Hardware Podcasts

Whisker/Litter-Robot: Brad Baxter

How I Built This · 5 May 2025 · 1h 04m

What this episode covers

Brad Baxter, founder of Whisker, explains how he transitioned from an automotive engineer at Ford to creating the Litter Robot, an automated, sifting-based litter box. He details the early struggles of hand-assembling units using vacuum molding, which resulted in negative unit economics, and his pivotal decision to retool the product for injection molding to achieve profitability. Baxter also describes scaling the business through direct-to-consumer sales, leveraging influencer marketing, and eventually securing $31 million in funding from Pandera Holdings to expand operations and product lines.

Most relevant to

founders before launch, early-stage companies and companies scaling up

Topics

Mentioned

Companies
Whisker, Ford, Pandera Holdings
Products
Litter Robot, Litter Maid
Also
Jacob Zapke

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