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Insider Advice for Hydroponic Product Startups · Hydroponics Daily

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  Hello there and welcome back to
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  Hydroponics Daily, your go-to podcast for everything soilless cultivation.
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  I'm your host Dr. Russell Sharp, the founder of Utrema Limited.
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  We're a manufacturer of fertilizers, biostimulants and biopesticides based in the United Kingdom and.
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  I've had some recent conversations or my colleagues have
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  had some recent conversations at grow shops in the UK and
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  that spurred me on to think about a good topic for this
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  podcast which is advice for people looking to
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  get into the hydroponic sector with their own products to
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  launch a product now that might be a widget some sort
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  of hardware might be some software or it could be a
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  nutrient product or something like that you know something in
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  a bottle and that's where i can give some advice in
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  hydroponics so the first thing i would
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  say is that in the uk at the moment it's a quiet
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  market and just as a rising
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  tide lifts all boats and ebb
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  tide you know sinks all boats and
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  scuppers all boats and so really
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  it's very very quiet and so to launch a product
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  then is going to be difficult but it
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  means people are diverted elsewhere people are looking elsewhere people are
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  not putting in as much effort into hydroponics so there could be an opportunity
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  there certainly utreema we're not putting much effort into hydroponics at the
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  moment we're not launching new products because it's not a buoyant market so
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  you people like us you could take advantage of us and if you've got a really
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  good idea for a product the other problem with a.
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  Quiet market is that the people who are already established
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  are fighting like cats for what resources that are available and so there's
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  a lot of infighting and i've told my guys to just stay out of grow shops for
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  as much unless they need to go into fulfill orders and one of the things that
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  was mentioned, which in this sort of cattiness was...
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  A lot of people don't like me when they speak to people like Matthew.
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  They just find me difficult to get on with. And I think that's one of the key
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  things you need to have in hydroponics is, and that is the ability to say no to people.
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  And I think that's where I've got this reputation for being difficult to deal
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  with is because so many people have an idea for a range of fertilizers,
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  nutrients, or some product, and they want us to make it.
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  And I say, no, they like get really offended
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  and they're like what do you mean no you're you're
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  a company you should sell you you make products for other
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  people why can't you make us this idea of
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  products and there's a number of reasons why i say no uh one
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  i think it's a shit product it might be just
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  not very good uh but normally it's
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  because they want to copy somebody else's product they'll say
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  can you copy canna risotonic
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  or can you copy canna boost you
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  know and always if you could sell if you
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  could make a copy of this i could sell millions i
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  could sell millions and that's not true if you
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  had the exclusive distribution for canna risotonic
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  then yes you could sell millions
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  but a copy of canna risotonic is not going to sell copies
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  don't sell as well as the original product even when you discount and if you
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  discount that people will perceive it as not as good as the original the high
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  price is what people many people perceive as a premium there are lots of products
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  out there that are really really simple and are crap but because people put a high price on them.
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  People think they must be good it's the bizarre psychology of pricing the other
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  reason why a lot of people don't
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  like me in the hydroponics that day is because i call out the bullshits.
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  Famous example being monosilicic acid. No product contains monosilicic acid,
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  no matter what the companies out there say they do.
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  Silicone products break down, soluble silicon breaks down to monosilicic acid once it's diluted.
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  So the very, very angry people who sell polymerized silicon in organic solvents
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  will say, that's not true, and things like that.
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  But yeah, that's the other reason a lot of people in the hydroponics sector
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  do not like me so what other advice would i give you if i
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  was getting into hydroponics it would be you've got to have a product that's
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  differentiated it's got to have address
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  a real problem for growers and people might say they want to buy something as
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  well and you might have the best product in the world but it doesn't mean that
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  people are going to buy it and just because they say they're going to buy it
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  doesn't mean that they actually are going to put their hand in their pocket
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  for it great example is our product Liquid Gold.
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  Best product, I think, out there. It's our hero product. I love it.
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  I invented it. It took me years to make.
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  But in the UK, it's got a very niche following. It's not a massive product.
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  It's got every nutrient the plants need. It dechlorinates. It's got a biostimulant
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  in it. It's fantastic. It's pH perfect.
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  Not only that, it drags the pH back to the sweet spot.
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  And in America, it sells really well. And in Australia, under a different brand
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  name, it sells really well. And same in America.
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  But in the UK, it doesn't sell well. I thought that would be the one that makes me millions.
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  Other products in other sectors are
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  much simpler and but address different
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  problems and different sort of real pain points for growers
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  and horticulturalists and things like that so we're
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  making our money in other sectors with products that are not as good as liquid
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  gold and our other products so yeah it's
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  a strange one that you you might think you've got a great product but until
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  you get out there and try and sell it you'll never know and that's one of
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  the key things if you're trying to launch in this sector
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  is really work hard on your business and
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  and and be all in and give a hundred percent to your business but don't give
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  everything to one product don't bet the house on one product bet the house on
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  one company your company but don't bet the house on one product being a success
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  because i've launched probably a hundred products and.
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  Less than 10 i would describe as being our
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  winners and they those that you
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  know we're making an absolute ton on fire
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  products and the rest just sort of sit there and
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  we've we've stopped selling to people and that's
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  another good thing is is you know people come to us and they want bespoke blends
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  that are just going to be illegal they want things that are going to kill pests
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  and diseases especially in lawn care and in golf course and sports care and
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  they get really angry start swearing at us when they say no you promise this
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  and you might promise to do something for somebody,
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  in july and then it comes to november they're like right we want this now and
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  you're like yeah that was in july now it's november the world has changed the
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  world has moved on and you are free to say no and that will save you so much
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  time and effort if you just say no,
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  and you'll upset a lot of people like I do, but you'll be making money and you'll
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  be a success. So always be willing to say no.
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  And hydroponics is just like any other sector. The other piece of advice is
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  be careful with your marketing budget.
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  A lot of people will try and take vast quantities of money from you,
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  especially old media, some magazines, trade shows, things like that.
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  Whereas things like podcasts and social
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  media are a much more bang for
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  your book and a quick return on investment so if you're thinking of
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  setting up a podcast or you want advice on anything like
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  that then let me know with ai now you
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  can do a lot of research already before you launch a product especially around
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  the the rules and regulations for certain products in the uk fertilizer regulations
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  have been have been good recently but if you were to launch say a nutrient line
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  in america you might be able to sell it to a few growers without registration
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  but As soon as you start to market that product and sell it,
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  you need to have a registration.
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  And in the States where you sell it, otherwise massive fines and nothing to be joked about.
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  So that would be a good piece of advice. Know your market, start with products
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  that have got low regulatory burdens because you don't want to be having to get investors.
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  As soon as you've got an investor, you've got a boss.
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  Now people celebrate getting investments, celebrate raising money.
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  You know, we've, you know, we've done this, this raise for investment and got
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  so-and-so millions and things like this and you know celebrating champagne corks
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  you basically just sold part of your dream to them and you've got a boss and
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  you've got to get a return on investment so hold on to your dream for as long
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  as possible don't sell out unless you have to.
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  And you and bootstrap your company to grow that's always
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  my best advice and you will notice another good thing
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  about the hadroponic industry is that the vast majority
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  of products on the shelves collect dust
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  and only a few of them are actually selling so you might say you know you might
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  speak to some growth shop owners and they might say you know we do this amount
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  of turnover this product does this many million you know the big brands do serious
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  amounts of money but you'll only be certain items in their range and it'll only be certain brands.
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  The vast majority of the brands and the vast majority of products will just
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  sit there collecting dust. So that's something you have to realise.
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  Just because you've got a product that competes with them on price or quality
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  doesn't mean that people are going to buy it.
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  They will stick. They are very rigid to, but they're loyal to their brands as they are many farmers.
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  They're risk averse and it will only be when an influencer tells them to move,
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  to try, then that's when you need to be careful.
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  And if it's a nutrient, then they're always going to blame the nutrients first if anything goes wrong.
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  So their lights could be wrong, their environment could be wrong,
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  but it's always the nutrients that kill the plants although it's very difficult
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  to kill a plant with nutrients anyway and they get spider mounts it'll be down
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  to the nutrients and so yeah you're in for a whipping no matter what you do.
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  We've had some crazy complaints we had one person who complained that
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  it stained their upholstery the fertilizer they
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  applied liquid gold to their sofa to
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  clean it because it said on the box that it contained ammonia
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  and so therefore they assumed it would be perfect for
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  cleaning a sofa and it didn't it stained it we
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  we used to sell into the house plant market and
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  we regularly got people drinking fertilizer
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  because they would dilute it into evian bottles and
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  then forget it was diluted fertilizer that was a regular occurrence
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  so if you've got a hazardous product that's a big concern
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  luckily our product wasn't hazardous so that wasn't an issue what are the crazy
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  things have we had recently we've had some shockers oh the people regularly
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  who pour undiluted and diluted product on their on their plants and then they
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  die and what should i do it's like well diluted water you idiot.
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  And it's not just new growers who do that. I once did, I did my PhD in conjunction
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  with Lancaster University.
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  There was a PhD student there. She was going on holiday. So she had a tomato trial underway.
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  So while she was on holiday, she just thought she would pour undiluted pure
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  tomorite on her tomatoes to keep them going. And then they died while she was away.
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  Not the best plant scientist I've ever encountered.
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  We had, this is going into a rant about customer complaints.
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  And one customer complained really badly, like trust pilot reviews and stuff,
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  because it said on the bottom, it said it can be applied before or after another product.
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  And he was like, this is not specific enough.
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  And like demanded a refund and was like, almost like going to the police because it, it.
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  It wasn't specific before or after, it wasn't good enough for him. He was bonkers.
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  Shout out to him. What was his name? I don't think. He lived down in next to
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  the Mucky Mansion, Katie Price's Mucky Mansion down in Sussex.
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  Another good piece of advice is don't diversify into different products unless
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  you really, really have to.
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  So if you've got a really good product and you can think, well,
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  it could also be applied to say strawberries or things like this.
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  You don't cannibalize your
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  own market if the one product can serve the.
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  Whole market there's no point dividing it up into different small
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  sectors a bit like you know fertilizers designed
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  for soft water hard water bloom and flowering
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  if you've got suddenly got you know 50
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  products then it's all of the paperwork is
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  is multiplied by 50 and all of the resources you
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  have to have the warehouse the production it all increases dramatically
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  and with the new fertilizer regulations that's going to be even
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  more of an issue so keep your portfolio as
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  tight as possible would be a good piece of advice and then
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  the other one which is specific to hydroponics is to treat the
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  grow shop owners well and the serving staff
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  and anyone who's in the hydroponics store they are
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  your key to getting customers to move to your products and
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  so they are the conduit to
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  the customer that's very different to most sectors where you
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  wouldn't sort of say well we really have to look after
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  the the shop owners and things like that so you
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  know you're selling the store manager for tesco's isn't
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  the key guy who determines what bread
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  is sold that day but it is in hydroponics so
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  it's a very it's a quirk of the industry there that you know and also you know
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  grow shop owners not treated amazingly well i think that's probably one of the
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  reasons canna did so well originally is that they really did look after they
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  had like competitions and things like that to take them to like champions league
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  final and things like this so that's probably why they did so well.
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  Interesting quirk that one there's a few pieces of advice i
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  think anyone who's trying to launch into hydroponics at the moment in the
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  uk very brave i'm not sure what the situation is in america
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  how buoyant the the market is or elsewhere around the world germany's got this
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  reputation for being buoyant but i think it would probably again it's a boom
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  and bust a bit like in america say five years ago and a lot a lot of the people
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  were already set up there now same in thailand.
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  Overproduction potential in those sectors because the hype cycle is massive.
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  Hopefully there's this hype cycle in the UK soon. I can't see it,
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  not with the Labour government as it is with Keir Starmer, who's a stickler
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  for all rules and regulations being in place, but you know, you never know.
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  Who might be around the corner? Might be Zach Polanski and his interesting mother
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  and the plumber from Manchester. Could be them.
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  Could be Reform. I can't see. Well, maybe. You never know with Reform, do you?
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  We've got some interesting times ahead. See where we're going. it's
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  rapidly changing what else can we say what's
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  happening to us the the straighter hormones is currently closed not
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  really affecting us that much the price for nitrogen
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  fertilizers has increased about 40 so you can expect
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  that to be passed on by many many manufacturers shogun
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  fertilizers have said they're not going to raise their prices this year
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  again and so it'll be interesting to see what happens
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  there nitrogen based fertilizers should really and sulfur
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  nitrogen and sulfur they're the two nutrients that are going
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  to be affected by the closure of the straight humus because when you
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  you need a lot of energy to produce nitrogen and
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  the sulfur a lot of sulfur from around the world comes from
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  the petrochemical industry the desulfurization of of fuels so we'll see what
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  that happens that's an interesting one if you've got any thoughts or questions
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  or comments then let me know uh that's been hydroponics day for today a bit
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  of a rambling not a rant but you know answers to questions nobody asked, shall we say.
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  All right. Thank you very much for listening. Until next time. Goodbye.