needed to be watching. >> all that changed when he heard about colleen mccracken. it was 2013. >> i was itching for a smarter partner, and it still took years to find the right person. i like to say that colleen rescued our company. >> she'd been working as the ceo of another business, so she had the business chops. and not only that, she loved animals. >> i had worked with company founders in the past, and i learned very quickly what it's like to, you know, run a business with the founder very involved. >> alex and colleen agreed that she would come on board, but they made a very key decision. she was not brought in as the ceo right away. >> it was easier to formulate the beginning of the relationship in sort of a consultant-type manner, which gave us both an out if it wasn't working. >> alex knew that if he was going to truly hand over the reins, he had to feel comfortable with colleen first.