Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey in agriculture but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Skip Cusack, Chief Technology Officer of AGXactly Crop Insights, located in Marina, CA, USA.

What's your business, and who are your customers?

AGXactly is an agricultural informatics company that uses drones, remote sensing, and AI to help specialty-crop farmers (broccoli, cauliflower, lettuce, etc.) increase the volume of food in the global supply chain by maximizing harvest yields while consuming minimal resources.

Tell us about yourself

I’ve been building imaging and AI systems for a long time, often for specialized and autonomous applications. Applying that experience to help farmers gives me a very keen sense of purpose because the global population is aggressively growing. By 2050 we will need to produce 60% more food to feed 9 billion people, which puts a likely untenable strain on our finite natural resources. Technology that predicts and improves the dynamics of crop growth can help produce more food while consuming less water, fertilizer, and pesticide.

What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?

AGXactly is the first company to offer quantified crop yield prediction throughout the entire growth cycle of specialty crops. This foresight is invaluable for farming operations. For example, accurate crop yield predictions can assist farmers in fulfilling sales commitments. AGXactly can do this because we’re vertically integrated. We fly our own drones equipped with the latest sensors, monitor multi-spectral satellite data, and use AI technology to translate the data into panoramic insights and reliable predictions.

What's one of the hardest things that come with being a business owner?

One challenge is developing the ability to contemplate and analyze product and customer opportunities at 30,000 feet and then let go of the big picture and swoop down to the proverbial weeds to build up enough detail for technical and commercial validation. It’s tough at first to quickly switch between wide and narrow perspectives, but with practice, it can become perfectly natural, and in fleeting moments of entrepreneurial grace, you may see them both together simultaneously.

What are the top tips you'd give to anyone looking to start, run and grow a business today?

  1. It’s all about the team. No one person is better than a good team, and a team of dedicated people who trust each other is capable of anything.
  2. Validate your product idea as quickly as possible. Fail fast on the way. Listen intently to what your customers want, then exceed the customers’ expectations without exceeding their bandwidth.
  3. IP is fundamental to valuation. Make sure somebody on your team grasps how to identify and build world-class IP and then aggressively start to carve out your space with patents and trademarks.

Is there anything else you'd like to share?

Be the leader you want to follow. Startups are hyper-condensed and intense environments, so keep things positive and remember to have fun.

Where can people find you and your business?

Website: https://www.agxactly.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AgXactly
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/agxactly/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/agxactly/

If you like what you've read here and have your own story as a solopreneur that you'd like to share, then email community@subkit.com; we'd love to feature your journey on these pages.

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