Dakota Sheets | Founder, DogSauce
How DogSauce went from a bootstrapped idea to landing a Walmart deal, what it takes to win a Golden Ticket at Open Call, and why founder-led retail strategy can outperform paid ads for early-stage pet brands.
Dakota Sheets is a serial entrepreneur who has spent the last decade building, scaling, and selling businesses. With DogSauce, he set his sights on the pet category—launching a meal enhancer designed to bring variety and joy to dogs eating the same kibble every day.
In this conversation, Sheets walks through DogSauce’s journey from formulation to first production run, what it was like pitching at Walmart’s Open Call, and why retail—not paid ads—was always the end goal.
Tell us about yourself—what were you doing before you launched DogSauce?
My name is Dakota Sheets. I’m 30 years old and have lived in Colorado my whole life. I went to CSU for construction management, but I’ve been a founder for 10 years and this is my second startup after selling my first in 2020. I also run a boutique digital marketing business and have brought half a dozen companies to seven figures through performance ad spend.
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