On this episode of WellBuilt, Jon spoke to Jacob Pechenik, Founder & CEO of Lettuce Grow. 

Lettuce Grow makes it easy to grow your own fruits and veggies at home with a self-watering & fertilizing hydroponic vertical tower they call their Farmstand. 

In their conversation, they got into how becoming a father got Jacob food-obsessed, and how this passion drove him to pivot his career from tech & entertainment to the food system. 

Witnessing issues of food waste firsthand on a farm, and observing how transporting produce not only impacted the food’s quality and freshness, but that it also is not very environmentally friendly, he began ideating on what the world would like if more people grew their own food at home. 

Instead of growing crops to their full maturity, Lettuce Grow sends their Farmstand customers ready-to-plant seedlings. These urban grow operations are localized, which allows them to cut down the delivery time and optimize for the produce’s freshness. They’re also more efficient from a real estate perspective, since the plants are smaller in size.

Beyond Lettuce Grow’s story, they got into Jacob’s view on financing and pivoting a business, its relationship to parenting, and finally his passion for polo :horse_racing:

Enjoy!