I could not in my wildest dreams imagine navigating a startup through the valley of death during a global pandemic. Now I’ve been doing it for two years, with no end in sight. The COVID-19 pandemic feels like a time loop that keeps resetting itself every 3–4 months with a…

At first glance, business competitions are a huge validation for startups and their technologies. They create the appearance of objectivity by selecting the best startups out of a pool of 300 or more to compete. …

As a woman entrepreneur, I have fewer resources than many other entrepreneurs. I have to maximize the resources I have to effectively and efficiently bring the nematode pheromone technology to the market. That brings me to the business pitch competitions, the double edge-sword! Business competitions can provide unique benefits compared…

Dr. Marrone’s accomplishments have had an extraordinarily positive impact on the agriculture and food industry. Dr. Marrone started three successful, high-impact agricultural natural product companies (Novo Nordisk Entotech, Inc., AgraQuest, Inc., Marrone Bio Innovations, Inc.,) to bring sustainable, eco-friendly pest control to farmers. At AgraQuest, she developed eight products from…

At the Activate fellowship program, last week’s topic was the product-market fit and value proposition: How do we convince the VP to pay for our product? Among many amazing entrepreneurship programs at accelerators and business mentorship programs, none of them presented the value proposition the way the Activate fellowship program…

Reimagining regenerative agriculture. It was amazing to see how regenerative agriculture was practiced on a farm at the Bottens Family Farm, Moline, IL. The Bottens family has five generations of experience with all kinds of farming practices. They understand firsthand that soil health is important for improved crop yield. Monte…

Don’t say, “I’m going to double your yield” And other things I learned from a panel of large California growers. Another amazing THRIVE AG accelerator meeting: We met four large growers and listened to their unmet needs, how they find new technologies, and what not to say. Western Growers ran…

It’s incredible how much the insight from one hundred interviews can focus your market entry strategy and position your startup for success. Pheronym develops pheromone products from microscopic roundworms, nematodes to control agricultural pests. By controlling nematode behavior, we can control both pest nematodes and insects. …

The challenges, up and downs, surprising discoveries, and meeting amazing people on the way to completing 100 customer discovery interviews. Pheronym is developing pheromones from microscopic roundworms, nematodes, to control agricultural pests; nematodes, and insects. Our end users are growers, conventional and organic farmers. Our task was very simple: “Talk…