YardSprout to Plant New Pollinator Garden for Town of Carrboro
YardSprout is excited to announce that we will soon be planting a community pollinator garden in partnership with the town of Carrboro! Town officials have graciously worked with YardSprout and The North Carolina Department of Transportation to pioneer a new “Adopt-a-Planting-Bed” pilot program, modeled on the nationwide Adopt-a-Highway program. YardSprout is excited to be a pilot of what could evolve into a replicable model available to other organizations, both private and public, who wish to maintain public garden spaces.
As part of our research on pollinator gardens in preparation for this plot, we recently met with Debbie Roos at her “Pollinator Paradise” Garden at Chatham Mills in Pittsboro, NC, which provided us much inspiration for our efforts. Debbie, Chatham County’s Agricultural Extension Agent, created and maintains this large and beautiful pollinator garden with the help of volunteers, and the results are awe-inspiring. A schedule of Debbie’s monthly tours of the garden is available on her website, as well as a list of what’s in bloom. Many of the plants found there will be included in the Carrboro pollinator garden.
This new pollinator garden will be located at the intersection of Hillsborough Road and West Main Street in Carrboro, across the street from Looking Glass Cafe. The site has previously been a town-maintained garden bed containing decorative plants. With no extra cost to the town or its citizens, YardSprout will transform this space into a sustainable and ecologically responsible garden that all members of the community can enjoy.
Our team will be planting a wide variety of gorgeous, native, drought-resistant plants that are known for attracting bees and butterflies. We’ll be including littleleaf sage, Bush’s poppy mallow, wild nodding onion, yarrow, and goldenrod, just to name a few. Stay tuned for photos and a complete list of what we’re planting!
Because we are working in partnership with the town of Carrboro (and close to a DOT-maintained road), we’ll be required to follow safety precautions, including wearing high-visibility safety vests. If you see us out working, feel free to stop by and say hello! If you’re interested in learning more or finding out how to support our local (or national!) efforts, please get in touch.
YardSprout seeks Marketing Director
YardSprout is a Chapel Hill / Carrboro based social venture matching people with expert gardeners and green landscapers to grow food and sustain their land. In addition to helping people pursue a wide variety of outdoor gardening and landscaping projects, our technology platform will help expand the amount of food grown within the urban environment, in residential, school, business and other yards.
About YardSprout
We are building software for residential consumers and corporate landholders to map, plan, and manage their sustainable land-use projects.
We provide a range of marketing and business management tools for expert gardeners, landscapers, farmers and other outdoor professionals to better promote their service, design and manage their projects, and communicate and educate their customers.
Marketing Director Position
We are seek a creative, motivated, talented Marketing Director to start asap!
- Help craft our brand image through great company marketing collateral.
- Assist with our online marketing campaigns, including email outreach, viral video, social media, partnerships and more.
- Conduct a press campaign to generate media attention.
- Identify and reach out to prospective partners.
- Work with other team members to develop our company visual identity.
- Record and promote the stories of expert gardeners in the Triangle and beyond.
- Interview home-owners and businesses about their food, gardening and landscaping interests and needs.
- Help plan our big summer expo and launch event.
- Help prepare for our exhibits at SXSW Eco in Austin, the national Net Impact conference in Baltimore, the Internet Summit in Raleigh, and other business and sustainability expos.
- Get your hands dirty with some team gardening projects – learn how to grow and eat great, fresh, local food with us too!
- Meet dozens of amazing people who are part of the growing local foods movement – chefs, restaurant owners, farmers, edible landscapers, expert gardeners, green techies, local food distributors, and more!
Qualifications
We are seeking college degree holders who live and work in the Triangle and have the following qualities:
- Confident communicator, with public writing and online marketing skills are must-haves.
- Great written and oral communication, including excellent grammar, are imperative.
- Eagerness to learn, give and receive feedback, make pivots, iterate rapidly, and produce final copy that will get published fast!
The following are great to have:
- Experience writing for a public audience, esp online, whether through blog articles, news stories, etc.
- Experience writing, sending, and following up on press releases – pitching a story to reporters.
- Design skills, i.e. indesign, photoshop, pagemaker, quark, etc.
- Web Design skills
- Web fluency, esp with video upload, WordPress, social media integration
- Sales experience
The Position
The Marketing Director is initially offered as a paid part-time, approx 20 hr/wk position. We think this is a phenomenal opportunity with an exciting new start-up with a social mission, a dynamic and passionate team, in the growing local food movement and green economy. If you agree, don’t hesitate to apply today!
Please email careers (at) yardsprout.com with your resume and cover letter, and any writing or portfolio samples you are proud of.
YardSprout Demos Gardening at Briar Creek Earth Day
The YardSprout Team at Earth Day
Briar Chapel held its annual Earth Day celebration this year on April 21. The day began with a 5K and then moved into a full afternoon of activities as families brought their children and pets to listen to live music, eat at food trucks, and learn more about being “green.” Proceeds from the race went to The Abundance Foundation, a nonprofit that supports local food and renewable energy. Tammi Schwerin, of The Abundance Foundation, has been involved with the event for many years and is happy to see it evolve into something bigger every year.
“I hope people take away that they go home and do something. We like to see action. Even if it’s small, just baby steps. Our organization is about doing something,” Schwerin said.
YardSprout held a booth with information about gardening and sustainability for visitors, and helped children and adults plant tomato seeds. The Abundance Foundation is a supporter of YardSprout and wants to see it grow.
“We saw the need for what they were doing and it just fit with our mission,” Schwerin said.
The event featured local chefs from restaurants such as Fearrington House Restaurant and the Carolina Inn, who presented menu items from the new school lunch program in Chatham Country Schools. The program is designed to create healthier lunches for school-aged children and instill better eating habits. Schwerin hopes that Briar Chapel’s Earth Day celebration will have an impact on children and their parents.
“I really hope to see people change their priorities, put more emphasis on agriculture and the health of ourselves,” Schwerin said.
YardSprout Co-Sponsors Triangle Startup Weekend 2012
What a great weekend. We watched 20 teams pitch their start-up ideas at Triangle Startup Weekend 2012, hosted at NC State University this weekend. From over 60 one-minute pitches on Friday, participants voted with their feet and formed 20 teams, and spent nearly 40 straight hours developing their concepts and preparing for a 5 minute pitch and demo today.
The winner: Truxie, a mobile app to help food trucks and their customers process payments and place orders online, in line.
Being born out of a first place win at Triangle Startup Weekend 2011, YardSprout was proud to co-sponsor of this year’s event. Our task was to source healthy “Hacker Snacks” for the 100+ participants working through the long hours of the weekend.
We provided:
Over 50 pounds of fresh, organic, local strawberries from McNeil Farm.
Fresh baked bread from Ninth Street Bakery.
Wheel of cheese from Ashe County Cheese Co.
Organic corn chips, local tomatoes, organic apples, and more!
It’s awesome to be a party of TSW 2012 and help feed this year’s batch of entrepreneurs and developers, pitching a wide range of start-up ideas. Some of our favorites:
Wanderful: A paid augmented reality app to help you learn history by walking local routes. Initial partnership with Durham History Museum.
PhotoSlam: Building on Words with Friends or Draw Something, a mobile app for folks to earn points by accepting challenges to take photos of yourself doing an action in a location.
50 lbs of organic strawberries for TSW 2012photo challenges, using their mobile to take photos doing an action in a location.
Docstr: “Search. Schedule. Feel Better” – website to find and schedule doctor’s appointments
Truxie: Integrated mobile ordering and payment solution for mobile food trucks.
Unfundable: A take on crowdfunding for start-ups, letting a broad online community vote for
How to Win at Startup Weekend
With Triangle Startup Weekend kicking off tonight, the YardSprout team reflects on our victory in 2011. YardSprout is a co-sponsor of TSW 2012, and is providing “Hacker Snacks” to help sustain hundreds of entrepreneurs as they embark on a nonstop weekend. Dive in, and enjoy mounds of freshly picked, local organic strawberries, locally baked bread, cheese, salad, and more.
Usually, I cringe at seeing “how to win” articles. Winning is as much about “right place, right time” and a little luck as it is about strategy, talent, and passion. But since YardSprout did win Triangle Startup Weekend in 2011, and whether or not this honor confers upon us any authority at winning, at the very least we wanted to offer the following words of encouragement, and a few bites of “what we learned”, to the entrepreneurs and teams competing this weekend at TSW 2012 in Raleigh, NC.
YardSprout pitching at TSW 2011
Pitch with Passion: There are a lot of ideas that can sound really interesting in a minute. And a lot that can sound… awkward. But if you pitch with passion, at the very least other participants evaluating ideas for team-joining potential will remember you, and maybe give you a chance to share more about your idea.
What is the Problem you are Trying to Solve? At the end of the day, your idea has to propose a solution to something – so don’t forget to illustrate the depth, or magnitude, or sheer annoyance of the problem you are trying to solve. If you can’t articulate that, perhaps there isn’t a problem after all. Which means you could still have a great product, but you had better be a great marketer, because you’ll have to create a need where perhaps none existed.
Once you’re Part of a Team, Act Like a Team: Whether you are the “evangelist” pitching the idea, or one of a number of strangers meeting for the first time on a Startup Weekend team, it’s time to draw upon all your great team archetypes and become the team-that-could. You’ll likely go through the classic phases of team-dom in 48 hours: forming, storming, and norming – whether you know if or not. So don’t be afraid to “form” the team with good ground rules, expectations, individual needs/desires, and roles (not just programmer/designer/business, but facilitator/note-keeper/time-tracker).
Nathaniel coding away with YardSprout
Start High Level, then Get Focused Fast: To get everyone bought into an idea, and more importantly, see if there is actually a better idea, or variation on the idea, to focus on this weekend, don’t be afraid to spend a little time in the clouds. And don’t get stuck there. Pretty soon, you’ll all need to agree on solving one problem this weekend, with one simple solution. And if it’s hard to decide, create some criteria and rank your options, and/or vote.
Talk to Real People: You’ve actually got a lot of time. Which means you should be able to spend a few hours surveying potential users – and not just Startup Weekend peers – get out in the community, get on the phone. On Saturday morning, some of the YardSprout team went to survey folks at the Durham Farmers’ Market, some talked to TSW participants, others posted ads on Craigslist to gauge market response.
Manage your Time: You’re collectively managing a project with a finite deliverable and a finite amount of time. If you’re to get any sleep, you”ll find a schedule helpful. For example: Friday 10-midnight, team forming, in the clouds; Sat 8-9 am breakfast, from clouds to focus, 9-11 initial market research, 11-12 review and solution brainstorm… or, you might run your schedule backwards from your deadlines. And whether your schedule only looks a few steps ahead, at the very least, when you start something, set and objective and a time-frame for the team to check-in and decide what’s next.
Pivot Pivot Finish: You’ll need to find a balance between an agile process which is predicated on continuous pivots over time, and a get-it-done project management style. Allow yourself the space and time to pivot early on, but at some point (and let’s hope it’s not Sunday at 3 am) you’ll need to be driving to the Finish line, which means that additional pivots should be evaluating against having a cohesive, finished demo and pitch.
YardSprout.com TSW demo homepage
Do one Thing, and Do it Well: This is a great rule-of-thumb for start-ups in general, but is enormously important for Startup Weekend. I credit Nathaniel Talbott of Spreedly for emphasizing this at TSW ’11. for You really won’t have time to create a functional demo that does more than one thing, nor do you have time to present a slew of features. So focus on one key problem you are trying to solve. For YardSprout, it was “it’s really hard to find local experts to hire for food gardening projects” so our demo was essentially a basic connective platform to bring together “I garden” and “I want to garden” users. That meant that our splash page could illustrate these two user types, and our demo site showed profiles of the “I garden” experts.
Have a Live Demo: This is Startup Weekend. And its the 2010′s. There are so many options for getting a working website up and running in under 48 hours. Even if you have no programmers or designers on your team, you should still be able to wow the crowd: register a domain name on godaddy; create a wordpress blog; configure the domain to pull your wordpress site; pick a nice free theme, or pay $50-100 for a better custom theme. Use powerpoint to create and resize images. Use Formstack or zoomerang to create on-site forms. Voila. You’re live with a demo site.
Judges deliberating at TSW 2011
Also Have a Solid Pitch Deck: You’ll likely be using powerpoint to pitch your idea, and then pull up your demo on a browser. Aim for design consistency, use images not just words, and for gods sake, don’t put an entire paragraph on a slide. Think bullet points. You’ll thank us later.
Rehearse: Especially if multiple people will present, but even if it’s just one, rehearse rehearse rehearse. Eminem says “You only get one shot, do not miss your chance to blow / This opportunity comes once in a lifetime”, and Rebecca Black “This is my moment…” Don’t find yourself on stage thinking “now, what do I want to say?”
Sleep and Eat well: You can’t control whether your mapping API works flawlessly, or whether your solution hits the mark, and what the judges think, but you can control to some degree your sleeping and eating. We got 6-8 hours on Friday night, and about the same on Saturday. Heck, if you live an hour away, consider going in on a cheap hotel room in Raleigh. And, eat healthy. That’s why YardSprout is providing “Hacker Snacks” for TSW 2012 – mounds of freshly picked, local organic strawberries, locally baked bread, cheese, salad, and more.
Be Grateful: At the end of the day (or, I should say, the long blur of a weekend), it’s not about where you place, it’s about what you’ve learned. Whether YardSprout won 1st or 21st place, TSW helped us explore an idea that turned out to have a real market, a compelling problem to solve, and an exciting solution – and we ran with it. You’ll find an incredible community of mentors, supporters, investors, and collaborators – we learned a whole lot, and owe many thanks, to folks like Joan Siefert-Rose at CED, Mital Patel at Triangle Business Law, F Scot Moody, Jason Caplain at Southern Capitol Ventures, and more.
YardSprout wins 2nd at Wake Forest Univ. Elevator Pitch
Maintain Momentum: It’s okay to get some sleep the week after, but before the momentum dies, if you feel like your idea has legs, put things in motion: follow up with your mentors, meet up with your teammates, enroll in a business planning program (we immediately applied for UNC-KFBS’ Launching the Venture), check-out an accelerator (Triangle Startup Factory, Kickstart Carolina), reserve your name through the NC Secretary of State website, incorporate your business (an LLC is fine to start with), and start making incremental changes to your website – or keep up a blog.
Startup Weekend is a great experience in and of itself, and it can also be the perfect launch pad for your entrepreneurial venture. Or as YardSprout would say, Let’s get Sprouting!
By: Andrew Pearson, YardSprout Founder
PS: If you’re reading this far, and you like what’s YardSprout’s about, joing us! We’re recruiting advisors, experts, customers, investors, interns, and staff. Contact us for more details.
YardSprout Wins 2nd at Wake Forest Elevator Competition!
On March 24th, YardSprout team members Andrew Pearson, Kim Herold, and Caroline McKay attended the 13th annual Wake Forest University Elevator Competition. Twenty-four teams of entrepreneurs competed by pitching their business ideas in 2 minutes while riding up and down with judges, camera operators, and onlookers in – you guessed it – an elevator!
It took a lot of preparation to be able to communicate YardSprout’s message succinctly in under two minutes. When we found ourselves in the elevator at last (which goes up the the top floor, down to the lobby, back up to the top, and down again in 2 minutes), we were glad to have prepared! It was an invaluable learning experience for the YardSprout team, as the distractions and pressure of conveying a business plan while riding up and down in an elevator were a great way to test our resolve and vision.
Finalists were selected in two tracks, traditional and social. YardSprout was selected as one of five finalists in the social track, at which point we had an hour to prepare for our second pitch – a 25-minute presentation to a board room full of judges. After giving it our best, we were then taken to a separate room to be interviewed about our experience!
Finally, we made our way to the dining hall for the event where we waited and chatted with other teams. We were very honored that YardSprout was awarded 2nd place at the WFU Elevator Competition!
YardSprout team members Caroline, Kim, and Andrew with William Hinman
We want to express our sincere thanks to our supporters, to our hosts at the WFU Elevator Competition, and to all the other terrific teams who inspired us to do our best. Thank you!
Register for the Piedmont Fruit School, March 17-18, Durham NC
Great stuff to get your mind and body moving this Spring–a weekend intensive Fruit School with Bill Whipple this March, growing veggies with nature, medicinal herbs, and more!
March 17th-18th–Piedmont Fruit School with Barkslip, BB, SEEDS, and friends
Imagine, propagating your plant material for little or no expense, transforming fully grown barren ornamentals into fruit producing mega-giants, and gaining invaluable knowledge and experience in orchard care at a price you can afford! We are pleased to partner with orchardist Bill Whipple on a two day, eight hour intensive class covering:
- fruit tree selection, siting, and planting
- orchard care, pruning and maintenance best practices
- plant propagation and grafting
- a wealth of information on many aspects of fruit and nut production
Here are the basics!:
- March 17th, Orchards, Pruning and Propagation (1114 Woodburn Rd, Durham, NC 27707). Class begins promptly at 9am and will run til about 5pm.
- March 18th, Orchards and Grafting for Abundance at SEEDS Community Garden (801 Gilbert Street, Durham, NC 27703). Class begins promptly at 9am and will run til about 5pm.
While you or your group will get the greatest benefit from attending the full course over two days, we are offering day and full class rates. $90 day and only $160 for the whole course. Register
For more information or registration confirmation, contact us at 919.619.9862 or email us at bountifulbackyards@gmail.com
Offering Spring Fellowships and Summer Internships at Duke SBSI Conference
YardSprout is excited to attend today’s Sustainable Business and Social Impact conference at Duke’s Fuqua School of Business, where much of the focus is on innovative social business models. We’re looking forward to hearing Jill Dumain, the Director of Environmental Strategy at Patagonia, speak, and will check out this morning’s workshop “How new financial vehicles are disrupting the landscape of social entrepreneurship“, of particular relevance to the emerging local food economy.
We’re also excited to recruit for our Spring Fellowship and Summer Internship positions, and hope to meet candidates who share our passion and can help us advance YardSprout’s mission and vision.
YardSprout is building a national network and web platform, beginning with yardsprout.com, to grow the future’s food economy. Our services help homeowners, property managers, businesses and other land holders find expert gardeners, landscapers and farmers to expand food cultivation and pursue other sustainable uses of their land. We are a new, social venture based in the triangle, founded in June 2011. We help people Learn, Plant, and Grow.
We’re Seeking Spring and Fall Fellows and Summer Interns who:
- Love the rapid, creative, iterative culture of a start-up
- Aspire to make a big impact
- Have great business, organizing, or marketing skills
- Have a true passion for local food systems and sustainable land use
YardSprout Internships & Fellowships
Paid Summer Internship
8-10 week summer internships are based in Chapel Hill / Durham, NC.
1. YardSprout Business Development Internship
We are recruiting a Business Development Intern to help us refine our business model and expand our national reach. This will be a multi-faceted, highly creative internship for motivated, dynamic, and talented candidates.
2. FarmSprout Business Development & Farm Economics Internship
Our second platform, FarmSprout.com, will provide online software tools to help small and medium sized farms manage business, access markets, and connect with customers, labor, and capital.
Fellowships
2-4 month Spring and Fall Fellowships focus on exciting projects critical to our developing business. Candidates will be matched with projects based on expertise and passion.
1. Business plan and investor pitch: Assist with research, preparation, planning and presentation of our business plan.
2. Market research on edible landscaping, urban farming, small/medium farms, green-scaping, and sustainable, outdoor land use.
4. Product development through research, surveys, interviews and innovation sessions.
3. Partnership development with local and national businesses.
5. Brand development, marketing & PR campaigns, and social media strategies.
To Apply, Submit Resume & Cover Letter by 3/1 for Spring or Summer Roles to: Careers@YardSprout.com
Short Survey for Landscapers, Gardeners, and Other Outdoor Professionals
YardSprout launched our first national survey for landscapers, gardeners, and other outdoor professionals. This short, 1 page, 10 question survey is a great way for our team to gauge the needs and interests of folks working our urban land. The survey is designed for anyone who owns or works with a business, or generates some portion of their personal income, providing these services.
Take the Survey Here! (Link: http://www.zoomerang.com/Survey/WEB22D7ZR4BBL3 )
The survey offers a number of great incentives:
- Win $50 to spend at a garden supply store of their choice
- A Free, 1 year, $200 value online profile on YardSprout.com
- YardSprout’s “Growing your Business: A Guide for Outdoor Professionals”
- A Free 30 minutes business Phone Consultation on financial planning, website optimization, or social media marketing.
Feel free to share this survey with anyone you know working in this sector!
Cheers,
the YardSprout Team
Working on our Prototype Website
The YardSprout team is busy working on our prototype website, which we aim to launch this month. While we are contiguring our server and making other changes to our site, you may find our domain name inaccessible at certain times. Please forgive our downtime; follow us on Twitter and sign up for our newsletter so we can let you know when our new site is live!
Best,
The YardSprout Team