Breaking the Present, Building the Future: The Art of Problem-Driven Innovation in AgTech

Challenging the status quo and redefining progress through bold, problem-centric strategies

“The practical organization offers opportunities for self-advancement…[A] mass movement…appeals not to those intent on bolstering and advancing a cherished self, but to those who crave to be rid of an unwanted self.” - Eric Hoffer, The True Believer

On October 23, 2001, Steve Jobs introduced us to a problem most people didn’t know they had. As he stood on the stage at Apple’s headquarters, he told the crowd that while we had CDs that would hold 10–15 songs, MP3 players that would hold 150 songs, and heavy hard drives that could hold 1,000 songs, none of the current solutions were sufficiently powerful or portable to take advantage of the digital music revolution that was underway.

He broke the present and told us it wasn’t good enough anymore. 

Then he did what every great leader of every successful movement throughout time has done; instead of comparing his product to these insufficient solutions, he presented an entirely new category of music player. 

He said his goal was to make it so you could put your entire music collection in your pocket and listen to it wherever you go - “1,000 songs in your pocket.”

He then reached into his back pocket, pulled out the first iPod, and showed it to the world. We couldn’t unsee that problem and his solution…the rest is history. 

The mission of the incremental improver is to fix the present, to sure it up in some way that makes it work “better.” But legendary innovators replace what’s not working with something altogether different.

In other words, they force a choice and not a comparison.

Reframing the Narrative in AgTech

Everyone in AgTech today launches products, but no one launches problems. And that’s the problem.

Earlier this year, McKinsey & Company released a report that said ONLY 6.5 percent of farmers plan to adopt one of the following technologies over the next two years:

- Farm-management software

- Precision-agriculture hardware

- Remote-sensing solutions

- Additional automation

- Robotics

- Sustainability-related tech

That’s a terrifyingly low number. 

Maybe it’s time to call it. Maybe this agricultural technology thing isn’t going to work out after all. 

Or maybe we need to rethink our approach. 

📲 When Steve Jobs introduced the iPod, he launched the problem “You don’t have 1,000 songs in your pocket.”

☁️ When Marc Benioff introduced Salesforce, he launched the problem of “on-premise software.”

🏨 When Brian Chesky and Joe G. introduced Airbnb, they launched the problem of “not living like a local” when you travel.

These leaders didn’t just introduce us to new products. They created movements by launching problems. 

Like Eric Hoffer says in his book The True Believer, “Mass movements can rise and spread without belief in a God, but never without belief in a devil.”

Stop spending all your time gushing about your product, tell me how you want me to look at the problem it solves first.

Make something different. Make people care. Make fans, not followers.