SaaS Interviews with CEOs, Startups, Founders 645: WeFarm Helps 140k Off-Grid Farmers Learn Faster, $1.7M Raised, 90% Still Active After 3 Months with CEO Kenny Ewan
Apr 30, 2017
15:34
Kenny Ewan. He is in charge of the overall strategic direction for WeFarm where he oversees the day-to-day activities of the business. After graduating, he spent 7 years in Peru running an international NGO, specializing in work with indigenous communities. Kenny played the lead role in developing WeFarm, before launching it as a startup in 2015.
Famous Five:
- Favorite Book? – Chaos Monkeys
- What CEO do you follow? – Elon Musk
- Favorite online tool? — Slack
- Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— 6
- If you could let your 20-year old self, know one thing, what would it be? – "I'm happy to let him make mistakes"
Time Stamped Show Notes:
- 01:18 – Nathan introduces Kenny to the show
- 01:49 – WeFarm is a growth focus model
- 02:29 – WeFarm offers their services to farmers
- 02:37 – WeFarm leads farmers to the sellers and WeFarm will take a small transaction commission
- 03:00 – WeFarm offers information in the space
- 03:08 – A farmer in Kenya who has no internet access can ask WeFarm a question, through SMS, for free
- 03:30 – 10-15 people in WeFarm's network will try to answer the question
- 03:45 – The people who answer want to share their knowledge about farming
- 04:12 – WeFarm has generated revenue, but they're still on pre-profit
- 04:20 – WeFarm just closed a seed round for $1.7M
- 04:27 – WeFarm started as an Impact project for Google and they won
- 04:36 – They used the prize as capital
- 04:42 – The prize was £500K
- 05:04 – Team size is 20 and is still growing; they're around the globe
- 05:41 – WeFarm uses radio to connect with more farmers
- 05:51 – WeFarm partnered with radio stations and invited farmers on
- 06:00 – 4-5K people were joining WeFarm in just an hour
- 06:12 – WeFarm also partners with businesses where farmers buy
- 06:45 – WeFarm currently has 140K farmers on their platform
- 06:55 – WeFarm measures activity by the number of users who actively contribute every month
- 07:55 – WeFarm is also available online
- 08:15 – WeFarm has a super active marketplace
- 08:32 – WeFarm doesn't incentivize people who answer inquiries, just like Quora
- 08:50 – WeFarm's roadmap this year
- 09:00 – WeFarm has 20 people
- 09:30 – WeFarm already has a couple of commercial contacts with a major retailer in UK
- 09:48 – "We have validated our revenue sources"
- 10:00 – 2017 target revenue is around $50K
- 11:30 – The Famous Five
3 Key Points:
- A business does NOT always have to be revenue focused; helping people can be a goal in and of itself.
- We have a responsibility to help guide those who need it and access those who still do not have the internet.
- Don't be afraid to make mistakes, but be sure to learn from them.
Resources Mentioned:
- The Top Inbox – The site Nathan uses to schedule emails to be sent later, set reminders in inbox, track opens, and follow-up with email sequences
- Organifi – The juice was Nathan's life saver during his trip in Southeast Asia
- Klipfolio – Track your business performance across all departments for FREE
- Acuity Scheduling – Nathan uses Acuity to schedule his podcast interviews and appointments
- Host Gator– The site Nathan uses to buy his domain names and hosting for the cheapest price possible
- Audible– Nathan uses Audible when he's driving from Austin to San Antonio (1.5-hour drive) to listen to audio books
- Freshbooks – Nathan doesn't waste time so he uses Freshbooks to send out invoices and collect his money. Get your free month NOW
- Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives