Cats are 40% of the pet market, but are somehow still chronically overlooked. Every innovation goes to dogs first. Even your vet's office is built for dogs first. Matt Michaelson, cofounder and CEO of Smalls, and his team have built an incredible cat-first brand precisely because of that blind spot.
In this episode, I sit down with Matt to break down:
• Why the cat industry is structurally underinvested (which includes VCs simply saying "I don't really like cats")
• What "human-grade" actually means for pet food — and the sustainability trade-offs nobody talks about
• Ingredient splitting: the regulatory hack that lets pet brands disguise what's actually in the bag
• "Wrestling in the mud": a feedback culture where every hire is expected to disagree
• Founders Pledge, and why committing 5% early changes the giving conversation later
Big thanks to Matt for coming on the pod and sharing the playbook behind Smalls.
⏱️ Chapter Markers:
00:00 — Why cats keep getting overlooked
01:05 — What is Smalls? Cat-first brand, human-grade nutrition
02:09 — What "human-grade" actually means (and the sustainability trade-off)
04:26 — Health impact: allergies, ingredient splitting, and the regulatory hack
06:31 — Why Matt chose cats: the market psychology nobody's pricing in
07:20 — Why every VC and pet brand defaults to dogs first
09:21 — From growth marketing to founder: building demand in a commoditized stack
11:48 — Emerging channels worth watching (and why DTC is just a channel, not a model)
13:17 — AI-native orgs: how the team uses AI without becoming a tech company
16:01 — Human-supervised AI teams and what entry-level jobs look like now
17:26 — "Wrestling in the mud": the air-grievances feedback culture
19:39 — Founders Pledge: committing 5% early changes the whole conversation
21:05 — Ingredient transparency: percentages on the label, fixing the labeling game
23:32 — MPD's closing thoughts on the cat opportunity
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