That was one of my favorite lines from my conversation with Kim Hehir, co-founder of Brutus Broth.
And honestly? It might be one of the best descriptions of entrepreneurship I’ve heard in a while.
Because Brutus Broth didn’t grow into a 20,000-store brand by following the traditional playbook.
They grew because they kept asking.
Kept testing.
Kept pushing.
Kept finding another way in.
Even when people told them that’s “not how it works.”
One of the stories I LOVED was about an early Petco meeting. Kim asked when they could get on the shelf. Their broker was horrified because apparently, you’re not supposed to ask that question.
But Kim didn’t know, and so she asked anyway. And guess what? They got the placement. And that mindset shows up throughout the entire story.
Target said no at first. Brutus found another way in.
Walmart approached them too early. They had the discipline to say no because they weren’t ready. And guess what? Walmart came back later with a completely different vision for the pet aisle and became a major partnership for the brand.
That’s not luck. That’s founder energy paired with conviction.
What’s also interesting is that they didn’t build like a typical pet brand. Most brands in the category start DTC. Brutus didn’t.
Their hero product was a 32-ounce liquid broth—heavy and expensive to ship. So instead, they beta tested through retail with Wegmans and Big Y before scaling. And they weren’t just looking at velocity.
They paid attention to all the things retailers care about:
That’s a really smart lesson for emerging brands. Retailers care if your product sells. And they also care about other things, like what your product does for the store at large?
And the other big tension, building awareness.
Brutus Broth is now in 20,000 stores. They have strong retail relationships.
New products. Momentum. But still, Kim kept coming back to the same challenge:
More people need to know who they are.
I think that’s one of the hardest transitions for emerging brands.
Getting distribution is hard. But creating sustained consumer demand at scale?
That’s a completely different challenge that EVERY brand has to tackle at some point. And that takes something most founders are in short supply of, time and patience.
My biggest takeaway from this conversation:
The founders who win are not always the ones following the category playbook most perfectly.
Sometimes they’re the ones willing to:
And maybe most importantly:
They don’t confuse “that’s how it’s usually done” with “that’s the only way it gets done.”
As marketers, we spend a lot of time talking about innovation, disruption, and growth strategy.
But a surprising amount of entrepreneurship is still this simple:
Ask. Follow up. Ask again. Find another way.
Definitely worth a listen!
