Companies · VP of Growth, current
A Pup Above
Justin Winter is VP of Growth at A Pup Above, the Austin-based brand that pioneered sous-vide cooking for dogs — human-grade fresh food, made in USDA human-grade kitchens, distributed nationally at retail.
- Founded
- 2018 · Austin
- Category
- Human-grade fresh
- Distribution
- National retail
The company
A Pup Above launched in May 2018 as Grocery Pup, founded by Ruth and Javier Marriott and inspired by their Pomsky, Lola Marie. The company rebranded to A Pup Above in late 2020. Its recipes are slow-cooked sous-vide — vacuum-sealed and cooked at precise temperature — which preserves more flavor, nutrients, and protein than conventional processing. Everything is made with whole, human-grade ingredients in USDA human-grade kitchens, and the brand is now carried nationally at retail alongside its DTC business at apupabove.com.
Justin’s role
As VP of Growth, Justin leads digital commerce, full-funnel DTC growth, Amazon, and subscription strategy — the demand side of a brand that lives in both grocery aisles and doorstep boxes. The work draws on the full playbook history: bootstrapped DTC economics from Diamond Candles, retention and support operations from Boostopia, and retail-media GTM from Swiftly.
Why pet food
Premium pet is one of the few consumer categories where product quality, subscription economics, and omnichannel distribution all compound — the same forces Justin writes about in The Compositor. A Pup Above sits at that intersection: a differentiated product with genuine moat (sous-vide, human-grade) scaling across every channel where dog people shop.