WEBVTT - Sowing Seeds for the Future: Sabanto 0:00:09.390 --> 0:00:12.550 Iowa the land of fields, whether it's fields full of corn 0:00:12.560 --> 0:00:16.309 or fields full of baseball dreams and those fields, they're 0:00:16.319 --> 0:00:19.790 often full of tractors. The site is so common. Most 0:00:19.799 --> 0:00:21.389 people don't even notice them 0:00:22.069 --> 0:00:25.099 until they notice that they're driving with no one at 0:00:25.110 --> 0:00:26.120 the steering wheel. 0:00:27.819 --> 0:00:29.920 Sheriff's office. Can I help you? I just saw something 0:00:29.930 --> 0:00:34.750 a little strange. A tractor out in the cornfield that 0:00:34.759 --> 0:00:37.240 was driving along by itself. 0:00:38.840 --> 0:00:41.380 There was nobody on the tractor but it was moving. 0:00:41.979 --> 0:00:44.990 Could you actually tell there was nobody in it? Yeah, 0:00:45.000 --> 0:00:46.989 because it's an open cab tractor. 0:00:48.270 --> 0:00:51.229 It was, there was no one on the seat. I 0:00:51.240 --> 0:00:53.159 just felt like I should probably let somebody know. I 0:00:53.168 --> 0:00:55.009 don't know if someone can go out there and just 0:00:55.069 --> 0:01:01.000 check the seat. Ok. We'll have somebody check it out. Ok, 0:01:01.009 --> 0:01:02.250 thank you. All right, thanks. 0:01:03.770 --> 0:01:06.080 That's just one of many times that Craig Rupp had 0:01:06.089 --> 0:01:09.449 911 called on him and not because he's going around 0:01:09.459 --> 0:01:13.400 pushing people out of tractors, but because his company Sabato 0:01:13.430 --> 0:01:16.360 is changing the way America farms forever. 0:01:17.339 --> 0:01:21.000 I knew agriculture. I knew machines. I wanted to disrupt 0:01:21.010 --> 0:01:24.019 the industry. I want to send a message that autonomy 0:01:24.029 --> 0:01:27.730 is coming in agriculture. That's why I think the next 0:01:27.739 --> 0:01:30.680 generation tractors are already sitting in your machine shed. 0:01:37.680 --> 0:01:41.269 Welcome to The Unshakeables from Chase For Business and Ruby 0:01:41.279 --> 0:01:46.000 Studio from iHeartMedia. I'm Ben Walter CEO of Chase for Business, 0:01:46.430 --> 0:01:50.489 on The Unshakeables We're sharing the daring moments of small business owners 0:01:50.500 --> 0:01:53.580 facing their crisis points and telling the stories of how 0:01:53.589 --> 0:01:56.610 they got through it. If you're new to the show. Welcome, 0:01:57.040 --> 0:02:00.989 if you've been listening, welcome back over the next few weeks, 0:02:01.050 --> 0:02:04.540 we'll be highlighting exceptional small businesses from across the country. 0:02:04.900 --> 0:02:07.800 We'll also be hearing from experts in those markets who 0:02:07.809 --> 0:02:10.399 can tell us what the business and communities supporting them 0:02:10.410 --> 0:02:13.788 mean for America. But this week, we're firmly in the 0:02:13.800 --> 0:02:16.889 Hawkeye State and we have two great guests joining us today, 0:02:17.380 --> 0:02:19.720 Brian Lamb and Sachin Sehgal. 0:02:21.990 --> 0:02:25.168 You know, the more we learned about Sabanto and Craig's business, 0:02:25.460 --> 0:02:27.910 the more it made sense to have those intimately familiar 0:02:27.919 --> 0:02:30.350 with the local market. Come on and chat with us. 0:02:30.679 --> 0:02:34.250 Sachin is the founder of elevate digital marketing, an agency 0:02:34.258 --> 0:02:38.250 based in Des Moines, Iowa Satin. Welcome to the unshakeable. 0:02:38.258 --> 0:02:40.270 Thank you very much, Ben. It's great to meet you. 0:02:40.669 --> 0:02:43.380 So I really love Iowa. I grew up here. I 0:02:43.389 --> 0:02:46.509 have a small business here and I really love it 0:02:46.520 --> 0:02:48.009 as a place for innovation. 0:02:48.339 --> 0:02:50.520 I know most people picture the coasts when they think 0:02:50.529 --> 0:02:53.250 about A I and tech, but there's so much happening 0:02:53.258 --> 0:02:56.399 in the Midwest that I'm excited to show off. All right, 0:02:56.410 --> 0:03:00.199 let's get into the show. This is Sabanto Agriculture from 0:03:00.210 --> 0:03:01.199 Ames Iowa. 0:03:05.419 --> 0:03:07.710 I was fortunate enough to spend some time in Iowa 0:03:07.720 --> 0:03:10.479 this summer. What really stood out to me is just 0:03:10.490 --> 0:03:14.079 how much Iowans love Iowa. I talked to some terrific 0:03:14.089 --> 0:03:17.059 people and it's amazing how people all over Iowa seem 0:03:17.070 --> 0:03:21.600 to have this real emotional and almost physical connection to agriculture. It, 0:03:21.610 --> 0:03:23.880 it's just a way of life in Iowa. So as 0:03:23.889 --> 0:03:26.160 soon as I met Craig, there was one question I 0:03:26.169 --> 0:03:27.678 had to ask immediately. 0:03:28.529 --> 0:03:31.289 Craig, I believe you grew up on a farm. Is 0:03:31.300 --> 0:03:34.579 that right? I most certainly did. I grew up on 0:03:34.589 --> 0:03:38.460 a farm in northwest Iowa. A little town called Cherokee. 0:03:38.470 --> 0:03:42.960 It's about 5000 people now and it was corn, soybeans, 0:03:42.970 --> 0:03:45.669 hogs and cattle. What was that like growing up in 0:03:45.679 --> 0:03:47.110 an agricultural community? 0:03:50.380 --> 0:03:53.789 You know, it, it felt normal while I was there. 0:03:53.929 --> 0:03:56.630 I guess that's what you knew. Right. That was your life. Yeah. Yeah. 0:03:56.639 --> 0:03:59.690 And everyone I knew had something to do with farming 0:03:59.990 --> 0:04:03.059 chores in the morning chores in the afternoon when you 0:04:03.070 --> 0:04:05.529 got home from school, you know, you had to feed 0:04:05.539 --> 0:04:07.919 the cattle, feed the hogs, you know, I just assumed 0:04:07.929 --> 0:04:12.169 that this was a part of growing up outside working. 0:04:12.360 --> 0:04:14.649 So when you were growing up in this rural community 0:04:14.660 --> 0:04:15.440 on a farm, 0:04:15.839 --> 0:04:18.640 did you imagine someday you would own a business No, I, I, 0:04:18.649 --> 0:04:22.099 it was never really a plan for me. I never 0:04:22.109 --> 0:04:25.458 would have imagined that I would ever start a company. 0:04:25.890 --> 0:04:28.190 The little town I grew up in, had a radio 0:04:28.200 --> 0:04:32.118 shack and then by God they had books and you 0:04:32.130 --> 0:04:34.980 could learn about electronics. It was like the internet for 0:04:34.988 --> 0:04:36.970 me back in the early eighties, 0:04:39.928 --> 0:04:43.850 1984 when I graduated high school and went to college 0:04:43.859 --> 0:04:47.190 to become an electrical engineer. I, I was convinced that 0:04:47.200 --> 0:04:49.409 was the last time I would ever set my foot 0:04:49.420 --> 0:04:50.428 on a farm again. 0:04:51.890 --> 0:04:55.000 Craig followed that engineering track working at Motorola in the 0:04:55.010 --> 0:04:58.890 nineties where he did hardware development for mobile phones. Around 0:04:58.899 --> 0:05:04.118 1995 Craig and some fellow Motorolans saw an opportunity, mobile 0:05:04.130 --> 0:05:07.980 and cellular devices were taking off. We had decided that 0:05:07.988 --> 0:05:10.959 we're going to start a consulting company we would meet 0:05:10.970 --> 0:05:14.779 in the mornings at a local restaurant and then we 0:05:14.790 --> 0:05:17.390 kind of did the old pinky promise that if we 0:05:17.399 --> 0:05:19.880 could get $30,000 in contracts, then 0:05:20.220 --> 0:05:22.519 that would hold us out to the end of the year. 0:05:22.529 --> 0:05:26.359 And it turns out about two weeks later, we had 0:05:26.369 --> 0:05:30.799 $30,000 in contracts. So we gave her two weeks notice 0:05:30.809 --> 0:05:34.479 and went out and started what was called Alliance Technologies Group. 0:05:35.299 --> 0:05:40.260 Craig kept chasing his curiosity working at John Deere apple, blackberry, 0:05:40.269 --> 0:05:44.320 Nokia Samsung, and a few other household names. And while 0:05:44.329 --> 0:05:47.440 he never imagined he'd be an entrepreneur once he started 0:05:47.450 --> 0:05:51.630 Alliance Technologies Group. He couldn't stop you. You have started 0:05:51.640 --> 0:05:54.959 how many companies? Uh This is my sixth. 0:05:55.619 --> 0:05:58.779 So the fifth company he started was called 640 Labs. 0:05:59.019 --> 0:06:01.808 It combined his work at John Deere on internal cab 0:06:01.820 --> 0:06:05.140 displays with his work on the Apple ipads cloud data 0:06:05.149 --> 0:06:06.049 storage system. 0:06:07.049 --> 0:06:10.290 My brother still farms. I was at his farm. I 0:06:10.299 --> 0:06:12.660 was sitting in one of his tractors that he just 0:06:12.670 --> 0:06:16.549 bought and I saw this little port, all the engine 0:06:16.559 --> 0:06:19.988 data is on this port. And then my friend and I, 0:06:20.000 --> 0:06:23.500 we started this company and the whole idea was we're 0:06:23.510 --> 0:06:26.178 going to take data off of that port or off 0:06:26.190 --> 0:06:31.200 of these vehicles. Agriculture data into the ipad, ipad up 0:06:31.209 --> 0:06:34.420 into the cloud. So it was a very inexpensive way 0:06:34.428 --> 0:06:35.660 of collecting data. 0:06:36.130 --> 0:06:39.779 18 months later, we got acquired by Monsanto 0:06:40.850 --> 0:06:44.329 at Monsanto. He was back in regular conversation with farmers. 0:06:45.329 --> 0:06:48.489 I had a unique skill set. I knew farmers, I knew, 0:06:48.500 --> 0:06:51.190 you know, what made them tick. I can talk with 0:06:51.200 --> 0:06:56.859 them about planting corn soybeans. And you know, I'd always 0:06:56.869 --> 0:06:59.859 ask the question, what keeps you up at night? And 0:06:59.869 --> 0:07:02.320 it was always labor. You know, it was the cost 0:07:02.329 --> 0:07:04.229 of labor. It was the lack of labor. 0:07:05.238 --> 0:07:08.260 The availability of farm labor has changed over the years. 0:07:08.450 --> 0:07:11.880 The average age of the American farmer is 59 and 0:07:11.890 --> 0:07:14.320 farm families are much smaller than they used to be. 0:07:15.339 --> 0:07:21.670 I have 57 1st cousins and both my parents had 0:07:21.679 --> 0:07:26.200 double digit brothers and sisters and all of them had 0:07:26.209 --> 0:07:30.279 a lot of Children and now just you have four kids. Now, 0:07:30.290 --> 0:07:34.299 that's a big family. I thought, you know, autonomy is 0:07:34.309 --> 0:07:35.320 the answer for it. 0:07:38.940 --> 0:07:40.570 Ok. So this is where I want to bring Sachin 0:07:40.730 --> 0:07:43.450 back in- Sachin, You've lived in Iowa your entire adult 0:07:43.459 --> 0:07:46.160 life and it seems like you have no plans to leave. So, 0:07:46.170 --> 0:07:48.480 what did you think about Craig's departure? He said he 0:07:48.489 --> 0:07:51.519 never wanted to step foot on a farm again. You know, 0:07:51.529 --> 0:07:54.679 it's interesting. I bet many people had the same ideas, Craig, 0:07:54.839 --> 0:07:56.950 but there's a lot of people moving back to the 0:07:56.959 --> 0:07:59.880 area post COVID because they kind of realized that Des 0:07:59.890 --> 0:08:02.209 Moines has quite a bit to offer in terms of 0:08:02.220 --> 0:08:06.339 innovation and entrepreneurship. So it's kind of nice to see 0:08:06.350 --> 0:08:07.839 a boom coming back in. 0:08:08.299 --> 0:08:10.250 We've heard from Craig about the path he took and 0:08:10.260 --> 0:08:12.600 his background leading him to a place like Sabanto. But 0:08:12.609 --> 0:08:14.480 what's striking to me is that this is a guy 0:08:14.489 --> 0:08:16.149 who said he never wanted to be back in Iowa, 0:08:16.160 --> 0:08:18.339 never be back on a farm. And now he's created 0:08:18.350 --> 0:08:21.079 an agriculture company and is farming full time. I mean, 0:08:21.089 --> 0:08:21.920 what do you make of that? 0:08:22.399 --> 0:08:24.809 You know, we've seen a lot of companies in Iowa 0:08:24.820 --> 0:08:27.660 and Des Moines specifically come out of the agricultural space 0:08:27.869 --> 0:08:30.850 and a lot of companies providing new innovative solutions to 0:08:30.859 --> 0:08:35.590 older problems. We've seen recycling companies doing things like plastic recycling. 0:08:35.599 --> 0:08:40.468 We've seen fertilization companies with different types of fertilization techniques 0:08:40.479 --> 0:08:44.299 and planters with different planting companies. So Craig is really 0:08:44.309 --> 0:08:47.809 pioneering his way in that field on the agricultural side 0:08:47.820 --> 0:08:50.339 of things, using A I and automation to bridge that 0:08:50.349 --> 0:08:51.659 manual to tech divide, 0:08:52.289 --> 0:08:54.750 you know, so much evidence of innovation in that sector. So, 0:08:54.760 --> 0:08:56.479 but I do want to talk about A I for 0:08:56.489 --> 0:08:58.349 a second because it's everywhere you can't pick up the 0:08:58.359 --> 0:09:01.489 paper without reading about it. Assuming you actually pick up 0:09:01.500 --> 0:09:03.988 a paper anymore. But that's a different issue and it's changing, 0:09:04.000 --> 0:09:05.820 people are talking about it, changing the way we all 0:09:05.830 --> 0:09:08.299 do business. So do you use A I in your work? 0:09:08.739 --> 0:09:11.000 We use A I all the time, we use multiple 0:09:11.010 --> 0:09:13.689 different tools. It's kind of a, a common theme that 0:09:13.700 --> 0:09:15.979 we're seeing with a lot of businesses actually using A 0:09:15.989 --> 0:09:19.250 I in different ways to, to bridge that gap between 0:09:19.260 --> 0:09:22.189 maybe manual processes that they've been doing in the past 0:09:22.349 --> 0:09:26.530 and completely digitally native processes that they're moving in towards. 0:09:26.619 --> 0:09:29.909 Even if that's just an email follow up automation when 0:09:29.919 --> 0:09:32.719 a client checks out or just finding A I chat 0:09:32.729 --> 0:09:35.719 bots or even call bots that uh someone can call 0:09:35.729 --> 0:09:36.530 and interact with. 0:09:36.809 --> 0:09:38.599 Yeah, automation and A I are going to be a 0:09:38.609 --> 0:09:41.330 huge help for small businesses. One of my clients in 0:09:41.340 --> 0:09:44.789 particular similar to Craig, their business leads with A I 0:09:44.799 --> 0:09:47.859 as a solution. They're a telecom provider. And one of 0:09:47.869 --> 0:09:50.150 the things they provide is an A I detection of 0:09:50.159 --> 0:09:56.179 safety equipment for schools, organizations, municipalities. So, you know, when 0:09:56.190 --> 0:09:58.869 you see someone with a fire hazard or, or some 0:09:58.880 --> 0:10:01.689 sort of uh threat to, you know, the safety of 0:10:01.700 --> 0:10:02.349 a building, 0:10:02.630 --> 0:10:07.199 this company is using A I to basically dispatch emergency services. 0:10:07.820 --> 0:10:09.969 So, Craig's goal with Sabanto is to make up for the 0:10:09.979 --> 0:10:12.020 lack of human labor and farming where he sees a 0:10:12.030 --> 0:10:14.199 shortage and that could stoke a lot of people's fear 0:10:14.210 --> 0:10:16.650 about A I replacing human jobs. What would you say 0:10:16.659 --> 0:10:19.130 to them? There may be rules that are just moved 0:10:19.140 --> 0:10:21.159 around in the company. But 0:10:21.770 --> 0:10:23.909 at the end of the day, you definitely need a 0:10:23.919 --> 0:10:27.000 person before you can just push A I content out 0:10:27.010 --> 0:10:30.659 there unless it's pretty much just gathering information. So we 0:10:30.669 --> 0:10:32.239 see it on our end a lot where the A 0:10:32.250 --> 0:10:34.049 I will get you really close to the end result 0:10:34.059 --> 0:10:35.880 that you're looking for. But you still need to do 0:10:35.890 --> 0:10:38.500 a little bit of manual input. It does a great 0:10:38.510 --> 0:10:41.939 job with graphics design, things like that as well, but 0:10:41.950 --> 0:10:44.090 it just still needs a human touch at the end 0:10:44.099 --> 0:10:45.579 of it to get it ready for production. 0:10:46.090 --> 0:10:48.390 I tend to agree with you, Sachin. I think we've 0:10:48.400 --> 0:10:51.599 had other technological revolutions before and there's always been the 0:10:51.609 --> 0:10:54.460 threat of job eliminations and there always have been some, 0:10:54.469 --> 0:10:57.069 but it's, they've always created more jobs than they've eliminated. 0:10:57.080 --> 0:10:58.760 They've just been different. And I think this time will 0:10:58.770 --> 0:10:59.510 be no different. 0:11:00.380 --> 0:11:04.039 So, back to Craig, he like Satin knew the problem. 0:11:04.510 --> 0:11:08.419 Not enough help on the farm and the solution, it's autonomy. 0:11:08.859 --> 0:11:10.679 If this was a math test, this would be the 0:11:10.690 --> 0:11:12.949 part where Craig would have to show his work. I'll 0:11:12.960 --> 0:11:14.429 let him walk you through the steps. 0:11:15.380 --> 0:11:19.390 So I've written software, done hardware. I have started companies 0:11:19.400 --> 0:11:22.659 in the past. I knew farmers, I knew what made 0:11:22.669 --> 0:11:26.640 them tick. And I used to work a lot automating 0:11:26.650 --> 0:11:30.159 manufacturing plants. If there's anyone that can do this, I 0:11:30.169 --> 0:11:30.989 can do this. 0:11:33.150 --> 0:11:36.940 In 2018, I started the company. I went out and 0:11:36.950 --> 0:11:42.150 leased a 4220 AJ CB tractor and I went out 0:11:42.159 --> 0:11:45.409 and bought an 18 year old 20 inch planter and 0:11:45.419 --> 0:11:48.669 I got a CD L that's a commercial driver's license, 0:11:48.679 --> 0:11:50.950 by the way, Craig got it so he could drive 0:11:50.960 --> 0:11:54.059 the semi truck to haul his tractor to farms across America. 0:11:55.039 --> 0:11:59.380 And I spent the winter writing software. I promise I'm tracking. 0:11:59.390 --> 0:12:01.169 At least I know what a planter is when you 0:12:01.179 --> 0:12:03.719 start telling me what kind of planter. I confess, I've 0:12:03.729 --> 0:12:05.539 lost the plot but to anyone who's worked on a farm, 0:12:05.549 --> 0:12:09.250 I'm assuming they know. Yeah, it's a standard 18 year 0:12:09.260 --> 0:12:13.390 old 20 inch and we're planting soybeans farmers kind of 0:12:13.400 --> 0:12:13.750 an uh, 0:12:14.080 --> 0:12:18.590 a group of people. They, you know, they won't trust 0:12:18.599 --> 0:12:21.140 anyone to plant corn. The only thing I know about 0:12:21.150 --> 0:12:22.750 corn is it's supposed to be thigh high by the 0:12:22.760 --> 0:12:25.718 fourth of July. Uh, yeah, that, that was, you know, 0:12:25.729 --> 0:12:28.780 back in the thirties or so. But now, you know, 0:12:28.789 --> 0:12:32.210 now it's typically shoulder high by the fourth of July 0:12:32.619 --> 0:12:36.270 with corn off the table. Craig went after soybeans, he 0:12:36.280 --> 0:12:38.640 set his sights on having a minimum viable product to 0:12:38.650 --> 0:12:40.700 test in the spring of 2019. 0:12:41.270 --> 0:12:43.750 He spoke to a few people about testing the tractor 0:12:43.760 --> 0:12:44.840 out on their fields. 0:12:45.760 --> 0:12:51.039 Agriculture has two degrees of separation. So I swear to God, 0:12:51.049 --> 0:12:53.419 I can get to any farmer in the US through 0:12:53.429 --> 0:12:56.900 two people. If you're keeping score, that's four degrees less 0:12:56.909 --> 0:12:59.819 than Kevin Bacon would need to get to someone. Yeah, 0:13:00.650 --> 0:13:02.260 I've met him, by the way. 0:13:03.330 --> 0:13:06.510 Word of Craig's wild autonomous planter spread quickly 0:13:07.400 --> 0:13:10.000 after about two weeks of word on the street that 0:13:10.010 --> 0:13:13.919 some crazy guy is gonna stop by with a autonomous 0:13:13.929 --> 0:13:19.229 tractor and planter and autonomously plant their crops. They were 0:13:19.239 --> 0:13:24.218 lined up. Craig launched Sabanto on May 3rd 2019. He 0:13:24.229 --> 0:13:26.909 didn't choose that date because it was some momentous occasion. 0:13:27.260 --> 0:13:29.979 It was once again all up to the farmers. 0:13:30.919 --> 0:13:35.330 It was the farmer that told me early May we're 0:13:35.340 --> 0:13:38.150 going to be planting so you better have everything together. 0:13:38.710 --> 0:13:41.098 Craig didn't, but he launched anyway, 0:13:42.159 --> 0:13:45.559 I slept in the uh sleeper of that Peter bilt 0:13:46.239 --> 0:13:48.780 and there were some cold nights because I didn't have 0:13:48.789 --> 0:13:51.460 a heater in it, but it was a learning experience. 0:13:51.669 --> 0:13:54.780 The software was nowhere close to being product. I it 0:13:54.789 --> 0:13:58.179 was more of a proof of concept. Can this thing run? 0:13:58.469 --> 0:14:01.400 Craig drove the semi and the tractor planting beans across 0:14:01.409 --> 0:14:02.140 the Midwest. 0:14:02.530 --> 0:14:04.900 It was a very rainy spring. So on days he 0:14:04.909 --> 0:14:07.000 got rained out of planting. He was flying out to 0:14:07.010 --> 0:14:10.000 California to meet with V CS. Raising money from V 0:14:10.010 --> 0:14:12.280 CS isn't always easy, but Craig had a good track 0:14:12.289 --> 0:14:13.270 record to back him up. 0:14:14.250 --> 0:14:18.699 Everyone saw 640 labs. Kind of an interesting little company 0:14:18.710 --> 0:14:23.590 that got swallowed up quickly by Monsanto and I was 0:14:23.599 --> 0:14:26.309 a co founder of that company. And I think that 0:14:26.320 --> 0:14:29.119 gave me a lot of credibility when getting in front 0:14:29.130 --> 0:14:32.200 of V CS. Lo and behold, I, I got a 0:14:32.210 --> 0:14:35.090 term sheet and I closed on a funding round. Craig 0:14:35.099 --> 0:14:37.679 had squeaked through that first season planting, but if he 0:14:37.690 --> 0:14:40.580 wanted to make Sabanto succeed, he needed a team. 0:14:42.770 --> 0:14:47.700 So I went back to Chicago and I convinced five 0:14:47.710 --> 0:14:51.609 people to leave their perfectly paying job and join me 0:14:51.619 --> 0:14:55.950 in this quest to take autonomy into agriculture. Did you 0:14:55.960 --> 0:14:57.979 think after that first season, did you think, you know, 0:14:57.989 --> 0:14:59.940 I've got something here like it might have been hard 0:14:59.950 --> 0:15:01.929 work and it might have been, it might have been difficult, 0:15:01.940 --> 0:15:04.700 but I've, I've got something or you weren't sure I 0:15:04.710 --> 0:15:08.299 knew all the problems I ran into were solvable 0:15:09.380 --> 0:15:13.849 and, you know, II I knew I couldn't do it myself. 0:15:14.400 --> 0:15:17.150 I mean, it was all off the shelf components. It was, 0:15:17.159 --> 0:15:20.690 you know, a big box sitting in the tractor wires 0:15:20.700 --> 0:15:24.130 going all over. And the software there was, it was 0:15:24.140 --> 0:15:27.679 literally command line software. There's still a hell of a 0:15:27.690 --> 0:15:30.070 lot of development that needed to be done on it. Well, 0:15:30.080 --> 0:15:32.109 someone who remembers the late seventies and early eighties, I 0:15:32.119 --> 0:15:34.929 learned to run software on command line. But I think 0:15:34.940 --> 0:15:36.919 uh I think today that doesn't meet the hurdle, does it? 0:15:37.239 --> 0:15:38.190 Uh No. 0:15:39.469 --> 0:15:41.549 So then you got some funding. How much did you raise? 0:15:41.719 --> 0:15:45.070 $2 million? Ok. So you get some funding, I assume, 0:15:45.080 --> 0:15:47.809 then you start working on truly products, this and making 0:15:47.820 --> 0:15:51.380 it sort of fit for purpose and building it out properly. 0:15:51.390 --> 0:15:52.409 Is that what came next? 0:15:53.210 --> 0:15:58.460 Yeah, it wasn't necessarily products and it was more of 0:15:58.469 --> 0:16:02.900 take it to the next level, get it to work reliably. 0:16:03.419 --> 0:16:06.760 In early fall 2019, 1 of Craig's farmer friends reached 0:16:06.770 --> 0:16:09.900 out and said that he had 350 acres of land 0:16:09.909 --> 0:16:11.929 that needed to be seeded with a cover crop for 0:16:11.940 --> 0:16:15.659 the winter planted after the fall harvest, cover crops, help 0:16:15.669 --> 0:16:18.919 revitalize the soil and prep it for spring planting again. 0:16:19.239 --> 0:16:20.780 I thought, well, this is perfect. 0:16:21.210 --> 0:16:23.869 They were finally able to get started in mid November. 0:16:24.289 --> 0:16:27.780 Craig experimented with smaller horsepower tractors with his software to 0:16:27.789 --> 0:16:29.349 see if that helped reliability 0:16:30.500 --> 0:16:34.770 horsepower equals work divided by time, what autonomy does is 0:16:34.780 --> 0:16:39.520 it increases time and time is inversely proportional to horsepower. 0:16:39.619 --> 0:16:42.229 So you increase time, you decrease horsepower. 0:16:43.919 --> 0:16:46.719 They tested it out on smaller fields before they went 0:16:46.729 --> 0:16:48.500 to the 350 acre plot. 0:16:49.409 --> 0:16:52.510 We had an 80 acre field and 6 a.m. in 0:16:52.520 --> 0:16:55.830 the morning. We're out there, let's get going on this. 0:16:55.840 --> 0:16:57.809 We should be able to get this done by uh 0:16:57.820 --> 0:17:02.239 23 o'clock. Right, We left the field at right around 0:17:02.250 --> 0:17:03.070 2 a.m. 0:17:03.989 --> 0:17:07.180 and we had only covered about 10 acres 0:17:08.630 --> 0:17:12.729 this time, we actually practiced before we got there and 0:17:12.739 --> 0:17:16.079 everything's working fine and we get to the field and 0:17:16.089 --> 0:17:20.399 nothing is working. The planter won't plant and the engineers 0:17:20.410 --> 0:17:24.050 are working feverishly trying to fix it and between the 0:17:24.060 --> 0:17:28.540 path planning, controlling the stamp thing, making sure it goes straight, 0:17:28.550 --> 0:17:32.630 making sure gps is working. It was really bad. And 0:17:32.859 --> 0:17:34.250 the six of us 0:17:34.709 --> 0:17:39.899 went back that night and I know everyone was absolutely frustrated. 0:17:39.910 --> 0:17:42.479 I remember going to bed at around two o'clock and 0:17:42.660 --> 0:17:46.569 waking up at four o'clock and thinking to myself, what 0:17:46.579 --> 0:17:49.010 the hell did I get myself into? We hear that 0:17:49.020 --> 0:17:49.739 phrase a lot 0:17:51.930 --> 0:17:55.250 nature as we know runs on its own schedule. Mid 0:17:55.260 --> 0:17:58.319 November rolled around and it was time to plant 350 0:17:58.329 --> 0:18:00.500 acres of cover crop, whether Craig and his team were 0:18:00.510 --> 0:18:03.479 ready to or not. They took their tractors out to 0:18:03.489 --> 0:18:06.089 rural Illinois to the farm and set up their mobile 0:18:06.099 --> 0:18:08.099 lab in the tent by the side of the field. 0:18:09.150 --> 0:18:12.500 You know, 300 is a very large number when you're 0:18:12.510 --> 0:18:16.040 10 ft wide and, you know, going five mile an hour. 0:18:16.050 --> 0:18:18.979 So we're doing five acres an hour. And if you think, oh, 0:18:18.989 --> 0:18:21.750 we'll just run it 24 hours and, you know, it 0:18:21.760 --> 0:18:23.079 will be done in three days. 0:18:24.530 --> 0:18:27.619 The guys were laughing, they still laugh about just sitting 0:18:27.630 --> 0:18:31.060 in this little tent in the, in the late afternoon, 0:18:31.069 --> 0:18:34.449 about four or five o'clock, it just started snowing and 0:18:34.459 --> 0:18:35.910 then by, 0:18:37.250 --> 0:18:40.649 oh, I'd say midnight one o'clock, uh the wind kicked 0:18:40.660 --> 0:18:45.170 up and it started blizzard if you can imagine just 0:18:45.180 --> 0:18:47.589 the blowing wind. And then the six of us sitting 0:18:47.599 --> 0:18:51.780 in this little tent tractor out there still working. Mind you. 0:18:52.079 --> 0:18:55.310 And there's someone sitting out on the tractor and we 0:18:55.319 --> 0:18:57.369 would take shifts on who had to sit out on 0:18:57.380 --> 0:19:01.439 the tractor. We had snow mobile suits and insulated coveralls 0:19:01.449 --> 0:19:04.150 and whatnot. But someone had to be the poor bastard 0:19:04.160 --> 0:19:05.910 who had to go out and sit on the tractor 0:19:06.140 --> 0:19:09.160 for the next hour or two because we didn't have 0:19:09.170 --> 0:19:13.540 absolute control of the tractor. There was some functionality missing. 0:19:13.739 --> 0:19:16.040 If it goes over a little hill, we would lose 0:19:16.050 --> 0:19:18.719 communications with it. And then the person would have to 0:19:18.729 --> 0:19:22.250 do it manually park the tractor over here and then 0:19:22.260 --> 0:19:24.198 let's see if we can get a path plan made. 0:19:24.209 --> 0:19:27.319 And for one reason or another, we were off by 0:19:27.329 --> 0:19:32.000 2 ft to the left. It was, it was pure hell. 0:19:32.020 --> 0:19:35.079 And this wasn't just one day. This was over multiple days. 0:19:37.439 --> 0:19:40.910 I was concerned that some of the guys would not 0:19:40.920 --> 0:19:45.958 come back the next, next time because this is perhaps 0:19:45.969 --> 0:19:49.020 the craziest thing they've ever done. Oh, and by the way, 0:19:49.150 --> 0:19:51.500 all six of them were staying in the farmer's basement. 0:19:51.510 --> 0:19:54.708 During all of this, two of us got a bed 0:19:54.719 --> 0:19:57.810 and then the other four of us were sleeping on 0:19:57.819 --> 0:20:01.920 the floor. The other thing to add insult to injury, 0:20:02.109 --> 0:20:04.979 the shower, the hot water didn't work on the shower. 0:20:05.250 --> 0:20:07.189 You know, we didn't want to let the farmer know 0:20:07.199 --> 0:20:10.569 because he's out doing field work and I don't want 0:20:10.579 --> 0:20:13.819 to bother him. So we didn't say anything about it. 0:20:13.829 --> 0:20:16.429 But then we were taking cold showers and living in 0:20:16.439 --> 0:20:18.920 a basement and then trying to, uh trying to get 0:20:18.930 --> 0:20:22.010 this damn thing to work in the end, the 350 0:20:22.030 --> 0:20:24.839 acre field they thought would take three days. It took 0:20:24.849 --> 0:20:25.589 three weeks. 0:20:26.589 --> 0:20:29.469 We felt defeated. There was a lot of fear, uncertainty 0:20:29.479 --> 0:20:30.170 and doubt. 0:20:31.079 --> 0:20:34.819 I'm sure everyone in the company had reservations about. Is 0:20:34.829 --> 0:20:37.680 this going to work? Is this going to get better? 0:20:37.930 --> 0:20:40.140 Like why am I doing this? Did you think about 0:20:40.150 --> 0:20:44.250 giving up at the time? No, no, 0:20:45.300 --> 0:20:46.359 I don't quit. 0:20:47.310 --> 0:20:49.489 When did it come along far enough that you thought? Ok, 0:20:49.500 --> 0:20:55.129 I've cracked this nut in 2021. We were doing tillage 0:20:55.140 --> 0:21:00.050 just west of Chicago. We ran at 48 hours nonstop. 0:21:00.300 --> 0:21:03.030 We let this thing loose in a, oh God, I 0:21:03.040 --> 0:21:06.969 think it was 480 acre field and this thing ran 0:21:06.979 --> 0:21:10.409 day in day out, never stopped. And 0:21:10.969 --> 0:21:13.099 at the time I looked at this and I'm like, 0:21:13.109 --> 0:21:15.399 I started to see light at the end of the tunnel, 0:21:15.439 --> 0:21:19.379 we had path planning working. We were monitoring all aspects 0:21:19.390 --> 0:21:22.379 of the tractor. We were holding the line within a 0:21:22.390 --> 0:21:25.369 good one inch, two inches and it was just a 0:21:25.380 --> 0:21:29.020