GREAT 38 IDEA: Seek Vendor Financing

Ivan, a white Samoyed with really, really bad breath, was the inspiration behind Greenies®, a dog chew that refreshes even the worst doggie breath.

It's a great story. Ivan's owner, Joe Roetheli, was working as a research manager for the U.S. Department of Agriculture when his wife, Judy, asked him to please do something to cure Ivan's stinky breath. Joe contacted researchers at the University of Missouri dental school, who were using dogs to test a variety of new dental products for humans. One researcher suggested Roetheli try a substance that he declined to identify. Amazingly, it worked.

The couple obtained the formula and started making Greenies. Judy would keep the dog treats in her pockets and give them away. They rented a booth at a local home show and left samples at pet stores. Believing they had a hit, they hired a salesperson, who brought in 150,000 orders in three days. That should have been good news, but the problem was, they had no equipment to fill the orders.

Roetheli frantically started calling injection mold manufacturing companies, desperately trying to buy a machine and a custom mold that would allow them to mass produce his invention. “The mold was going to cost $35,000,” he recalled. “I finally talked one guy into saying yes, he would make the mold for us. Then, I did it with 17 different companies.”

Roetheli promised to pay them for the machine when the checks cleared. “Most said yes just to get rid of me.”

At the beginning, the family would package the dog treats while watching television. “We paid our sons, Steffan and Michael, a few cents for each one they packaged,” said Roetheli.

By relying on a network of mold makers willing to make the molds and be paid after sales picked up, Roetheli was able to mass produce Greenies. It was such huge hit with dog owners, sales reached about $1 million a month. At that point, the company was finally able to obtain bank financing.

“It would have been so easy to give up, but persistence paid off,” said Roetheli.

By 2005, Greenies was ranked the eighth-largest pet treat company in the United States. In 2006, Roetheli sold Greenies to Mars for an undisclosed sum. He would only say it was “millions of dollars”—enough to open a variety of new businesses, including a day spa and resort, a printing company, and a café. He also supports a foundation that builds villages in South America.

His advice to anyone trying to manufacture a product with limited capital: “If you are passionate about it, keep going. Somebody will do it for you.”