Ganesh Kishore with Big Picture Thoughts on What it Takes to Build a Successful Ag or Food Tech Business

Nobody ever said Agri-FoodTech would be easy. For every headline-grabbing, seven-figure deal, there are scads of ag and food tech startups struggling to gain traction and wondering where and why their big idea fizzled.

So, what is the secret sauce to winning in Agri-FoodTech? With just this question, I reached out to Agri-FoodTech advisor Ganesh Kishore, one of my “Leaders on a Mission” podcast interviewees. An investor, advisor and thought leader, Kishore is like a kid in a candy store when it comes to talking about ag and food technology.

“Agriculture is one of the oldest and largest business sectors on a global basis. It takes advantage of sunlight and greenhouse gases in making food, feed, fiber and fuel. And it is a driver of a new carbon economy that helps us decarbonize our atmosphere and add carbon and other nutrients to the soil and revitalize our entire ecosystem,” Kishore says. “From a human need’s perspective, we may be able to live without clothes or live underground; But, we cannot, of course, live without food and water. We are on to greater frontiers making food and nutrition systems more nurturing, not only for human beings but also for our ecosystems and the planet.”

Kishore is a co-founder and managing partner of Spruce Capital Partners, a venture capital firm advising, mentoring and investing in agriculture, food, nutrition and life sciences startups. They’ve supported some big winners, including Pivot Bio, Provivi, Inscripta and Greenlight Biosciences while continuing to nurture other companies with extraordinary potential.

Kishore came up in the infancy of the ag and food tech revolution. As one of the key leaders of Monsanto’s overall biotech efforts, especially in agriculture, he was part of the Monsanto team that bought Roundup Ready® technology to market and developed processes for commercial production of aspartame, the active ingredient of NUTRASWEET. Kishore has been through the drill of not just developing technology but bringing it to market.

“Creating and capturing value are both a must for any successful enterprise – big or small,” he says.

So, what does it take then to bring an Agri-FoodTech idea to fruition? Well, Kishore has plenty to say on the subject!

1)   Create Human Relationships for Long-Term Success

“You know, I’m not a believer that as one person, I can fundamentally change the planet. The manner in which we accomplish fundamental and foundational changes is by working together,” Kishore says.

That philosophy is why he is personally committed to participating in as many different ways as possible to help and assist others in Agri-FoodTech. Honoring human relationships is integral to startup success and part of the culture and commitment to the fundamental change that inspires the Agri-FoodTech sector.

For CEOs, this means not just surrounding yourself with a team that can run with your vision but challenge your viewpoints and help create better outcomes. In the process you are building relationships that endure even if the employer-to-employee status does not.

“Recognize that it is not a straight line between the current state and the future,” Kishore advises. “You may not get to the proof of concept. You may fail in scale up or securing the resources required. Regulatory processes may take longer or there could be intellectual property disputes. Team members may get lured away by other companies. So, nothing is guaranteed. But if you have built solid relationships, it will not only ensure that you get all the help you need now but in future also.”

Yes, startup CEOs have to be both “empathetic and brutal,” Kishore says. They have to be willing to surround themselves with people who challenge their best ideas. But CEOs will, at times, have to make tough and even unpopular decisions for the sake of the business or enterprise.

Do so in an empathetic way, Kishore advises, so future relationships are not destroyed, and the integrity and ‘human’ part of business relationships survive intact.

2)   See the Opportunities in Change

The world is not static. Needs, priorities, and resources are changing. Successful entrepreneurs recognize this and capture the opportunities that come with change, Kishore says.

“What used to be abundant today may no longer be abundant tomorrow,” he says.

Thinking about our changing resources and priorities is where startups can identify opportunities for their innovations. And they have the unique ability to identify and target problems big companies cannot. Or will not. Curiosity is a key component of this process and coupled with imagination and the passion to deliver solutions, ag and foodtech entrepreneurs can define the key elements of a new enterprise or a new program in established enterprises.

“If you’re a big company and you’re delivering a product such as a carbonated beverage and making money in doing so, you may not see any problem. But an entrepreneur may recognize where the pain points are in making or drinking that carbonated beverage,” Kishore says.

For instance, the product may have too much sugar for diabetics. Or, the production process and  supply chain may waste energy and non-renewable resources, like water.

For big companies, these problems may be written off as the cost of doing business. But small companies that solve these issues with innovation can “change the name of the game,” Kishore says.

3)   Communication Must be On Point

Do not underestimate the need for effective communication about your technology, Kishore says.

“If you are unable to communicate the benefits of what you’re bringing, and the risks of what you’re doing, and also risks of not doing what you’re proposing, I think you’re missing the boat,” Kishore says, pointing to what happened with Covid vaccines and a still high public distrust of the RNA-technology that enabled the quick production of vaccines.

Agriculture, the scientific discipline of biology, and natural systems are complicated, making communication about new ag and food tech particularly challenging.

Make sure you can communicate about your startup in a “way that is wholesome and stands the test of time – where you are actually telling the truth and not disregarding reality,” Kishore says.

4)   Pursuing Big Ideas Through Bite-Size Chunks

Your “big idea” should always be the fundamental driving force of your startup innovation. But look to reduce that concept into “bite-size chunks” to reach your goal, Kishore says.

“It’s like climbing the ladder, right?” Kishore says. “Nobody takes that giant step from zero to thirty-five feet. You have to reduce it to one-foot, two-foot and three-foot steps. You may want to take those smaller steps faster but big ideas take time to develop and implement.”

Innovation has to create value for the investors, customers and public at large and startups must have a path toward reliably providing goods and services in a reasonable time frame. Can you build decent value and decent returns on investment in six to eight years while continuing to pursue your ultimate goal? Kishore asks.

For instance, during the development of Roundup Ready technology, the Monsanto team focused on addressing specific pain points in weed control. But while their new weed control technology captured value and generated returns to shareholders, killing weeds was just a step towards the “big idea” they were trying to achieve, Kishore says.

Their ultimate goal was to give farmers a tool enabling growing practices that would prevent soil erosion, encourage soil health, and prevent the downstream pollution of rivers, lakes and oceans perpetuated by intensive tillage practices – aka “no-till.”

“We started building carbon. We started building topsoil. We paved the way for a reduction in the farmer’s footprint. We never monetized (Roundup Ready) that way. But it created a collateral benefit that was a driving force,” Kish says.

So, what do you think of Kishore’s advice? Is your Agri-FoodTech startup winning in these areas? Or did these thoughts inspire a bit of fine-tuning? At CS Partners, we’re always interested in hearing the real-world ins and outs of what it takes to start, scale and commercialize ag and food tech innovation.

My communication line is always open. Email me at S.Leich@cs-partners.net and let us talk about your Agri-FoodTech startup!