StartUs Presents: Agrivi

Describe Agrivi in 50 or less words.

Agrivi is a global agtech company that builds cloud-based farm management solutions to empower all-scale crop producers to reach sustainable and resource-efficient production. Agrivi’s farm management solutions are trusted by over 10,000 crop producers from 150 countries, sized from micro producers that cultivate 0.1 hectare to large crop enterprises that cultivate over 20,000 hectares.

Why did you decide to pursue your own dreams rather than someone else’s?

The answer is simple – it makes me happy. Also, I believed that there are simply too many things to be solved in agriculture and that too few people have decided to put their efforts in solving them.

In 7 years from now: How did your startup change the world?

By helping over a million farmers to increase their productivity in the next 7 years, we will make a positive impact on over one billion people. There are many side effects in solving a huge global problem like the food problem – from improving the food security, increasing sustainability, making people know what they eat and many more.

In what ways do you measure your success and how do you make sure you don’t lose track?

Our key measures are more customers and their satisfaction. If both are positive and increasing, we are on the right track towards our vision.

Describe your typical working day from coming to the office to leaving it.

Usually, I come to the office at 7am when nobody else is at the office to prepare myself and focus. Part of my day is always focused on business development activities and other part is usually focused on collaboration with other team members to help them reach the maximum result of their activities and get things done. I go out of the office at 5-6pm and during the evening usually I work on tasks that require a calm atmosphere.

Already pivoted? Did customers use the Agrivi like you imagined it in the beginning?

Actually, we did not pivot. Customers like what we do and since we have launched Agrivi as MVP 2 years ago, our entire roadmap was strongly driven by customer feedback which we use for prioritizing the feature release and focusing on those features our customers want the most.

Bootstrapped or financed: What fuels your startup now and what will in the future?

Our project is backed by investors who believe in what we do. The goal is to be completely fueled only by customers, but at the stage where we are strongly expanding, we take our fuel from investors as well.

With ferocious competition and a booming trend to build new companies: How do you make sure you don’t get lost in the shuffle?

Three things are key for this: extremely clear vision, top class people in the team and customers in the first place.

What do you look for in team members?

They have to believe in our vision, be very ambitions, self-driven and believe that anything is possible if you decide to do it. We have no tolerance in recruiting, we hire only the best people.

Why would a talent join your team?

If a talent wants to participate in solving one of the greatest global problems and work on it together with a fantastic, talented team, this is usually completely enough for most people that joined us. Plus, we offer a great working environment and other benefits.

What was your most memorable moment so far?

Winning the first prize on the World Startup Competition that was held in 2014 in Seoul, Korea. We won the 1st prize among startups from 46 countries as the startup with highest possible global impact. That was an incredible moment for the entire team and myself personally.

What advice would you give fellow founders for their startup?

To believe strongly in their vision, to put customers in the first place, to be ready for a daily fails and to learn from them. And never give up.

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