In the Spotlight: Scott Massey & Kirk Taylor

Morning, friends! Logan here.

For this week’s episode, I had the pleasure of talking with Scott Massey, co-founder and CEO of Anu, and Kirk Taylor, co-founder and president of Land Betterment. You might remember Kirk from episode 97, from May 2020. He's back to discuss an exciting new partnership between Land Betterment and Anu, focused on building and selling autonomous indoor growing systems.

The Companies: Anu & Land Betterment

• Anu specializes in building autonomous indoor growing systems for fresh produce. Their technology allows for the efficient cultivation of plants using hydroponic methods, providing sustainable solutions to food deserts and urban farming challenges.

• Eko Solutions (a Land Betterment Company) up-cycles shipping containers to create sustainable housing, aid in disaster recovery, and now with this new partnership, create autonomous growing systems.

What We Discussed:

How a Partnership with NASA Led to Anu, Addressing Food Security via Autonomous Indoor Growing Systems, and Scott’s Founding Story

This episode is packed with interesting anecdotes about how Anu was started - ranging from how a partnership between Purdue University and NASA lead to starting the company, to how Scott and his co-founder, Ivan, won over $100k for their business by doing a pitch competition “tour”. By partnering with Land Betterment, they’re able to address new markets, providing a unique solution for food insecurity.

What You Can Learn by Listening:

1. How Anu’s Growing Technology Works: If you’re interested in agtech, this is a great episode for you. Scott does a fantastic job breaking down how the tech they’ve built works to create a simple process for growing produce indoors.

2. What Entrepreneurial Hustle Looks Like: If you want to learn about what it takes to get a business off the ground, Scott’s story is a great one. The man delivered newspapers and worked out a deal to have them highlight Anu anytime they won a pitch competition. All while attending Purdue University.

3. How Leveraging Partnerships Expands Opportunity: The partnership between Anu and Land Betterment sets both companies up to expand into new markets, together.

That’s all we’ve got for you this week! Thanks for reading. Don’t forget to forward if you enjoyed this one!

LinkedIn | Instagram | Twitter | TikTok | YouTube | MiddleTech.com

Real Estate more your speed? Check our sister brand, DevelopLex.