When you run are sprinting in a start-up, it’s all about shaving off YEARS of time to product market fit.

It’s no different for me.

Impact Industry Cacao - Update 21

If you invested in me, this your cacao. While we are dialing some things we let Stephanie from the Caribbean Agroforestry Institute, use these.

She’s teaching a class about permaculture to kids today and they are getting to taste the yummy goodness of raw cacao. The pulp is sweet fleshy fruit.

How did we do it? Deal details

It’s all about finding mutual value, a couple of weeks ago we met a coffee farmer, who LOVES his coffee. He just so happened to also have 250, already producing cacao trees.

He was a straight-shooting lawyer from Chicago, and let’s just say when I put my mind to something it makes some people uncomfortable BUT the people who operate at a bit higher intensity seem to love working with me.

So I took the first opportunity to shoot my shot: “Can I buy your cacao trees?”

He wasn’t ready for that, threw him off guard, but you could tell he loved that I got straight to the point. Much less in front of about 15 people. (Yes there are witnesses)

A week later here’s the deal we mapped out:

I get access to his farm and cacao trees
$100/visit to the farm (no time cap)
$1/pod we harvest

Wait you don’t actually own the trees? NO! But we have a contractual relationship that is just as good. This is how much it saves me:

- $8,000 to buy an acre
- $3,000+ to plant 250 trees
- $5,000 5 years of farm management and labor
- 5 years to wait for my cacao to grow.

So we got all we need to begin our R&D and product development for a $550 deposit for the first 5 times and 50 pods out the door and shaved 5 years of time and $16,000 dollars.

I can save that money and put it towards production of products…

This Week’s Priorities:

• Identify OUR FARM. We are still planning on buying a finca. We have a bunch of options are narrowing it down.

• Structure our data, team and communications. There are lot more moving parts we need to put some operations in place to maximize efficiency now.

• Build Relationships by meeting with key players here on the island.

How you can help:

-Share this with friend.

-Donate to the Agroforestry Institute

Humbled to have you on this journey.

-Hunter