Terri Rockovich | Co-Founder & CEO of Jinx
Terri Rockovich, co-founder and CEO of Jinx, explains how personal frustration with dog food led to one of the fastest-growing pet food brands in retail—scaling to 7,500+ doors, landing Walmart and Target, partnering with Chris Evans, and pacing toward $70M+ in annual revenue by rethinking kibble for modern dogs.
We spoke with Terri Rockovich, co-founder and CEO of Jinx.
Inspired by her own struggles finding a food brand that worked for her dogs, Terri set out to rethink how dog food is formulated, priced, and distributed. In this conversation, she shares how her background in high-growth consumer startups shaped Jinx, why the brand shifted from DTC to mass retail, and how they’re building one of the fastest-growing pet food brands in the country.
You’ve always loved animals, not just dogs, but all animals, even from a very young age, did you ever think this passion would become a career?
I wanted to be a veterinarian from a very young age. When I got to college and started playing Division One soccer, I realized that I was going to have to pick a major that was more accommodating to my schedule.
As I started to pursue a business career, I really didn’t think I would end up in the pet industry until I adopted a dog who had a host of health issues… in addition to a sensitive tummy and a picky palette.
Other Interviews
More conversations with founders, operators, and investors building the future of pet care.
Alexandru Bacita | Co-Founder & COO, The Cat Health Company
Cats are living longer, but the drugs for age-related disease have not kept pace. The Cat Health Company, a clinical-stage biotech, has three drugs in trials and 11 more preclinical candidates, and has out-licensed its first therapeutic. Co-founder and COO Alexandru Bacita explains why cats compress the drug-development loop, how the company targets muscle loss and kidney disease first, and why the route to longevity runs through veterinarians and pharma partners.
Elias Weiss Friedman | Founder, The Dogist Company
Elias Weiss Friedman spent a decade turning street photography into The Dogist, one of the largest dog-focused audiences online. Now he's testing whether that trust extends to physical products, starting with Vitality, a vet-formulated antioxidant chew built with Dr. Angela Rollins. He talks about the discipline of brand extension, the operational learning curve of a first physical product, and what a decade of stopping strangers on the street taught him about people, not just dogs.
Sarah McLean | Co-Founder & CEO, Big Damn Dog Co.
A joint supplement label that stopped at 60 pounds sent Sarah McLean looking for a product that did not exist. Big Damn Dog Co. is the bootstrapped answer: giant-breed formulations, dosing built for 120-pound dogs, and a customer list the founders still call by phone. Six months after launch, its Gravy Blend already accounts for roughly 40% of joint supplement sales.