Paul Mikesell, founder and CEO of Carbon Robotics, discusses the scientific mechanism of laser weeding and the company's competitive position in the market.
Opinion
Mikesell: Uber was more innovative under Travis Kalanick
“And this was in the Travis Kalanick days, which, in which Uber was, I think, a lot more innovative and a lot more willing to try new things, right?”
Opinion
Mikesell: San Francisco Tech Became Derivative 'SaaS for SaaS' by 2018
“I felt like San Francisco was getting kind of played out. Honestly, I was, I wanted to find something else interesting to do. Everything seemed like it was kind of a copy of a copy of a copy. Some other, you know, SAS for SAS companies doing SAS”
Prediction Not checkable as stated
Mikesell: Future startups will feature a higher proportion of hardware companies
“So I think we're at the point now where everything from now on is going to have to be more of a combination of software and hardware. We're, I'm not saying that there will be no innovative pure software companies. Of course there will. What I'm saying is there…”
Prediction Didn’t hold up
Mikesell: Carbon Robotics will likely IPO within one to two years
“We seem like we're on the path, you know, where we keep doing what we're doing. We'll probably have an IPO in the next. You're too, you know, we'll, we'll, yes, we'll have a billion dollar outcome here that looks more likely every day.”
Opinion
Mikesell: Farmers are highly innovative and eager to adopt robotics
“And what I learned through this process was that farmers are a really strong business people. They have to be because all the ones who aren't have gone out of business. And even some of the ones who are really good have gone out of business, right? It's a toug…”
Insight
Mikesell: Good startup ideas go unfunded due to poor storytelling
“And there are a lot of good ideas that never get funded, not because there's something wrong with the idea, just because the founders never figured out how to tell the story appropriately.”