789 Jacob Zuppke: CEO of Whisker

0:00Kara Goldin:I am unwilling to give up, but I will start over from scratch as many times as it takes to get where I want to be. You just want to make sure you will get knocked down, but just make sure you don't get knocked out. So your only choice should be, go focus on what you can control. Hi everyone and welcome to the Kara Goldin show. Join me each week for inspiring conversations with some of the world's greatest leaders. We'll talk with founders, entrepreneurs, CEOs, and really some of the most interesting people of our time. Can't wait to get started. Let's go. This episode of the Kara Golden Show is brought to you by LinkedIn Jobs.

0:46Kara Goldin:When you're building a business, every hire matters. The right people in the right roles can change the trajectory of your company. And as you look ahead to 2026, whether you're expanding your team or being more strategic about growth, hiring with intention is essential. That's where LinkedIn Jobs comes in. LinkedIn Jobs AI Assistant helps you find qualified candidates faster and with more confidence. So you're not just filling roles, you're building a team that lasts. In fact, LinkedIn hires are 30 % more likely to stay at least a year compared to the leading competitor. That kind of retention has real impact.

1:30Kara Goldin:And finding the right hire doesn't have to feel overwhelming. With LinkedIn Jobs AI Assistant, you can skip the guesswork and jargon. It filters candidates based on your role's specific criteria and highlights top matches. So you're not wasting time digging through endless resumes. When you're running a business, you need a hiring process that's fast and focused. LinkedIn's AI assistant delivers 25 strong candidate suggestions each day, giving you the chance to invite the right people to apply and keep the process moving. It's a smarter, faster way to hire, and it's why I rely on LinkedIn jobs.

2:11Kara Goldin:Hire right the first time. Post your job for free at linkedin.com slash Kara Golden. Then promote it to use LinkedIn Jobs new AI assistant, making it easier and faster to find top candidates. That's linkedin.com slash Kara Golden to post your job for free. Terms and conditions apply. A new year always makes me think about health, mine and theirs. Anyone who knows me knows I'm a serious dog lover, and keeping my two English labs, Maggie and Toby, healthy and happy is always a top priority. Every morning, we start the day hiking in the Marin Headlands. It's our favorite ritual, but with all that time outside comes exposure to grasses and pollens, and unfortunately, a lot of itching.

3:01Kara Goldin:And it turns out that's more common than most people realize. Dog allergies have increased by about 30 % over the last decade, driven by exposure to pollen, dust, mold, and even human dander. That's why I'm so glad I found Better Wild. Their allergy relief soft chews have made a noticeable difference for my dogs. They're formulated to support the gut, where 90 % of a dog's immune system actually lives. and a stronger gut means stronger defenses. Better Wild uses something called Ancestral Advantage, a special blend of wolf-sourced probiotics that helps support long-term allergy relief by strengthening the immune system from the inside out.

3:44Kara Goldin:Maggie and Toby love them, and I love seeing them itch less and enjoy our hikes even more. If you've got a pup with allergies, I can't recommend Better Wild enough. And right now, Better Wild is offering our listeners up to 40 % off their order at betterwild.com slash caragolden. That's betterwild.com slash caragolden for up to 40 % off your order. Betterwild.com slash caragolden. Hi. Hi, everyone, and welcome back to the Caragolden Show. super, super excited to welcome back a returning guest who's redefining what modern pet care, cat care in particular, looks like at scale. So Jacob Zupke, who is the CEO of Whisker, the maker of Litter Robot, they actually rebranded the company as well.

4:40Kara Goldin:I can't wait to hear a lot more from Jacob on all of that. But if you're not familiar with the litter robots and Whisker, here's the headline. This is one of the most successful consumer tech brands built outside of Silicon Valley. Over the last four years alone, Whisker has generated more than a billion dollars in revenue, built a fiercely loyal customer base and done it all without raising dollars of venture money or private equity. And now Jacob and his team are entering their most ambitious chapter, yet launching a new generation of products that move beyond convenience into fully connected, personalized pet care.

5:28Kara Goldin:I cannot wait to hear all about that. I got a sneak peek of the product, so I will not let you in on it yet, but very excited to have Jacob here to share all of this with all of us. So thank you so much, Jacob, for joining us. Well, thank you for having me again. I appreciate it, and I look forward to chatting with you tonight. A new year always makes me think about health, mine and theirs. Anyone who knows me knows I'm a serious dog lover, and keeping my two English labs, Maggie and Toby, healthy and happy is always a top priority. Every morning we start the day hiking in the Marin Headlands.

6:09Kara Goldin:It's our favorite ritual, but with all that time outside comes exposure to grasses and pollens, and unfortunately, a lot of itching. And it turns out that's more common than most people realize. Dog allergies have increased by about 30 % over the last decade, driven by exposure to pollen, dust, mold, and even human dander. That's why I'm so glad I found Better Wild. Their allergy relief soft chews have made a noticeable difference for my dogs. They're formulated to support the gut, where 90 % of a dog's immune system actually lives. And a stronger gut means stronger defenses. Better Wild uses something called Ancestral Advantage, a special blend of wolf-sourced probiotics that helps support long-term allergy relief by strengthening the immune system from the inside out.

7:02Kara Goldin:Maggie and Toby love them, and I love seeing them itch less and enjoy our hikes even more. If you've got a pup with allergies, I can't recommend Better Wild enough. And right now, Better Wild is offering our listeners up to 40 % off their order at betterwild.com slash Kara Golden. That's betterwild.com slash Kara Golden for up to 40 % off your order. Betterwild.com slash Kara Golden. Awesome. And I was sharing with Jacob that we don't typically have returning guests on, but I really, really loved so much of what he was talking about because I know there's so many things that as business leaders, you're thinking about, should I, shouldn't I?

7:51Kara Goldin:So his first episode that he did with us a few hundred episodes ago, it was really incredible. And I encourage you to go back and listen to it as well. But Jacob, let's start at the top. For listeners who may be new to Litter Robot and now Whisker today. What problem are you fundamentally solving for pet parents or cat parents in particular? Well, thank you for asking. First and foremost, we are problem solvers for cat people. So the number one chore for any cat household is the litter box and 25 years ago we invented litter robot and automated the litter box and over the last 25 years we brought to market um litter robot one two three and four and then in 2025 just you know 60 or so days ago we launched a litter robot five litter robot five pro and the litter robot ebo all really designed to automate the uh the litter box but now it's really a focus on health insights.

9:00So as we think about the future of cat health, unlike when my dog isn't feeling well, or if I forget to feed her or whatever it is, she sends these like polite reminders, like she will stand by her food bowl or she will, you know, keep begging until I give her what she wants. My cat will hide if she's not feeling well. And in 2019, it kind of hit home for me when the Litter Robot app, then designed more for utility, sent me all these notifications in a row that my cat had gotten in and out, in and out, in and out. And we rushed her to the vet because it just seemed very odd to be using the litter box that often.

9:42And she had a full blockage in her urinary tract. And what we found over the last six years and really our focus and where we're taking the business is that the litter box is often indicative of cat health issues. And so we have a unique ability to understand that at scale across now millions of devices on what's happening with your cat's health. And so we're now delivering solutions through the form of smarter notifications, smarter insights on how you can help understand what's going on with your cat, both in how much they weigh. So we now track weight. In their deposits, number one versus number two, we can now discern which is which.

10:26And then usage, frequency, time of day, habits. And so we're able to understand a lot more about your cat today than we ever were before. And that's a big part of where we're taking whisker, well beyond just the litter box as well into food and water.

10:42Kara Goldin:A new year always makes me think about health, mine and theirs. Anyone who knows me knows I'm a serious dog lover. and keeping my two English labs, Maggie and Toby, healthy and happy is always a top priority. Every morning we start the day hiking in the Marin Headlands. It's our favorite ritual, but with all that time outside comes exposure to grasses and pollens and unfortunately a lot of itching. And it turns out that's more common than most people realize. Dog allergies have increased by about 30 % over the last decade, driven by exposure to pollen, dust, mold, and even human dander. That's why I'm so glad I found Better Wild.

11:26Kara Goldin:Their allergy relief soft chews have made a noticeable difference for my dogs. They're formulated to support the gut, where 90 % of a dog's immune system actually lives. And a stronger gut means stronger defenses. Better Wild uses something called Ancestral Advantage, a special blend of wolf-sourced probiotics that helps support long-term allergy relief by strengthening the immune system from the inside out. Maggie and Toby love them, and I love seeing them itch less and enjoy our hikes even more. If you've got a pup with allergies, I can't recommend Better Wild enough. And right now, Better Wild is offering our listeners up to 40 % off their order at betterwild.com slash Kara Golden.

12:13Kara Goldin:That's betterwild.com slash Kara Golden for up to 40 % off your order. Betterwild.com slash Kara Golden. This episode of the Kara Golden Show is brought to you by LinkedIn Jobs. When you're building a business, every hire matters. The right people in the right roles can change the trajectory of your company. And as you look ahead to 2026, whether you're expanding your team or being more strategic about growth, hiring with intention is essential. That's where LinkedIn Jobs comes in. LinkedIn Jobs AI assistant helps you find qualified candidates faster and with more confidence. So you're not just filling roles, you're building a team that lasts.

13:01Kara Goldin:In fact, LinkedIn hires are 30 % more likely to stay at least a year compared to the leading competitor. That kind of retention has real impact. And finding the right hire doesn't have to feel overwhelming. With LinkedIn Jobs AI Assistant, you can skip the guesswork and jargon. It filters candidates based on your roles, specific criteria, and highlights top matches. So you're not wasting time digging through endless resumes. When you're running a business, you need a hiring process that's fast and focused. LinkedIn's AI assistant delivers 25 strong candidate suggestions each day, giving you the chance to invite the right people to apply and keep the process moving.

13:47Kara Goldin:It's a smarter, faster way to hire, and it's why I rely on LinkedIn jobs. Hire right the first time. Post your job for free at linkedin.com slash Kara Golden, then promote it to use LinkedIn Jobs' new AI assistant, making it easier and faster to find top candidates. That's linkedin.com slash Kara Golden to post your job for free. Terms and conditions apply. So Litter Robot has become almost synonymous with the category. You own the category. What do you think made it break through when so many pet products never do? A lot of product people say product and I'm going to say product, but I'm also going to say product with great marketing.

14:40And so when I was, I joined the company 11 years ago next month. And when I joined, you had a much smaller version of where we are today. We were 25 people. we were seven figures in revenue and you had great product with the litter robot too i got to join around the time of launching litter robot three and i also got to join the time in 2015 where influencer wasn't yet a word and i got to really reshape how we went to market and we were very early influencer adopters and i was all in on the influencer uh in 2015 and i think that timing was very helpful there. But I got to launch the LR3 really all around influencer strategy.

15:23And we just accelerated very quickly back in 2015, 16, and 17. And then we really got into video and got really good at it quickly. And our video storytelling through 2018, 19, 20, 21, and so on, we got really good at telling the story about problem solution in a way that the consumer quickly understood the value of a product that yesterday they didn't know they needed and tomorrow they couldn't live without. And as we've gone into 23, 24, 25, what we're finding is that the interface for our product now is the app. People talk about how they don't want to scoop, but then once they stop scooping, they realize the insights they're getting from our app are something that they've never had before.

16:08How much their cat weighs, how often they're going, and tracking the habits in a way that you might track a baby. you know when you have a baby and you're going through those diaper phases you're as a parent you're usually tracking their output and I think that when something doesn't look right you're alarmed to it and I think that our cats are really no different in that way their their bathroom behaviors are often indicative of cat health and we now have an opportunity to help proactively and reactively help a consumer understand what's happening with their cat's health.

16:45Kara Goldin:So you are not the founder. You came in and if I recall, you came in really to launch the direct-to-consumer side of the business, correct? And you've grown into the CEO role. So did you ever think that you would be the CEO of a cat-focused company? Um, well, when I first joined, I had never had a cat before. And so my now wife then recently started dating girlfriend. Um, uh, she had a cat and Lexi, who is still with us today and is the cat that I referenced just a couple of minutes ago. Um, I inherited Lexi and it was wonderful. Having never lived with a cat before, I would say the answer to your question would of endo 11 years ago as I really fell in love with the opportunity the opportunity to tell a story the opportunity to build the best product and then became a cap person started to warm up to the idea um and I remember a dinner 10 and a half years ago with the founder where I told him that I was going to be to lead a billion dollar company and he thought at the time I was crazy and we were you know seven figures maybe had just hit like 10 or 12 million at that time so we're just kind of growing out of that single seven figures and he was like yeah that you're talking crazy land and we're we're on our way we're doing it and so fortunately the evolution of the business over the last 10 years it felt natural and as my role evolved into more responsibility i started to really lead the team, build the team, and shape the evolved vision that we now have.

18:48And so it started to feel a lot more real over the last six, seven years. But no, 11 years ago, I could not have imagined being in this role in this company and having now almost 700 people on the team.

19:01Kara Goldin:Wow, that's incredible. You're launching several new products at once. What does the Litter Robot 5 represent in the evolution of the brand? In evolution of our engineering capabilities, I think is what it represents. The Litter Robot 5 is beautiful. I'm biased, but I'm not. It's objectively beautiful. It's beautiful product design. So if you just think about the mechanical design of it, it's very highly functional and we We designed it to be functional first and then wrap Beautiful Design around that. And those two together, when function and form can go together, that's to me where Beautiful Design is really at its intersection.

19:47And so we did that with the Litter Robot 5. It was a chance to kind of stop and really think about what we wanted the future of the company to be. And given that we see this as an appliance in your home, beauty is an important part of how we decide which appliance to purchase. I would say secondly is on the health insight side, we have so many new sensors in there. We have algorithms running to understand number one versus number two, which cat went when based on its weight, a dual camera system with edge compute for a AI recognition of which cat is doing what when, to be able to map that back to which cat in the app so that you don't have to do the work yourself.

20:28all of these are capabilities representative of our evolved engineering and product organization. So I think that's, to me, one of the greatest representations of what we've built, is a product development engine that can continually bring great products to market for the consumer.

20:47Kara Goldin:I love it. So when you, I mean, getting into the AI-powered cameras and the facial recognition, I mean, it's a bold move, right? Because the core business is already successful. And now you're getting into the technology side and bringing it in. It seems like a fun move, a natural move, but probably kind of scary when you were launching it. And is it worth it? I mean, how do you look at that and decide, no, we got to go do this? Fun question. I think if I look back a couple of years, when we launched the Litter Robot 4 with the scale, we started to see more people put cameras where their Litter Robot was.

21:44Because now that they were tracking cat weight, they wanted to know which cat. And our weight-based ID algorithm was working well. It continued to improve. but the consumer wanted to see it. As much as you can tell them it was this cat, they also wanted to visualize it. And so we started to see across all different platforms, Reddit, Instagram, everything, videos from the lens of a ring camera or a blink camera or some other version of a Wyze camera. And they would have it in their cat room looking at the little robot. So it felt natural, like a natural extension to add a camera to the device to give the consumer what they were looking for, which was ultimately the visibility into what was happening with their little robot.

22:29So the camera felt natural, but just to do a camera didn't feel like our place because it needed to be an intelligent camera. So we spent a year and hundreds of thousands of cat videos training to build a model that could actually see the cat face. And unlike maybe some basic machine learning pattern recognition, we did it around all the face coordinates, just like maybe a phone would do a version of face recognition as well. We did that with a cat face because I have two brown cats and two brown cats at night are very hard to see a pattern, like a white spot or something else. And so we had to do it with the face, which is a much harder challenge.

23:11Also really exciting.

23:15Kara Goldin:So when you talk about multiple cats, I'm sure this is a question that everybody asks you. Do you need to buy multiple systems, or can you have one and tell the cats to share the one? So the beautiful thing about litter robot versus your standard N plus one rule, meaning cat litter box plus one. So for every cat, you should have, in theory, two litter boxes. I'm sorry, for every cat, you should have one extra litter box. For three cats, you should have four. The litter robot automatically cycles each time, so you really only need one. And with the litter robot five and its size capacity, we say that you could have up to five cats using it.

24:02Because I have more space in my home, being in the suburbs and not in the city, I actually have two at home, but that's by choice. so we have our Literal Robot Evo and our Literal Robot 5 Pro at home and but you know I can bring one home as a tester most people I tell them buy one and if you want another buy another later it's free shipping you know on any robot so I always recommend to a customer buy one unless you have more than five cats or in the case of another model four cats you don't need more than one that's your choice at that point you also come into some territorial cats. And even in that, oftentimes that can be related to they don't want to go and step on another cat's poop to go poop.

24:52So we solve that.

24:55Kara Goldin:So you have three distinct litter robot models with different price points. How intentional was that strategy? And how did you, why three versus two versus five? So we believe in a world where in the future, nobody is scooping for two reasons. Nobody should have to scoop. I think it's a chore that just has been accepted for call it 70 years since Ed Lowe brought cat litter to the commercial market and started to market cat litter. and it really hasn't evolved that much since then. It's like cat, poop, corner. It's acceptable to be in your living room. Cat people have gotten a stigma because of that.

25:49We believe in a future that's different than that. And so in order to address a larger market, the best analogous product I can offer would be the iPhone SE. They have a more economy price point, but yet not cheap product offering that can appeal to a different consumer that wants to get into the Apple family. We believe in a future as well where people can get into the Whisker family at a more affordable price point because we believe we've designed the right form factor and size for the cat. We can't go too inexpensive where we make it so small that it's uncomfortable with the cat. That's a line that we won't, I would say, step over.

26:30So we think that our$5.99 price point is a more approachable price point than we've been at before. And then ranging up to$8.99 for the best in innovation. So you have$5.99,$6.99,$7.99,$8.99 now, giving us a variety of products where if you're an early adopter, you have cameras in there, you want to see everything and track every health insight, you go with an R5 Pro. If you just want to stop scooping, but also maybe weigh your cat, go with an Evo or even look at a different way as we go international form factor size height, we can now fit under a standard size table. We've never been able to do that before.

27:11So part of our Evo strategy was also accessibility to where you can put it.

27:18Kara Goldin:So Whisker has incredible retention and word of mouth. You have chosen to, you and I talked about this the last time you were on, but you have your own direct-to-consumer site, plus you use Amazon, you use Chewy, you're using all different channels to roll up the overall sales strategy. When you think about retention and word of mouth, what do you obsess over to keep really these customers loyal year after year? The Whisker app. as a consumer, we're now interfacing with the app more than we are the device. Because if we do the device right and you have a two-cat household, which is average in America, you're only having to interface with your one-letter robot maybe once a week.

28:14Add more cat litter, empty the drawer. Your daily interface, hopefully multiple times a day if you want to check in on things or maybe look at your video camera of your cat going to the bathroom, you're interfacing through the Whisker app. So we now have almost 800 ,000 monthly active users of the Whisker app. We have over 150 ,000 five-star reviews of the Whisker app. That really is the reason why I would say people love the product is we keep innovating. We deployed an app update with new features, new improvements every month in 2025. It was 13 app updates that we did with new feature-rich content for the consumer.