Today we’d like to introduce you to Roman Gonzalez.
Hi Roman, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
I’m originally from Corpus Christi, TX, and was always a curious kid, building and leading organizations, always needing to be different. I was always interested in the big questions of life, even from an early age. Why are we here, how do we live a meaningful life, how do we find happiness? These questions took me far away to Brown University to study philosophy and screenwriting. I wanted to be a professor, make difficult things easy to understand to make people’s lives fuller. That also started my career in video production in marketing. Over time I became more interested not just in storytelling but in how to solve the fundamental problems on there in the world. Design thinking, and the design process, showed me a framework for doing that, so I became a user experience designer and researcher, and I’ve been doing that the last seven years. In this time, as I’d started to become interested in cooking in food – food was reliably good and I could count on it to make me happy – I tried my hand at growing my own food and it was just weirdly difficult for something we’ve done for 20,000 years. It occurred to me that this is an onboarding problem that, if solved, could help fundamentally reconnect people to their food and where it came from. Plants are kinda magic in a way that people don’t realize, so I kinda found that path to impact I’d been looking for. So I used my storytelling background, my media background, and my tech + product background to set out and build Gardenio.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
It has in no way been a smooth road. One of the things that people really underestimate is how important capital is to even figuring out if a business is going to work. We’ve always struggled with capital, tried to bootstrap until we could prove some things out. I was lucky enough to have a tech job that paid me all right while I did the startup on the side. Investors will say, “we want you to go full time” but then you go full time and they still don’t write checks. Which is another lesson – listen to very few people. Listen to the most relevant folks to your business. Most people, even if well-intended, can’t give good advice and have baseless opinions that are just going to distract you. Push people to give you better advice. Team is always a struggle as well. We’ve been lucky enough to have over 75 folks come through the Gardenio doors over the years and donate their time. We’re really proud of that. But finding folks who have the will and ability to join the team long-term is a really difficult things to find. I’m very lucky to have Chelsea Shaw, our co-founder, who has built all the tech you see at Gardenio. She’s incredible. Lastly, at first I didn’t have the circles of friends who were in similar positions, so it was difficult to relate to other people. My friends didn’t understand what I was doing. Now I have tons of founder friends, my partner works in startups, and it’s significantly helped my mental health to be able to call them, talk about the struggles, and just have them understand why I’d sacrifice so much for something.
We’ve been impressed with Gardenio, but for folks who might not be as familiar, what can you share with them about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
Gardenio is a new kind of garden club membership for new food growers. We send you everything you need to grow your own organic food every three months, with app-based tools and support to help you as you grow. Your first season, you get three plantkits, each containing a container made out of rice hulls (no plastic), a live organic plant, premium soil and mulch to match, and a plant guide – all matched to you and your setup. And if your plant dies for any reason in the first few months, we’ll send you new ones as often as you need. Called infinite lives. Our app connects you to localized information, tools, and support to help you as you grow.
This is different from anything out there for a few reasons – reason one, we don’t use any plastic packaging or pots ourselves. Two: we are committed to soil gardening because soil is amazing and so important and also really forgiving. That’s what’s actually so amazing, soil is like a little engine of biology, I’m wowed by it all the time. We want other people to know that. Three: we’re the only folks who support you after you grow. Four: we’re the only folks sending you stuff and supporting you with an app. Five: We’re super real people, not some Harvard trust fund assholes shoving millennial bullshit down your throat.
As the Founder and CEO of a three person team, I cover a lot of ground. I design everything for the company – product, marketing, etc. I’m in charge of bringing on team, managing financials, admin, and paperwork. I’m working always to serve my other teammates by unblocking any challenges they’re running into, connecting them to my network, etc. I’m also in charge of all things marketing. Bayan Rabbani is our operations director, in charge of making sure folks get their boxes. Chelsea Shaw runs everything tech. I’d be a loser without them.
For being a small, small team, I’ve really proud of the brand we’ve been able to build. We’re silly, playful, fun, approachable, but still sincere and purposeful. The truest joy of Gardenio may be feeling like, for the first time in the professional world, I’m getting to be myself and people are resonating with that. There’s a real, earnest, human core to Gardenio. We just know the world, and plants, are too cool to be too serious or bummed out all the time.
I think one thing I wish more people knew is just how small we are, how local we are, and just how much work goes into this whole project. We’re taking care of plants out of a front yard. We’re putting together boxes in my living room with friends who are helping for beer and tacos. We’re fielding plant support questions, and all the plant stuff is like one in a half people. I’m amazed at how much we’re able to do and working all the time to make it better.
Is there any advice you’d like to share with our readers who might just be starting out?
In startup, you never fail, you learn! You’re constantly running experiments because you’re genuinely curious how to make your business work. It’s humbling and exciting. You don’t have to know all the right answers, you just have to run the right processes to find the answers and surround yourself with smart, experienced folks who will help unblock you.
I’m not gonna lie, this is a really tough game for founders of color or anyone else with historically lower access to capital. Less than 3% of all venture capital goes to founders of color. That’s wild. It’s supposedly getting better. But the best thing you can do in the face of that is rely on the communities around you, build good will, add value, be a friend, and create a space where people want to come help you because they believe in what you’re doing. I’m so grateful to all the friends we’ve made, how they’ve been able to come through when we really needed them. I’m doing this for them more than anybody. You can’t work with what you don’t have. You can only work with what you have. Relationships are key.
Additionally, find accelerators like Divinc – they have incredible networks that will orient you to the startup scene if you’re not from it. Choose your advisors carefully. Be frugal with your equity in the early days. Don’t be afraid of sounding silly – you’ll learn more and more by asking questions.
Pricing:
- $75 for your first season of Gardenio ($25 per plantkit)
- $35 every season after that for a new plantkit
- New $35/3 months offering for single plantkit
Contact Info:
- Email: rg@growgardenio.com
- Website: https://www.growgardenio.com
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/growgardenio
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/growgardenio
- Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/growgardenio
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/user/growgardenio
