Startups love to tackle big problems in entrenched industries, but when it comes to the biggest problems, like say the Global Climate Crisis, sometimes it can be hard to find a new way to solve the problem. Our guest today, Devon Wright, Founder and CEO of Lumo, a smart irrigation system that helps growers save water, improve crop quality, and reduce costs. We talk to Devon about what Lumo is doing and how other startups can help solve the climate crisis.
About Devon Wright:
Devon Wright founded Lumo. Our mission is to massively improve fresh water efficiency for humanity. Our focus is on helping growers optimize their irrigation to continue to meet our growing food demand with an increasingly volatile water supply.
Prior to this, he co-founded Turnstyle Solutions and grew it to one of the largest local marketing platforms of its kind before being acquired by Yelp in 2017. He helped build and run the Yelp Restaurants division until 2022.
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In this episode we discuss:
02:44 Devon’s background and how he got here
05:47 How capitalizing on opportunities has helped his career
07:14 Challenges he’s faced as a non-technical founder
11:05 The perils of outsourcing versus trying to make it work yourself
13:26 How Devon found himself living on a farm
17:10 Why the pandemic helped spur his interest in sustainable farming
21:02 How Lumo came to be from Devon’s person need for a better solution to irrigation
26:08 The prevalence of manual watering in 2022
27:35 Building the early prototypes
32:38 How Lumo actually works
33:54 Where Devon found his co-founders
38:48 Why speed to market is so important to founding a company
40:24 Lumo’s recent fundraising round led by Fallline Capital
42:53 The longterm vision of Lumo
Fast Favorites:
🎙- Podcast: My Climate Journey (MCJ)
📰- Favourite Newsletter/Blog: Wine Industry Advisor
📲- Favourite Tech Gadget: Arduino
📈- Favourite New Trend: Substack and direct content monetization
📚- Favourite Book: “Dreamt Land” by Mark Arax and “The Water Paradox” by Ed Barbier
🤔- Favourite Life Lesson: Follow your heart. Do what you care most about. Your passion is your biggest asset
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Lumo's Devon Wright on how Startups Can Solve The Climate Crisis