michelle arnau & mimikai — Кассета

In this episode of Read Receipt, Sean sits down with Michelle Arnau, co-founder and co-CEO of Mimikai , the first plant-based insect repellent proven to match DEET and Picaridin without the toxic chemistry. Michelle traces an unlikely path to founder: Wells Fargo commercial real estate workouts, a Kellogg MBA, twelve years at Method scaling it from unprofitable startup to an SC Johnson acquisition, then co-founding the clean pet care brand Rowan before winding it down. When a college friend introduced her to Stephanie Watson, who had spent years fighting the EPA to register undecanone, a compound from wild tomato plants and the first new repellent active in twenty-five years, she got on a plane to Australia the next week. She gets into the launch strategy behind a category-first product: why they led with Credo and REI before chasing mass shelf space, how they used velocity and repeat over door count, why she turned down a major retailer this year, and what it looks like to build with investors who back the long game over short-term revenue. Tune in for an honest look at building a regulatory moat, knowing a category cold before entering it, and what it takes to finally change an aisle your dad used as a kid!