This Wasn’t in the Pitch Deck: My Real Startup Origin Story
From the Unleashing Snout Series: The glamorized startup version? This isn’t that.
What’s it really like to build a PetTech startup from scratch?
The long nights, the little wins that feel huge, the unexpected hurdles, and the moments that make it all worth it—we’re pulling back the curtain to share it all.
Hi, I’m Emma Suarez-Berumen, founder of Snout, a PetTech startup on a mission to make dog training smarter, more accessible, and rooted in real-life moments between dogs and their humans. At Snout, we’re building a milestone-based training platform that blends science-backed techniques with adaptive technology—so pet parents can train with clarity, confidence, and compassion.
Our vision is bold but simple: to help every dog owner build a stronger bond with their pup using better tools, better guidance, and better outcomes.
In our new blog series, Unleashing Snout, I’ll be sharing the behind-the-scenes journey of starting this company—from the messy beginnings to the aha moments. Whether you’re a fellow founder, a dog lover, or just curious about what it takes to start something new—we’re so glad you’re here.
Let’s get into it.
Completely different from where we ended up. Like… not-even-in-the-same-park different.
When I started the Founder Institute accelerator, I was terrified — excited, sure, but mostly out of my mind with nerves. The program was structured around weekly sprints: onboarding, idea validation, customer discovery, defining your ICP, iterating, pitching — all in four intense months. You had three weeks to drop out and get a full refund. After that, it was full steam ahead.
Oh — and to graduate? You had to pitch your startup to a panel of investors and receive a score of 4 or higher out of 5.
Pardon my French, but… shit.
When I first applied, it wasn’t even with Snout. It was a completely different company — the one I ultimately walked away from. After having that tough conversation with the investor and deciding to let it go, I immediately reached out to Founder Institute. I told them:
“I have a new idea. It’s personal, it’s real, and I think it matters.”
That idea?
A smart dog app that learns your lifestyle and recommends dog breeds that are the best fit for you—including matches from local shelters. You’ll also find real reviews from dog owners sharing their personal experiences with each breed.
To my surprise (and relief), they gave me the green light.
And just like that, I was officially in the program — this time, with Snout.
I didn’t know exactly what it would become, but I knew this: it came from something real. Something I had lived. And that was already more powerful than anything I’d built before.
From the very beginning, this accelerator didn’t ease us in — it slammed the gas pedal straight to the floor.
Every Wednesday evening, our cohort of 32 founders would meet. And let me tell you — I quickly realized I was swimming in deep waters. These weren’t just dreamers with napkin sketches. These were serious people. One was the Chief Operating Officer of a mid-sized company. Another, a doctor with a plan to revolutionize healthcare. A few had PhDs and decades of experience.
And then… there were a handful of us on the other end of the pool.
Bright-eyed, idealistic, still figuring it out.
I was definitely one of them.
To say I was intimidated would be an understatement.
My mentor team was stacked: three experienced investors — one with multiple exits, one deep in the healthcare space, and another who’d been on the funding side of dozens of startups. These weren’t people who sugar-coated things. They were here to push us.
The first three weeks were critical — the drop-out period where you could still get a full refund. During that time, we had to craft and deliver a solid 1-minute elevator pitch — something that could grab a potential investor’s attention before the elevator doors opened again.
And every single week, we got grilled.
The scores were brutal. The highest anyone got was a 2 — and that was considered a win. (Keep in mind, the top score was 5.)
Me?
All I had was an idea. No business. No team. No traction.
Just this vision of a smarter dog training experience and a whole lot of blind faith.
Others had revenue. Existing users. Live products.
Meanwhile, I was being asked questions I couldn’t yet answer:
“So how does it work?”
“What’s the backend infrastructure?”
“What’s the customer journey?”
And I was sitting there thinking: Buddy, I just figured out what my startup is called.
But here’s the thing: I didn’t fold.
I did what I’ve always done — improvised.
Thanks to a lifetime of fast thinking (shoutout to strict parents who prepared me to make stuff up on the fly), I managed to speak with just enough confidence to keep going. I may not have had all the answers, but I had heart. And I had an idea I believed in.
And that, somehow, was enough to keep me in the game.
By the end of week three, the reality hit hard. Out of the 32 founders who started the program, 15 had dropped.
Only 17 of us were left standing.
Those first three weeks felt like four months compressed into a pressure cooker. And the wild part? We hadn’t even gotten to the good stuff yet.
I knew this wasn’t going to be easy — they made very sure we all understood that from day one. But what I hadn’t expected was just how much I needed the structure, the challenge, and, honestly, the support. The program didn’t just hand us feedback and walk away. They gave us the right readings, the right frameworks, and the right mentors to help us take the next step — no matter how messy our starting point was.
For the first time in a long time, I didn’t feel alone in the chaos.
I felt like, maybe, I could actually do this.
“This is going to be fun,” I remember thinking.
You know… in that ‘why do I do this to myself?’ kind of way.
But I was in. Fully.
And the real work was just beginning.
In the coming weeks, I’ll dive into the nitty-gritty details—what it was really like going through accelerators, the countless pivots we made, the doors that slammed in our face… and the few that finally opened. It’s been a ride, and I can’t wait to share the highs, lows, and lessons learned along the way.
We will post once a month about the state of our start-up and how it grows.
You can check our previous blog about who inspired me to create our PetTech start-up, Snout.
Let me know if you want to know more about any story!
Perk up your ears for our next blogs:
On August - When we were Sniffing Out the Problem” - Our research, insights, and ICP Interviews
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