{"podcast":{"title":"Innovation with Mark Peter Davis","slug":"innovation-with-mark-peter-davis-1367720","podcast_index_feed_id":1367720,"rss_url":"https://feeds.captivate.fm/innovationwithmpd/","website_url":"https://www.interplay.vc/podcast","image_url":"https://artwork.captivate.fm/7c3c2e2f-e37e-4970-8f8c-d9002bc7ee8b/6v95MP3mlMcpNDOiXIVFZabm.jpg","author":"Interplay","episode_count":154,"summary":"Welcome to Innovation with Mark Peter Davis, a podcast dedicated to innovation, truth, and education. Through fireside chats with entrepreneurs, industry leading executives, and creative minded business folk, I'll highlight the society altering transformations that are happening all around us while providing crucial entrepreneurial advice. Pickup tips from founders who sold their company for hundreds of millions of dollars. Discover how everyday materials and goods are being reinvented by science. Learn about the current state of space exploration and the space industry from the CEO of a rocket company. Join him on this expedition to learn about the innovations that are changing our world and the way we exist. Don’t forget to subscribe and follow on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and Medium.","last_synced_at":"2026-07-10T04:21:56.067625+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/innovation-with-mark-peter-davis-1367720"},"episode":{"title":"Overlooked No More: How Smalls Is Building The Brand Cats Deserve","slug":"overlooked-no-more-how-smalls-is-building-the-brand-cats-deserve","published_at":"2026-06-04T09:48:56+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/innovation-with-mark-peter-davis-1367720/overlooked-no-more-how-smalls-is-building-the-brand-cats-deserve","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/innovation-with-mark-peter-davis-1367720","url":"https://innovationwithmpd.captivate.fm/episode/overlooked-no-more-how-smalls-is-building-the-brand-cats-deserve","audio_url":"https://episodes.captivate.fm/episode/c95aa0a1-8b4a-4684-a187-cc39a01f4f33.mp3","summary":"Cats are 40% of the pet market, but are somehow still chronically overlooked. Every innovation goes to dogs first. Even your vet's office is built for dogs first. Matt Michaelson, cofounder and CEO of Smalls, and his team have built an incredible cat-first brand precisely because of that blind spot. In this episode, I sit down with Matt to break down: • Why the cat industry is structurally underinvested (which includes VCs simply saying \"I don't really like cats\") • What \"human-grade\" actually means for pet food — and the sustainability trade-offs nobody talks about • Ingredient splitting: the regulatory hack that lets pet brands disguise what's actually in the bag • \"Wrestling in the mud\": a feedback culture where every hire is expected to disagree • Founders Pledge, and why committing 5% early changes the giving conversation later Big thanks to Matt for coming on the pod and sharing the playbook behind Smalls. ⏱️ Chapter Markers: 00:00 — Why cats keep getting overlooked 01:05 — What is Smalls? Cat-first brand, human-grade nutrition 02:09 — What \"human-grade\" actually means (and the sustainability trade-off) 04:26 — Health impact: allergies, ingredient splitting, and the regulatory hack 06:31 — Why Matt chose cats: the market psychology nobody's pricing in 07:20 — Why every VC and pet brand defaults to dogs first 09:21 — From growth marketing to founder: building demand in a commoditized stack 11:48 — Emerging channels worth watching (and why DTC is just a channel, not a model) 13:17 — AI-native orgs: how the team uses AI without becoming a tech company 16:01 — Human-supervised AI teams and what entry-level jobs look like now 17:26 — \"Wrestling in the mud\": the air-grievances feedback culture 19:39 — Founders Pledge: committing 5% early changes the whole conversation…","meta_description":"Cats are 40% of the pet market, but are somehow still chronically overlooked. Every innovation goes to dogs first. Even your vet's office is built for dog…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":1475,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/innovation-with-mark-peter-davis-1367720/episodes/overlooked-no-more-how-smalls-is-building-the-brand-cats-deserve/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/innovation-with-mark-peter-davis-1367720/overlooked-no-more-how-smalls-is-building-the-brand-cats-deserve.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}