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We asked our Class of 2023 40 Under 40 honorees to write a word or phrase on a chalkboard about their mission and purpose. See what they wrote in the photo above and read more about what drives them below. Click here to read about other 40 Under 40 honorees.
Garrett Wymore
Co-founder and CEO, Petaluma
Age: 32
Hometown: Torrance
Residence: Oakland
Education: B.A., economics and neuroscience, from Dartmouth College
What does your company do? I co-founded Petaluma, a dog nutrition company that strives to make products that are better for dogs, the planet, and the other beings on it. The pet food industry has traditionally relied on factory-farmed animal protein and continues to drive more demand for animal-derived products with massive resource requirements and unacceptable animal welfare burdens. We removed animals from the dog food supply chain and create science-backed, veterinarian-formulated diets that offer complete and balanced nutrition with a dramatically smaller environmental footprint.
What cause are you most passionate about? I'm passionate about food —both what we eat and how we grow it. Agriculture involves a unique combination of personal choice, government policy, entrepreneurship, technology, environmental conditions, and welfare considerations for both humans and animals. While growing food isn't the technology we are usually famous for, California's food and agricultural systems may be our most impactful export. We must be able to produce affordable, plentiful, and healthy food in perpetuity, which will require addressing agriculture's current problems with climate, animals and farm workers. I've been inspired to see all of the resources and people that have shifted towards sustainable food systems and hope to play a part in a complex and increasingly political issue.
How would you describe your purpose or mission? Compassion for animals. Dogs are easy to love and empathize with as they've co-evolved to be our emotional companions. Caring for our dogs does not require the needless suffering of other animals that don't enjoy the same status. Pets currently account for over 20% of U.S. meat consumption, and we started Petaluma to reduce demand for factory-farmed animals and replace them with nutritious plant-based alternatives. Dog food presents a big opportunity to impact agricultural systems because a single product is responsible for nearly all of a dog's calories — not just an occasional meal substitute — and can be carefully designed to provide balanced nutrition with more environmentally sustainable ingredients. We are determined to provide dog owners with choices that don't require them to sacrifice compassion for quality.
What is your favorite time of day? I cook dinner four or five nights a week and am happy to be able to spend a lot of time doing it. Spending the evening cooking an elaborate meal for no real reason provides me with a sense of accomplishment and completion that I often can't get with the long-running projects of an early-stage company.
What person, experience or thing has had the biggest impact on your life, and why? Likely moving to San Francisco out of college. We are products of the culture around us, and the Bay Area has clearly influenced how I think about the world. As a risk-averse person, I'm not sure I would have started a company without the entrepreneurial energy that the Bay Area is famous for. Witnessing the fall of many of the Bay Area's entrepreneurial stars over the last decade has also impacted our approach to Petaluma, and particularly the responsibility to grow sustainably and be accountable for the downstream consequences of decisions. The Bay Area continues to have a unique set of ingredients critical for growing new ideas.
What's your favorite Bay Area restaurant and what are you ordering? I'm currently obsessed with Rico Rico Vegano — a new entirely plant-based Mexican restaurant by Lake Merritt in Oakland. Their carne asada and camarones burritos have filled the hole left by the Mission taquerias that were a favorite as a formerly meat-eating San Francisco resident.
What are you most proud of? I'm still proud every time I see a bag of our food sent out to a customer. The time between leaving my full-time job and bringing our first product to market seemed to move at 0.5x speed. Having a tangible, consumable product (rather than some of the software I've worked on in the past) has its major operational challenges, but I've found it extremely rewarding to be able to see, touch, and taste something we built from an idea. I founded Petaluma with my now-wife, which I think makes it even more personal than a typical founder feels about their company.
What's your guilty pleasure? Like many others, I re-discovered “Survivor” in 2020 and have the curse of 40+ seasons to work through in the archive. While I try to be introspective and realistic, I can't shake the feeling that I'd be an unbelievable castaway and Jeff Probst would be my friend.
Who was the coolest person in the world when you were teenager? I was a big fan of Arnold Schwarzenegger as a kid growing up in Los Angeles and an aspiring teenage gym rat. While I grew out of those interests — and enthusiasm for celebrities holding political office — I have been happy to see Arnold evolve from his Hummer-driving days and advocate for environmental conservation, plant-based nutrition, and animal welfare. His social media posts still put a smile on my face as they frequently include his pet miniature donkeys being praised and groomed in his living room.
First job with a paycheck? I believe it was an all-cash situation, but my first paid summer job was clearing brush for fire clearance in Los Angeles. I was somewhat relieved when the city started using goats that truly had a passion for their work. That brief stint of manual labor in California heat still sparks massive respect for the millions of California farmworkers that put their body on the line every day with far too little pay and legal protection.
What's one common misconception about your work you wish people understood better? Dogs are omnivores that evolved to scavenge human food scraps, which often consisted of grains and other plants. Dog food marketing has conditioned people to believe dogs are wolves and need a meat-heavy, wolf-like diet to thrive. While dogs and wolves share a common ancestor, dogs' digestive systems and dietary requirements diverged over tens of thousands of years to take advantage of our scraps, including genetic adaptations for carbohydrate digestion. We understandably receive a lot of skepticism (and sometimes aggression) as providers of a plant-based dog diet. We appreciate opportunities to demonstrate how it is possible to provide top-notch nutrition without animal ingredients and add to the growing evidence base around healthy plant-based canine diets.
What's the most surprising thing about you? I'm not sure it's surprising, but my friends do seem thrown off that my new favorite conversation topic is my backyard chickens. I picked up two dog crates worth of rescue hens from Marin Humane and am now a proud hen dad. We're thankful for Oakland's permissive hen-keeping laws that keep a supply of truly free-range eggs flowing to our neighbors and provide a window into chickens' unique personalities.
