14 Mar 2023
Developing technology to improve and empower rural communities.
Developing technology to improve and empower rural communities.
Third-generation cattle and sheep producers James and Paul Diamond were part of Rocket Seeder’s first AgTech Seeds program which ran from July to October 2022.
Before participating in AgTech Seeds, the Diamond brothers had spent two years developing a digital platform to help farmers access technology to improve both workplace safety and livestock management.
“We joined the program to help us hone our vision, our mission and purpose, and to minimise the distraction and crystalise what we are doing,” James said. “We really wanted to accelerate the progress we have made over the first two years.
James said AgTech Seeds allowed the brothers to formalise much of their “informal thinking” and move forward with more confidence.
“Even though we were at a more mature stage of developing our business idea, the entire program was incredibly valuable.”
As they progressed through the three-month program, James and Paul said they gained critical skills in business planning and development, finance, marketing and communications.
“We went into the program thinking AirAgri would be a certain kind of product and now we’re coming out of the program with a focus on breaking our solution into logical components making it more palatable for customers.
“The program helped us dial in that focus to meaningful customer segments and deliver against a meaningful challenge and concern. We realise now that prior to the course, our idea was relatively generic. We wanted to tackle way too many challenges. Now, we’ve channeled our focus - we’ve got laser perspective.”
The program also enabled the AirAgri team to develop contacts in the industry through direct access to Rocket Seeder’s network of industry leaders and researchers.
“AgTech Seeds helped us establish a stable pathway into the industry and connect with a broader network that we just didn’t have,” James said. “We learnt skills in how to take an initial idea, document it out and then start talking to people from a pitching perspective and validate our ideas.”
James said the program gave them structured learning and new ways of problem solving and thinking about product and legalities around trademarks.
“We’ve been told it takes about $1.2 million to get a startup to the commercial stage,” James said. “You can waste a lot of money if you don’t have a viable idea. This program taught us how to validate our ideas, to disconnect the emotion and the assumptions you can have around your idea for a business.”
Looking ahead, the Diamond brothers plan to continue refining their product and business model and have developed a program around public launch and taking AirAgri to market.
Rocket Seeder looks forward to seeing James and Paul’s progress as they refine and scale into a successful business.
Follow the Diamond brothers’ journey at www.airagri.com.au and @airagrion social media.