Paige Ellen wears many hats. And she always has: in college, she changed her major six different times. She always demonstrated a lot of energy, and she needed a job that could satisfy her curious and dedicated nature. Once she graduated, she made her impact in over a dozen unique positions. Throughout it all, though, she relied on her personal Polaris: she wanted to see the world and do impactful work with great people.

Her guiding principles led her to a new ecosystem, one where she could put her people skills, wanderlust, and curiosity to good use: the startup accelerator space.

Working in startup accelerators, Paige’s job was to support growth-driven companies through financing, education, and professional mentorship. She began working in the food industry, but it wouldn’t be long before she discovered Michelson Found Animals and their Leap Venture Studio.

In 2020, The Michelson Found Animals Foundation, Mars Petcare, and R/GA Ventures teamed up to create The Leap Venture Studio and Academy.

It was the first startup-centric accelerator focused on driving innovation in the growing pet care industry. In other words, Leap would be the first accelerator specifically designed to support pet care entrepreneurs looking to bring exciting new products and services to the market.

If you aren’t familiar, a “startup accelerator” is a program designed to offer funds, mentorship, courses, and community to a group of startup founders. Entrepreneurship can be very lonely, so accelerators aim to bring together a group of different startup founders, usually in the same niche or with the same investor(s), and offer them a fast-paced and intense program designed to help them build their businesses more quickly and effectively.

But accelerators need an enthusiastic and knowledgeable leader, someone who thrives on creativity, teamwork, and action. For Leap, Paige was the perfect fit.

As she learned about Leap, Paige was immediately intrigued by its collaborative spirit. Paige was curious to see how the partnership between Michelson, a non-profit, and Mars Petcare, a for-profit business, would function and lead to unique innovation opportunities. Needless to say, Paige had found her next adventure: becoming the Senior Program Manager of Leap Venture Studio and Academy.

From day one, Paige was thrown directly into the action. She joined just before the kickoff of Leap’s next Studio program when schedules were hectic and to-do lists unending. But Paige thrived under the change, meeting the new job’s pace effortlessly, even traveling to London to expand the reach of the accelerator in just her second week on the job.

Thanks to passionate leaders like Paige, The Leap Venture Studio has helped startup pet care companies raise a cumulative $200 million. The Studio’s portfolio boasts 45 companies spread across 15 countries.

There are two components that help Leap empower pet care entrepreneurs to achieve their goals: the Leap Venture Studio and Leap Venture Academy.

Leap Venture Studio is the organization’s flagship accelerator program. It’s a 12-week hybrid experience that provides companies with a $200k venture capital investment and direct access to guidance from Leap Studio partners. Participants also get to join a “cohort” of other founders and pet care industry experts where they can ask questions, get advice, and strengthen their skills.

After several months of preparation, the program culminates with a virtual Demo Day event, where cohort companies pitch to investors, industry leaders, and the startup community.

Paige explains that the program is designed for “pre-seed to seed-stage companies,” which are businesses that may be in the market and have some market learnings and traction but need to grow. Especially at this stage, the lessons and connections gained through the Studio program prove to be invaluable for founders.

Take Dog Child, a pet care startup that’s part of Leap’s expansive portfolio of companies, for example. Founder and CEO Nicole Marchand notes that the connections forged through Leap revolutionized her business, helping her establish a clear brand for her products and iron out behind-the-scenes challenges like supply chain issues.

But there’s another way entrepreneurs can engage with Leap’s services: the Leap Venture Academy, which is home to, as Paige explains, “all the other programs [we offer] that fuel innovation in our industry.” Those who join the Academy are invited to participate in a one-week fellowship program focused on education and guidance. Its programming also includes pitch competitions, showcases, and, of course, access to the growing community of pet care founders.

A key difference between the Academy and Studio is financing. Academy participants don’t receive a venture capital investment, which means the Academy is ideal for early-stage companies that aren’t quite ready to hit the market or think about growth. However, Academy participants do have the option to move on to the Studio program later on, an option many of the companies Paige works with take advantage of.

Paige notes that the Academy is great for early-stage entrepreneurs but also for underrepresented founders, including women and founders of color. The Academy helps connect these founders with the resources they may need to reach their goals now and down the line.

It’s clear that The Leap Venture Studio has a lot of moving pieces, especially considering its varied founders and stakeholders. But Paige notes that teamwork is at the heart of everything Leap does.

“I think the program works so well because – and this is the same reason why anything works well, at the end of the day – the team of people works really well together,” she says. What was initially curious to Paige – the fact that Mars, R/GA Ventures, and Michelson seemed like such different stakeholders on the surface – serves in practice to make the group stronger.

“Our biggest mission is to make a better world for pets and their people… as long as we’re aligned on that, then that’s the most important thing.”

And the founders participating in the cohorts also benefit from the diverse perspectives of founders.

“What I’ve really found in bringing the cohorts together is that we’re all teachers, and we’re all students,” says Paige. “We all have something to learn from each other.

Paige has found this message of unity in more places than one since joining the Leap team. What’s taught her more than anything is hands-on experience with startup entrepreneurs and leaders in the pet care industry. “We see founders experience high highs and low lows, and we’re there alongside them. But we also see a community of people who they can lean on and connect with, which is what I’m most inspired by seeing.”

Today, it’s only been a little over a year since Paige joined the MFA team. But she’s already helped spearhead some major achievements by absorbing the know-how of her accomplished colleagues and thinking outside the box.

Knowing Leap inside and out helps her identify opportunities to launch the program’s impact even further. Paige quickly learned that Leap’s people were its lifeblood. She began seeking ways to facilitate more connections between pet care entrepreneurs and industry leaders.

“When I first joined Leap,” Paige tells us, “one of my biggest questions was: have we ever invited or brought all our portfolio companies together in one place to do an event with everyone? And they hadn’t ever done that before. So that became one of my biggest goals; I wanted to make that happen.”

Last year, in June, Paige’s idea came to life. The Leap Venture Studio held its first alumni summit, welcoming cohort members new and returning to get together. The new summit aims to support those who have completed Leap’s programs and drive new opportunities for collaboration and growth.

Later on, in December, she attended a “Best in Show” pitch event at a pet care innovation summit in Los Angeles. As the winning pitches were announced, she quickly noticed that all four came from entrepreneurs who had gone through The Leap Venture Studio.

What struck Paige most was how much the pitches had evolved in the short time since she had last heard them. “We don’t take credit for that,” she says; the real champions are the startup founders. “But it’s incredible to be just a small part of it.”

It’s insights like these that keep the spring in Paige’s step and the spark plugs in her brain firing. The lessons Paige has already learned are reflected in the exciting new changes coming to the MFA cohort. Paige explains that the Leap team will be adding an “impact seat” to their programming – its goal is to celebrate companies that are doing meaningful work but might not be the best candidates for investments.

One company in particular – BestieBNB, which offers quick, safe locations for pets whose owners are in a crisis (visiting a domestic violence shelter, for instance) – inspired those at Leap to make the change. As Paige explains, “Some companies are doing such impactful work, but their business model isn’t necessarily venture capital-backable.” The impact seat aims to give these sorts of startups a voice and exposure to other founders, giving them the tools necessary to bring their services to an even wider audience.

The Leap Venture Studio wouldn’t be what it is without Paige’s leadership and undying passion. We’re grateful to Paige for all that she does for Leap. Her love for spearheading innovation in the pet care ecosystem keeps our mission alive and inspires founders from all walks of life to make their dreams a reality. Thank you, Paige, and we can’t wait to see what you do next!