Apart from standard conference affairs, I learned a couple of things from other startup companies of the day. 1 key takeaway I took, came from, mushrooms. 

The Fruit to Juice Analogy for Entrepreneurs. In this case, Mushrooms?

The first company was an Israelian company that basically grew…mushrooms? The growth of indoor mushroom farming is definitely not new, however it is also widely adopted in many countries worldwide. However, the evolution and innovation of business models is what make a company stand out and being able to identify its own niche.

This startup took basic indoor mushroom farming and combined it with a mission of reducing meat consumption from meat eaters. They feel that by converting someone into vegan is a hard process, however why not be someone of half-half basis first? Thus combining the mushrooms they grew whilst infusing them with other meat products to form a 50/50 sort of solution that could gradually lessen animal consumptions.

With a plan of end-product coming out from basic mushrooms, I got reminded of the fruit-to-fruit juice analogy. Selling a Banana alone could just earn you 3 Dollars, however turning that banana into fruit juice and brand it as a super powerful superfruit that can aid various conditions? 10 Dollars it is.

For entrepreneurs, sometimes it’s not the product itself that has the best value, but what do you do with it that will maximize it instead. This company went on to raise 10 Million USD for their project with a huge US expansion plan in the horizon.

On innovating value, thinking bigger, and being more ambitious

I have not heard of many companies who could take the concept of basic produce and turn it into something worth millions. Many business owners take a lot of things at face value, either due to inexperience, lack of exposure, or the constant hammering of investors trying to get a huge discount out of you.

The key lesson to be obtained from here for fellow entrepreneurs, is to never look at a certain value based on the base product. Your product today might just be something worth 1 Dollar for example, but that should not stop you from thinking of ways to increase the value of your product instead.

This could be done either through partnerships to increase value offerings, or if you have a good enough time, a constant continuous innovation of your product to take it to the next level instead.

Easier said than done indeed, but hey, as my good friend Sharian always told me, if it’s easy, everyone would of done it already. The constant mind to innovate value, will always be your key asset as an entrepreneur.