What we talked about
Adrian Ferrero is the Co-Founder and CEO of Biome Makers, where for eleven years he has used DNA sequencing to read the communities of microbes living in soil and turn them into a functional picture of soil health. An economist by training who calls himself an innovator, Adrian sold an earlier DNA diagnostics company with his childhood friend Alberto Acedo, then reinvested everything to bring the personalized medicine concept into agriculture.
Show notes
Adrian Ferrero sold a DNA diagnostics company with his childhood friend and reinvested everything to bring the idea of personalized medicine into agriculture. At Biome Makers, he reads the bacteria and fungi living in soil and turns them into a functional picture of soil health, letting farmers across 56 countries use less fertilizer while polluting less.
What we covered
- How Biome Makers profiles the bacteria and fungi in soil samples, why organic and conventional apples carry very different microbial loads, and how thinking about soil at a functional level rather than a taxonomic one let the company compare farms across 56 countries.
- Nutrient use efficiency, why nitrous oxide is hundreds of times more potent than carbon dioxide, and how better soil data helps farmers use less fertilizer while polluting less.
- The clients and services of Biome Makers, and how the company works to establish standards in soil health technology.
- Why growing the team from two people to 55 was his hardest challenge, and how he leads a remote and multicultural company across the US, Europe, Asia, and Latin America.
- Why he tries to keep business fun even in serious negotiations, and how cultural dynamics shape a global business.
- His closing reminder not to underestimate our impact on the soil, and his advice to build your own expectations and be brave enough to try.
About Adrian
Adrian Ferrero is the Co-Founder and CEO of Biome Makers, a four-time founder, and a Mission Soil Board expert for the European Commission. An economist by training, he uses genomics to read soil microbes and transform global agriculture.
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adrianferrero/
- Website: https://biomemakers.com
Episode 157 of the PreVetted Podcast.
Full transcript
Federico Ramallo (00:00) Welcome back to the Pre-Vet podcast, where we spotlight extraordinary people and remarkable talent reshaping our world. Today I am joined by Adrian Ferrero, he’s co-founder and CEO of Biome Makers, where over for over a decade he has been using advanced genomics to read the microbes in our soil to help transform global agriculture. Adrian is a four-time founder.
a mission soil board expert for the European Commission and was named one of Spain’s best young entrepreneurs. Adrian, welcome to the show.
Adrian Ferrero (00:38) It’s my pleasure to be here today, Federico. Thanks for inviting me.
Federico Ramallo (00:43) I am honored to have you here today. so for people meeting you for the first time, can you describe a little bit more what you do?
Adrian Ferrero (00:53) What we do, let me start a little bit giving a background of myself, I’m an economist by training, a bachelor in economic science and also mastering environmental technologies. But I consider myself an innovator. I really love to be looking for new technologies and ways to apply this technology to solve problems that are current, are important.
and have a great impact also in our society. Some years ago, I joined my childhood friend, Alberto Acedo. He pitched the molecular biology and built one of the most interesting companies that I’ve found so far, is… It was the first diagnostic center specializing in a technology called DNA sequencing, which is a way to digitalize the DNA and generate data from samples, biological samples.
in order to help people to understand better in hereditary diseases. We sold that company and invested all the money in biomakers because we believed that we could apply the personalized medicine concept into agriculture. And this is actually what we’re doing at BionMakers. realized that agriculture farmers were lacking on bioindicators to really
connect to nature in order to make decisions. And we’re ready to really bring one of the most interesting and reliable bio-indicator in nature, which are communities of microbes. In this case, the microbes populating the soil, the bacteria and the fungal species, being able to generate full profile of these species from soil samples using DNA sequencing. And from there,
building a system, digital system, that was able to really understand how the soil is working. This is closely connected to soil health. Today we work with agronomists, retailers, input manufacturers, farmers, all the stakeholders in the agricultural sector in order to manage the field in a more.
smarter way and respectful to ourselves.
Federico Ramallo (03:07) Very interesting. what would be the benefits compared to I mean I I I I learned about hydroponics that basically erases the out of the equation all the local you know you know microbes and and fungus, right? Because it’s basically inert soil, right? what what would be the benefits of
Adrian Ferrero (03:28) Well, in a sense, is a scarce source or resource. And we’ve been not very friendly to our soil life. So we’ve been depleting actually the life of the soils according to the farming practices, or at least not benefiting the sustainability of those natural functions. In Europe, people say ecological services delivered by
in this case the soil. So in hydroponics, you are growing plants without soil, which is very interesting concept, especially in cities. There are some cities like New York, where they are growing plants in warehouses, which is great. But one of the problems they are facing, for instance, is the resistance of the plants to certain diseases, because microbes.
might be a threat, but at the same time are protecting us and we have plenty of microbes in our skin. Without them we will not be able to live or even to be healthy also because we will be suffering a lot of diseases. But at the same time this is one of the aspects, the disease side, but also when it comes to the quality of the crops, flavors, or you may be because the plant is stressed. So there are different factors.
where microbes are going to be essential in order to impact the food that we grow or the plants grow and we harvest.
Federico Ramallo (04:55) Right. Very interesting. The yeah, I’ve seen s similar things happening to kids in the developed world where they’re not used to, you know, playing the dirt, you know, get you know, get exposed basically. Right. Right. You know, just grab dirty things and you know get dirty, right? And and play with the soil, with the with the dog, with you know, whatever. And when they grow up they they lack that
Adrian Ferrero (05:07) Interact.
Federico Ramallo (05:21) development of of resistance and then they get s much sick sicker and more more more often and and and than other kids right that are exposed to that right so I understand what you’re saying. And the eventually there is a you know on the plants there is a a a monetary benefit because on the short term you can get some you know better yield but then that yield is going to be
less resistant, so eventually that benefit is going to wear down, right? Or you’re going to have more liability.
Adrian Ferrero (05:52) Yeah, actually, it’s very interesting that you mentioned that specific example when we were developing the technology. By the way, today, biomakers make 11 years working. So it’s a huge milestone for us today, 26th of May. It’s when, so 11 years ago when we started this journey. And it’s been very interesting because there has been different steps and one of them was understanding how the technology could bring value in this case.
And we were working with a company developing fresh fruit solutions, like to support how to keep potatoes fresh for longer term, fruit and so on. And one of the things they wanted to explore is the difference between organic farm apples and conventional farm apples. So actually, food is in a sense how we inoculate microbes.
into our body or one of the sources of inoculation. So it was when we studied in this case the microbiome of the soil but of the fruit itself of the apples, we saw that and the conclusion seems to be very reasonable. organic farm apples have more microbes in the skin of the fruit, so more biodiversity of microbes.
compared to conventional farm apples. While conventional farm apples have lower number of species and the proportions and so on, but also the threats, the potential threats that you were having were also lower. So the question at the end was, what is better, right? It’s like the question everybody will place, but actually that’s the wrong question.
The question is, if you have to buy apples for a hospital where you have people who are sick with probably the immune system a little bit depressed, so you don’t want to buy organic farm apples. You want to be as safe as possible. So conventional farm apples are the greatest. But if you have to buy apples for a kindergarten where kids need to develop their immune system, you want to sponsor them. So in that case,
organic farm apples which are safe, but you know there are certain interactions that encourage and activate the immune system. That’s the kind of things we learn by interacting with microbes and learning about them.
Federico Ramallo (08:16) Right. Right.
Yeah, I I think that what you’re describing is controlled exposure, you know, the the the risk versus the payoffs, right? For a healthy kid, the payoffs are immense. But for, you know, somebody that is on ICU or requires, you know, special you that that they have their their defenses low, then yeah, you you you want to have you know the the the the payoff is not worth the risk, right? And that’s where having more you know
Manufacture apples would make sense, right? yes.
Adrian Ferrero (08:51) Yeah, and something we
learned as well is that in nature, and that works also for humans, certain level of stress is good. So it helps us to be more, let’s say, elastic, And that applies also on the way we farm. So if we treat plants as pure, isolated in a bubble, so the food we’re going to be eating probably is not as good as the food from a plant.
And this is something that we have coded in our minds. It’s not something we have. And there are plenty of data in the literature available to reinforce this message. But everybody understands that something that has little bit more biological interaction initially can be considered healthier. And that’s the reason because regenerative agricultural mindset is pushing really hard and having fraction in our agriculture.
community. That’s a great question because we are both originally from an area in Spain in the northwest of Spain. It’s an agricultural
Federico Ramallo (09:51) Right. Right. Very interesting. and and what first pulled you towards soil and agriculture as a problem you wanted to spend, you know, the rest of the eleven years of your life?
Adrian Ferrero (10:14) region where corn, potatoes, sugar beets and wheat are the main crops. are others, beans and others, but those are like the four main crops that we have. And from time to time, we were not able to drink the tap water because the lot of chemicals in the groundwater. So instead of blaming farmers, but we realized what is happening that farmers
are not using the inputs in a way that everything goes to the plant and they are not polluting, in this case, the groundwater. So then we realized that they didn’t have information about biological processes. when it comes to nitrion, it’s one of the issues in farming. So the nutrient use efficiency is really low, really poor.
That’s the reason because every plant that you throw into the field, very little goes into the plant and the rest, well, part stays in the soil, other part goes to the atmosphere in the form of oxynitric, and other part of the nitrogen goes down to the groundwater and polluted. So that was the origin of the idea that can we help to solve this problem, support agriculture by connecting to nature in this case.
the soil to optimize the input strategy which is going to save money at the same time because if you are able to increase the nutrient use efficiency through activating the soil biology in the field then you need to use probably less fertilizer.
Federico Ramallo (11:54) Right.
Adrian Ferrero (11:55) there is this positive side effect or even polluting the one of the most pollutant greenhouse gas is the oxygen nitrate. We talk about carbon dioxide but this other gas is 300 times more resilient in the atmosphere than carbon dioxide so this is one of the main issues that the agriculture the way we are farming right now.
is generating. actually during crop season or the harvest, not harvest, so when you are preparing the land and putting the fertilizers on, you see what is happening in the atmosphere in the Midwest. It’s terrifying. So that’s reason because regulators are restricting the use of certain inputs because overuse of
of these additives might be not beneficial for the operation and not very obviously for the society.
Federico Ramallo (12:57) Right. Right. Very interesting. Yeah. The I still remember, I mean I I I I’m old enough to remember when Green’s house you know was you know yeah, yeah, I mean the when I think was like ninety plus percent of countries agreed to stop using
Adrian Ferrero (13:11) the hold.
Federico Ramallo (13:21) to pr to start protecting the ozone layer and they basically reduce significantly the amount of of I don’t remember which gas was, but you know, n I think now we see the facts that the ozone layer is almost fully restored because of that decision. So I what I’m trying to say with this is that a lot of this is lack of awareness and then also lack of political decision of the countries to say, okay, we’re going to
move forward with you know lowering our emissions.
Adrian Ferrero (13:53) And I believe that everybody is committed to this goal. Or at least aware that we have to be careful as much as possible and depending obviously of the economics. We cannot ask a developed country to be very strict on certain emissions because they need that
to survive, while in other economies probably we have more room for improvement, which at the end of the day that improvement is profits for, in this case could be the farmers if we talk about agriculture, but if we go away from agriculture to secondary sector then other industries, have huge potential win.
Federico Ramallo (14:40) Right. Right. yes, I agree. so so who are the clients of Biome Makers? and what products or services are you providing?
Adrian Ferrero (14:53) So here, it’s very interesting that when we started developing the technology, we realized that there were not references at all that we can utilize. When we were doing human DNA, you have the human genome, which is like the reference. You put your patient, your sample DNA against the reference, and you start seeing differences, which are the mutations. And then you classify. There is all bioinformatics processes to really valorize.
the outcome, the conclusion of the analysis. In the case of the soil, it’s a multi-dimensional because we’re not looking at a single chain of DNA. We’re looking at different species that populate the soil. But again, there were no references, so we started dealing with those references and growing the database. Today, we can probably say that we have the largest.
database of soil microbiome profiles in terms of geographies, crop diversities, a number of references at the end of the day, which is great by the way. So knowing that, who are benefiting from that? Well, first, how can we keep growing this database, these references learned? Now we can probably also say train our intelligence based on what we see in the soil to start moving ahead with that.
what is called now, I really like the trending topics or terms, the digital twin of the soil at planetary level, understanding the biological dynamics of the soil, the life of the soil, and being able to predict how the soil is going to evolve depending on how we manage the soil. So for that, what we’re doing is we deliver certain or we generate, develop certain solutions to serve
certain segments within agriculture and those are our current clients. But the final goal actually is to keep moving ahead on understanding and learning from soil dynamics in order to recommend better to those stakeholders to preserve the soil fertility or the natural fertility of the soil because the soil is like an engine. So we’re going specifically to the question.
We’re working with agronomists and technical departments of large farming operations because they are making decisions on the inputs and the programs that they are going to be implementing into a field or a specific crop. So we deliver functional profiles of areas of crops and also we identify the needs.
and also place specific recommendations on, in this case, biological practices or inputs that might be helping to boost the soil productivity. At the same time, we’re working with the manufacturers, so the companies developing the different solutions for agriculture, in order to understand the specific effect that their applications are having to the soil health.
It’s so interesting to realize that that information was not available before. And farmers were using certain solutions, commercial solutions, without even knowing what was going to happen. In many cases, those solutions were not having a real impact. It was a mix of different substances. from there, well, there might be some effect or not, but it’s not. Can you imagine taking a pill?
or a nutritional supplement or something, a probiotic, and you don’t know what’s going to happen to your body because there is no… So that happened. We’re working with them. And the third segment we’re targeting is the CPEs, the food operators, because they feel the pressure from consumers to be responsible and deliver the best food possible. There is the scope three emissions.
understanding how your providers are operating and trying to minimize as much as possible the, in this case, the carbon emission or the carbon footprint in the field. Imagine a coffee supplier, no? So we work with them to support their providers to improve the carbon footprint. And those are the three segments we have right now.
Federico Ramallo (19:16) Right, very interesting. I
So you so you’re helping farmers or blindly applying products without knowing the effectiveness, by providing a a more thorough report on what they have on their soil, right? On the on the on the bio
Adrian Ferrero (19:35) at functional level.
Federico Ramallo (19:36) Bioactivity. Yes. Yes.
And and also now you now you can it’s interesting that you’re talking about that you don’t have any standards because you know when you are so cutting edge, you know, there is no standards, right? That’s that’s kind of a a a good way to realize that you you you are on the cutting edge of of technology, right? When you are the first one that has to set up the standards, right?
Adrian Ferrero (19:59) Again, we do a lot of work with academia and institutions and lot of validation as well just because the acceptance of that, and also mark the line on things that are well done compared to others that might not be as reliable, let’s say. We have over probably 40 scientific publications where our technology has been used.
peer review by other researchers. We have our own publications also just to exposure and share what we do with the whole community. The work that I’m doing as an expert of the mission soil is also trying to guide what would be the best way to coordinate all the parts because this is not a single company.
Before we might be very good on developing technology compared to others or we might be able to close the loop of bringing value using this technology because it’s not just sequencing the DNA but also completing the data but also presenting the data and developing the functional indexes, the recommendation, trying to increase the actionability and it’s a technology that is being used but other people prefer just to look at this information from a different angle. What we want is that at least
We define what should be the minimum quality or parameters standard that everybody should be using. Otherwise, we will not be able to compare data.
Federico Ramallo (21:31) what you’re describing reminds me of this movie, A Brilliant Mind with Jonet Trota, that he was able to see the patterns and optimize the the crops for for his friend, right?
Adrian Ferrero (21:45) Hopefully that happens. It’s been a long journey because trusting the technology, we knew it was one of the biggest challenges that we were facing as a startup. And still we worked really hard to improve the technology to showcase, to compare, to share. That’s also important. Something we did some years ago is starting to build a network of labs.
Instead of waiting until others offer alike services as the one we do, we open the Well Lab workflow to other labs so they can make a fast track to really deliver the services and also harmonize the methodology, define what are the specific technical requirements that they can do by themselves, and being sure that everybody generates data in the same way.
And that’s something that has been as a company very successful and give us a reach. Right now we’re operating in 56 different countries, which is great in different crops. Let’s say anyone around the world can access to the crop technology. So that’s something I think is helping us a lot to really set that standard for soil health, understanding soil health as the functional biological component of the soil.
Federico Ramallo (23:09) Right. Very interesting. Ha have you seen the interaction of of of bioactivity within within
within continents. I mean I I remember reading about these islands that has their own, you know, isolated biosphere, right? just because they they’re n in an island, right? And how, you know, we have the the the bees that went from South America to North America. We have the you know bananas that got you know affected by
Adrian Ferrero (23:36) .
Federico Ramallo (23:47) It was a plague that affected the bananas, you know, many years ago, right? I’m wondering if if you see similar patterns like that and if we’re able to see like these isolated you know places with with a very different bioactivity.
Adrian Ferrero (24:02) It’s interesting because when we started we have an idea on how everything was going to work, know, you’re learning and improving in the way and taking decisions. So initially we’re looking at the soil from the taxonomic point of view. So who are the species that populate that soil and what are the proportions?
This has been the traditional biodiversity approach. What we realized is that there are huge differences place to place, area to area, continent to continent, crop by crop. Because the microbes and their proportions are going to be different. Then there was a bright mind in the team that said, hey, we’re looking at this from the problem side. If we want to really serve agriculture, we have to
think about fanzines. So what do you mean? Imagine we have different cities. We have Rio de Janeiro and San Francisco. So the people living there are completely different. In one place people is called Joel and the other one is John. So different people, different names. But if you think at functional level,
In Rio you find police and police does the same that the police in San Francisco. Bakers, the bakers in Rio bake in the same way bakers in San Francisco bake. Plumbers, accountants, so when you think about functions, a city has certain functions that makes a city a city, right? Whether is it Rio?
or San Francisco. If you think about nature, it’s pretty much the same. If you compare the rainforest in the Amazonia and the rainforest in Australia, they are completely different from the taxonomy point of view. But the process is happening there. Predation, respiration are pretty much the same. So that was a huge change of how we were serving our clients and building this system to make a
functional, to infer the functional potential of the community of microbes give us a completely different approach to really see differences across regions, across crops. Are tomatoes grown in Mexico the same than tomatoes grown in the Netherlands? What are the differences? So from the taxonomic point of view, the soil is going to be different. But from the functional point of view, what we’re
We see that there are some obvious environmental factors, temperature, humidity, so physical parameters impacting soil functions, but farming practices, human intervention is even more important and can balance the functions and even deliver productive systems in the same way.
Federico Ramallo (26:58) I see. I see. The the the difference is, you know, depending on on the on the parameters, you’re going to just the so the processes are the same, you just change the parameters of of the process.
Adrian Ferrero (27:09) And then you can compare because otherwise it will be very difficult to an ecosystem where you have cats as the feline predator or you have tigers as the feline predator. So it’s completely different. But if you think that function, that function, predation in the same way. Obviously, what is the other one? The preys are going to be different too.
So the proportion of birds or mice in one ecosystem is going to be different to the proportion of other grass eaters in, I don’t know, just making it up. Hopefully the message is clear.
Federico Ramallo (27:51) Yeah, what you’re saying is it doesn’t matter if it’s a lion or if a panther, you know, the they are, you know, they’re the predators, right? So you focus on the function, and then from the function you focus you you you can that way compare apples with bananas or you know, whatever would be, right? yeah, makes sense. Makes sense, yes. so what do you think has been the hardest moment in building biomakers and how did you get through it?
Adrian Ferrero (28:06) is out.
would say that growing a team, managing people is absolutely the most difficult challenge for any entrepreneur as they grow. It’s very curious that when we started, years ago, we had a mentor, Mostafa Ranaghi. He used to be the CTO of Illumina, the largest genetic company in the world, and we were part of the Illumina accelerator.
So we have regular meetings with Mostafa. He was guiding us and advising us and it was really valuable. And one of the things he said, it was that you’re going to grow from two, by that time it was Alberto Amin, to 60. So be prepared for that. And I was like, nah, that’s not going to happen. But it happened. It happened. Right now we’re 55 people in the team.
and building departments, delegating, following up with them, so all human interactions. Also we work remotely. That’s another element that, well, the people in the web lab, they have to go on site, the best marketing, finance, sales, software engineers, work remotely, they love it. But there is some dynamics that are
difficult, especially when you grow. So I have to point out the highest, the biggest challenge that we face is building the team. Right now, I will say, I feel that we have the people we need and they are fully committed, fully engaged and have all the trust from the work I mean.
Federico Ramallo (29:56) That’s amazing. I mean it’s it’s so hard to grow a team and and make sure that everybody has a sense of belonging and a purpose that leads towards you know being committed and and own their their role. that that that’s very difficult very very difficult to achieve, but
so rewarding on the human level, right? I mean there’s also the business side, right? The business impact. But I mean I I I also felt that it’s it’s an important way to provide a direct change on on your on the people on your team’s life right if that makes sense. So I I I heard many people were
They started as trainees and they were able to grow throughout the organization, they were able to buy a car, they were able to buy a house, they were able to, you know, grow a family. And for me that’s that’s very rewarding because it means that what we’re doing, it has a direct impact on their you know, well being, sta family stability and you know, yeah, that for me it’s it’s amazing. Yeah.
Adrian Ferrero (30:53) Bye.
you
Yeah, and also you have like the double sense on one hand. You’re more relaxed, I might say. I I’ve never relaxed at all, anyway. So having more people delegating, doing the work, you change the responsibilities, right? So you feel a little bit more easy going. You don’t have to take care for every individual task that is happening in the company. There are people in charge of them and they actually…
take accountability on those tasks. But on the other hand, you have that responsibility because now the life of families depends on the company. So on one hand, you take some pain away and then on the other hand, you receive some pressure, not even a pain, because it’s so great and rewarding to know that 50 families, 55 families are getting the food in the table.
Federico Ramallo (31:45) Yes.
Adrian Ferrero (32:02) and at the same time they are contributing to achieve the amazing goals that we have as a company because it’s so meaningful to be working here and they could be working in any other company. Perhaps earning more money while our conditions I would say are very good but they probably have other opportunities and they choose to be here contributing to the company that we started.
some years ago and still pushing as hard as possible. So, yeah, it’s like good and bad at the same time, but the balance is always good.
Federico Ramallo (32:39) Right, right. Yes, I completely agree. The you know, y when people decide to join your company, they put their lives in you know, the in your hands, right? They they fully depend on on you and they trust on on the success of the company, they trust you and they trust that you’re going to be able to take care of that. Right. And that is a big, big responsibility, that
Adrian Ferrero (32:40) Thank
Federico Ramallo (33:05) When when you have that it’s a it’s a very heavy rus burden and responsibility. But on the other hand, when you see, you know, the positive side of you know, positive effects, it’s it’s also a blessing.
Adrian Ferrero (33:19) It’s something, it’s something.
Federico Ramallo (33:20) Yeah. I
I actually am I’m finishing my book about this type of dynamics based on my experience of managing software engineering teams ac across borders, right? It’s a you know it’s it’s it’s a particular challenge when you have you know people from different countries with different cultures and being able to work together remotely as well, right? and I kind of put together all my training
plus years of experience into into the book, and I’m working on the final stages of publishing the book. Yeah. And even though it’s about software engineering, I focus a lot on the human aspect, right? So I think that a lot of things that I talk about also applies for other other roles, not necessarily technical roles.
Adrian Ferrero (34:07) Yeah, I believe that it’s so important to share all the learnings that we have under different situations. I have received a lot of help and if we’ve been able to make this path it’s because of all the support that we found in the way. Very generous people sharing contacts, ideas, conclusions.
looking at your company, assessing, giving you an opinion. So all of that has been extremely useful. that’s the reason because I love whenever somebody called me and say, we love to hear from you and your learnings and the difficulties mainly because there has been so many difficulties in this journey. Building the team, obviously for me is the greatest finding funding resources.
especially for a company like ours, has been also another challenge. The multicultural dimension, mean, being an Spaniard located in California, working globally, then you learn about the cultures of business in the different geographies and you realize how different we are. I mean, it’s not the same negotiating with Indians. Last year we signed an agreement for a new lab.
license or where we license as I mentioned before. the way we negotiate that and the way we’re now activating is completely different than, for instance, the US business culture or the European business culture. I mean, if we go to Latin America or to Africa, it also changes. So for me, that has been one of the most amazing learnings, going to Japan or China and learn about how to…
how they make business, not because you are, I don’t say it’s shy, but kind of analyzing and waiting to understand what’s going on. And based on the learnings, you react and then you decide how to play the game, how to negotiate, what to offer, what to say, not to say. If a joke makes sense or not, I try to make a of jokes in business meetings, yes to.
relax and know I think play the game in a better way when the atmosphere is not so serious and rigorous but in some places that something is needed. It’s so interesting so anyway.
Federico Ramallo (36:33) Right.
That that’s frowned upon on some cultures, right? but but you know it’s yes, I I completely agree. I on my book I I talk about that, I call it the Oasis framework, which is basically, you know, yeah, I call it I call it like that, but the idea is, you know, when you when you come to to to the you know to the work area, then
Adrian Ferrero (36:45) shit.
Federico Ramallo (36:55) we’ we’re we’re building
Adrian Ferrero (36:56) you
Federico Ramallo (36:56) a new culture, right? That is different than the Latin America culture, that is different than the American culture, is a new culture that embodies the best of both, right? and it it’s about that. It’s about adapting, you know, to, you know, to to figure out a best way to work with you know, American companies that are, you know, with where the manager is in the US and they have certain expectations. and, you know,
I have engineers from Latin America with you know a different style of working. So being able to have that adaptation becomes an important thing, right? and and it’s what you’re talking about. It’s it’s a balance of sensitivity, but also remaining oneself, you know, without losing the the personality and our our own identity, right? but also being able to be effective on the
on the communication, right? Sa it’s a delicate balance.
Adrian Ferrero (37:52) Yeah, especially when you’re selling or offering something that is new. How you connect to people is especially important from investors to clients, corporates, or all kinds of stakeholders. without that personal connection, probably your personality, but also your culture.
helps a lot on building that and being as natural as possible but at the same time we consider it as serious as possible. Now I’m reliable because at end of the day this is a business transaction. It has to be fun. That’s my way of thinking. We have to have fun doing business otherwise where is the fun?
Federico Ramallo (38:28) Right. Right. Yeah, it’s
Right. Yeah. You know, in in in in Spanish, you know, business is, you know the negation of fun, right? Negocio is no no ocio, ocio means fun, right? So it’s you know the the etymology of the word, you know, kind of says business is not fun. But I agree with you. I mean business should be fun, right? we should be able to enjoy it, right?
Adrian Ferrero (39:02) Yeah, and I would say that has been also part of our success as company. So both Aurope and me have enjoyed a lot all the difficulties and all the experiences. Some of them have been very tricky or not as positive if you think from the outside, but from the experience point of view has been a huge experience. You’re saying about the book, I have some friends, they’re writers and they’re telling me all the time, and you…
all the experiences you are having in the Bay Area, Midwest, all the countries we’ve been, and this cultural business dimension that probably other people have a lot, but live from a different point of view. Thanks to Biomakers, we’ve seen ourselves in places and situations that I thought I would never live, or I was not expecting to live, but they came naturally.
So, I don’t know, talking about, for instance, Japan, not being received by authorities in Japan, which is like, last February, we received an award in India, and two ministries of the Indian government were giving us the award, which is like, come on, India is so huge country, it’s so important. So sometimes,
We also realized that everything we’ve done is huge, it’s great, but we try to remain put on the ground and we work with soil. So it has to be put in the ground and humble at the same time because otherwise, yeah, probably you start thinking that you work a lot and you are not able to connect to your clients. That’s one philosophy that somehow is in our…
Federico Ramallo (40:32) Right.
Adrian Ferrero (40:46) company DNA, if I may say that in a genetic driven company. But it’s real, it’s real. So building those connections that are personal, close, genuine for us is very important.
Federico Ramallo (41:00) Right. Yes, I completely agree. And I love the pan by the way. Yeah. So
Adrian Ferrero (41:04) It’s the time I
realized that negotio… I never thought about that. It’s the negativity or negation of the fan. Negation of fan. Wow. Thank you for sharing that. I’m going to make lot of jokes with that.
Federico Ramallo (41:10) Ha ha ha ha ha ha.
Yeah, the negation of of fun. Yeah. It’s no fun, you know.
Isn’t that is isn’t that crazy?
Yeah, I I I have a ten year old and I realize I’m getting more into that jokes, you know, silly silly jokes that you know it’s yeah. That not even my son laughs anymore, right? But but I keep making them, so yeah, I I I encourage you to to use it. Yeah. so we’re running out of time, but I I first I want to appreciate you being here today. I truly appreciate it.
Adrian Ferrero (41:39) that’s the best, so… but we do, that’s it
Good.
Federico Ramallo (41:56) And second, any final remarks, any final advice for for our audience before we wrap it up?
Adrian Ferrero (42:05) Yeah, a couple of thoughts. Thank you. mean, it’s been a lot of fun to do this podcast, but sometimes we do not realize how important our soils are. And this is something that probably not even myself, when we started this journey, we thought that there was a cool business opportunity, but in the moment we start digging literally on the soil, then we realize, hey, careful. For instance, in Europe.
We’ve lost 60 % of soil productivity, which is huge. And that means a strategical dependency of food production. If we see the news recently and the agreement between the European Commission and Mercosur to ensure the provision of food, some farmers in Europe were not fully happy or happy with this agreement.
But if you think about that from the strategic level, it’s about soil productivity. So everything goes there. Not to ensure that there is, now the concept is full sovereignty. And this is something that all the countries, including the US, is thinking and working and considering seriously. And that’s reason because we are still subsidizing the agriculture activity because we need not just people in the countryside.
farming and taking care of the landscape, but also producing food. Because if anything happens in this crazy world, I know we don’t want to go in that direction, but that might happen because humans are not as stable as we wish, unlikely, but this is something that we are exposed to. So the message for me is do not underestimate our impact in the soil because we need the soil.
the most biodiverse environment, apart of the oceans, that we still don’t know what is hidden in the oceans. But if we don’t treat the soil nicely and tools like ours helps a lot to really make this happen, we’re going to be suffering and probably the pessimistic theories on our future will happen. That’s the first message that I would like to share beyond.
the work we’re doing because we see a lot of sense on really taking care of the soul. And for those people who is thinking about building companies, doing something different, be passionate. I mean, really enjoy there to do something different. Life might seem long, but it’s not so long. And what it has to be is fun. So don’t rely on expectations that others.
are putting on you. Build your own expectations, try something different and be brave to try.
What happens in the way is a learning anyway. So it might be success or a failure, but what you’re going to have is a huge experience.
Federico Ramallo (45:00) Amazing
Yeah.
Right, right. I mean y you you’re going to learn a lot on the on the way. So, you know, if if that’s going to happen, why not try your way, right?
Adrian Ferrero (45:21) Yeah, I remember when Alberto and me had the conversation, should we go to California? That was a big challenge or decision for us, or leaving our families behind. By that time, I was living in Denmark and I was on the gym with the Airplex and talking to Alberto. actually I was like, I want to do it. I think it’s worth it, but it’s on you. And his answer was…
Federico Ramallo (45:31) To be the decision.
Adrian Ferrero (45:47) If we don’t do it, we’re going to be regretting this opportunity all my life. So let’s do it. And that was like the most convincing statement I had, I would say, till now. If we don’t do it, we’re going to be regretting. People regret decisions they don’t make, not the decisions that they make.
Federico Ramallo (46:09) Right, right. The shoulda coulda woulda, right? you know, should should have so it’s should have done it, should or should not have done it, could who could not do it, would would not do it, right? and there is a co a direct correlation between you know people that are like rethinking the decisions they’ve made, that tends towards
Adrian Ferrero (46:14) What is that?
Federico Ramallo (46:35) unhappiness, misery and you know, depression, right? Whereas if you’re moving forward, you know, right or wrong, you know, making mistakes and learning and improving, then you tend to be happier, right? where on the other one you’re like regurgitating the bad experiences you had throughout your life, right? And that that that leads you leads you to a to a depression, right? It’s a it’s a never ending, you know, it’s a a feedback look that
tend tends to take take you to a to a dark path, right? So I I completely agree with you. It’s you know no regrets, just you know take risks, move forward and be courageous.
Adrian Ferrero (47:19) And another thing is you don’t need to build a company. It’s not a path for everyone. So sometimes working for others might be as rewarding and teaming up. So being part of a team is a huge and great experience as well. So not everyone needs to be an entrepreneur. I I can tell you by experience that
all my white hair in the breast is because of stress and many nights without sleeping. But that was something I feel I had to do. But I see all other colleagues we have at Biomakers, they are fully committed, they are engaged, they also have their level of stress, but they found a goal by joining this company.
And there are others with different goals that might be the C21, but don’t stay in places where you don’t feel you’re doing something worth it with your time. So philosophical at the end. Sorry if that was not the goal.
Federico Ramallo (48:19) Adrian, truly appreciate it.
Yeah, I think it was amazing. I mean the I I got the feedback that I I tend to go too philosophical, but I think it’s great. You know, it’s it’s a great way to explore and learn about life. so yeah, I think it’s great. Yeah. Adrian, thank you very much for being here today. Truly appreciate it.
Adrian Ferrero (48:44) My pleasure. Call me whenever you need more fun and nice conversations like this.