GARY: Next on Start Up, we head to Alexandria, Ohio to meet up with Lauren Becks, the founder of Girls Gone Raw, a company that specializes in raw food diets for dogs and cats.

All of this and more is next on Start Up.

ANNOUNCER: From startups to established brands, pens.com offers promotional products for your business journey, like custom pens, bags, drinkware, and more.

For 60 years, we've partnered with millions of businesses, and now we're proud partners of Start Up.

Learn more at pens.com.

ANNOUNCER: From concept to planning to execution, businesses like Spikeball are built by people.

And Bamboo HR brings people data together in one place.

Learn more at BambooHR.com.

Bamboo HR is a proud supporter of Start Up.

ANNOUNCER: As a business owner, your time is valuable.

Bluehost provides AI-powered tools for site building, marketing, sales, and operations, with hosting and human support.

Learn more at bluehost.ai.

Bluehost is a proud supporter of Start Up.

♪ GARY: My name is Gary Bredow.

I'm a documentary filmmaker and an entrepreneur.

As the country faces significant challenges, small business owners are navigating their way through a changing global marketplace while continuing to push the economy forward.

We've set out for our 14th consecutive season, talking to small business owners about how they started, how things are going, and what matters most to entrepreneurs in modern day America.

This is Start Up.

♪ The practice of feeding raw diets to canines dates back to the very origins of domestication.

Long before the advent of industrial processing and shelf-stable kibble.

Early dogs thrived on a natural diet of raw meat, bones, and organs, mirroring the ancestral eating habits of their wild counterparts.

Over time, as convenience took center stage, the industry shifted towards heat-processed grains and fillers.

But a modern resurgence in raw feeding has brought back a focus on bioavailable nutrients and improved digestion, that reflects a commitment to a dog's evolutionary needs.

Today I'm heading to Alexandria, Ohio to meet up with Lauren Becks, the founder of Girls Gone Raw, a company that specializes in raw pet food.

As a dedicated pet parent myself, I'm excited to learn more about her mission to educate pet owners about raw-based nutrition.

♪ What is Girls Gone Raw?

LAUREN: Girls Gone Raw is a passion-driven business where we take nutritional items and turn them into fun snacks.

Where we can take something that might not look nice to everybody else and try to educate on the benefits of carnivore nutrition for the pets that we keep in our homes.

I grew up like a crazy dog girl.

Um, I could tell you everything about every dog that I've had my whole life.

My mom was the kind of lady that, like, if an animal was there, we were keeping it.

So I grew up with, like, 5 dogs, bunch of cats, chickens, ducks, you know, catching frogs and snakes.

And through college, and I guess through high school and college, I was always pushed towards being in the veterinary field.

And I worked at vet clinics, and I was always told, "You're going to be- you're going to be a veterinarian, a veterinarian."

And I was very science heavy.

Then throughout college, I kind of realized that I love wildlife, and so I started working more at zoos, and I was- worked at wildlife centers.

Halfway through college, I started to crash out because I think I started realizing that I have like aggressive ADHD, and I'm like, there's no way I'm going to make it through vet school.

GARY: Yeah.

LAUREN: And so I had to kind of pivot and figure out what that was.

And so I gutted my pre-veterinary degree and I started taking wildlife biology, um, nutrition classes, zoo classes.

I worked at the zoo for a couple semesters, wildlife hospitals, things like that.

And at the same time, I was working at a pet store.

GARY: And what was your, I guess, your biggest takeaway from all of that, that whole experience?

Was that where you started to kind of come closer to your advocacy for healthier food for pets?

LAUREN: Yeah.

Yeah, I definitely remember there was one day in nutrition class and we had like a chicken feed specialist there.

And they were talking about how they use like beef blood meal as a protein because chickens are omnivores.

And I'm like, "Wouldn't it make more sense to use insects?"

My professor at the end of it was like, "Hey, you know, you're asking a lot of questions that a lot of people don't even think about.

You should think about going into nutrition."

And it was at that time, I think that was right about the same time that I started to have this kind of crash out of like, "I don't know what I'm doing with my life, I'm not going to vet school."

That started to kind of turn the gears in my head that I'm like, "I do have a passion for nutrition."

And at the same time, both of my dogs had cancer, both of them had arthritis.

I was trying to really clean out their diet.

I would go to the pet store and I'd try to find some treats, and all I'm seeing is stuff with these laundry lists of ingredients.

I mean, toxic, like BHA, BHT, bacon flavoring.

I'm like, "Why does my dog need bacon flavoring?"

GARY: Just put bacon in it.

LAUREN: Yeah, just put, just give them bacon.

And it was just so, I could not find anything that was just a single ingredient, or at least simple.

And I was like, "Why is there nothing out there?"

And like, the best I could find was something that was like preserved with glycerin.

So we started making all of their food from scratch.

I kind of went on and took some certifications, combined that with my nutrition degree from college, and we started making all their own food, making their own supplements and things like that.

And then I had a lot of people from my rescue that were like, "Oh, you're making turmeric paste?

Can I buy that?"

GARY: Was that the light bulb?

Like, "Wait a minute"?

LAUREN: That was my first product.

Yeah, and then I started to try to get into meal prepping for people, but it made me a little nervous because again, that weight of what if I do something wrong, I make an animal sick, that was too much for me.

So the best that I can do is to try to build up a platform where I can go on and try to educate people, cuz the amount of times that I talk to people at just a market, they're like, "I didn't really think about the fact that carbs could impact yeast.

I've just been washing the topical yeast out."

I'm like, "Yeah, well, the yeast is happening in the gut.

You're fueling it.

It's just like bread.

You're fueling the yeast with all these carbs in this dry dog food.

Try going to a lower carb food, starving out the yeast, things like that."

We have locally humanely sourced rabbit.

We have chicken is all local.

Some of it's organic, some of it's going to be the same small Amish farmers.

Turkey comes from a pasture-raised family farm.

And what I really want to do to people, and it's like I said, yes, the treats are there, the treats are important, but I sell you the treats to open the door to maybe then you can start to talk about a gently cooked.

Maybe then you go buy goat milk.

I want to stay true to what the passion of the business was, which is education.

♪ GARY: These are the actual products that you sell for animal consumption, correct?

LAUREN: Yeah.

GARY: Okay, so let's start with this guy right here.

What do we have here?

LAUREN: So this is a beef trachea, so essentially the windpipe of a cow.

This tube of cartilage is one of the best sources of glucosamine and chondroitin for our pets.

It's extremely bioavailable, and it's something that their body can instantly utilize to nourish the joints, the skin, the coat, and everything else about them.

GARY: Amazing.

Okay.

Chicken foot, right?

LAUREN: Chicken foot.

Yeah.

And that's a really great option for all size of dogs.

It's just crunchy enough to clean teeth and get lots of glucosamine, calcium, things like that without being too much of a burden on the stomach.

GARY: How, how- okay.

If I were to order this, my dog has never eaten any of this.

What, what could I just give my dog right off the shelf?

LAUREN: Yeah, I would say if you have a medium to large size dog, you could go with a large rabbit foot.

But this is a back rabbit foot and that's going to be fine.

Honestly, there's not enough fur to cause a bellyache, but it's going to be exciting enough that I often tell people to like wrap it in a towel and make a game out of it.

GARY: And then you work your way up to like a full rabbit head.

LAUREN: Exactly.

If you just go and give a beef ear right off the bat, your dog's going to probably have a stomachache.

GARY: Okay.

LAUREN: Versus my dogs that get this all the time, it goes right through them and they handle it really well.

♪ ♪ GARY: When did you first, I guess, your first time that you bought Girls Gone Raw?

LILLY: I walked in and I saw the table full- filled with different parts and I was intrigued right away.

So I went ahead and just tried a different, a few different things, see what my dog likes the most.

Her skin and coat got a million times better.

Her energy got better.

GARY: Wow.

LILLY: We were actually involved in a lot of dog sports and I saw her endurance and performance be just a whole lot better that way.

GARY: Intrigued is a great word.

Like coming in and seeing like rabbit heads, it can be a little bit alarming, right?

Were you a little apprehensive and nervous at first?

LILLY: At first, maybe, but in reality, I was actually more impressed and just made me wonder a lot more, what else could they be eating that'd be more beneficial to them?

GARY: What would you say to the folks at home that are new to this?

LILLY: I would just say, don't be afraid to try new things.

It's okay if the dog doesn't like it immediately.

And don't give up after the first try.

Some dogs just need a little bit longer to understand that it is okay to eat this after eating kibble their whole lives.

♪ GARY: When was the actual moment that you decided you were gonna make food?

LAUREN: Yeah, that was actually, I think about 4 years later, 3 years later.

GARY: Okay.

What did you do in that gap between the turmeric paste and that?

LAUREN: I tried and failed, tried and failed, and then said, "You know what?

I'm going into the real world.

I was-" GARY: I wanna hear about a failure.

Like, what is- what you say, tried and failed?

What is that?

LAUREN: I undercommitted and overcommitted to people.

So I would put out- I, like I said, I had no business experience.

I wasn't doing it right.

I was making cookies and cakes and treats and jerkies and feet and supplements and counseling and diets for some people.

And I spread myself so thin, and I was humiliated because people were angry, their orders were late.

And I decided instead that I'm just gonna put it down, I'm just gonna quit.

I got pregnant, and so then I had to try to take a little bit more stable job, so I got a 9-to-5.

I think I was like 7-and- a-half-months pregnant, and they riffed our entire US sales team, and I was like, "Who is gonna hire me?

I'm this big.

I'm like about to pop."

GARY: Yeah.

LAUREN: And at that same time, I was in a very abusive relationship.

So I think, what, 3 weeks after that, 4 weeks after that, I had my son.

The next day, the world shut down.

So I had my son right at the edge of COVID I was unemployed, unemployable, in a terribly abusive relationship, and I was stuck, lost my sense of self.

I'd been isolated from my family and I was a new mom.

GARY: How did you get out of the abusive relationship?

LAUREN: I escaped with the help of a couple friends.

Like... GARY: Tell me about it.

LAUREN: It takes a lot of time.

You don't see what you're living in when you're living in it, especially with the kind of brand of narcissistic abuse that I was stuck in.

GARY: Sure.

LAUREN: Then it started to involve my son, and that's when I was like, "No, I'm done."

GARY: That's the hard line.

LAUREN: So I literally threw my bags out the window one day.

GARY: Okay.

LAUREN: Told him I was going to the dog park with a friend, packed up the dogs, and I did actually go to the dog park.

I met my friends.

I was like, "I think I gotta do it.

I'm gonna go, but there's gonna be consequences.

My cats are still at the house.

He's gonna burn all my stuff.

I don't know what's gonna happen."

So I think I had $4 in my pocket, moved home to my parents.

Luckily my parents were like, "Yep.

We'll take everything.

Let's go.

You got it.

Your old bedroom's clear.

Get up there."

And I was, what, 26 years old, a new mom, and I had no idea what to do.

And so I remember going out with my friend and I was just sobbing and sobbing.

I had this fresh baby and I was like, "What am I going to do?

What am I going to do?

I have no money."

And she's like, "Why don't you start your company up again?

You have nothing to lose."

And I was like, "No, I just can't deal with the failure again.

It was so demoralizing the first time to try and fail."

GARY: Yeah.

LAUREN: I'm like, "I just can't.

What if I fail again?

What if I fail again?"

She's like, "Literally, you have nothing to lose."

GARY: Yep.

LAUREN: So that's when it really gets into what I call Girls Gone Raw 2.0.

GARY: Got it.

LAUREN: So I had a couple dehydrators and I had like $4, and I think my mom lent me some money.

I went and I got some chicken.

So I would buy some chicken, make some jerky, sell it to friends and family, buy some jerky, make some chicken, you know, and I would just buy a little bit, sell a little bit, and then I had $100.

So then I went and I bought a size up of a machine, and then I had $200.

So then I went and bought some good knives, or I, I got some packaging so we weren't just in paper bags anymore.

GARY: You were crawling your way out.

LAUREN: I was.

GARY: You were.

LAUREN: And I really feel like, I mean, we're, we're in year 6, I still feel like I'm crawling my way out.

♪ GARY: Take me back to the beginnings of when this started to form into an actual business.

LAUREN: Yeah, it very quickly grew from my parents' kitchen to my parents' garage.

So moving out of that and into this custom-built facility, and when I say custom-built, it was- I moved down.

It was a pole barn.

We paused everything briefly, turned that into a full-blown facility.

We had to install electric, internet, drainage, water.

It was everything.

It didn't even have walls inside.

GARY: Wow.

LAUREN: So everything was custom built for the company in an absolute rapid period of time, and that was all of my money.

GARY: In the beginning when you were launching the business, did you create a website?

LAUREN: Yeah, and so I sell entirely online, and honestly that's been nice because you have a lot more flexibility.

Brick and mortar scares me.

I actually leaned pretty heavy into wholesale off the bat because it's easier.

You don't really have to market it.

GARY: You sell to one and they sell the many.

LAUREN: Yes.

GARY: Yes.

Smart.

LAUREN: So it's less work and I really like just packing a box full of stuff, shipping it out, and that's someone else's problem.

GARY: How many, how many retail brick and mortar retailers are selling your stuff right now?

Your products?

LAUREN: Probably close to 150.

GARY: Oh my gosh.

LAUREN: Around the country.

GARY: That's incredible.

I mean, that's significant.

Are you doing all packaging and fulfillment and everything right out of this barn?

LAUREN: Everything.

Even as far as going to the farms, picking up the product, we bring it back.

It's raw.

We dry it, we check everything, we pull it out, package it, and ship it out.

♪ GARY: So we are heading to the retail location, a pet store that sells your product.

Tell me a bit about this store.

LAUREN: I heard about this pet store selling everything raw and fresh and holistic and healthy, and they were nutrition trained.

And I was like, "These are my people."

We built a friendship.

GARY: Yeah.

LAUREN: And then when it came time to start Girls Gone Raw, I was like, "Hey, I have these treats."

He's like, "Absolutely, we've got a shelf for you, let's do it."

And so we started on consignment.

Now it's gone to where we have this huge table just absolutely piled- GARY: Amazing- LAUREN: With the freakiest of stuff, and people travel from out of state to come see Fangs and Fur.

♪ GARY: Let's talk about Lauren.

What kind of person is she, her character?

DANIELLE: You know, you could just feel that passion.

It is something that our customers are curious about.

It's obviously the focal point when you're walking into our store.

And so it's been really exciting.

And just to align ourselves with her, I think, has just been so amazing.

And our customers love her and they know what they're getting when they're you know, buying and supporting Girls Gone Raw.

♪ GARY: Why that name?

LAUREN: It actually goes back to those dogs that I had that had cancer and arthritis.

They were the girls that went raw.

A lot of my kind of corporate-level advisors are like, "You might want to think about changing the company name."

Because a lot of people see the girls gone and then they're like, "What does that have anything to do with it?"

It's the story behind it that I'm not willing to part with because I wouldn't be here without hitting what I feel like is health rock bottom with my dogs.

And having to learn all of this on the fly, and all of the research that I put in and all the connections that I made throughout the industry got me exactly where I am now.

So I'm not willing to give up the story that got this company here.

GARY: Yeah, you got to stay true to your values.

LAUREN: And honestly, I like being a little edgy.

I think it's funny.

GARY: Yeah.

How do you scale this?

LAUREN: Yeah, and it's, it's hard.

That's why I'm working with an advisor now who is a lot more financially savvy.

I was just so burnt out.

I was so burnt out and I didn't know where to go or what to do.

So, I went to my gym and I have a good relationship with the owner of the gym and he's like, "Hey, girl, are you okay?

We haven't seen you in a while."

I'm like, "Honestly, I am so burnt out."

He said, "Do you mind if I connect you with some people?"

I said, "Yes."

GARY: Okay.

LAUREN: "Please, please connect me with people."

GARY: Who did he connect you with?

LAUREN: He connected me with Neal.

GARY: Okay.

LAUREN: So, I remember Neal called me and he sent me the website for EOS.

GARY: It's Entrepreneurial Operating Systems.

Yeah.

LAUREN: And like one of the first sentences was like, "Do you feel like you've hit a ceiling?

Do you feel like you're wearing every hat and you're just like burnt out?"

Neal, who goes into these massive companies for a living and helps restructure them, was like, "You know what, I'll help you.

Don't worry about paying me.

Let's just tackle this and let's figure it out."

And like, I mean... GARY: So he's just helping to help.

There's no partnership or equity.

LAUREN: He's just a good person.

And I think maybe I'm a good person and he sees that and he wants to see me succeed.

And I think that so much can come from just being a good person and working hard.

GARY: Are you seeing a difference since you've implemented EOS?

LAUREN: Massive.

GARY: Massive.

LAUREN: Night and day.

GARY: Okay.

LAUREN: I met Neal and we just shut everything down and we basically laid it out like, okay, "You have a boardroom full of people.

GARY: Yep.

LAUREN: Who's in the CMO?

Who's in the CEO?

Who's in the CFO?"

And I was like, "Me, me, me, me, me, me."

He's like, "Okay, what positions, if these were people that weren't you, would you fire yourself from?"

GARY: All of them.

LAUREN: Like a lot of them except for marketing and sales.

So he helped me really organize everything.

I fired myself from like every position and filled in the rest of it.

I was able to delegate to my team and I somehow ended up with a team of like amazing employees that don't need to be managed.

And we kind of filled it in as it went.

And once we had that filled, we figured out, okay, how do we make more money?

So he said, "Why don't you do the subscription boxes?"

I think the subscription boxes are really fun.

One of my favorite parts of it is that every month we partner with a different brand, um, and I'm trying to find smaller independent brands, but things that bring a wellness value.

That's been a really nice way to use the business to expand people's minds, whether it's an enrichment toy, like, "Oh, are you doing enrichment with your dogs regularly?

No?

Here's a toy.

Start doing that."

♪ GARY: Tell me about your first impression.

NEAL: She is a very high-energy person, and I picked up on that immediately, and it reminded me a lot of myself when I was in my 20s.

I knew how big my blind spots were, and, and I thought that she was probably in a similar boat, and I might be able to help her navigate things.

GARY: How do you decide whether something is worth dedicating your time?

And expertise and knowledge too?

NEAL: Well, in the case of Lauren, it was- she's just a sweet person, and I've always had dogs in my house.

Her love of animals and her belief in Primal Pet Nutrition resonated with me.

I've founded and exited two businesses of my own.

GARY: Wow.

NEAL: And so I'm in kind of the give-back chapter of my career where I want to help entrepreneurs go a little further, a little faster than I did.

GARY: What do you see for the future of this company as it sits right now in the phase that you're in, in coaching?

NEAL: In the short term, it's growing revenue over $250,000, and that gets her into an entrepreneurial support program here locally.

GARY: Got it.

NEAL: That I think will be a great peer learning opportunity for her.

Long term, it's a big building with a lot of dehydrators, commercial dehydrators working a couple of shifts.

♪ GARY: Talk about the importance of having mentorship.

LAUREN: You know, you beat yourself up for not being good enough at everything.

GARY: Yeah.

LAUREN: And to have somebody look you in the face and say, you can't physically be expected to do everything and be good at it.

It's not possible.

I think it saved me, honestly.

I'm not sure the business wouldn't be where it is.

I think that that's the number one thing I can say to anybody is find people in your niche or find people in a similar situation that you can vent to.

GARY: Looking back, you know, I'm sure that a lot of this is motivated or driven by your son.

LAUREN: Yes.

GARY: Yes?

So looking back, thinking about the decision that you made to pull him out of what could potentially been a really rough future path for him.

Do you ever sit and think about that?

LAUREN: Oh yeah.

GARY: And what you did and the strength it took for you to change your life?

LAUREN: Yeah.

GARY: And how important it was.

LAUREN: It's a lot of pressure, you know.

You can put up with a lot for yourself because you know what's going on in your head, but I feel like when you have kids, the responsibility to raise a good person is so heavy.

It's so heavy.

GARY: And it was on you to pull yourself out.

How do you think he feels seeing you doing what you're doing?

LAUREN: He loves it.

He thinks it's so cool.

Most of the days I have to beg him to leave my employees alone and to like leave the shop because he loves it.

He goes in there, he gets his gloves on, he gets an apron on, and he wants to help them.

And I let him sometimes.

I think that learning the power of hard work and learning the power of betting on yourself- GARY: Yep- LAUREN: Goes really far.

Growing up watching your parents fight to make a change in the world, whether it's through something that brings money or not, I think that that is going to be really profound.

GARY: What does the future look like for Girls Gone Raw in 5 years?

LAUREN: Yeah, I think by being able to reach more people with the retail and working with these independent pet stores, the subscription box, I would love to use that as an opportunity to educate more and to build more relationships so that we can increase the reach of the educational tools that we have to help people help their pets thrive.

GARY: So what you're doing now, just on a bigger scale.

LAUREN: I would just like to keep going with it.

The educational part of it and the connections is so fulfilling for me.

GARY: Yeah.

LAUREN: So to be able to step away from the manufacturing a little bit and lean more into the brand and the opportunity to reach people and in turn help their pets live longer, healthier lives - I just think so immense.

It's a lot of pressure too.

GARY: Yeah, I have no doubt that you're gonna get there.

LAUREN: Yeah.

GARY: I'm so fascinated to learn what motivates and drives people to keep chasing their dreams against so much adversity, to keep pushing through even when they feel like they have no clue what they're doing.

Working 24/7, not making any money, and barely able to see the light of day.

And then just like that, you hit a new level and things start to make sense again.

It's that indescribable thing that most entrepreneurs feel throughout the course of their journey.

"Why am I doing this?

And maybe I should just get a job or do something else."

But when your this is tied to something so intrinsically meaningful like it is for Lauren, it's not so easy to walk away.

Lauren loves dogs and she wants them to be happy and healthy and live a long life.

That's her north star and the foundation behind this incredible company.

And realizing that she didn't have to wear all the hats, that by putting the right people in the right position feels like it may be the turning point that she's been waiting for to scale Girls Gone Raw further than she ever imagined.

And for the record, I'm a dog person.

So although I was not at all familiar with raw pet food, this business definitely speaks to me on a personal level because I want my dog, Midge, to live her best life.

So if there's any possible way for me to make her healthier or happier in any way, I'm all ears.

For more information, visit our website and search episodes for Girls Gone Raw.

Next time on Start Up, we head to Chicago, Illinois to meet up with Fiona and Faith, the founders of Nouvie, a wine alternative that captures the essence of celebration without the alcohol.

Be sure to join us next time on Start Up.

Do you want to learn more about the show?

Or maybe nominate a business?

Visit us at StartUp-usa.com and connect with us on social media.

♪ ♪ We've got a long road ahead of us ♪ ♪ A long road ahead of us ♪ Got a long road ahead of us ♪ ♪ Before we pay our dues ♪ We got a long road ahead of us ♪ ♪ A long road ahead of us ♪ ANNOUNCER: As a business owner, your time is valuable.

Bluehost provides AI-powered tools for site building, marketing, sales, and operations, with hosting and human support.

Learn more at bluehost.ai.

Bluehost is a proud supporter of Start Up.

ANNOUNCER: From concept to planning to execution, businesses like Spikeball are built by people.

And Bamboo HR brings people data together in one place.

Learn more at BambooHR.com.

Bamboo HR is a proud supporter of Start Up.

ANNOUNCER: From startups to established brands, pens.com offers promotional products for your business journey, like custom pens, bags, drinkware, and more.

For 60 years, we've partnered with millions of businesses, and now we're proud partners of Start Up.

Learn more at pens.com.