MAP Founder Spotlight — Sebastian Farias from Far More
Welcome to MAP’s Founder Spotlight series where we shine a spotlight on some of our impressive MAP alumni and their spectacular startups. This month we have Sebastian Farias from Far More, let’s jump straight in!
Hi Sebastian, thanks so much for joining us for our Founder Spotlight series! We’re excited to learn about your startup journey and MAP experience.
Thanks for having me in the spotlight! We loved our MAP experience, and we’d love to talk about Far More too.
Where does Far More get its name?
It’s called Far More because we believe agriculture is the key to changing the world and peoples’ lives, it’s far more than just a coffee business. Overall, we are changing the way that farmers and consumers connect.
Could you tell us a little about how Far More began?
I’m originally from Colombia, but I’ve lived in Australia for 20 years. 5 years ago, I was the director of one of Australia’s biggest coffee companies. I understood the industry well and I wanted to give back and support Colombia with the knowledge I had.
The Colombian coffee trade is complex, many farmers live on credit until they’re paid next. Within the coffee farming industry, we have global warming and ageing coffee farmer population to consider. The sector needs attention to continue sustainably. I knew that we could help Colombia through agricultural education, by teaching coffee farmers about farming practices and harvesting methods. By producing a more differentiated coffee product, the farmers could create better profit and establish a better standard of living for themselves. Far More started as a not-for-profit organisation providing education — it wasn’t until 2018 that we became an exporter.
That’s an inspirational way of contributing to the Colombian economy. Is the coffee growing process very complex?
It takes up to three years for the coffee bean to grow to give you the first cherry. There’s short wait until the fruit is ripe and once you pick it, you have to start processing it immediately. The full process from tree to export quality coffee takes another 1–2 weeks.
What inspired transitioning Far More from an NFP to an export business?
We found that we were successful in improving the coffee product and overall agriculture for around 400 farmers over 2 years, but we were struggling to find a way to sell the coffee. I felt personally really motivated to change this because I’d already worked with so many people to improve their product, so I wanted to see them find a way to sell it.
So, in 2018, I started calling my friends around the world, and asked them to come and see the projects I’d been working on. They fell in love with the product and connected with the farmers like I did. They wanted to buy the coffee, agreed on varying prices for different coffee beans and enough people wanted to buy that it made sense to start a coffee export company.
Tax for small businesses in Colombia is 33%, so creating a company in Colombia would have reduced our profits substantially. We decided to start the company in Australia instead.
Do you sell direct-to-consumer, or business-to-business?
We do both! Our focus is selling business-to-business to coffee roasters because they can purchase large quantities with volumes around 15 tonnes and transaction values around $200,000.
We also sell direct to consumer through our website Cool Hand Coffee. We’ve just renovated the website, check it out!
What have you found difficult about running this business?
The cash conversion cycle (how quickly inventory can be transformed into revenue) can be hard. Australia is a small market and only has only two ship carriers that take 3–4 months to transport coffee from Colombia to Australia. Of course, we don’t get paid until the product arrives, so that leaves long delays.
The price of airfreight is 5 times more in Australia compared with carriers in South Korea and other countries, so sea freight is our only real transport option.
Do you prioritise trading in other countries because of this issue?
South Korea is our first overseas market and we’re still operating there. We’re currently trying to expand to Singapore to reduce our cash conversation cycles.
Does Far More have any new products coming out?
Yes, we do!
We’re partnering with a company called Three Thousand Thieves, a coffee retailer offering a nation-wide coffee subscription service. Our coffee will be featured in the March subscription box and for retail sale on their website, which is huge for us.
The coffee featured is from coffee farmer Sara Gutierrez from Quindío, Colombia, to celebrate International Women’s Day and three of her lines: Castillo washed, Yellow Colombia CM (Carbonic Maceration) and Pink Bourbon Natural.
She is an important person because she is the treasurer of the Colombian Coffee association and also helped validate our original business model in the original days of Far More.
Which year did you start Velocity?
We started in the Velocity program in the second half of 2020 and then got into MAP in 2021. We originally applied for MAP in 2020 but got into Velocity instead.
Did you find it useful to do Velocity before MAP?
Yes, I think so. Velocity gives you an idea of what your life will look like as an entrepreneur and how an entrepreneur thinks. It also lets you assess if your business can scale in the way you envision. You validate your business using entrepreneurial models and customer interviews.
Despite all the problem solving we tackled when we put Far More through this thinking, we also realised we had a lot of opportunity, there was a need for this direct trade between coffee farmers and buyers.
And how did you find moving from Velocity to MAP?
It was excellent. The consecutive flow of Velocity followed by MAP meant we were under the pump for almost a whole year, and we saw a lot of growth because of that.
What was your favourite thing about MAP?
Personally, I’m a people person, I operate best when I talk to others. So, being able to share my thoughts with people in my cohort who were really smart thinkers was great. Sometimes we can be narrow minded when we’re working up close in our own areas, and it helped to talk to the MAP network to get better perspective.
The community was great too, one of the people in my cohort was David Philp from Intellischool. He has an incredible startup which he was busy with, but he spent 2 whole hours with me, helping us with our website and CRM. The cohort members are so generous with their time.
You can’t forget about the Entrepreneurs in Residence either. I was lucky to have Phoebe from Bardee. It was amazing to talk to her, we had supply issues when the COVID-19 pandemic hit and she connected me with people who could help me fix the issues we were having.
Have you come back to MAP after the program ended?
I feel like Melbourne Connect is like Far More’s house, so yes! We come back when we can.
Any tips for people applying to MAP?
If you can show your strong beliefs and your passion, that’s the best way to approach applying. When we applied, we just believed so much in the impact our business was going to have. Also know that it’s very hard, but absolutely worthwhile.
Could you ever go back to a 9–5 job after becoming an entrepreneur?
No way! My life completely changed once I started to run Far More, I work my own timetable, I’m my own boss and while I’ve never worked so hard, I feel I have a great balance. I run every day and get to walk my dog every day.
I also get to employ people and that feels amazing. This comes with a feeling of responsibility for their lives, but I love it.
Thanks so much for your time, Sebastian! It’s been great to hear about your journey and we’ll be sure to check out Cool Hand Coffee and Three Thousand Thieves.
Thank you to our readers for making the Founder Spotlight a part of your week, make sure to tune in next month for more MAP startup journeys!
