AMA: Denise Saber, founder of Percuro

Brits love their pets. There's no doubt about it. But did you know that cats and dogs consume a whopping 20% of the world's meat and fish?

Percuro, founded by Denise Saber, produces healthy and sustainable pet food with the aim to reduce our pets' carbon pawprints.

Hi Denise, tell us a bit about your company.

Percuro is mission-driven with strong guiding principles created by our team, for our team and all counter-parties that Percuro works with. We set ourselves the challenge to create next-generation pet food for conscious pet parents with an innovative and sustainable protein source - insects.   

How did the idea for your Percuro come about?

From a desire to bring honest, clean food to the pet food market. The kind that pets would thrive on. Anti-inflammatory and light on natural resources (land/energy/water) to prevent collateral damage to the planet.

Can you share any practical tips or processes to help people work remotely?

Focus. Encourage constant open dialogue and get the best tech you can afford. And work with counterparties who share your culture and vision.

How do you keep your team aligned?

Our guiding principles.

What is the biggest mistake you've made as an entrepreneur?

Underestimating the complexity of setting up a business; the time it takes and the drain on cash resources. Start-up enterprises always need more funding than anticipated! 

Do you have a share or option scheme in place for your team? What impact has it made?

Yes, we do. It's too early to say, but we expect that it will act as a meaningful performance driver both for the team and Percuro.

Fantastic. Did you ever experience a business disappointment that led to something better?

All business builds are around successes and failures.  We learn from our failures which make us stronger, more robust and better business leaders.

Very true. Give us an interesting fact about yourself that the business community doesn’t know.

I grew up wanting to be a vet!

Who would play you in a film of your life?

Emily Blunt.

And finally Denise, what does company culture mean to you?

Everything from behaviours to ethics to all that which is embedded into the broad sustainability agenda around ESG (environment, social and governance).

Thanks so much for your time Denise.