A made-in-Saskatchewan cloud-based app that helps agronomists and farmers record and keep track of all information related to farmland, from crop type to inputs used, took a significant step forward in its growth.
On November 28th, AgScouter participated in the Co.Launch program, a tech incubator/event that supports Saskatchewan-based startup companies. Founder and CEO of AgScouter Kara Annand says leading up to that day, they were provided with eight weeks of mentorship from people within the provincial tech community. They learned about, among other things, business growth and marketing.
“It felt like we had a team of 30 over the last eight weeks with all the different specialists in the area reaching out, whether it was someone helping us to better public speak or branding or learning about communication,” said Annand. “Really supportive and really helpful – the whole process.”
It culminated with the finale on the 28th with participants doing a five-minute pitch to a panel of judges and answering any questions they had. The audience also had the chance to vote for their favourite pitch.
“It was definitely some pressure but basically it was a fun evening because we got to talk about the product we loved – AgScouter,” Annand noted. “The judges asked really good questions (about) where we’re going with the product, what our customers are thinking of it, currently that are using it and where we’re planning to go with it down the road.”
AgScouter not only won the grand prize of $20-thousand, they claimed the People’s Choice Award. Annand says afterward, there were a lot of people that expressed interest in the product.
“I feel like between my email, social media, and phone, just so much interest in the product, in ourselves, in what we’re doing, and also support to try to make sure we can continue making those right steps to get this market more advanced in the ag world.”
Moving forward, she says they’ll continue improving the app by adding new features as well as adding to their team.
You can check them out at agscouterapp.com.