Published: April 30, 2017, 9 a.m.
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Kenny Ewan. He is in charge of the overall strategic direction for WeFarm where he oversees the day-to-day activities of the business. After graduating, he spent 7 years in Peru running an international NGO, specializing in work with indigenous communities. Kenny played the lead role in developing WeFarm, before launching it as a startup in 2015.
Famous Five:
- Favorite Book? \\u2013 Chaos Monkeys
- What CEO do you follow? \\u2013 Elon Musk
- Favorite online tool? \\u2014 Slack
- Do you get 8 hours of sleep?\\u2014 6
- If you could let your 20-year old self, know one thing, what would it be? \\u2013 \\u201cI\\u2019m happy to let him make mistakes\\u201d
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Time Stamped Show Notes:
- 01:18 \\u2013 Nathan introduces Kenny to the show
- 01:49 \\u2013 WeFarm is a growth focus model
- 02:29 \\u2013 WeFarm offers their services to farmers
- 02:37 \\u2013 WeFarm leads farmers to the sellers and WeFarm will take a small transaction commission
- 03:00 \\u2013 WeFarm offers information in the space
- 03:08 \\u2013 A farmer in Kenya who has no internet access can ask WeFarm a question, through SMS, for free
- 03:30 \\u2013 10-15 people in WeFarm\\u2019s network will try to answer the question
- 03:45 \\u2013 The people who answer want to share their knowledge about farming
- 04:12 \\u2013 WeFarm has generated revenue, but they\\u2019re still on pre-profit
- 04:20 \\u2013 WeFarm just closed a seed round for $1.7M
- 04:27 \\u2013 WeFarm started as an Impact project for Google and they won
- 04:36 \\u2013 They used the prize as capital
- 04:42 \\u2013 The prize was \\xa3500K
- 05:04 \\u2013 Team size is 20 and is still growing; they\\u2019re around the globe
- 05:41 \\u2013 WeFarm uses radio to connect with more farmers
- 05:51 \\u2013 WeFarm partnered with radio stations and invited farmers on
- 06:00 \\u2013 4-5K people were joining WeFarm in just an hour
- 06:12 \\u2013 WeFarm also partners with businesses where farmers buy
- 06:45 \\u2013 WeFarm currently has 140K farmers on their platform
- 06:55 \\u2013 WeFarm measures activity by the number of users who actively contribute every month
- 07:55 \\u2013 WeFarm is also available online
- 08:15 \\u2013 WeFarm has a super active marketplace
- 08:32 \\u2013 WeFarm doesn\\u2019t incentivize people who answer inquiries, just like Quora
- 08:50 \\u2013 WeFarm\\u2019s roadmap this year
- 09:00 \\u2013 WeFarm has 20 people
- 09:30 \\u2013 WeFarm already has a couple of commercial contacts with a major retailer in UK
- 09:48 \\u2013 \\u201cWe have validated our revenue sources\\u201d
- 10:00 \\u2013 2017 target revenue is around $50K
- 11:30 \\u2013 The Famous Five
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3 Key Points:
- A business does NOT always have to be revenue focused; helping people can be a goal in and of itself.
- We have a responsibility to help guide those who need it and access those who still do not have the internet.
- Don\\u2019t be afraid to make mistakes, but be sure to learn from them.
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Resources Mentioned:
- The Top Inbox \\u2013 The site Nathan uses to schedule emails to be sent later, set reminders in inbox, track opens, and follow-up with email sequences
- Organifi \\u2013 The juice was Nathan\\u2019s life saver during his trip in Southeast Asia
- Klipfolio \\u2013 Track your business performance across all departments for FREE
- Acuity Scheduling \\u2013 Nathan uses Acuity to schedule his podcast interviews and appointments
- Host Gator\\u2013 The site Nathan uses to buy his domain names and hosting for the cheapest price possible
- Audible\\u2013 Nathan uses Audible when he\\u2019s driving from Austin to San Antonio (1.5-hour drive) to listen to audio books
- Freshbooks \\u2013 Nathan doesn\\u2019t waste time so he uses Freshbooks to send out invoices and collect his money. Get your free month NOW
- Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives
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