Underdogs: UT Alums Start Pet Food Company to Compete with the Giants

If we love our pets as we love ourselves, should we take care of them as we take care of ourselves, too?

Yes, say UT alum Brett Montana, BBA '82, and his friend Michael Landa, the founders of Austin-based natural pet food brand Nulo. They equate standard pet food to fatty fast food and sugar-loaded sweets.

“It’s like feeding a child four candy bars,” Landa says. “There’s an incredible energy response that leads to a crash.”

After spending a decade on the front lines of pet care, Landa should know. While managing their first company, a pet-sitting business called The Pet Staff, the pair became concerned about the number of animals requiring daily insulin shots. After speaking to veterinarians, pet rehabilitation centers, and nutritionists, it all boiled down to nutrition.

Given U.S. pet obesity rates—58 percent of cats and 45 percent of dogs—Landa and Montana felt they had to do something.

And so Nulo was born. Where “nutrition meets love,” Nulo offers a range of natural pet food, featuring fresh ingredients such as wild-caught salmon, free-range lamb, and whole blueberries, delivered directly to your doorstep. Landa spent two years with leading nutritionists to develop the product line, which was released August of last year.

After moving from L.A. to Central Texas, the pair, along with business development manager Bill Symon, BBA '99, began a guerilla marketing campaign to promote Nulo. In addition to handing out free samples at dog parks, Nulo sponsored local events like the Mighty Texas Dog Walk.

“Austin is an epicenter for the hip and active pet-loving community,” Symon says. “At the time, it was the third pet-friendliest city and also the top city for starting a business.”

The startup gained national attention in January. After being featured in OK Weekly magazine, Nulo and its founders were invited to participate in the celebrity gift lounge at the Golden Globes, handing out samples and full-size products to actors like Dennis Quaid. In addition to these noteworthy celebs, journalists from the New York Times, Entertainment Tonight and the L.A. Times covered the event.

Officials at Whole Foods Market read an article about Nulo in Austin Fit magazine and approached the company soon after.

“Putting Nulo into stores wasn’t even on our radar,” Symon says. “But Whole Foods was prepared to treat it as a perishable grocery item, so it was a perfect fit.”

Today Nulo is carried on the shelves of 27 stores Whole Foods stores throughout California, Nevada, and Hawaii, and 30 more are in the works. But the majority of the locations are still in the Lone Star State.

And according to Symon, Nulo owes a lot to Texas—especially the University.

“The marketing classes I was drawn to and excelled at were the ones taught by entrepreneurial professors, ones who owned businesses or were inventors out in the real working world,” Symon says of his McCombs School of Business coursework. “I graduated equipped with a lot of skills to start a business.”

Nulo entrepreneurs (from left) Brett Montana, Bill Symon, and Michael Landa. Photo by Kae Wang.