Jorge Heraud, Blue River Technology | Rewriting global agriculture with robotics and AI

The audio and video are in Spanish. These notes are a translation.

Today I spoke with Jorge Heraud, cofounder and former CEO of Blue River Technology, a company that pioneered the application of robotics in agriculture. Founded in 2011, Blue River developed a robotic attachment for tractors that uses artificial intelligence to identify weeds and spray them with herbicide in a precise way, reducing chemical use by 90%. This innovative approach drew the attention of major investors such as Khosla Ventures and Eric Schmidt, and in 2017, John Deere acquired Blue River for $300 million.

After the acquisition by John Deere, the largest tractor company in the world, Jorge took on the role of director of automation, leading the creation of intelligent machines for agriculture and construction. His story is a testament to the potential of Latin American technology to have an impact on global markets.

Youtube Timestamps*

[2:12] - Origins of Entrepreneurship

Jorge was exposed to the intersection of agriculture and automation from a young age.

Where Jorge grew up and how he spent his childhood, which exposed him to these spaces.

Jorge’s quote: “Good entrepreneurs have many options, and starting a company is not necessarily the best one.”

When Jorge decided to start a company, his wife was pregnant and he had a scholarship he would have to repay if he did not go back to his old job.

How does Jorge think about the risk of starting a company?

Around 2010, Jorge’s first business idea was to use technology to make autonomous vehicles, and he ended up pivoting to using that technology on agricultural tractors.

Why did Jorge drop that initial idea? What did he learn from that decision?

Jorge took advantage of two major technological shifts: neural networks and Nvidia GPUs.

How Jorge came to identify that these technologies could be applied to the problem he was trying to solve. How can a business position itself to take advantage of a technological shift?

[18:36] - Fundraising and Market

Initially, Blue River started focused on a small market like lettuce, when there were other larger markets such as cotton or soy.

Why did Jorge and his team choose to start with this small market?

Eventually, the lettuce market pitch was not enough to attract more investors, and Jorge brought in a storytelling advisor to help them redesign their pitch.

Why was the initial pitch not resonating with investors, and what were the most important changes they made to the pitch?
When Jorge advises founders, where do they usually fall short when designing the stories of their companies?

[23:19] - Problem Validation

Before building the product, Jorge started by doing a “roadshow,” talking with farmers, while taking the Stanford course taught by Steve Blank, the author of Lean Startup and one of the leading voices on talking to customers.

When you still have nothing to show:

What has Jorge learned about how to talk with potential customers? What kinds of questions should you ask? What questions should you NOT ask?
How does Jorge actually measure that a pain is important and that there is a significant willingness to pay?

They rented a tractor, put a camera on the back, and showed it to a farmer, explaining what the product would eventually do.

How does Jorge communicate the value proposition of an incomplete product?

Hardware business models tend to get commoditized. For example, from 2017 to 2019, there was a boom in drone startups focused on agriculture.

What has Jorge learned about how to choose the “best” business model for hardware?

[42:25] - The Future of Automation

What are the most common and interesting discussions Jorge is having about robotics with other professionals in the industry?
How are large language models (LLMs) changing the landscape of what is possible?

[45:01] - Final Questions

What are the most important questions Jorge does not have answers to today?
When Jorge thinks about his work, what is something people are trying to disrupt that he thinks will actually never change?