been together.

So I think they're the best partners someone starting out could ask for, but those could be the famous last words

>>714036
Greed can affect everyone. I'd trust your father, but gfs aren't a good idea to take into a business. Well, it is done now. Maybe it works out.

Remembers me how I started my business shortly before proposing to my gf. Best days of my life.

>>714023
Fuck off iHaz

>>713656
Let's see your fuckn product, wiseguy.

Poorfag here.
Op, is it safe to eat dogfood like this?
For instance, would you feel comfortable eating your product regularly?
Are any of your varieties palatable?

>>714364
>implying this fance catfood isn't more expensive than buying bulk brown rice and dried beans like a proper poorfag

>>714375
Brown rice and dried beans is what I eats.
For treats, I put chicken stock cube in sometimes. And perl barley for texture.
It's convenient too cos you can bulk cook then eat it cold all week.
I do hate eating now though. It was okay for a couple months but it's been about 8. I'd like cheap meat somehow. Looking at those pictures on the jerky bags makes me salivate.

>>714364
It's definitely more expensive like this anon says >>714375


>>714379
You can get chicken breast for 2/lb, I used to eat chicken breast and green beans 3x a day for a few months straight.

But to answer your question I eat the product all the time, it's all human quality ingredients

>>714379
My apologies, seem like you know how to poorfag. Minced meat and bulk chicken seem like your best bet though. Cans of tuna are worth it on sale.

Congratulations to OP btw, glad to see someone make it.

>>714385

This is going to be kind of gross, bu here's me chewing it.

And that's awesome to hear it made you salivate, that must mean it's a good picture!

One meal I like to do that's pretty good is ramen plus .25-0.5 chicken breast, it comes out to about a dollar

>>714379
Meant to reference your post in this response>>714398

>>713552

ha. I remember you from the /an/ threads.

way to go man, I wish you a lot of success.

I was the guy who used to live in the Elements. You still in there?

>>714401
Yeah, still in this poop hole, the apartment is so far gone from my activities that I plan to just ride it out until we can upgrade to a nice place

>>714403

yep. it's not bad, but there's nicer places in Chatt.

pool season coming up tho. pool sluts.

i banged multiple girls from that pool. twas nice.

>>714424
I am unfortunately in a relationship and live with her

And I would probably end up talking about business and exposing my power level at some point

1. Acquire pet beef jerky
2. ????
3. PROFIT!!!

>>714429
Nailed it, where do I invest?

>>714426

lol.

wait was your GF the one with pink hair? this was like 3 years ago.

>>714434
No way, but she does still live her.

Not her though, I'm not that kind of weird

>>714437

haha.

oh man. i had some good times in that complex. if i were still up there, i'd shake your hand in person.

anyway, take care man. good luck, i think you have a great product. if you ever make it down to Atlanta:

davidcardinalsfan@gmail.com

>>714441
Good luck too you as well man, I'll definitely drop you a line when I come hawking my wares in the Atlanta area

>>713552
Congrats, OP!
From /fit/,
>we're all gonna make it, brah

>>715970
I've been slacking on hard on the gains since th biz started to pick up steam, I need to stop using it as an excuse to not go pick heavy things up and put them down

This is really neat , good job man

OP, i checked your online retailers. Did cut your relationship with them? I don't see your products on their site.

>>716677
I had an old product that I just recently recalled, the ones in the pictures on here have only been available since March 14th

>>716677
My first product was metal pouches with wet food in them, but I'm working with a lab down in South Carolina and they should look like that next picture I'm about to post

>>716686

>>716686
>Savory broth
I'm not even a dog but that sounds good.

What the shelf life on your products?

>>716690
I put one year on both, but it's really 2+, the meat starts to discolored after a year or so though

how did you get started?

>>716805
I'm assuming he just looked up how to make jerky then from there how to get the proper labels on his products, like what does he have to do to be labeled "All Natural" and all that good stuff.

>>716692
Did you make jerkey before you stared the business? Why were you so confident in jerkey?

congrats dude

really inspiring stuff

how much did you invest to start this business?

>>716805
I've always wanted to start a business and be that guy with the top hat from the movies, and one day I was sitting arm deep in chicken making home made food for my girlfriend and I's cats, and I thought to myself "Man this really sucks....I bet people will pay for this!"

And it just kind of snowballed from there, I read an article about a woman in the same industry who started out the same way...really inspiring stuff and that was also a momentum builder for it.

>>716830
>>716848

Originally it was wet food in pouch like starkist tuna, during processing some of the pouches would burst open. Also during processing the meat compacts itself into blocks that hold together, so one day I threw the blocks into my dehydrator to see what happened and jerky chips were born

>>716872

20-30k, but I wasted a bunch repackaging and over ordering and being generally inefficient.

Whenever I ordered any input for it, I would order 10x the amount I needed to try something out because it was a better deal to buy bulk...as a result I have an ass load of stuff around my house that is basically useless for any other purpose.

how would you like your brand to be associated with not-for-profit animal clinics? We are looking for ways to augment our finances during slow months, and t-shirts arent cutting it.

>>717053
We could definitely talk about it, send me an email hello@havepaws.com

>>717057
I will hit you up sometime in the near future.

Thanks for this. Most inspiring thread I've read on 4chan in a while.

>>717247
Thanks man, I think most people on here have way more potential than they give themselves credit for.

I've always thought 4chan attracts the actual good guys, but we act like raging assholes because a lot in the world around is insane and we can't do a thing about it except ride it out.

>>717013

>20-30K
If you didn't do all the initial bulk buying how much would it be then?

>>717313
If I could go back and redo everything, probably 5-10k

I am proud of you anon.

>>713552
oh god man, the name is phenomenal. Cheeky fucking chicken. Damn.

>>713552
How is the pet food manufactured, do you just do it in a bathtub at home?

>>713559
bro youve made it so far!

i remember when you were just talking about how to market your product when it came in a glass jar like a couple years ago

now with your own site and selling additional products too, nice bro! keep it up

>>717409
Along with the meth we cook in it too...

We do make it at home right now, but our quality controls are 100x what you'll find at any plant making commercial, and we're soon upgrading to a facility.

>>717345

Thanks man, at the end of the day, I just want my family to look back and be like "Wow anon, you weren't a total fuck up like we thought all these years!"

>>717389

I got that word stuck in my head around the time we were still designing the bags...so it became a flavor

>>717509

Here's our first one...what I was thinking during then, I don't know

>>717761
Is that a jar of lard?

honest and respectable business/10

happy for you, OP

>>717965
All chicken breast with a vitamin mix

OP can you make a flavour called banterous beef, I guarantee it will sell

>>713552

>cheeky chicken

>>719266

I like it, but it could be out of grasp for some consumers, you have to make things as simple as possible, something I learned a long time ago was words without consonants are the best.

>>719758

I take pride in that part being my idea that I didn't budge on for the name


I might call the rabbit one Rustling Rabbit

comfy thread
so comfy

Bumping with one of my all time favorite gifs.

I lafe everyteim

>>720600
How much does insurance cost?

>>720623
About 600/yr, but it might have to change to get more coverage to get into the bigger stores

>>720258
One last bamp and I'll let it die

>these low quality pictures of OP's product

OP's about to buy a whole new camera studio after this deal goes through, that's for sure.

>>722262
Here's a high res one, but scaled down for emails

so, how long until we can buy PAWS shares?

>>722422
After reading and watching Wolf of Wallstreet I don't know if I'll ever go public haha

What is your margin after production and shipping? Great job OP.

>>722425
I make a little over 1.2 times the inputs if I can wholesale them at 30%, which is standard in the pet inddustry, some will beat you down to 35-37.

The distributors and subscription boxes, the big ones at least, will really fucking beat you down on price to where you're only making 20%

>>722410
that dog looks happy as fuck

Great thread OP, even better biz you got going there.

This is what /biz/ is about! Congrats OP!

>>713552

>dried meat
>adding 'gluten free'

>>722463
Please enlighten me with your marketing knowledge o wise sage.

>>722463
shitloads of meat products have some kind of flower/starch in them.

people brag about a product being not fucked with because it's the exception.

>>722465

>meat
>containing gluten

>>722468
Whatever man, I'm not going to argue about it.

>>722468
go look at dog snack ingredients, most have some type of grain in them

>>722478
Even brands that don't use grain will use a whole bunch of filler like potatoes, vegetables, etc so that there doesn't have to be is much meat in the mix.

Even buying trailer loads full of meat, you can only get down to around 1.10/lb of chicken, It deosn't sound expensive, but with jerky you divide the weight of the meat by four to get your end result

So one pound of jerky without anything added to it takes four pounds to make.

It's also why different jerky companies will add preservatives to jerky snacks. By adding preservatives, they can keep the water content higher in the meat so that it weighs more.

I dry the meat until it's<8% water, it chips when you apply pressure to it.

You can meat super cheap from China, but people aren't buying anything pet related that has anything to do with China.

>>722468
I found a good picture for you

How do you know what price to put on your bulk buys?
Is there some formula? I've always wanted to know.

>>722699
At the moment I kind of yolo a lot of it, so different people will get different prices based on how I jude their reception of a pitch.

I've got some written down as a template that I copied from a few suppliers I buy from who deal in bulk.

Every tier, say 1000-1999 units = 2.59
2000-4999 = 2.56
5000-7459 = 2.51

Those are exact, but as you can see it goes from 3 cents off, to 5 cents off, then possibly 7 cents off in the next tier.

You can go lower because the large orders will fill time that may have otherwise been down time and earning nothing at all, so the discounts keep you going full time and almost come out to if you were selling at the top price for multiple small order.

Small orders under a 1000 go for much higher because the little orders throw the most logistic problems.

The one off orders online are really messy because sometimes you end up plugging in 30-40 individual addresses for 1-2 pouches each

>>722712
Those aren't exact *

>>722712
>>722714
>2.59
2.59 what? It can't be $2.59 for 1000 units.

>>713552

Jesus, this is EXACTLY the kind of product I could imagine my gf bringing home for her cat. You have talent OP.

>>722712
>>722714
How much for 500?
How much for 1000?

>>722860
>>722944

2.59/piece

so 1000 = 2,590

>>722885

Honestly I didn't do a lot, I just thought of it, then told other people how I wanted it done.

I was thinking today about how I really haven't done a whole lot, I mean it's taken a long time, but that's because it was like groping in the dark, in reality I have a pouch that holds meat and some prices made up

>>722885
I might have to quote you in a testimonial though :)

>>722974
OP, have you thought about sending your treats to animal pet review shows? If there is any.

>>722980
I actually meet with my consultant tomorrow and we're doing a bunch of press releases to bloggers/magazine/social media people

We were waiting to get into a few more places before doing anything.

I had someone approach for a podcast that has like 100k listeners, but they wanted me to pay for it, and the consultant said you should never have to pay for an interview

I pretty much take everything she says to heart since she's been in the pet biz a long time

>>722984
Good shit man.
Also when this thread does die. Make another, keep us up to date on your biz and to allow other people to ask questions about the pet food biz.

Why the name HavePaws? What other names did you consider?

>>722999
I will, I used to make threads on /an/, but I don't like to make them over and over because I feel like I'm being a douche like "HEY LOOK AT MEE!!"

>>723000

A lot

The name evolved out of one of our cats have four half colored paws, and the name grew out of that.

But I've got pages and pages of just writing down words then writing different variations of those words, or words that those words prompt in my mind

I wanted to change it at one point, but my consultant liked it and convinced me to keep it

>>723001
enjoy losing the mischievous mouse jerky for snakes market

Seeing "gluten free" and "grain free" on the packaging reminded me of pic related. Seriously though, how common are gluten/grain in animal food products?

By the way I think your design is amazing. When it comes down to it, shoppers pick whatever grabs their attention after two seconds of browsing.

>>723013
Most pet items are 90% grain, 10% meat, and that's the medium shelf stuff.

There's certain trends that consumers decide, not the product makers, and gluten/grain free/gmos/organic is all super in right now

>>723013
The gluten paranoia is very real today. makes sense to capitalize.

>>723019
I picked up a bottle of water at Fresh Market that said gluten free on it

>>723013
>>723001
>>722999
>>722885


My designer wants to know if you guys have any criticism

Is there a difference between the cats and dogs cheeky chicken?

>>723061
There was, but I simplified the ingredients, my Dog/Cat formulas are going to come as wet food in pouch similar to starkist tuna

>>723063
Right now they're not wet?
Why are you moving towards wet food? Why not stay with the jerky?

>>723076
I am, it's just the wet food was what I orginally started out with and have a whole bunch of contacts and things already in place for it

The jerky is dry

There should be another picture in the thread of a six pack of pouches that looks like these

>>723063
Wouldn't it be easier to have a "dogs and cats" single packaging or are you deliberately creating different ones because the dog vs cat feud makes the owners hate sharing or something?

Also, what was the difference?

>>723079
It would confuse the customer

>>723080
>simplification would confuse the customer

I understand, but it's still funny.

>>723083
I just play the game, I don't get to make the rules

Congrats OP. You seem like you know your shit and I wish the best for ya!

>>723013

Grains (wheat or otherwise) are endemic as filler in pet food and the quickest way to judge the quality of a brand you're unfamiliar with is to scan the ingredients to see how high in the list any grain is (since they're sorted by percentage)

Of course, they can cheat that too and still have the product have a plurality of grains by splitting them despite the top three being meat

How did you create your website op? Or did someone create it for you? If so how much did it cost? Thanks

>>723085
OP I have an adventure gear company, how do I go about getting someone for advice, like the consultant you mentioned. Nobody I know knows about the wiget based businesses.

Love to pick your brain sometime, Good luck.

Advlyfe@gmail.com

>OP made it

Good ya brah

>>713494
WHAT?
IS THAT REAL?

>>723254
I used Wix, but I make little changes weekly, so it's a sum of part kind of things.

It was complete shit at first, I tried doing it from the ground up, then with wordpress, then landed on wix which is a drag and drop type of set up.

>>723202

It's crazy the amount of things people can lie about on labels by just changing a few words or adding an s, or using the word "with" or "flavor"

If the food says "with" or "flavor", it can have as little as 2% of it's mass be meat.

The big cheap bags of dry food are basically corn with animal carcasses that have been compressed and boiled into a paste, but even then the bulk of it is corn.

And one of the bigger competitors, I don't know if I can legally name names without getting sued, but they just use potatoes instead of grains so that they are "grain free".

It's really scummy all around

>>723271

I'll send you an email in a sec

>>723280
Thanks man...we're all gonna make it brah

Pic related...he made it

>>713494

>The only way to start a new business in America is too sell novelty pet food or organic bullshit.

We're fucked.

>>723550
There's literally an infinite amount of ways to start a new business, this is just what stuck with me and got past the idea phase and into the obsession phase.

>>723550
oh shit healthy stuff we're truly fucked

vegetable gardens are hip now, the world is going to shit

fucking exercise everywhere

>>723620
Truly, life is suffering

>>723254
Also, my designer free lances and has super reasonable rates.

Their twitter is @firelight_me

>>723683
Hi OP, inspirational stuff here bro.

Can you tell me more about your marketing and sales techniques? I'm from the UK and trying to sell a new line of home decor products but really struggling with generating sales.

> How old are you?
> What are the steps in your sales process from initial contact to close of sale? e.g. cold call > email > F2F meetings ... do you have to pitch or present for panels of buyers?
> How did you get 4k followers on Twitter?
> What do you mean by "prospecting" on Facebook/Twitter?
> How do you find sales prospects to cold call and what do you say to them that doesn't result in them saying "not interested" and hanging up?

Any misc. sales or marketing tips you could share would be greatly appreciated. Congrats on your success so far man.

>>723731
> How old are you?
23

> What are the steps in your sales process from initial contact to close of sale? e.g. cold call > email > F2F meetings ... do you have to pitch or present for panels of buyers?

Usually it's cold call -> sample -> follow up -> order

Bi-Lo and Wholefoods have panels though, but they usually won't have you do a panel until they take your product national.

> How did you get 4k followers on Twitter?
I work on it everyday, follow a couple hundred, retweet a bunch, post articles that are relevant to what consumers want to see like "9 ways to train your dogs indoors when winter comes around"

> What do you mean by "prospecting" on Facebook/Twitter?

I send a message that asks if they would be interested in our products and attach a photo of them.

Some really like being so direct, and I think phone calls are quickly become dated.

I hate taking calls, but love getting social messages.
> How do you find sales prospects to cold call and what do you say to them that doesn't result in them saying "not interested" and hanging up?

I piggy back off similar products and go to there "Find Us" section and call all of those.

I used to just type in "Pet Store" on google maps and call all the red dots, but that quickly got out of hand to where I was calling the same people over and over because I couldn't keep track of the red dots.

Some will hang up, but I think the pet industry in general has more of the baby boomers/F type personalities that won't just shut you down.

I start out with "Hey *Insert name if they say it*, how are you today?....Is there a manager or owner around I could possibly speak with?"

*Owner gets on*

"Hey *name* would you be interested in stocking blank....." Then list all the benefits.

1/2

>>723853
I give a lot of credit of my pitch to being raised by a militant feminist that was also an alcoholic, so over the years I really learned how to alter my voices in ways that responded to how I perceived someone's emotion by their tone, if I ever wanted something, like my Xbox back, I had to play the conversation game like minesweeper and avoid using the wrong cadence or word that might set her off.

Not a sob story, it's really benefited me in that interactions with girls/females is like any interaction with males, and that I can usually judge very quickly how someone is responding to me, or how they feel, and how I should adjust my speech or actions to elicit the response I want

This is joy, man. I'm very happy for you, anon. Keep up the good work.

>>720216
if you do that I'll buy those motherfuckers. And I don't live in the USA, or have pets for that matter.

>>720258
>This

>>722463
Not too long ago there was a brand of canned tuna in my country that finished the year with one of the lowest sales in their market.

The following year, they added "with Omega-3" in their packaging. Guess who was top selling by the end of that year?

>Tuna --> Blue fish --> always will have omega 3

Exploit whatever marketing value you can. If people are going to buy more because your meat advertises as "heroin free", then fucking do that.

>>723862
>The following year, they added "with Omega-3" in their packaging. Guess who was top selling by the end of that year?
>If people are going to buy more because your meat advertises as "heroin free", then fucking do that.

If this is true, I think that's because there are a ton of big brand products putting that omega 3 in their advertising.

the canned tuna in this example is effectively hitching a ride

>>723855
>>723853

Thanks for the info, really useful stuff! I'm also 22 but you seem to be ahead of me with business development. It would be awesome to maybe shoot you a question or two in the future or for some occasional email mentoring if you are open to it. My email is tayhay001@gmail.com.

>>723926
Sent you one earlier in the day

>>713494
who placed the large 9,300 unit order and how did you manage to get it

>>713494
Dude, that's awesome. Good for you!

>>713759
Hey biz bro, ugh, I didn't read the whole thread, but i am thoroughly impressed starting a product line is an amazing achievement, I am assuming your are from America have you tried to get into any of the IGA's? and if so how has it been?

>>724706
That number consisted of two different orders from Kitnip Box and Meowbox, but both have changed to one being 13,400 and the other being 2500

>>724716

Thanks man

>>724717

I didn't even know what they were till I googled it just now, thanks man, I'll have to give them a call

Right now it's been Whole Foods, Bi-lo and Fresh Market, then a bunch of pet store chains

>>724706
>How did you get it

I forgot to answer that part.

Calling, emailing, facebook over and over.

I try to follow up as often as possible without being overly annoying to people.

I've got a mailchimp account that I send newsletters out to everyone in my gmail contacts, the mailchimp will show reports like who has opened it, what time, so after a day or two I'll focus in on the people who have opened it two or more times at different times or days, then send them an email follow up.

But really I think it's just about numbers, we call on at least 50-100 businesses a week. Then after enough time, we call on them again.

>>724749
Did you contact your local buyer for the big companies like Whole Foods or was it a national thing? I'm just interested on how you sell to these big chains, did you have to do a trial or give samples etc .. or they just ordered a load from you upfront? Great job by the way.

>>724754
Whole Foods, which is one of the only one's I've been back and forth with, requires a shit ton of information, samples, and everything else like liability insurance, tax id, etc

I have to go in a sec, but I'll answer it more in depth when I get back today

>>724753
Ok thats cool. Any tips on the cold calling part .. I know some people follow a script?

>>724757
I've never used a script, but it can be helpful so you don't trip on your words.

For the retail stuff they usually have you fill out a whole bunch of vendor paperwork, then if they like your product, they'll try you locally, then I think you in front of a panel...I haven't got to that level yet. The stores I've sold to just place an order for X amount, then I make and ship it.

Big stores require exact weight, dimensions, some sort of inventory for the case system like barcode, some only use specific formats of barcodes, etc

I'd put the whole foods sheet up, but I don't know if that's legal or not

>>713552
meow that's what i'm talkin' about

>>725015
The great thing about the pet industry is that even the higher ups I've talked to at corporations talk like this.

Barkbox staff always uses some sort of dog related words or puns in their emails.

It's nice when everyone doesn't take themselves so seriously and doesn't speak in corporate talk.

>>722463
I work as a lawyer in the biggest chicken and pork meat industries in my country. You wouldn't believe the amount of people that whines because they don't know if the meat we sell is gluten free. We are adding it this year.

>>725509
The free market truly solves it all!

>>724749
Hey bro, I was the guy that suggested IGA's

I have a business that deals with them as well, its great because they are all individually owned, so if you get in with the owner, your pre much set, also it is a great way to go international as IGA is also in Australia and a few others!

- The reason we use them, its an easy way to scale up business without any risk of going too overboard!

>>725790
I'll definitely start calling around at their stores, I've got a big back log of prospects dating back to October and November I'm following up on right now

>>713552
I think I met you when I was playing tennis one day.

You said you were a philosophy major and told me my major didn't matter.

Glad to hear you've made it.

>>714036
They might change their tune when they hear about your first buyout offer. Money makes otherwise sane people act like idiots.

Amazing thread, what do you think was the step that have more impact to your business?

there's something special about this. i buy cheap shit for my cat but the packaging here would get me to pick this up.

>cheeky chicken

lmao so cute

>>727461

Computer Science, but I agree with what they said.

Degrees just show you have the ability to commit to long term goal and patience to see it through.

That's just my opinion, I'm sure things like Bio Engineers it matters a lot what degree you have.

But I had a few internships and always learned 80% of the job while on the job

>>727792

He'll be the first to benefit the most from it anyway even if he does or doesn't ask for part of it.

I'm incorporating this week and he asked not to be named on it all

>>727854

My very first product offering was wet food in a jar, I was convinced it was good because every animal that tried it liked it.

So I went to the farmer's market expecting a whole bunch of sales...I didn't make a single sale.

I packed up my shit, got a consultant, hired a designer and went through a whole bunch of product iterations until this one popped out along the line.

I think what was most significant about that day was that I realized what I think =/= what people want. I decided on that day to always get/buy advice and experience from people who knew things better than me.

If someone can do something even a tiny bit better than me, than I will pass that task off to them.

>>727870

Thanks man....around the time of deciding the name I would walk around my apartment and tell my girlfriend "Oi are u being cheeky m8?"

Cringe worthy I know, but sometimes I get things stuck in my head that I have to say over and over.

I used poke my head in her room, point my finger in the air and yell "ALLAHU ACKBAR"

>>727982
Not sure what you're trying to say

OP have you ever taste tested your product?

If you were drunk at home on a friday night and had nothing to eat and couldn't drive to McDonalds would you eat 1 lb of that jerky?

>>728107
I eat it all the time

>>728109

Dude, make a protein enhanced Crossfit jerky that can be eaten by humans and dogs alike. People kiss their dogs they probably would share food with them

>>728110
I've been playing with a "Paleo" type offering.

It already is paleo, but that shit is really catching on.

I want to bring in ultra premium line, and it will probably be matte white bags and paleo, gmo-free, organic, etc

I read this whole thread yesterday and now
I was just meditating and the first 3-5 minutes are always hard to concentrate on nothing or just breathing... my thoughts were flying as usual and I came up with an idea!

I need to talk to you, please send me a hello to: goldnfrost@gmail.com

OP, can I use this as an actual meal for my cats or it's only a snack/treat?

>>729272
It's a dried version of what used to be wet food.

There's more salt in it, so definitely have water available, but yeah it should be fine as a meal.

Do you sell retail, wholesale or both?

I assume since someone ordered 9300 you're selling wholesale.

Do you have a 2nd company for your own retail sales?

>>729315
I wholesale to shops and retail on my site, but my main focus is wholesale

>>729319
Would you ever affiliate market, like pay someone 10% to sell your product, to increase sales?

Is your site a secret, or can we see it? I want to see what you made with Wix. I have to redesign two of our company's websites

>>729322

HavePaws.com

I would definitely do affiliate, but first I would have to figure the logistics of it so we wouldn't be hitting the same stores.

We prospect a lot through FB and Twitter, so the stores we call on are all over the place, and sometimes we end up calling on the same one twice, which annoys them.

I'd definitely consider like a local thing, I'd send you a bunch of stuff to take around to all the stores then pay a commision on whoever you sell, and every repurchase they make into the future.

>>729330
Yea I'm advertising our stuff and always lurking biz for possibly of other ideas. Never thought of COLD MESSAGING people on Facebook, that could be huge.

That's a nice website, considering you did object-oriented stuff to it, right? You used Wix and didn't program any of that? I'm thinking of just buying a template and editing the code.

>>729334
I'd use Wix, I'm assuming when you say buy template you mean Wordpress?

If you have the time, Wordpress can give you some more tools, but it is a serious pain in the ass to use, at least for me.

Wix is just drag and drop and you can preview it without actually having to go to the domain, which I think you have to do with wordpress

>>729336
Well my friend showed me themeforest.net which has a diverse butt load of styles. Was just going to buy one, edit it and decide which host to use... Do you pay Wix for the domain and whatnot?

>>729340
They've got all in one packages, I think you might have buy your domain from somewhere else though.

I pay like 20/month for their ecommerce hosting package.

They have a bunch of templates that are free to use as well.

If you're looking for full control, definitely go elsewhere, injecting any html that isn't already in their toolset is a real pain. But it's pretty fool proof and a "shapes and colors" way of building a site.

They aren't up yet, but this sounds pretty cool
https://thegrid.io/

It supposedly uses AI to build your site

>>729342
>I pay like 20/month for their ecommerce hosting package.
Hmmm, that's another thing. ecommerce hosting package. Does this let people buy stuff off of your website with their credit cards (not talking PayPal)? Or do you still have to go through a third party security company?

>>729344
That's something separate, Wix does offer a service, but I use Shopify for that part.

Shopify and Paypal are your best bets for CC, taking CC/Debit is a real pain because you have deal with a separate company to process them.

Paypal makes you sign up for an account, verify you are who you say you are, then use their buttons on your site, shopify just has you check a box saying you want to take CC

>>729351
Building a whole 2nd website just for ordering? I'll look into it, but I think I'd rather pay a 3rd party and have an option our main site

>>729363
It's integrated with Wix, so you just drag and drop the shopify app onto the page you want it

>>729363
continued, although their (shopify) interface does looks nice

>>729367
Interesting. Since I have like 3 websites to change, I think I'll experiment the primary one with Wix. Thanks for the info. Brb, bike ride

>>729367
Actually one last thing, I'll check when Iget back. Are Wix sites responsive and mobile friendly?

>>729372
Their mobile optimization is alright at best, I leave it optimized so it pulls up like it would in a browser

>>729405
"Alright at best" is better than "complete dogshit" which is what we have now, hahahaha. I'll use Wix and shopify for one of the sites definitely... Thanks for letting me pick from you a bit

Best of luck on your product. Your packaging is straightforward, clear, and pretty, which is what customers like

>>717250
Probably the most accurate depiction of 4chan I've ever read. Whether they act on their potential or not, that's up to them. Anyways, congrats OP, if I see your product in stores I'll get some for my dog, I'm sure she would love it.

How do you get the meat for this product? This has to be a huge logisitical nightmare, right?
Does the cat food have to get FDA or whatever approved?
congrats anyway op... this is probably buried in this thread.

>>730143

>this is probably buried in this thread.

I'm super OCD, I see all.

I buy a couple hundred pounds at a time at Sam's club and usually make everything that day, if there's any left over I store it 5 gallon buckets with liners in my fridge.

It's not as difficult as it would seem.

Walk in fridges and freezer are only 3-10k and would be the first thing I got when I upgrade facilities.

The FDA makes me go through the Department of AG for facility approval and licensing

>>730143
how am I supposed to kick grass over the PRC wanting me extradited and imprisoned for 8 years

>>713494

>>730459
Not seeing how pepe or le fedora lad apply

I'll trade you this sweet gif for some rare pepe though

>>730903
bamp

Congrats OP, you've made it. I hope I can buy this for my dog at a local store someday. I live in NE Washington D.C. near a Giant.

>>730253
How did you start all this? Like, where did you get the idea to start selling this and how to make it? Not asking for your recipe, but how did you get started?

>>713552
I remember you. Good fuckin' job man, I hope you can get the order done in time and continue raking in the jerky.

>>732512
I've been moving state to state calling all stores that sell pet food in that state, I've been over in NC lately so DC might be soon on the list.

>>732570

A whole lot of things, but I'll try to break it done in a short way.

So when I first started getting a bit more serious about business, rather than just thinking of an idea and patting myself on the back for it, I set out with these goals in mind

I wanted to sell something:

-Consumable
-Cheap
-Easily Scalable
-Mass Appeal

When I was really young I remember watching the gas droplets fall from a gas pump and thinking to myself how many hundreds of millions of gallons are wasted every year due to those few droplets at every pump across the world. This kind of started me down the path of wanting something cheap and consumable that I could sell to a whole lot of people. Low margins and cheap prices suck, but 10c x 100,000,000 is pretty sweet.

My girlfriend I have cats, and we ended up making our own food for them, so one day I was making food and arm deep in raw chicken and I thought " Man this fucking sucks, I bet people would pay for this"

Then on top of that I happened to read an article about a woman name Marie Moody who is like the Sam Adams of pet food, and that moment something just switched over in my brain and my life became about HavePaws.

It's like when you decide to quit smoking or drinking, or lose weight, there's a day where your wiring just flips a switch and you go 100% on it.

>>732590

Hopefully I'll get lots of bread($$) for my jerky

>>713562
>Basicałly
>ł
Czyżby polska?

>>728107
This post reveals a lot about your life
>if you are drunk at home on a friday night
>have nothing to eat
>can't make it to your usual fast food joint

>>732690

I spent 19-22 doing this, I drank home alone almost every night, well my girlfriend was around but I would sit in my room playing video games and taking shots.

>>732682

Not sure what you said, I see polska in there, which I'm assuming is polish, and I'm third generation Polish, my family migrated right before Germany decided to shrekt everyone

>>732761
Are you still here buddy?

Where did you find out how to get your jerky packets created ?

>>732814

Always

>>732824

The pouches?

That's a long story, but Roastar.com does low run custom pouches

Hey OP, really inspiring stuff.

A family member of mine knows the ins & outs of food processing plants.

Chances are, some food you've eaten has been "touched" by them.

If you have growing pains, i.e. need to refurb or build a plant, they can help you out.

>>717761
>Thanks man, at the end of the day, I just want my family to look back and be like "Wow anon, you weren't a total fuck up like we thought all these years!"

Right in the feels.

I just opened up my own coffee shop in Oregon. Waiting 3+ weeks to hit profitability before I try to contact my dad for the first time in the 13 years since I've seen him last. (I'm 23).

>>733788
I've actually been playing with the idea of going to a co-packer.

It's that or start my own facility, which would allow me to drive costs down, but a co-packer would know much more about distribution and volume that I just don't know how to deal with.

Even a low activity plant would be using a couple thousand pounds of chicken of a day, and then there's inventory which I don't really understand other than managing it myself.

>>733861

Nice man, congrats on turning a profit that quickly.

My consultant tells me the most succesful people tend to be the most insecure or need some sort of external approval, I definitely believe it.

Hopefully things work out between you and your dad, or was it just a "Hey fucker, look at me" type of phone call?

>>733861
Ouch. Coffee shop huh? Is it true you make your margins on cookies and muffins?

>>733971

Not necessarily a hey fuck you, my psychotic mom made shit up about him beating me and threatened to go the cops. So he bailed.

So its a "Hey, sorry about that thing" and also a "Hey fuck you for bailing so EZ, look at my nice ass CPO 335i and my profitable coffee shop"

>>734017

Hahah no, my profit margins on baked goods are like 20-30%. I only have them there because people want them.

Blended ice coffee? Well let me put it this way. You know those blended iced Frappucinos you see white trash and highschool kids drinking from Starbucks? They cost around 4.95 and around $4.50 of that is pure profit.

>>722463
Adding "gluten free" is literally free marketing.

>>734313

It's also a good indicator for celiacs who are also stupid.

I get asked if a latte has gluten in it more than you think.

No ma'am, milk and espresso does not contain wheat.

>Are you sure????

>>734328
My mom has the disease, you would be surprised what kinda shit has gluten in it that you never knew.

Very good thread OP, congrats

>>734334
your mom is a lying cunt. She's probably not even your real mom.

>>734334
Yeah, with modern processing and what goes into food, you'll find some weird stuff in food.

What this guy >>722463 doesn't realize is some things will be called a meat product, but actually have wheat in them as fillers

>>723650
Congrats.

The one thing I'd like to call out here is to make the "For Cats"/"For Dogs" even easier to discern from far away. The silhouette/text at the top is difficult to discern even up close. The red vs. blue is good (the blue should be darker, though), but your overall package is still green and white, which could lead a customer to accidentally pick up the wrong one if they are on the shelves next to each other (or if another shopper put the bag back in the wrong place).

I think of it like salted vs. unsalted butter -- I want one package to be red and one to be blue so I know IMMEDIATELY, from far away, that the two are different. So you might want to think about making overall package design the same (really call out your roof/paw/pets logo) but perhaps make overall package color distinct. (e.g. cat/chicken: green, dog/chicken: blue, dog/beef: red) Also, don't forget colorblindness.

I have no idea what I'm talking about though, so keep that in mind.

Otherwise, great job.

(Also, you should be a dick and make the larger size only 3.5 oz. Just kidding.)

>>735372
This. The logo is a bit confusing.

>>735372
>>735413

I'm at the point of now returns for at least a little while, I have couple thousand of each size, and a couple thousand of Turkey on the way.

I'll note it an think on it, thanks for pointing it out

>>735418
no return*

I have the flu, I guess it's affecting my typing and train of thought

>>714432
i actually have some in my kitchen

I don't know if anyone said this but you should clearly mark Made in the USA on your packaging because a couple thousand dogs and cats have been poisoned by Chinese dog and cat treats.

>>713759
OP, How old are you?

I'm just curious. Please be truthful.

I'm 21, and I'm really looking into business ventures, and I'm curious about the age of real people that've truly "made it".

>>736602
Capitalize on made in USA op

>>736602
>>737158
He should say "Proudly made in the USA"

>>729351
OP I'm this guy >>729344 from last week I had a followup question on this post

>>729351 - Why do you prefer Shopify to Wix's CC service?

How do you offer free delivery? ;O

>>736602
>>737158
>>737165

It says USA sourced and Made on the front, and Made in America on the back.

There's a green ribbon to the right of the picture of the food.

>>736985

23, almost 24

>>737168

I don't exactly remember, but I think Wix required some sort of third party vendor that you had link your account with. It one too many steps for me.

When I end of having to deal with a bunch of moving pieces, I'll pay the extra like Shopify to take care of it for me, you save money in that you save yourself headache and time.

But I could have overlooked wix offering the same service.

>>737508

Industry secret ;)

>>713759
You've got some product there. My daughter is going crazy about the idea of playing with the cat throwing little bacon bits for it to eat. She's crazy about the cat and it gives her a fun way of feeding it and playing with it