I first met our guest Allison Kopf, founder of Agrilyst, years ago at a Food Tech event and I’m especially excited about our conversation because it’s a close melding of the two worlds I live in: my day job at an enterprise software company and my main hustle in the world of food. Agrilyst is a software that allows indoor farmers to analyze data that’s pulled into sensors - everything from temperature, light, CO2 - in one, integrated platform. This then allows them to bring more stability into their operations and subsequently improve their profitability. You might think: “Wait what? Aren’t we already doing that?”. Not really. Keeping in mind that most farmers are still tracking things by hand without much data-driven analytics or are keeping data in separate silos, that most farms are barely profitable with long investment horizons, and that we definitely have significant challenges to fix in the coming years when it comes to what we eat, Agrilyst is both necessary and timely. Everyone should give this a listen whether you’re “just” a software engineer or a hardcore foodie.
Besides talking about Agrilyst - and even if you didn’t care about food (which I doubt since you’re listening to this show) - Allison’s mindset is one we can all learn from. Trained as a physicist, she approaches problems with critical thought and for those who hate inefficiencies, she says that the thing that gets her out of bed every day is the opportunity to fix inefficiencies. Nowadays when it’s easy to fall into the trap of a sensationalist story, people like Allison who are able to take a look at the data and apply principles from one field to another provide a refreshing conversation.
We talk about identifying problems to fix and driving focus, creating “magical” products that people will love, why indoor farming is necessary in helping create a food system for the future, and how you can apply skills you’ve learned in one area of your life to a seemingly disparate area. Again, whatever your background is, this interdisciplinary episode is a must if you’re interested in solving real problems in the world, food or otherwise.
