Written by Jack Shaffer
If you had told Jacob Zuppke a decade ago that he’d be leading the world’s top pet tech company and fielding Reddit comments under the handle CatPoopMan, he probably would’ve squinted at you over a Google Analytics dashboard and laughed. But that’s exactly where he landed.
Today, Jacob is the President and CEO of Whisker, the pet tech company behind Litter-Robot. Since he joined Whisker in 2015, 15 years after the initial company founding, the team has grown from 25 people to over 650 employees, including 100+ engineers. He has also helped sell over a million units, expand into retail, launch new products across food, water, and waste, and turn a niche product, the self-cleaning litter box, into a category-defining consumer tech company and brand.
It didn’t happen overnight, but it also didn’t take forever.
From consultant to CEO
Jacob originally joined Whisker in 2015 as a marketing consultant, right before the launch of Litter-Robot 3, when the company was still branded as Automated Pet Care Products Inc. (AutoPets). After co-founding two startup companies that were eventually acquired, he was looking to go deep with one brand instead of juggling multiple clients. The fit was immediate. By early 2017, he became VP of Marketing & Business Development. Over the next few years, he took on more: Executive Vice President, then COO, then President, and finally President and CEO in January 2022 after Brad Baxter’s transition to Chairman and Chief Inventor.
And yes, it’s been a wild ride, but Jacob didn’t “disrupt” the company overnight. He rebuilt it piece by piece.
The first step: Improve the foundation
Jacob began by overhauling the website, then turned to optimizing digital ads. From there, he began experimenting with “social celebrities” (the pre-influencer term we all pretend we didn’t use). In late 2015, Whisker launched a 25-day Christmas campaign where one Litter-Robot was given to a new influencer and someone in their audience each day leading up to Christmas. The results? Website traffic multiplied 10x, revenue hit a new milestone, and the company was never the same. Jacob’s “aha” moment wasn’t just about sales, it was about potential.
Litter boxes that go viral
By 2017, AutoPets launched its first TV commercial showcasing the iconic Litter-Robot self-cleaning litter box.
In 2019, the company released a video influenced by Squatty Potty/Poo~Pourri, a cheeky, polarizing ad that made people feel something. Some people loved it, some hated it, but Jacob was fine with both. His goal? “After watching this, you should never want to buy a regular litter box again.” It worked.
In 2020, AutoPets doubled in size. Stimulus money and pandemic lockdowns helped, sure, but Jacob and the team had been accelerating before it all. COVID was just wind in the company’s sails.
A new identity for a new era
In 2021, the company rebranded from AutoPets to Whisker, which helped recruit top-tier talent and expand brand vision. “Litter-Robot is a product that solves a problem,” Jacob says. “But Whisker is a company that solves problems for pet parents.” That shift in positioning helped fuel Whisker’s evolution into a true pet tech platform.
In the same year, the team grew from 100 to 200 employees. A year later, Whisker launched the next iteration of the automatic litter box: Litter-Robot 4, a significant leap forward in design, firmware, and manufacturing capability. This also forced the team to adapt quickly: building out a 250,000 sq. ft. facility in Juneau, Wisconsin, forecasting production at scale, and rolling out monthly software updates based on user feedback. The result? The best-rated self-cleaning litter box on the market and an average 4.8/5 star reviews for the Whisker app.
Jacob’s leadership style is rooted in iteration, listening, and clarity. He keeps his email public, receives about 10 direct messages from customers a day, and responds to all of them personally. If 3 out of the 10 emails are people complaining about the same thing? It gets fixed. Fast.
This hands-on approach accelerates problem-solving at Whisker and sets the tone for a culture that values transparency, responsiveness, and customer loyalty.
How Jacob helped build a culture (and ecosystem) that scales
Whisker’s story isn’t just one of tech innovation; it’s one of strategic scaling. Jacob has helped the company:
- Keep 19 straight years of profitability
- Maintain a 25-year streak without layoffs
- Build a 4.8-star rated app with over 100,000 reviews
- Grow from 25 to 650+ employees (since Jacob’s arrival), including 100+ engineers
- Lean into omnichannel retail (partnering with Best Buy, PetSmart, and Chewy) while maintaining control of customer experience
And those partnerships with the Detroit Lions, Tigers, and Red Wings? They weren’t just about brand visibility. They were strategic moves to recruit top talent, because who wouldn’t want to work somewhere associated with Detroit’s biggest teams?
How Jacob leads and lives
Jacob is a night owl, doing his best thinking late at night, researching ways to get a step ahead in the marketing world. Weekdays are spent in the office, unlocking his team’s potential.
Jacob’s belief in smart pet care became personal when one of his cats developed a UTI, and Litter-Robot helped him catch it early. That experience reinforced his commitment to building products that make a real difference in pets’ lives. At home, Jacob shares his life with his wife, two daughters, and their pack: two Siberian cats, Lexie and Phoebe, and a Yellow Lab named Emma. While weekends are reserved for family time, Jacob remains available if his team needs him, and they respect that boundary, knowing how much he values being present with his loved ones.
What’s next?
Whisker’s long-term goal isn’t just to make the best litter box (though we already did that). It’s to reshape pet care across food, water, and waste, creating a seamless, connected experience that empowers pet parents, saves time, and offers peace of mind. That means developing smarter products, expanding integrations, and providing more ways for pet parents to understand their pets at home, especially cats.
Jacob’s vision is to rethink the future of pet care by creating a tight, beautiful, intuitive ecosystem. One where everything just works and works for you and your pets.
Final thoughts
From co-founding an agency to running a company that changes how people care for their pets, Jacob Zuppke has done more than climb the ladder; he rebuilt it. The cat + poop industry might sound weird to some, but for Jacob, it’s the perfect arena for creativity, innovation, and genuine connection with customers.
And if you ever want to talk to him about it? Just head to Reddit. @CatPoopMan is probably already there.
