Bere Giannini: A Unique Founder’s Journey to Success

Berenice (“Bere”) Giannini is not a typical venture-backed founder: she’s a Latina solo entrepreneur who launched her first venture-funded company, eTailPet, after a 20-year-long career outside the tech ecosystem.

Bere Giannini founded eTailPet after more than 20 years entirely outside of tech.

Meeting a Visionary Founder

eTailPet is an easy-to-use, customizable e-commerce platform that empowers independent pet stores to compete with major online retailers and big-box pet stores — this solves a key problem for its customers.

So, in early 2018, when a confident and intelligent woman marched into my office to tell me about the intricacies of the pet supply industry, I had a lot of questions. But as is often the case, visionary entrepreneurs recognize great opportunity where others do not.

I quickly realized that eTailPet and Bere possessed the “ingredients” for success: a large, growing market; a solution addressing a critical pain point for thousands of customers; scalable technology with potential applicability to related markets like veterinary clinics, dog walkers, and groomers.

Most importantly, Bere herself was an extraordinary leader. She cared about her customers and her team, she planned strategically but showed detailed tactical knowledge, and she was committed to flawless execution. She presented her business with persuasion and passion — and the fact that she had read my book ahead of the meeting didn’t hurt either.

Investing in eTailPet

After an impressive pitch, we conducted thorough due diligence and gained confidence in Bere’s assumptions. We decided to invest in eTailPet and I joined the board to support the company’s growth. Bere had in-depth knowledge of the pet retail business, having built a chain of 14 pet stores over four years as an owner-operator.

At the time, more than 10,000 independent stores across the US struggled to incorporate online sales into their businesses. eTailPet solved this issue by offering an e-commerce platform with a shared inventory list, enabling retailers to easily tailor their storefronts and drive traffic to their websites. This approach even allowed retailers without specific items in their physical inventory to make over 30,000 products available to customers through eTailPet’s software.

Capitalizing on Omnichannel Sales

Bere’s deep understanding of her customers helped her identify a unique advantage: although the convenience of online ordering is compelling, “pet parents” value the in-person shopping experience. eTailPet leveraged an omnichannel sales approach to combine the best of both worlds, helping independent pet store owners incorporate buy online/pick up in store solutions. The integration of digital and physical shopping experiences proved successful, with COVID-19 lockdowns accelerating the company’s growth. Demand grew so quickly we assigned one of our associates to help Bere scale rapidly to fulfill the rising demand for curbside pickup.

eTailPet continued to grow beyond the crisis and achieved a successful exit in summer of 2022.

A Rewarding Collaboration

Over my 20 years of investing, I’ve served as a board member and advisor to numerous companies. Working with passionate founders is the most rewarding part of the job, and supporting Bere was no exception. Bere was tenacious and I knew from our first meeting that there was no “give up” in her. Despite many unforeseeable challenges, Bere epitomized the word “grit” and overcame them all.

I invited her to share her story on our Moonshots Capital blog.

You’ve had a very long and successful career in executive roles. What made you decide to start your own company?

It was the right next step for me and my family. Truth is, I wasn’t one of those 20-year-olds thinking that I’d like to start a company one day. Although, don’t get me wrong, entrepreneurship runs in my blood. I come from a long line of successful entrepreneurs. I know what it takes and the sacrifices that must be made. I have also seen the benefits not just monetarily but the personally gratifying benefits from enabling other people’s careers and livelihoods to helping your community and customers with a real solution. If I had to describe my career or competency in a nutshell, it was always about finance and operations. Looking back, it’s not surprising to me that that is exactly what eTailPet offered its customers. I think that’s what made the move so natural for me.

Before starting eTailPet, you owned a chain of 14 retail pet stores. How does owning a conventional retail business differ from running a venture-backed software startup?

The navy blue poofy vests. Kidding aside, the independent pet retail space had been very fortunate up until the mid-2010s before chewy.com showed up. Traditional pet retail has enjoyed tremendous success for many reasons but primarily because of the inelastic nature of the demand and its recession-proof qualities. Working in retail was fun but I quickly understood that things needed to change from an operations standpoint and given my professional background, building software to modernize pet retail operations was the next big thing. The LA tech ecosystem was in my backyard and very encouraging. Being part of a revolution, the SaaS revolution in my industry was fast-paced and exciting.

You entered the startup world as a non-traditional founder: Latina, a woman, and without a strong background in tech. How do you think your background shaped your journey as a tech entrepreneur?

I’ve always been one of those people that truly believes in the saying, “you can do anything you put your mind to.” Early in my career I got a lot of experience in analytics and data modeling at scale, followed by CPG operations and finance, and finally retail before software. Being the face of the company made me uncomfortable. Selling made me uncomfortable. That said, something else I really believe in is that you don’t grow unless you get out of your comfort zone. Having done my undergraduate degree in France and being raised in Mexico helped me connect with our offshore engineering team who were a critical piece of our success. In short, I think drive, discipline, perseverance and having to feed five kids ultimately made success the only path.

What is the biggest lesson you have learned from your eTailPet journey?

The importance of customers. The importance of being connected with your customers. How important it is to stay close to the frontlines. Internally, you and your team may think that you are building the best solution, that you know best. If people don’t need it, want it, or aren’t willing to pay for it, then your efforts are meaningless. It might sound obvious to so many, but the importance of customers for a business wasn’t as obvious to me before eTailPet.

Advice for anyone following in your footsteps?

Only you know what you are capable of accomplishing. Listen to people. Take their advice. Ultimately, however, it is your journey. Pave your own way. Break the mold. Be present and enjoy it in whatever form that takes for you.

Moonshots Capital is a veteran-founded venture capital firm that invests in early-stage startups with extraordinary leaders.
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