Just Vertical Canada

This interview details Just Vertical, an indoor farming technology company based in Canada. The interview is with Kevin Jakiela, co-founder of Just Vertical.

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What is the origin story of Just Vertical?‍

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I am a chemist and botanist and co-founded the company with my business partner Conner Tidd after completing our master's degrees at the University of Toronto. While Conner handles the business finance side, I focus on the technology and plant aspects of the business.

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Prior to starting Just Vertical, I researched various technologies in the Canadian Arctic related to indoor food production, and that experience helped us design our company's technology. My research focused on growing food to combat food insecurity using hydroponics. However, hydroponics has some limitations and pitfalls that prevent it from providing a complete and healthy nutritional diet. Despite this, I leveraged the knowledge I gained from my research and combined it with other technologies to create our product.

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Our company was established in Canada in 2017, and we currently sell our products in Canada and the US, with occasional special orders globally to other countries. After raising a small angel round, we began selling our products formally, which took around two years from prototyping to semi-commercialization. Since then, we have experienced significant growth, with a 300% year-over-year increase in sales.

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Our journey began with a Styrofoam prototype and progressed to using pipes and materials from Home Depot for our initial design. I enjoy the DIY aspect of designing our technology. However, we eventually opened a woodworking manufacturing facility two hours west of Toronto to produce our products on a larger scale. We filed several patents for our vertical garden, which can easily transition to commercial farming using our modular Grow towers. Our facility at one point employed almost 20 full-time workers.

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To facilitate scaling, we recently redesigned our product using vacuum form, plastic extrusions, and recycled plastic manufacturing techniques to be easily assembled on site. The new design is more modern than our previous wooden design. Overall, we have come a long way since our humble beginnings, and we continue to strive for innovation and growth in the industry.

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What are the biggest challenges?‍

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A couple of years ago, the most significant concerns were shipping rates and times, particularly when it came to shipping products from overseas. At one point, it cost us up to $40,000 to bring a 40-foot container with products here. However, things have improved, and shipping costs now range from $5,000 to $8,000, while lead times have decreased significantly.

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Presently, our primary challenge is scaling up our business model as we are in the scale-up phase of our business. We have expanded into various marketplaces such as Amazon, Indigo, and BestBuy and are looking to grow significantly in the US and globally.

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In the future, we aim to increase our commercial product line, which is currently purchased by indoor farmers and other commercial indoor vertical farming businesses. Our core technology serves as the central component of their hardware and farms. Recently, we developed a modular indoor edible Greenwall, which is a scalable four-by-four unit that can grow food and transition to tropical plants with ease. It can adapt to different environments such as the main foyer of an office or the back kitchen of a cafeteria in a school, depending on what the user wants to grow.

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Our current focus is on scaling up the commercial side of the business and building better processes to expand our network. We are currently raising funds to achieve this goal.

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Over the past five years, we have overcome the significant challenges of getting everything working as it should in terms of manufacturing, quality, and core KPIs. Now we are looking to refine our processes and improve our products further.

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What is unique about Just Vertical compared to competitors?‍

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Our products are designed with a focus on both aesthetic appeal and functionality. We have converted customers who previously purchased competitors' products, and many have chosen our products as their next purchase. Many people have a Click and Grow in their garden but we were looking for something a little bit bigger that could accommodate larger food growth.

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We have invested significant time and effort into industrial design, attending trade shows, and seeking customer feedback. Our aim was to create products that are not only modern and elegant but also visually unobtrusive in various settings such as homes, schools, restaurants, and libraries.

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One of our key competitive advantages is the modularity of our products. Customers can choose from different sizes, and we can recommend direct product lines or offer consulting services to ensure their needs are met.

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We also prioritize the nutritional value of our products. Our in-house lab conducts research on how to make fruits and vegetables more nutritionally dense. We aim to improve the quality of food, especially in remote and indigenous communities where it matters most.

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Our crop recipes are designed to cater to the unique needs of our customers, offering a yield that is both nutritious and satisfying. We are constantly developing new recipes and seeing positive results.

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What is the impact of the company so far (revenue, customer quantity, etc)?‍

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There are several ways we measure quality both internally for manufacturing and externally for customer support. One aspect of post-purchase quality is ensuring that products are defect-free and arrive with all the necessary parts. We prioritize efficient and timely customer service, which leads to satisfied customers who are more likely to refer others to our products. We invest in clean manufacturing techniques which increases our sustainability efforts which in turn, enhances the customer experience and product longevity.

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We track a variety of key performance indicators (KPIs) to measure our sustainability efforts, including water and energy savings, and the amount of food we grow internally. We strive to uphold sustainability standards across all aspects of our business to offer customers not only a high-quality product but also a good place it comes from. We are currently focused on serving our over 2000 customers, primarily in Canada, but with plans to expand into the US market.

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Our product line includes a diverse range of offerings, from edible Greenwalls to indoor botanical gardens to warehouses. We are sold out for the year in terms of inbound commercial sales, which we view as a positive problem to have. While we specialize in a broad range of products, we are looking to streamline our engineering processes to be more commercially viable, particularly in the US market where we are expanding our customer base.

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At present, approximately 5-10% of our sales are in the US, while the majority are in Canada. We have recently partnered with several US companies to speed up our delivery times and maintain our high-quality standards. Our team consists of 12 full-time employees and three part-time contractors.

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What have you learned since starting the company?‍

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I believe that some of the most significant things that come to mind are somewhat cliché, but with hindsight being 20/20, many entrepreneurs and business leaders say things like "if I could do it again" or "If I had a crystal ball." This is true regardless of the industry because starting a business is chaotic and there is so much to it. However, having processes, consistency, and scheduling is essential to graduating from a startup to an actual business. This is something that any entrepreneur or startup should strive for, and it is the same as what a big corporation or business would have in place.

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Startups and entrepreneurs should strive to achieve these elements too, even though it may seem chaotic in the beginning. Having safety nets in place is critical for any supply chain, as unforeseen events can affect our production and cause delays. We place great importance on customer experience, as customers expect items to work well and be delivered on time. In hindsight, I realize that customer experience should have been a top priority from the start.

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Over the years, I have learned that things always seem to happen at the most inopportune times, and we must exercise patience and stick to our strategic plan. While it is essential to be flexible, we must stick to our annual plan and work toward our long-term goals. Holding everyone accountable (we call it the "good guy" factor) and doing good in decision-making is vital in building a successful business. We aim to create a product that people consistently want over the years, and we have achieved market traction without relying heavily on external funding.

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We have taken a slow approach to building our business, bootstrapping most of the way and raising very little capital. However, having strong foundations and fundamentals in place has helped us gain market traction and grow steadily. Throwing money at a problem does not solve it, and raising a lot of money can often lead to bigger problems. We must be patient and focus on the long-term growth of our business, while also prioritizing customer experience and making decisions with good intentions.

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‍How can people learn more about the company?‍‍

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Our website is the best way to connect with us. People can visit Just Vertical at www.justvertical.com. They will find more information about the company, its products, and services. They can also find contact information, including a contact form that they can fill out to send us a message.

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‍Email Just Vertical: People can send an email to Just Vertical at sales@justvertical.com. This is the general email address for the company, and they can use it to ask questions or request information.

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