Pheronym at the NSF I-Corps Beat-The-Odd-Boot Camp during COVID-19
Uncovering surprising new insights during customer discovery
The Beat-The-Odd-Boot Camp was part of our National Science Foundation (NSF) Phase I Small Business Innovation Research grant with a focus on entrepreneurial training. Our first job in the Boot Camp was customer discovery for the innovation that we are commercializing. To do this, we needed to “get out of the building” and conduct in-person interviews with at least 30 potential customers, something that is pretty hard to do during the COVID-19 pandemic. Instead, we conducted video interviews. In 2017 and 2018, we undertook a broad customer discovery (a total of 50 interviews) with deep dives in 3 segments; greenhouse growers, stone fruit growers, and nut growers. When we started the Boot Camp in May 2020, we thought we already knew our customers, and we were not sure what we could learn. It turns out we learned quite a bit.
The 30 interviews for the Boot Camp may not sound a lot of work since we are doing just video calls. Whether it is a phone/video call or in-person meeting, having an insightful interview with the right person requires patience, persistence, and resilience. We reviewed our previous market research and decided to do a deep dive into the greenhouse growers market. We already had contact information for growers that we interviewed before, so we naturally reached out to them to update our information. We also had a list of the 100 biggest greenhouse growers in the US. We called 43 of them and got interviews from 18. We also conducted interviews when opportunities arose, especially when a customer reached out to us. We have made some sales through our website for AstroNematode, www.astronematode.com, so we reached out to our e-commerce customers and potential customers on Instagram.
During the boot camp, we learned about end-users, influencers, and decision-makers, which may or may not be the same. We learned how to use the business model canvas to navigate the market, so Pheronym can successfully bring nematode pheromones to the market. In the end, we interviewed twenty-five end-users, seven decision-makers, three people in advisory or support roles, and three potential distributors or business partners. Here are our three most valuable insights.
Insight 1: Pests are a significant problem. One grower told us that he went out of business because of a pest called root-knot nematode. They reduced his yield by 75%! Every grower had to control pests, which brings us to our next insight.
Insight 2 Our most surprising finding was that end-user demand for pest control solutions changed. When we interviewed large greenhouse growers three years ago, they all said they were using conventional pesticides and were not interested in biologicals. Only small greenhouse growers were interested in biologicals because they could not afford the chemical pesticide application certificate. Their only option was biological pest control. In 2020, the large greenhouse growers (end-users) were using biological pest control as part of their integrated pest management solutions and looking for more biobased solutions. This change was because their chemical pesticide solutions were banned, and also because their customers demand pesticide residues below the legal thresholds.
Insight 3: End-users pest problems remained the same. The top insect pests are thrips, whiteflies, mites, fungus gnats, and root aphids. The top plant-parasitic nematode pests are root-knot nematode and soybean cyst nematode. These were the same pests that came up in our interviews three years ago. Thrips are the most important pests that greenhouse growers deal with, and they don’t have any satisfying solutions.
Here is what the head grower of a 70-acre greenhouse facility told us: “Thrips is the only pest I care about.”
He said that he sprays chemicals for thrips control. But they are becoming resistant, and the chemicals are removed from the market, so he is switching to integrated pest management and experimenting with biologicals.
He’s not the only one! Another greenhouse grower with 12 acres in Ireland has the same problem with thrips and is looking for solutions.
We also realized that our product is a full product for commercial growers. Our end-user is commercial growers. They may be called “Owner,” “Farm Manager,” or “Head Grower,” but their jobs are all the same: Grow high-quality products and minimize crop losses to pests using low residue pest control. The decision-makers are commercial growers or distributors. Commercial growers’ job is to: Grow high-quality products with high yield leading to a profitable business. Distributors’ job is to supply farmers with inputs, including pest control products, to do their jobs.
In our business model canvas, we are most confident in our customer segments and our value proposition. Our value proposition is to provide growers with a biological pest control solution that rivals chemicals in both effectiveness and ease of use but does not leave any synthetic pesticide residues. We have started to develop relationships with key partners, and we are learning about key activities we need to do and key resources we need to have in place. We are also developing our revenue streams. Our customer relationships, sales channels, and cost structure are the least well-developed segments of our business model canvas.
Boot Camp was just the tip of the iceberg for us. We will continue our customer discovery with a deep dive into fruit and nut orchard growers, vineyards, other specialty crops (ornamentals, strawberries, blueberries. tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, lettuce), and row crops. We will find out their current pest problems and solutions in each segment, determine how our products fit into each segment and find out how much our customers are willing to pay for our solutions. We will also continue developing customer relationships and our sales channels, which will help us build our revenue streams.
Finally, we would like to thank Dr. Erik Pierstorff, our NSF Program Director, for giving us this opportunity to participate in this Bootcamp and Keith McGreggor for mentoring us through the boot camp program and encouraging us to participate NSF I-Corps summer program. The NSF I-Corps team for helping us transform from scientists to entrepreneurs.
Authors: Mr. Karl Cameron Schiller is the co-founder and COO of Pheronym. He is an experienced entrepreneur with a BA in economics and an M.Sc. in pharmaceutical economics. Prior to Pheronym, he co-founded Kaplan Schiller Research LLC., and volunteered as president of a not for profit organization. In addition, he was a consultant in pharmaceutical product development, cost-effectiveness analysis, modeling, and statistical analysis. His clients include the University of Florida, the University of Alabama, Florida Medicaid, and Pfizer. Dr. Fatma Kaplan is the co-founder and CEO/CSO of Pheronym, an entrepreneur, and an accomplished scientist with experience in both biology and chemistry. She has a Ph.D. in Plant Molecular and Cellular Biology and postdoctoral training in Natural Product Chemistry with a focus on isolating biologically active compounds. Dr. Kaplan discovered the first sex pheromone of the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans and published in Nature. Then she discovered that pheromones regulate other behaviors in both parasitic and beneficial nematodes. Recently, Dr. Kaplan conducted the first agricultural biocontrol experiment in Space at the International Space Station in 2020. She has very high impact publications and her dissertation (beta-amylase’s role during cold and heat shock) was cited in textbooks within five years of publication. Dr. Kaplan worked as a scientist at NASA, the National Magnetic Field Laboratory and the US Department of Agriculture — Agricultural Research Service. Dr. Kaplan and Mr. Schiller co-founded Pheronym to bring nematode pheromone technology to the market and to provide effective, non-toxic, sustainable pest control for farmers and gardeners. Pheronym for Healthy soil, Healthy farmers, Healthy food.
