Editor’s Note: Venture School is gearing up for its next cohorts. The Mason City program kicks off Sept. 4, while all other cohorts begin the week of Oct. 6. For details on locations, schedules, and how to get involved, visit the Venture School website.
 

A love of tea and cats led Sadie Sell and Nicholas Terbovic to the University of Iowa’s Venture School.

Though neither of them is a businessperson at their core, they had an idea and enrolled in the Spring 2025 Iowa City/Cedar Rapids Venture School cohort after hearing two people praise the benefits of the program.

“Venture School challenges you to think about things you might not otherwise think about,” Sadie said. “Nick and I have never been business owners, so there are a lot of things we didn’t know about starting our own business. Venture School challenged us to think about those things.”

After Sadie pitched her business idea for Mabel &Pearl Tea Co. during Venture School’s final pitches on April 22, the business was awarded second prize and $1,500 in seed funding.

“It was a good experience, and I highly recommend it to anyone considering a startup or even current business owners,” Sadie said. “I have several friends who own their own businesses, and I think [Venture School] is something that could bring them a lot of good insight.”

Mabel & Pearl Tea Co. is a tea-focused business that combines wellness, sustainability, and a passion for animal care. Their ultimate goal is to bring all these elements together to create a unique and meaningful café experience. The heart of the business is its commitment to pure teas made with clean ingredients—free from chemicals, radiation treatments, and microplastics. The company aims to educate customers on how fun and approachable brewing loose-leaf tea can be, offering tools and guidance along the way.

A distinctive feature of the business is its cat café, where adoptable cats—cared for through a partnership with the Cedar Valley Humane Society—live in a specially designed “cat bay” separated by HVAC systems for safety and comfort. Sadie and her team draw on their background in animal care to ensure high standards. Inspired by visits to similar concepts in cities like Kansas City and Denver, they recognize both the unique opportunity the emotional and therapeutic value of the human/animal bond.

Mabel &Pearl Tea Co. is working to expand into wholesale, actively building partnerships with like-minded local businesses. The overall mission is to offer a place where people can relax, connect with animals, and enjoy high-quality, responsibly sourced tea.

Searching for their customer base was Sadie’s most important takeaway from Venture School—and after seven weeks, that quest still is not completely clear. 

“I’m working on it,” Sadie said. “They want you to hone in on age group, an income type, narrowing down your customers, like,  ‘35-year-old woman who makes $40,000 a year,’ and this was difficult. With tea, it is even more challenging because you have 80-year-old women who grew up drinking tea their whole lives, then you have 25-year-old women who are more health conscious and staying away from massive amounts of caffeine. There is a huge age range there. For us, it was more difficult because doing our customer interviews, we found there is a wide range of people that enjoy tea.”

Another benefit of Venture School is that the coaches and mentors who worked with Sadie and Nicholas don’t disappear when the cohort ends.

“I will be utilizing [the Venture School mentors],” Sadie said. “They all have different valuable experiences and perspectives, and we will absolutely look to them as we move forward.”

After completing Venture School, the team behind Mabel & Pearl Tea Company is taking a strategic approach to their next steps. They are choosing to grow gradually rather than take on large financial risks. Their goal is to build the business sustainably, ensuring they have the foundation to thrive long-term without the fear of having to close if things don’t go exactly as planned.