Building a $100M Business Means Eating Glass

Growth Mavericks Podcast — Russell Breuer, Founder of Spot & TangoWhat does it take to go from cooking dog food in a 700-square-foot apartment to building a nine-figure business—and survive the chaos that comes with growing that fast?In this re-release of the Growth Mavericks Podcast, Adam Callinan sits down with Russell Breuer, founder of Spot & Tango, to discuss the realities of building and scaling one of the fastest-growing direct-to-consumer pet health companies in the country.Russell shares how Spot & Tango began as a side hustle while he was still working full-time in private equity. He and his wife cooked and packaged the first orders themselves, found their first customer literally next door, and eventually moved production into a commercial kitchen as demand grew. Behind the early traction, however, were 4 a.m. mornings, nights and weekends, losing money, and the relentless persistence Russell describes as “eating glass every day.”The conversation then turns to the moment everything changed. After launching UnKibble in 2020, an order Russell expected to last three or four months sold out in just four days. Spot & Tango went from roughly $1 million to $40 million in a matter of months, forcing the team to solve an entirely new problem: how do you operationalize explosive growth without breaking the company?Russell explains why the company eventually made the contrarian decision to bring manufacturing in-house, investing in its own factory and roughly $30 million of capital equipment. The move was enormously difficult, but it ultimately transformed the economics of the business, expanded contribution margin by more than 30 points, and helped propel Spot & Tango into nine-figure revenue.Beyond the numbers, Russell and Adam dig into the emotional reality of entrepreneurship: operating in constant ambiguity, dealing with failure nobody sees, knowing when to take risk, protecting your physical and mental performance, and building a community of founders you can turn to when you don’t have the answer.Whether you’re trying to find product-market fit, navigating hypergrowth, improving the economics of an existing company, or simply figuring out how to keep going when entrepreneurship feels like eating glass, this episode delivers practical lessons on risk, resilience, operations, profitability, and building through uncertainty.Key TakeawaysHow Russell and his wife started Spot & Tango from a 700-square-foot NYC apartment.Why Spot & Tango’s first customer was literally the neighbor next door.What the “eating glass” phase of entrepreneurship actually looks like.Going from side hustle to a $1 million revenue run rate within a year of Russell going full-time.How customer feedback led to the creation of UnKibble.What happened when three to four months of inventory sold out in four days.How Spot & Tango went from roughly $1 million to $40 million in a matter of months.Why hypergrowth creates enormous operational problems behind the exciting headlines.The decision to stop relying on co-manufacturers and build a dedicated factory.How vertical integration helped unlock more than 30 points of contribution margin.Why contribution margin, CAC, LTV, and payback periods are critical to sustainable DTC growth.The danger of pursuing revenue without understanding whether the business actually makes money.Why founders need to become comfortable operating in ambiguity.How fitness, sleep, family, and time outside help Russell handle the pressure of entrepreneurship.Why a trusted community of founders can dramatically accelerate learning.Chapters00:00 Introduction02:01 Russell’s background: Cleveland, London, private equity, and New York04:19 Where the idea for Spot & Tango came from06:50 Building the business in a 700-square-foot apartment07:17 Finding the first customer next door08:21 Why entrepreneurship is like “eating glass”09:30 The emotional reality of operating in ambiguity12:12 Why extraordinary outcomes require risk13:11 Moving production into a commercial kitchen16:00 The “dark times” of building a side hustle16:55 Quitting private equity and going all-in18:19 Reaching a $1 million revenue run rate19:25 The problem that led to UnKibble20:47 Selling out in four days21:05 Going from $1M to $40M in months21:25 The operational chaos of hypergrowth22:09 Deciding to build a factory23:57 Manufacturing as a competitive moat25:05 Letting customer feedback drive product development27:15 Raising capital to support growth28:15 Unlocking 30+ points of contribution margin29:41 Gross margin vs. contribution margin30:45 Measuring marketing through CAC, LTV, and payback33:10 Retention an