Food+City

From my previous innovation work with Fonterra and Lincoln Hub in New Zealand to Food for Thought ATX here in Austin, I find myself working more and more in the FoodTech sector. And for good reason. Whether the growing VC interest or the challenges of sustainably feeding our growing population (8.5 billion humans on the planet by 2030), there are a number of critical problems and exciting opportunities to create some significant real-world impact.

Building upon the above experiences, I’m happy to announce that I’ve taken on a new role as Director of Innovation for Food+City, an Austin-based non-profit dedicated to food supply chain innovation. While some may be familiar with Food+City’s print publications, I’ll be heading up their Startup Challenge and helping to grow the program with the vision of becoming a full-blown innovation and acceleration platform. (I’ll continue the heavy-lifting to bring a hardware accelerator + makerspace to Austin, but I’ll be allocating much less time for consulting projects and other work.)

The 2019 Food+City Startup Challenge is currently accepting applications through November 16. So if you’re involved in disrupting food systems, give me a shout to discuss how you can get involved. Startups can apply for a chance to win valuable prize packages, access to a special mentorship program, significant exposure at the Showcase next March during SXSW and more. I’m looking forward to being inspired by all the new ideas and transformative solutions from across the globe.

On the subject of investment, I’ll be moderating a panel in a few weeks during Austin Startup Week (which runs October 1-5, 2018):

Finding Investors for Your Food Company
Wednesday, October 3, 2018 • 11:00am – 12:15pm
The Refinery, 612 Brazos Street, ATX 78701

Hope to see you there and/or geek out about the future of food in the not-too-distant future.

Pictured above: Creative new signage for Food+City in collaboration with Post Oak Customs.