What if building a startup isn’t just about having a good idea, but about finding your place in the market?
Adam Stager, co-founder and CEO of TRIC Robotics, began his entrepreneurial journey designing robotic technology for the defense industry. But through customer discovery, he realized the same technology could have a lasting impact in agriculture.
Today, TRIC Robotics is helping farmers reduce pesticide use and boost yields with robotic automation and UV light. The company has grown from golf cart–sized prototypes to tractor-scale robots and recently closed a $5.5 million seed round to expand its impact in agtech.
Follow TRIC Robotics on LinkedIn.
You'll hear:
- How Adam pivoted from defense to agriculture through I-Corps™ customer discovery
- Lessons from early partnerships that built trust and opened doors to customer sales
- The challenges of scaling hardtech startups and strategies for meeting customer needs
- Curious if your research could become a startup? Check out the NSF I-Corps™ program, run in partnership with VentureWell, which provides hands-on entrepreneurial training to help innovators move from research to commercialization.
- Building a climatetech invention and working on fundraising? Explore our pre-seed venture accelerator, the Aspire Climatetech program.
- TRIC Robotics is hiring! Check out their open here.
Resources:
- Curious if your research could become a startup? Check out the NSF I-Corps™ program, run in partnership with VentureWell, which provides hands-on entrepreneurial training to help innovators move from research to commercialization.
- Building a climatetech invention and working on fundraising? Explore our pre-seed venture accelerator, the Aspire Climatetech program.
- TRIC Robotics is hiring! Check out their open here.
Follow VentureWell on LinkedIn, Instagram (@idea2impact), Bluesky (@venturewell.bsky.social), and Facebook for more stories and insights from entrepreneurs using innovation to change the future of sustainability, healthcare, and tech.
