Ep202 – Josh Ball (Co-founder – Farmers Pick) on using tech to save 7 million kg of food waste

The Startup Playbook PodcastInsights and lessons from the world's best entrepreneurs and investors Twitter Facebook YouTube Instagram Ep202 – Josh Ball (Co-founder – Farmers Pick) on using tech to save 7 million kg of food waste December 19, 2024 rohitbhargava Uncategorized My guest for Ep202 of The Startup Playbook Podcast was the Co-founder of Farmers Pick, Josh Ball. Farmers Pick helps save food waste by rescuing wonky food that is often discarded by supermarkets and making it available to order by consumers. Since launching in 2020, they have saved 7 million kilograms of produce and the company now has 120 employees and generated $16M in revenue last year.  In this interview we covered a range of topics including: The importance of having a strong mission and values to help guide strategic business decisions balancing frugality with 100% YoY growth Why they decided to go down the equity crowdfunding path rather than raising from traditional VC funds Scaling storytelling to both their staff and to their customers And much more! Timestamps: 1:45 Josh’s background 7:12 The origin story of Farmers Pick 12:29 How he validated the initial idea 18:27 The operational complexities of growing a physical goods business 27:52 Finding the balance between focussing on new customers vs expansion of existing customers 29:50 Using social media to grow the brand 31:05 The decision to crowdfund vs raise venture capital 35:29 Negotiation advice 37:41 Making sure the vision/mission stays consistent across whole company as you grow 42:43 Thinking about expansion 48:04 How his role has evolved as the business has grown 54:00 Staying out of the weeds and making strategic decisions 55:40 What’s next for Farmers Pick Our partners: A big thank you to our partners for the show: Scendar  Scendar is the OG startup accounting firm in Australia catering to all stages of your business’ life. If you’re busy running your startup, you don’t have time to do your own books and forecast. Instead, fully outsource your finance function, giving you time and resources back to focus on what you do best in growing your business. Find out more at Scendar.com Vanta Vanta helps businesses get — and stay — compliant by automating up to 90% of the work for the most in-demand compliance frameworks. And with over 300 integrations, you can easily monitor and secure the tools your business relies on.Join over six thousand fast-growing companies that use Vanta to manage risk and prove security in real time.Startup Playbook Podcast listeners get access to an exclusive offer of USD$1000 off their plans. Head over to vanta.com/playbook to get access to this exclusive discount. Links mentioned: Josh’s links: Josh’s LinkedIn Farmers Pick People mentioned: Joshua Brooks-Duncan Simon Griffiths Adrian Osman Companies mentioned: PromisePay Xero Misfits Market Who Gives A Crap MILKRUN Playbook Ventures me&u Feedback/connect/say hello: [email protected]@RohitBhargava7 (Twitter)/rohbhargava (LinkedIn)@rohit_bhargava (Instagram)My Youtube Channel Credits: Music: Paycheck Other channels: Find all of the links for the podcast on Linktree here https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/startupplaybook/Ep202_-_Josh_Ball.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | Download | EmbedSubscribe: RSS admin January 1, 2014 Reply Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat admin January 1, 2014 Reply Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat admin January 1, 2014 Reply Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. 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