Gotham Gal

Senior Thesis at Wesleyan

We spent last week up in Middletown CT for a few days to attend Jessica's senior thesis presentation.  There were four weeks of thesis installations.  Each week there were about 4-6 projects installed from different seniors.  Jessica had the last week.  She was one of six.  Each of these installations were truly amazing.  Each body of work was impressive. 

Jessica spent the past 9 months traveling all around the east coast shooting impersonators.  She found them, hired them, drove to their homes or places of business and created the environment she was looking for.  Then she had them pose for her in what she visioned each piece to be.  That is only step one.  Then the photos have to be printed and fixed on photoshop (taking out the dust, the shadows that are not needed, the wire that randomly showed up, or the need to stitch a few photographers into one to create the right shot).  She had to narrow down which ones would be presented in the installation.  Get each of those photos framed and then hang her show.  The artist, the curator and the gallerist all into one. 

Jessica took her first photography class in 3rd grade.  Her high school gave her the ability to continue with photography the entire time she was there as there is a real focus on the arts at LREI.  She found something she is passionate about and something she has an incredible talent for.  I was blown away when I saw the installation as there were just a few of the photos she did not share with me.  She wanted me to have some surprises. 

Certainly not surprising to any one in my family I got very emotional when I saw the show.  My photos do not do hers justice but I did capture a few just to share.  I am sure Jessica will put them up on her site when graduation is over and she can take a step back and truly take in what she has created and certainly achieved. 

From the top is Snoop Dog, Cher, Albert Einstein, Obama and Batman and Robin.  I believe all and all there were more than 20 photos in the show and that was about 40% of the body of the work she took.

Here are the other seniors who were in the show.  This particular woman, Alahna Watson, did self-portraits of herself.  She must have been from the south.  Each pencil drawing was a different person but with her face.  The large piece of fried chicken was amazing.

This guy, Adam Forbes, was a math major who did analytics on Google as to what each of our value was to the company.  He did an art thesis on his work which is awesome.  He also got a job to start at Google this fall.

These were beautiful paintings of the inside of Versaille from a young woman, Arin Dineen.

Large creative paintings of men breaking things.  The series is called Build by Kevin Brisco

All and all and impressive show. 

The Reality of how you get Elected

I wonder if any of the US Senators who voted against the proposed law to expand background checks for gun purchases woke up the morning after watching the manhunt for the Boston bombers regretted their decision.  As a country we watched sections of Massachusetts be locked down for one lone man yet as a country we were not able to pass laws that just make common sense.  I get the desire for many American to own a gun.  We are a gun society.  How do we pass laws just to insure that people who own guns are licensed and vetted.  Why is that such a big deal? 

The majority of Americans would have liked to see this law passed but unfortunately it was not.  Certainly the NRA will be supporting the campaigns of each of the US Senators who said no on this law.  Here is the reality of the next go-around for these US Senators who voted no even if they believe in their hearts that they voted for their constituents is they will have a really hard time getting re-elected at their next election.

Here is the the reality of getting voted in to the US Senate even if you are a Democrat or a Republican is you have to raise money, a lot of money.  I know because years ago I had fundraisers at our house.  They were for people running for the US Senate in states around the country.  Alaska, North Carolina, Ohio and others.  If you do a search for the biggest donors of the four US Senators that voted against the gun law; Mark Pryor of Arkansas, Max Baucus of Montana, Mark Begich of Alaska and Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota you will discover that they came from NYCity.  Maybe the NRA will make up those dollars but I seriously doubt it. 

So these four US Senators not only voted against a law that the majority of Americans wanted and one that would have been a good step in the right direction for gun legislation because they were concerned about their own jobs going forward in their own states.  They have each sealed the deal that they will have a very difficult time financially on their re-election.  They did not vote with their head and I am not sure what their reasoning was behind the vote they each cast.  It was a sad day for the country. 

It was a strange week and now we are all holding our breath on the next law to be voted on when it comes to immigration reform.  Based on the last performance of our senate I sincerely doubt that anything will change. 

 

Chantel Waterbury, Chloe and Isabel, Woman Entrepreneur

I am one never to look back but after speaking with Chantel I am really sorry that I did not grab the opportunity that landed in my inbox awhile ago when she was raising her first round from angels.  When we finally spoke I could connect with everything she did in her retail/wholesale life before she became an entrepreneur starting Chloe and Isabel.  Truth is, Chantal has been an entrepreneur her entire life and she just didn't know it until it was inevitable that is was time to go out on her own. 

Chantel grew up in Orville located in Northern California raised by a single mom.  Her Mom was the creative type always in and out of different jobs.  Chantel knew in her gut that education was the key so she tutored kids and swept floors putting money away for a better education.  At 13 she found the Mercy school which was about 3 1/2 hours away from where she lived.  On her own she got into the school with a free ride, complete scholarship.  She contacted a local church to see if they would post something so she could find a place to live.  An older couple said they would take her in for $285 a month which would include room and board.  Their kids had left the nest and they would be delighted to have someone come and live with them. They did and at 13 Chantel separated from her Mother and started a new life.

She continued to work as she always did.  Her sophomore year in high school she worked for Paul Bean, an amazing artist and quadriplegic.  She was his nurse and traveled with him..  An incredible experience and she made a lot of cash.  Another summer she worked at a convalescent hospital.  Another summer she sold Cutco knives and put away $30K in three months. 

After graduating from Mercy she got into Santa Clara University.  It was her number one choice.  Yet because she was an emancipated minor she could not get financial aid.  She had been on and off welfare programs her entire life when she was a child and she couldn't get financial aid.  It made zero sense.  So Chantel did what she always did, she figured it out.  She worked hard and took out loans.  She started off majoring in psychology but she took one economics class and fell in love.  She switched her major to Business and Marketing with a minor in retail studies.  She realized she had a head for business. 

After graduating she went directly to the Target Corporation program for Mervyns.  It was 1997.  At Santa Clara the retail/management program had major heads of retail organizations that sat on the advisory panel that included leaders from the Gap and Macys.  She felt that those connections and exposure helped her walk directly into the program at Target.  She was initially in an area of Mervyns where she got to see all the different jobs and roles they played.  Her boss allowed her to negotiate with new brands coming into the stores and build on that.  It was at Mervyns where she got her first appreciation for technology.  She became a distribution analyst for the jewelry department.  She just knew how to identify opportunities by reading the reports.  There wasn't a buyer in jewelry at the time so she just took it over.  Quickly management started to notice what was happening in jewelry.  She knew that going to the manufacturing side was where all the money is to be made but she decided that she just loved being a merchant and stayed at Mervyns for three years.  She was making more than she had ever made so she stuck with it. 

After three years she was offered the job as the buyer of the Sterling silver department for Macys in San Francisco.  That is when all the consolidation started happening.  This job was now responsible for buying for 300 stores.  It was a dream job.  She became the buyer of the year.  She had planned on only staying for three years but she so loved what she was doing she had a hard time leaving.  Finally she decided that she was just too comfortable and she had to leave for the next challenge. 

Chantel became the director for all accessories at Old Navy.  At the time it was a $350 million business.  It was 2006.  She launched jewelry for them.  She was the youngest person in all the jobs she had so far.  As Chantel explained it you are not surrounded by the highest caliber of people so if you understand numbers and merchandise strategy you just fly through the programs.  Sadly retail no longer recruits the best and brightest.  She stayed at Old Navy only one year because a woman came in from Australia to rebrand the company and there was massive turmoil and she realized she did not need to stay as there were other opportunities out there.

LMVH had been calling her for years.  China was taking off and they wanted to build products for that market.  She took the job of Director of luxury jewelry for international marketing strategies catering to the high end Asian consumer.   The sales were ridiculous as that customer had an incredible appetite for luxury brands.  She flew 100,000 miles in six months.  The company decided to move their offices to  and they asked Chantel to move from SF to Hong Kong.  At the same time she was offered an opportunity to move to NYC and run Kenneth Coles jewelry business.  She opted for the latter.

It was then that Chantel gave herself three years before starting her own business.  Entrepreneurial aspirations were being to perculate in her head.  Kenneth Cole had just taken the label back from Liz Claiborne and she was given a free ride to create a job there.  She began to build relationships with all the factories in China to make the jewelry for Kenneth Cole.  Everyone knew she wanted to start her own business and all the powers that be would say to her when you are ready come speak to me.

Ippolita offered her a lot of money to leave Kenneth Cole and go work for them. She had made a decision to start her own company as her next thing and told Ippolita she would come freelance for them as their chief merchant while she worked on her own business on the side.  In the midst of this her husbands company was acquired and he lost his job.  She had also just lost her mom to breast cancer and had a young baby but she had made this decision that now was the time to try and start a company.  She told Ippolita she would work with them and give herself to November to get funding and if she did not she would just come and work for them full time.  On her sons first birthday November 18th she signed her first term sheet and she was off to the races.

Chantel had a very specific idea of what she wanted Choe and Isabel to be.  The economy was falling apart and it was hitting Generation Y so hard.  Education had saved her so she wanted to create opportunities for others through direct sales targeting the 13-30 year old market.  She had raised the money on a power point presentation and so she had to begin to build the brand.  Direct sales in jewelry is usually tied to an archaic software.  She wanted to break the mold and tie everything into not only sales but the integration of social media and team building.  She took the first 9 months building tools that women could run their businesses on.  They had set out to build a clear metrics but wanted to prove the model before they scaled.  Chloe and Isabel designs every piece of jewelry that they sell, they don't own it until they sell it and they distribute all the jewelry for the sales team too.  Each sales person designs their own platform with in the site to drive users to their boutique.  They each curate their own site.  Think of this like a modern day Avon. 

In order to be a merchant on the site there is a process.  You are interviewed, you have to select your own merchandise, you have to be able to build your own business on the site.  Chantel is basically teaching women to become buyers and merchants on Chloe and Isabel's platform. Chloe and Isabel share 30% of the proceeds with each buyer. 

The cost is low so they are able to give the consumers a great price.  They have built a  proprietary social buying platform empowering women to learn and build their own businesses.  They have a facebook page where all the sellers connect.  They have accepted 1000 merchants on the platform with over 30,000 people applying.

Chantel is giving back the years of knowledge she acquired to other young women who are trying to make their own mark in the world.  She is enabling them to learn and make money.  She truly gets excited when the women chat with each other about the money they made and the things they were able to do with that cash.  

She has built a model that worked off line for years and brought it online, aka Avon.  There is nothing quite like the business of retail/wholesale.  I loved hearing about Chantels years in that world and how she finally made the leap to build her own.  A real mentor and woman entrepreneur.   

Power Hour/Step Up Auction

This will be the second year where I get auctioned off at the Power Hour.  It is live now.  The proceeds go thru an organization that celebrates the power of mentors through Step Up.  Step Up is a non-profit organization dedicated to helping women and girls find their full potential through impactful after school programs, professional women connections (aka mentoring) and inspring everyone involved with Step Up to invest in the future of the women they touch.  It is the perfect partnership for these two organizations.

Last year I had lunch with a great guy who bid and won to have lunch with me.  There are a bunch of interesting things to bid on.  Take a look and if one sparks your interest, go for it.

 

40:20 Vision

I was invited several times from Christina Vuleta to attend one of her 40:20 events.  I finally went to one. 

There were about 16 people there that night some younger (aka 20) and some older (aka 40).  The idea is to create a forum where people have questions to ask each other sort of like a speed mentorship evening.  Christina was a strategic marketing person with an interesting career and she is the perfect person to lead the night.  Each question is written down on a large piece of paper and she threads them together so the conversation flows intelligently. 

The questions are mostly about the difficulties of being a woman entrepreneur as you live in your own head so advice is helpful.  It can be anything from how to hire, how to raise money, do you need a founder and how to juggle life.  I have found that women are more honest and open about the issues that they face when they are alone in a room with each other.  I see this at the Womens Entrepreneur Festival. 

Christina is doing a great thing connecting groups of women.  Take a look at Christinas site.  It is something she is passionate about and I love that this is something that she did started not long ago.  Her career led her to this and one day she had an aha moment to help younger women to learn from others who are farther along in their careers.  Learning from others who have been there done that is truly a gift. 

The tag line sums it all up:  advice from 40 something women to 20 something women.  Her site is a place where people can start conversations, share experiences and facilitate mentoring between generations.

Question of the week #26

Maybe twice a year the New York TImes does an insert about Finances.  There was one a few weeks ago and this particular article caught my eye,  Growing Up With a Trust.  The article was about how one particular person realized when he was 18 how much money he actually had.  He had not made it himself and really had zero idea on how to manage it. Both of those revelations can create different kinds of feelings.

Many people grow up with zero idea about managing money.  That is why I chose this question for the week.

There are a companies & e-newsletters that have started to teach people about money & how to manage their money (ie. Mint.com, DailyWorth, LearnVest & GoGirlFinance). Three of those four are aimed at women. How have you taught your kids about money and saving over the years? Or is that not really a top concern / priority of yours and Fred's? And when you were growing up, and into your 20's, was this something you learned on your own or perhaps your parents guided you on?

I happen to be an investor in DailyWorth and I get to see first hand through the endless testimonials we get from women who believe that what they have learned through DW has changed their life.  I am a huge proponent of the content that DW provides and the community that has grown there.  For whatever reason more of these sites are aimed at women than men.  Unfortunately the data shows that women do not pay as much as attention to saving and investing money as men do and companies that speak to investors have ignored women.  DW is changing that. 

I started working at 15.  I got my own car at 16 because it was the only way I could get to and from my jobs solo.  I paid for my own gas, I saved my own money, I purchased items that I wanted.  In college I worked during the year and every summer.  That money allowed me to pay for my needs which were everything besides my education.  I paid my own credit cards and knew full well that going into massive debt and paying the minimum balance was not smart money management in the long run.  I learned really through being put in a position to figure it out.

It is absolutely a top priority for both Fred and me that our kids understand money.  When I read the article about Growing Up With A Trust I can confidentially say that we have not followed any of the supposed rules set which are that your kids do not need to know everything because it is not age appropriate.  Our kids not only know everything but because the conversations around money are transparent they understand the importance of managing money responsibly.  We have given them their own budgets so that they can manage their own starting in high school.  That doesn't mean paying your bills but it does mean that you must manage your life to that number.  When they hit 18 then that number changes and they have to manage to all their own purchases including gas, clothes, restaurants, movies, etc.  They all want to understand more as they get older because they realize that they are going to have to manage money themselves as they get older including paying the bills and rent.  Yet they also understand that you have to invest your money wisely.  Jessica is going to graduate this year from college and she took the initiative to sit us down and discuss money and her career goals.  That conversation is easy and free flowing because we have been having these conversations for years.

When it comes to anything I am a big believer in transparency with your kids creates confidence, trust and respect.  Holding back only creates a wall of secrets.  Kids see all and they know all.  Treat them as you would wanted to be treated yourself and you will create the right relationship around money ( and other things ).  Lay down the expectations from the onset and it gives everyone guidelines. 

 

The Oyster Bar at Grand Central Station

The first time I ate at the Oyster Bar was when we closed on our home in the suburbs.  After the closing Fred, Stu (our lawyer and still good friend) and I walked over to Grand Central and sat at the bar for lunch.  I have been a handful of times to the Oyster Bar since.  The Oyster Bar along with Grand Central Station is about to celebrate its 100 year birthday on April 19th to be exact.  Pretty amazing. 

I had lunch there the other day with a friend.  The food remains the same.  The key is getting oysters, soup, seafood or fish.  Nothing else is that good.  The salad dressing is mediocre and the vegetables are steamed beyond reconigition but the place is just a classic. 

There are three areas to eat.  The main dining hall, the endless curved counter and the bar.  The bar has lots of tables with red and white checkered table clothes. Honestly that is the best area to eat.   It is far right of the main room where the bathrooms are.   Totally old school vibe. 


These oysters here all from the East Coast.  Briny and big just like I love them.

Shrimp cocktail.  Gotta love that they serve all the sauces in plastic or paper containers.

Lobster roll.

I'm ready for summer.

Communitech in Canada

I had the pleasure of speaking to a group of Canandian entrepreneurs last week.  Nabil Fahel who is the Director of Business Services for Communitech was nothing but persistent in getting me to one of their events. Communitech is dedicated to helping companies in the tech space grow and succeed.  They have an accelerator program, they put on events, they have created a community across their country with the hope that everything they do will help make an impact on the economy.

What I really liked about the talk was the event was well run, everything was on time and the group was not too big.  I sat on a table instead of sitting behind it or standing at the podium.  It was very intimate.  I talked a little bit about my journey.  I also spoke about how I see the landscape of investments changing including how every vertical has new companies being built for disruption.  I did not speak long because I just opened it up for questions.  I really like the question and answer forum.  It is more engaging and more than likely the questions asked are ones that other people are really interested in hearing answers for.  Personally I find those events more engaging and for me much more comfortable and fun. 

I was given one of the nicest gifts for speaking to the group from Nabil.  They had all spent time reading my blog before the event and Nabil got me something that could not be more perfect.  A huge bottle of Canadian Maple Syrup, a gift card to Eataly and bowl of hummus.  Nabil is from Lebanon and his parents had a restaurant for 15 years.  His Mom made me a huge bowl of hummus.  Honestly the best hummus I have ever had.  I think there are tiny rye seeds in there but not sure.  I am slowly making my way through the bowl.  Incredibly thoughtful.

 

JC Penney and the every day sale

JC Penney at The Shops at Tanforan in San Bruno, California. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I started my career in retailing and in many ways it has never left my blood.  I learned a tremendous amount from managing to analyzing businesses to strategies for business growth.  Those years have served me well as my career moved forward. 

I am not sure when the One Day Sales began but I lived through many of them.  I'd get to the store by 8 am and leave around midnight.  Here are a few things that I learned.  The customer who shops the One Day Sale is not the loyal customer who comes back a few times a month.  In essence the store had two sets of consumers; bargain hunter and regular priced shopper.

The departments that ran constant sales regardless of the One Day Sale might do it because the merchandise was not selling or they weren't hitting their numbers.  Every day each department worked to beat the numbers from the year before on the same day. The margins go down when the merchandise is not selling at full price but when you are a major department store with large buying power you get the vendor to participate in the cost of the sale.  Many vendors basically give you a check or a massive discount towards the next purchase of goods so you can book those returned dollars against the past season so as a buyer you make your numbers. 

Here is what I learned, this is not a good way to run a business in the long run.  Each consumer has a different mind set.  Some consumers only want to buy something that they perceive to be a deal or discounted.  Other consumers are happy to pay full price if they love it.  Some consumers particularly ones with deeper pockets can be put off by a marked down item because they think there must be a reason it did not sell. Bottom line no matter what type of customer you are if the item is a must have it goes quickly and you buy it at full price.  Unfortunately most of the merchandise manufactured does not fit into that category.

What is interesting to me is that many of the ecommerce models that are being built are one dimensional.  They are going after one particular customer.  I really like these models.  For instance, a site that is only interested in selling product to the top 1% of the population, or a model that is directly devoted to men between 24-40 etc.  What I like about these models is that they do not have to be everything to everybody.  They are targeting one particular consumer. The department stores are built on the model of everything for everybody.  Fifty years ago those regional department stores owned the majority of the market-share.  Many have merged after being purchased to reside under one roof such as Federated Department Stores and with that there is very little differential by store. JW Robinsons was unique to Los Angeles and Dayton Stores were unique to the Midwest but now they are all part of Federated. Their marketshare has slowly shrunk as chains such as the Gap entered the marketplace and now of course ecommerce. 

I do applaud what Ron Johnson was trying to do at JC Penney.  Based on the decisions he made it appears as he was trying to break the old model and move it into a place where the JC Penney customer was loyal to well priced inventory with style.  I remember when I was at Macys the powers that be thought that Macys should start to trade up and capture a higher end customer.  It was a disaster because that was not the person walking in the door and they were losing their bread and butter.  Maybe that was Johnsons strategy.  Now that he has been ousted there is one thing that is obvious is that JC Penney will return to the days of the constant sale to get the customer in the door to buy low margin items in bulk so that they can keep the stock price up and hope that they will capture that small piece of the market each year. 

I do believe that at one point the department store chains will prove that like Lehman they are not too big to fail.

Kellee James, Mercaris, Woman Entrepreneur

Kellee sent me an email with her deck attached and it sparked my interest.  She had only a few investors, some big players, and my first question to her was, "how did you find me"?  She just laughed.  What sparked my interest is what she has built.  Mercaris is market data service and online tracking program for organic food and non-GMO commodities.   The organic food market is expanding rapidly and the information available to buyers, sellers and farmers is minimal.  Data allows every piece of the pie to make informed decisions about their business.  The organic food market is about $31 billion dollars today and it is only getting bigger. 

Kellee grew up as an Army brat.  Although she was born at Ft Bragg she moved about seven times over the course of her life.  The longest stint was in Texas where she went from 7-10th grade.  She moved to Kentucky next to finish high school.  Her father started in the infantry and then the Army paid him to go to medical school so he returned as an Army doctor.  Now he is the private world practicing as an orthopedic surgeon.  Her mother is originally from the Bahamas and grew up in the Bronx.  All that moving is not easy for the other half to have a career so Kellees Mom provided the back end support for the family.  

Kellee stayed in Kentucky and went to University of Kentucky.  She chose that school because they have an excellent horse riding program.  Kellee had it in her head that she was going to be the first African American horse rider to make it to the Olympics.  That was always the plan.  She had been riding from a young age.  She told her parents she was going to bag college and launch her riding career but that was given a big nix and so UK is where she went and majored in Spanish. 

When Kellee graduated she landed the dream job of working with a world reknown horse trainer.  Eight weeks into the job she was riding a clients horse when the horse flipped and she broke her back.  That was the beginning of the end of her riding career.  She had surgery, six months of rehab and then tried to get back on the horse.  She landed her next job in the Netherlands where many of the top horse trainers reside.  It did not take Kellee long to realize she would never get back to the level she was at before the accident.  it was time for plan B but there never was a plan B.

She went home which at this point was in North Carolina.  She applied to graduate school and taught riding lessons while trying to figure out the next step.  She was accepted into a three year program at American University where you get your MBA and a Masters in International Development.  Her first experience abroad was her sophomore years spending a semester in Spain and some time in Argentina.  She spoke Spanish fluently.  In North Carolina there were a lot of Spanish speaking migrant workers.  There were a variety of outreach programs down there but she did not know how to run an organization.  Kellee thought the dual degree could be useful in building economic development.

The summer after her first year she went to Honduras to work for the Inter American Foundation.  It was 2001/2002 when the coffee prices were plumeting.  She witnessed farmers pull their kids out of schools because they could not afford them.  The solution was to get the farmers into specialty coffees which were booming so they were not at the mercy of international low end markets.  It was her first foray into the commodity market.  She went back the next time to Brazil, learned Portugese and learned about sugar commodities. 

She got really into these marketplaces.  Kellee came back and wrote her thesis on how to use commodity markets to achieve environmental goals.  She interviewed Richard Sander in Chicago who was starting the Chicago Climate Exchange.  He was providing data to a brand new market letting people trade carbon credits.  They were creating market incentives for people to reduce the carbon footprint.  He told her that they should stay in touch.  Kellee said she kept in touch so much he finaly said come and work for me when you graduate.

It was 2005 when she graduated and went to work for the CCX.  During the five years she was there the CCX got into other environmental derivatives.  It was an amazing experience because it was not only interesting but there was a start-up culture to what she was doing. She did everything from writing rules and analyzing data.  Kellee left for a one year sabbatical because she had started working on the Obama campaign and when he was elected she was appointed to be a White House Fellow.  She said it was an amazing experience that if anyone who is in their late 20's can afford to take off and be a fellow for one year at the White House they should.  She consulted for the Secretary of Agriculture. 

During the year Kellee figured she would watch the Senate pass a huge climate exchange law but in the end it fizzled out in legislation.  Her fellowship was extended three months because she was working on the deep horizon oil spill.  She assumed after the fellowship was over she would return to CCX but they were acquired.  They had raised $70m at the onset and then sold for $600m six years later only having 16 employees.  She had some options and made a nice check that gave her the freedom to take some time to think about what was next.

Back in graduate school Kellee had written a paper on why can't we have a futures market for organic commodities.  She spent the next year essentially with that question guiding her.  It was 2011.  She started off going to a few strategics to pay her for look at the organic marketplace as a research consultant.  JP Morgan was one of the companies interested and paid her to do this.  After a year she presented the report which had a fair amount of research.  The answer is that there is a gaping hole on imports, exports, farmland, or costs of the organic market.  People and companies are using organic products but one example of market inefficiencies is that it is difficult to even get insurance for organic crops because there is no data available except old USDA reports. 

Kellee went back to the people behind CCX and asked if they would be interested in this area.  They told her that a $31B market is peanuts to them but there is a real business here to be developed.  People would pay money to have the right data.  So she launched Mercaris.

Whole Foods is her first data subscriber.  They buy tons of organic products to make their own products and need the data.  They are concerned that the supply won't even keep up with the demand.  Mercaris will have different price points based on the data needed for each customer.  Each user gets charged on how they use the data.  Farmers are going to use it one way and Fortune 500 food companies will use it another.   

Smart business that is filling a void in a system that is on a trajectory upward.  In full disclosure, I will be a full fledged investor in Mercaris this week.