Nurturing AgTech Innovators: Elisa Raulings’ Journey
In the next instalment of our "Nurturing AgTech Innovators" series, we dive into the remarkable journey of Elisa Raulings. We explored her background in biodiversity, the launch of her startup, uncover her ambition in bringing the two sectors together and courage diving into the agtech space as a first time founder.
Addressing a Looming Challenge
While we hear a lot about climate change, an equally if not even bigger risk to human safety is biodiversity collapse – that is, the loss of the plants and animals that underpin our livelihoods. To avoid collapse of Australia’s ecosystems, in the next six years we have to restore 11.6 million hectares of private land across Australia. That’s an enormous challenge, and it often keeps me awake at night. But I am also very passionate about people and nature, and stubbornly optimistic that we can solve these problems if we want to.
Elisa’s story
So in 2023 I decided to leave my senior position in a conservation organisation to start my own business, Woop Woop, so that I could focus on driving science-led, large scale action on biodiversity. The artistic side of my brain loves thinking about how to address these big challenges and joining the dots, but I’m also trained as a scientist and so I also love diving into the detail about how we can make it happen. And my dad is a builder, so I’ve grown up also thinking about the practical aspects of how we can make it happen.
So I think my niche is translating evidence-based approaches into practical action, and I love it!
The Agtech founder journey
Throughout my career I have received several multi-million grants to develop innovative nature-based solutions, and so when I started Woop Woop I applied for a comparatively small LaunchVic grant thinking it would be easy - and I was unsuccessful!
I was shocked, but it was also a great learning moment to rethink my approach. At that point I could decide to pivot and focus on growing my business only, but it felt like the world needed me to think about the bigger problems.
And so I decided to do both.
I knew that to solve these complex problems of biodiversity loss and restoration, I needed to step outside my comfort zone and see the problems from other viewpoints. Often the environmental sector focuses on what nature needs, but I was interested in how we could combine nature-centric approaches with human-centric design. In particular, I have worked with a lot of farmers and corporates across my career and I knew that they were often interested in taking action for nature, but they had other constraints.
And so I decided to join SproutX to I could take a customer-centric approach and understand the challenges from other viewpoints, as well as exploring other methodologies that encourage new ways of thinking.
The long term goal
Australia needs to restore 11.6 million hectares in 6 years- that’s an enormous challenge, particularly when right now we estimate we’re probably restoring around 50,000 hectares per year. This is an all hands on deck emergency situation, but I also firmly believe that as a result of our actions the world will be a better place by 2030.
I am starting a biodiversity business at an incredibly fortunate time, when people across the world are starting to realise that we have exceeded the balance for nature and want to take action, many organisations are developing new funding mechanisms and there is increasing evidence that having nature on your farm increases your profitability. But the next key challenge for scaling action on nature is private land access, and knowing what to practically do on the ground. Even as a highly trained restoration scientist, when I’m standing in a cleared paddock next to degraded billabongs, it’s sometimes hard to know where time and money will have the greatest impact for nature. And so we have to make it easier for farmers to know what to do, and where on their property they should take action.
It feels ridiculous to be writing this goal down - but I am incredibly ambitious not for myself, but for nature and people, and because I believe we are capable.
And so I am aiming very high. Working collaboratively, I want to support 60,000 Australian farmers to start taking paid action for nature across 4 million hectares, in ways that measurably improve their profitability. Farmers are great at caring for their land, and I think are key to solving this crisis.
The Sproutx experience
I feel very fortunate to have participated in SproutX.
I have really enjoyed stepping outside the environmental sector to explore new ways of thinking, in a structured way that took me (and my ideas) on a journey.
Sometimes it might feel like a luxury to be spending time deep diving on problems, but I believe it is a short cut to finding cut-through solutions. And so I particularly enjoyed the luxury (and encouragement) of deep-diving into the problem space - to interview corporates, farmers and restoration practioners about their complex challenges, and to explore win-win-win solutions, as well as trade-offs.
I’m grateful for the contacts and insights into the agricultural sector, as well as the challenge of thinking about how big ideas need to generate money too. I learned a whole lot of terms I had never heard before, and they helped me to see the problems from a business point of view.
I also really appreciated the lean design approaches - testing our assumptions, developing hypotheses, learning and iterating - as a scientist that feels very comfortable!
And of course the mentoring was exceptional. And I loved LOVED the energy of Maxie and Petina, who kept us on our toes and encouraged us to run 🏃♀️
Out of the whole experience, I’m tempted to say the apple processing plant on our farm tour is the most memorable part of the program! Because that really was incredible – not just for the beauty (and it was surprisingly beautiful), but also because it reminded me that there is so much technology in the agricultural sector that could be used for restoration to help us scale.
But apples aside, I think the most memorable part of the program will always be the support and structure to deep dive into a giant and complex problem, and come out the other side with a vision for a solution and the momentum to drive action. It really feels like I have a whole lot of new tools to drive action now that I didn’t have before I joined SproutX.
Our traction since the program
In the juggle to start my business this year as well as explore my big idea through SproutX, I am excited to have brought in new clients to restore landscapes. One of the properties Woop Woop is restoring is very large, and it reminds me of the challenges faced by farmers in managing nature on their property, as well as their businesses. It also reminds me that the way restoration is currently delivered is very manual and requires a large amount of scientific and practical expertise, and that we need to use new technologies to automate if we are serious about helping farmers to scale action on nature.
Whilst delivering client work, I’m also excited to have onboarded six incredible summer interns who are helping me refine a prototype over summer and explore different parts of this challenge. They come from a range of sectors and have a whole lot of expertise and ways of working that I don’t currently have, and I am excited to learn from them. Somehow, we’re not slowing down for Christmas, it feels like we’re speeding up! But that is very energising.
Elisa’s big, hairy, audacious goal in the next 6 - 12 months
I have overseen the planting of millions of plants on farms across my career, and I’ve got lots of plants on the books for the year ahead, so in that context this goal may not seem ambitious. But it represents a revolution in how action on nature is delivered.
My big, hairy and audacious goal is for a farmer to use my prototype to plant one area of their property by Spring 2024.
Yes, it seems like a very small goal in comparison to what I have delivered previously, what I will manually deliver in 2024 and what is required to avert catastrophic biodiversity loss. But to achieve this goal by Spring means I will have demonstrated that my big idea was a good idea, that I have technically demonstrated it is achievable and financially viable, and that I am helping to solve farmers problems as well as scaling action on nature. If I can achieve this goal, I will have demonstrated that it is possible to scale replicable approaches for nature across Australia.
OVERCOMING CHALLENGES
I have managed large budgets before, but exploring different types of revenue streams and business opportunities as a startup was very new to me and I had to learn a lot of new terminology and approaches.
But this is a good thing and I feel like I now have a much better understanding of the startup space and journey.
three dimensional work - life - purpose
I am the mum of two beautiful teenagers and owner of a very clingy Bernese Mountain Dog, and so juggling work and life is always a challenge. I’m not sure I will ever get this balance right. But I feel very privileged and incredibly lucky to be able to work in the environmental sector and to have so many wonderful colleagues and supporters. My parents, husband and children have always encouraged me to stay true to myself and my goals, and I am very grateful for their practical support across my journey. In our sector, it’s also really important to look after your own wellbeing, because we read a lot of terrible reports and understand what will happen if we don’t take action. For me that means making sure I turn up to my exercise classes and eating healthy and delicious food. That will be an increasing focus for me in my Founder journey.
And as a female founder who has left the security of paid employment to start my own business this year, I cannot emphasise enough how important the support of my colleagues has been on this journey, especially my Independent Advisors and other female founders who are my inspiration. They have provided guidance, leadership, and have been on the other end of the phone when I wanted to test an idea, share a thought or whine about a bad day.
And finally, I am energised by the next generation of leaders coming through, who are simply outstanding.
advice for future founders
At times it can be lonely being a Founder, and so joining SproutX’s Pre-Acceleartor Program not only provides a new community, they also support you on your new journey and help to test your assumptions - some of which may be so ingrained that you may have forgotten that they are assumptions in the first place! I’d highly recommend making yourself uncomfortable by surrounding yourself with new ideas, new approaches and even people with different value systems and backgrounds, because solving problems often means you need to look at the problem from many different angles.
SproutX really challenged me in that regard.
And finally, if you feel passionately about solving a problem like I do, take a (calculated) risk and jump in. You may not be able to solve the problem, but you’ll feel very satisfied for having tried 💪
Join the SproutX Community and Embark on Your AgTech Journey
Elisa’s story highlights the power of passion, purpose, courage, and support of community in the agtech ecosystem.
If you, like Elisa, have a desire to bring positive change to the status quo, we invite you to join the SproutX community today!
Applications for the upcoming SproutX Pre-Accelerator Program close Wednesday, February 14th at 11.59pm AEST.
Don't miss your chance to be part of a vibrant ecosystem of AgTech innovation.
Read more here and apply today!
💬 Note: This blog post is part of a series featuring the stories of our pre-accelerator alumni. Stay tuned for more inspiring founder spotlights in the coming weeks.
