Marissa Cuevas, MicroTerra | Solving the Water Crisis, Building Products from Science, and Selling to Farmers

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

Few problems are as complex as the water crisis, but today’s guest is using science and technology to try to solve it.

Marissa Cuevas is CEO and cofounder of MicroTerra, a biotechnology startup that grows aquatic plants on existing fish farms. In this way, it produces ingredients for the food industry in a scalable way, while reducing the water pollution generated by aquaculture.

We talked about the process of taking a science-based product from the lab to the field in order to get their first customers. Marissa also told us her most effective strategies for selling to farmers and promoting the adoption of a technology with a positive impact on the environment.

MicroTerra has raised close to 3 million dollars from investors such as SOSV, The Yield Lab, and Indie Bio

Youtube Timestamps*

[1:21] - The Water Problem

How did Marissa arrive at the fascinating world of startups?
Perhaps the main source of inspiration for your career is the water crisis. What are its parts, and where do the greatest number of problems originate?
Marissa commented in a previous interview that, ironically, the UN’s declaration of water as a human right slows or limits the birth of innovative or technological solutions to the water problem. How, in practice, does this declaration reduce investment in innovation for water?
At MicroTerra they decided to take on water use in agriculture. Why is agriculture a key sector in this problem, and why has there been so little innovation?

[19:40] - Creating Products with Science

What was MicroTerra’s initial idea, the step by step to turn it into a product, and at what moment did they feel ready to take it into the real world?
How did Marissa start contacting farmers? What was their reaction, and how easy was it to convince them to buy or pilot her solution?
What was the validation process like: What kinds of questions did Marissa ask them? How often did she show them an iteration of the product before sending it?

[40:38] - Selling to Farmers

Airbnb was inspiration for Marissa’s new business model. How has MicroTerra’s business model changed, and how has it affected her relationship with farmers?
What has Marissa learned over these years about how to sell to farmers and present them with a value proposition? What mistakes do you think most people make?
How Marissa thinks about the challenges of scaling MicroTerra. How much of it has to do with sales strategy and go to market, versus her ability to create a product that aligns incentives?

[1:03:05] - Rapid-Fire Questions

If she had to start a company from scratch, what is the main piece of advice Marissa would give herself?
What has been the most influential book on Marissa’s path through the world of startups?
Changes Marissa would like to see in Latin America’s startup ecosystem