Food startups Silicon Valley

Local Food Lab Expands, Connects Food Entrepreneurs Across the Globe
By Stewart Putney

Silicon Valley is well known as a unique hotbed of innovation, where generations of entrepreneurs from across the globe connect and dream up the next big thing. Usually when we discuss Silicon Valley we think of technological innovations: microprocessors, the web, mobile phones and social networking. But these days, that spirit of innovation and experimentation extends to sustainable food and farming, and a Silicon Valley “startup” Local Food Lab is leading the charge.

“We worked with over 30 startups, connected them with over 200 mentors and taught them a quick ‘mini MBA’” to help launch their businesses, says Zajonc. “It was similar to a tech incubator, but we worked on a tuition basis, rather than taking equity.”

And while working directly with food entrepreneurs fulfilled their core mission, like most Silicon Valley startups Local Food Lab wanted to expand their audience and the scope of their business.

Recently, Local Food Lab launched their version 2.0, an online version of their incubator that is available worldwide. Based on online, user-created “portfolios, ” food and farm businesses can showcase their business and skills and connect with other professionals in their local area or anywhere across the globe. Portfolios are linked on the Local Food Lab website, but are also fully “social” with connections to Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.

“Our goal with Local Food Lab v2.0 is to support and connect the people of the good food movement by providing them with a beautiful, free and easy way to promote their work while building capacity for new careers in good food and farming, ” says Zajonc.

And building “capacity”—the knowledge, supporting management and mentoring required for businesses to succeed—is the key for Zajonc.

“If you Kickstart $200k without knowing what you are doing, that money will be wasted. The missing link is team capacity and mentoring, ” she says. “We really want to help this movement. We were food entrepreneurs ourselves; we know how hard it is.”

And Zajonc indeed knows how hard it is to be an entrepreneur. Originally she founded a food startup in Central America, but while she worked diligently, success was hard to come by. Galvanized by the experience, Zajonc took “a long detour” to Columbia Business School and then worked with Aguilar, also a founder of numerous food startups, to launch Local Food Lab.

By most accounts, their timing is good. The “good food” movement is growing and a new generation of young professionals are looking for careers in food and farming. “All these young people say this is a new career path for me. That is where we are focused: making this a career option and making it sustainable.”

The rapidly expanding list of portfolios on display at Local Food lab shows a range of potential opportunities and innovations, from food “hackathons, ” good food packaging design and urban agriculture all the way to edible bug companies. And the portfolios aren’t just in Silicon Valley, but include businesses from across America and from as far away as Uruguay.