Team AutonomowAutonomous Agricultural Weeding

Presentation # 3Customer Hypothesis Testing

Confidential

Weekly Update• Focus on weeding (drop the mowing)

– Customer need is high, larger potential market, could make organic produce more affordable – can change the industry!

• Farm Visits– Bolthouse Farms, Industrial Carrots, Salinas Valley – REFCO Farms, med-large grower, Salinas Valley

• Interviews– Ag Services of Salinas, Fertilizer applicator– Heirloom Organics, small owner/operator, Santa Cruz Mts– Small Organic Corn/Soy grower in Nebraska– Maintenance Services for City of Los Altos– Colony Landscaping

• Market Research – 2008 Ag Census data– Initially targeting high-density crops (carrots, spring mix, etc)

• Target market smaller than first estimated– Weeding solution not limited to organic crops – investigating

applicability to conventional crops (20x acres)

“Spring mix – ya know, that crap you buy in the store that tastes like weeds” – Cliff, Farm Mgr

Autonomow has made a pivot …

Automatic Mowing• Mild customer interest –

buyers are operators• Product replaces 1 or 2

workers• Entrenched existing players

and distribution• Liability a big concern• “99% of engineering to

solve 1% of the problem.”– Sven Strohband

Automatic Weeding• Hair-on-fire need from

customers• Product replaces 10 to 150

workers• Relatively open distribution,

no single tractor vendor

Autonomow is no mo’ …

Visit Highlights

Above: Organic Carrots, 7wks. Top right: Conventional carrotsBottom Right: Very weedy. Will require multiple passes of hand weeding

Visit Highlights

Carrot vs. WeedsDue to small root systems, carrots have no chance against weeds

Visit Highlights

Organic Broccoli, closely cultivated. Weeds close to plants are hand-picked

Visit Highlights

State of the Art in Weeding Technology for Organic Crops

Customer Hypothesis

Hypothesis Confirmed• Growers interested in own equipment • Industrial (10,000s of acres) • Large (1,000s of acres)• Willing to pay $100k for one unit

• Smaller growers (100s of acres) usually subcontract the labor services or rent equipment

• All purchases through local dealers• Customer service is essential

Pre-Test

Post-Test

Customer Map #1 – Industrial Growers

Example: Bolthouse Farms – Large Industrial Carrot Producer – 8K acres/yr

• Equipment Operator

• Director, Ag Technology• Justin Grove, interviewed

• VP, Growing Operations

• CFO, CEO (Jeff Dunn)

• Local Farm Mgr• Cliff Kirkpatrick, visited

Equipment Operator

Cliff, Farm Mgr

Customer Map #2 – Service Providers

Example: Ag Services – Service Provider, Salinas Valley

• Equipment Operator

• Service Mgr

• ?? (service mgr’s boss)

Me (left), Marty (middle, Service Mgr), Doug (right, Grower)

• Grower

What Resonates With Customers?

• ROI– Trade-off between cost and effectiveness– Preferred time to recoup depends on the person

• Customer Service– Must be local, attentive, and fast – solution within

hours– Don’t like working directly with manufacturers

• KISS!– Equipment must be very easy to setup and operate– Some operators have 6th grade education

BACKUP SLIDES

Market Differentiation

• Market Research (2008 Ag Census data)– Initially targeting high-density, organic crops

• carrots, baby lettuce (spring mix), spinach

• Not limited to organic crop – conventional crops do require manual weeding– Lower savings per acre (1/5-1/2) but many more acres (x20).

• High-density crops are most difficult – Highest need– Successful technology can be expanded to mostly any other row crop

• Researching use in grains – acres nearly double all other crops combined.