In this episode of The Growth Class, host Phil Masiello interviews Marissa Gurdian, founder of Sweet Paws. They explore how identifying everyday friction points in pet ownership can lead to scalable product innovation, and how Marissa built Sweet Paws by focusing on both functional and emotional needs of pet parents. The conversation highlights how solving small, overlooked problems—like puppy teething or opening dog waste bags—can evolve into differentiated products with strong consumer demand, as well as how tapping into emotional drivers led to the creation of a greeting card line designed specifically for pet parents. Marissa also shares insights on expanding from a single product into major retail channels, emphasizing the importance of persistence, product-market fit, and understanding the deeper motivations behind consumer behavior. Sweet Paws website: https://sweetpawspup.comThere are a lot of  "experts" out there giving advice who’ve never built a thing. They’ve never stayed up all night sweating a product launch. Never had to scale a team. Never had to meet payroll.They’re just regurgitating what they read in someone else’s book.That’s not me. I’ve built brands. I’ve scaled them. I’ve exited them. I’ve failed, won, and fought through it all.And now, my team and I help brands do it every single day — across eCommerce, retail, and digital. We don’t just advise — we execute. We write the playbook.So if you’re done with fluff, fake gurus, and marketers who’ve never sold anything outside of a slide deck — you’re in the right place.This show is real strategies, real tactics, and real talk.https://www.facebook.com/philmasiellohttps://www.instagram.com/philmasiello/https://www.tiktok.com/@philmasiellohttps://www.linkedin.com/in/phil-masiello/https://www.youtube.com/@philmasiello#StartupGrowth #EcommerceTips #ScaleYourBrand #DTCMarketing #PhilMasiello #GrowthClass #BrandStrategy #MarketingPodcast #CrunchGrowth #StartupTips #BusinessGrowth