From engineer to entrepreneur and how automation can help you grow - Joao Melo from Open Grow

On this episode Tom is having a chat with João Melo, the CEO and Founder of Open Grow. João talks about his 6 year long journey into the entrepreneurial world and his passion for creating agricultural automation systems. João also tells us about the challenges a startup selling physical products faces, shares the lessons he has learned along the way and expresses his views on cannabis legalization in Portugal and Europe.

Other topics discussed:

What is Open Grow? What is GroLab™? What are the benefits of having an automated growing system? What was João’s first entrepreneurial project? Why did João start his own company? What is the biggest challenge when starting a business with a physical product? Why is it important to customize a growth system to your specific needs? What are the benefits of doing everything in-house instead of outsourcing? How to make sure you are accessible to your customers? What is Open Grow working on now? How is the company different now from when it started? How to find places to sell your product? What is the role of events in the cannabis industry? What is the current attitude towards cannabis in Portugal? Why is it so important to decriminalize cannabis?

Links:

Open Grow -  https://opengrow.pt/ Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/OpenGrowEN/ Instagram -  @opengrow

 

Cannabis events mentioned:

Spannabis - http://spannabis.com/barcelona/en/ Cannafest - https://www.cannafest.com