In the rapidly evolving world of agriculture and technology, HatchTracker stands out as an innovative solution for gamebird producers. Co-founded by Jessica Henman and Kristin Million, this unique software addresses critical challenges in managing hatchery data and streamlining operations. Their journey to third place in the Startup Challenge Traction Cohort highlights Jessica’s dedication, adaptability, and passion for solving real-world problems in agriculture.
From its humble beginnings, inspired by a specific need Jessica identified at Clear Creek Outfitters, to its evolution as a market-ready product, HatchTracker has continuously refined its approach. By incorporating feedback from industry professionals and lessons learned from startup competitions, Jessica and Kristen have led HatchTracker to grow into a valuable tool for the gamebird industry. The Q&A below provides a deep dive into their experiences, insights, and the valuable takeaways from their entrepreneurial journey.
Reigniting Passion and Accountability Through the Startup Challenge
Winning third place in the Startup Challenge Traction Cohort is an impressive accomplishment. How did participating in the competition help shape the development of HatchTracker?
Jessica: I thoroughly enjoyed my time in the Startup Challenge Traction Cohort, and I know Kristin did too. The challenge pushed me to take a hard look at some of the foundational assumptions I had about the business and held us accountable for changing those assumptions.
Kristin: After putting HatchTracker on the backburner for a while due to other commitments and obligations, this experience was truly rejuvenating. It reignited the passion that originally drew me into the gamebird industry and reminded me why I started this journey in the first place.
Shifting from Features to Value: The Key to Growing HatchTracker
What did you learn through the Startup Challenge about growing HatchTracker as a tech-driven solution for gamebird producers?
Kristin: We think one of our biggest “aha!” moments came when we realized that part of the reason we weren’t closing sales was that we kept throwing features at our customers instead of fully explaining our value proposition. While it’s important to ensure customers understand everything included in your product package, we realized we had completely missed the mark in helping them see why any of it actually mattered. We started digging into the emotional drivers behind why our customers do what they do, and we uncovered a gold mine of messaging that we’re excited to share with the industry. We really appreciated the help from the challenge team, who patiently guided us out of feature mode and taught us how to speak the language of value.
From Farm to Innovation: How Necessity Inspired HatchTracker
What inspired the idea for HatchTracker, and how did it evolve from the challenges you faced at Clear Creek Outfitters?
Jessica: HatchTracker was born out of necessity. My husband, Wes, is a chukar (partridge) producer, and not long after he started his venture, it became clear that record-keeping wasn’t exactly his strong suit. On top of that, the barn where the chukars are kept doesn’t have an office setup, so all the business work had to be done at our home, which is 45 minutes away. Wes was constantly juggling notes between the farm and the house, leading to missed or misplaced information, or data that simply wasn’t accessible when we needed it.
After searching endlessly for a tool to make Wes’s life easier and coming up empty, HatchTracker was created. The program allowed Wes to track all the critical data—like mortality rates and the number of birds available—right from his phone, no matter where he was. This made planning and strategy meetings at home so much smoother since all the data was readily available. He could even take customer reservations on the spot, knowing exactly how many birds he had at any given time, instead of scribbling notes at the farm and calling customers back later to confirm.
Once we saw how much it improved our own operation, I realized HatchTracker had the potential to help the entire gamebird industry. That’s when I brought Kristin on board, and together, we’ve worked to bring this solution to market.
Navigating Early Challenges: Building HatchTracker on a Budget and a Vision
Can you walk us through the early days of creating HatchTracker? What were some of the biggest obstacles you encountered while developing the software?
Jessica: Since we are self-funded, one of our biggest challenges has always been prioritizing resource allocation. We’ve had to find ways to improvise and handle tasks ourselves so that we could pay things off as we went and avoid building up a mountain of debt. This meant being very intentional and methodical with every technological improvement we made with our development team. We had to listen closely to what our customers were telling us and focus on coding new developments that would have the biggest impact on our markets.
We’ve also faced challenges on the development side. Anyone who has had an app developed knows how quickly costs can add up. It’s essential to work closely with your development team to ensure that expectations are communicated clearly and that everyone is aligned on what the final result should look like. While Kristin has some experience managing engineering development teams, this was still a learning curve for us as we partnered with our developers. We had to figure out how to convey what we needed in a way that made sense from a technical perspective. It’s been a long learning process, but also an interesting one as we’ve gotten better at “speaking code” with our team.
Evolving with the Industry: How HatchTracker’s Vision Has Expanded
How has your vision for HatchTracker changed since its inception, and what have you learned from your journey so far?
Kristin: When we first started preparing to go to market, our vision for HatchTracker was very narrow. We understood there were real problems in managing inventory data, especially for smaller operations with limited resources. However, when we attended our first industry conference, we realized just how incomplete our understanding of the industry was and how much we needed to adjust our vision to truly meet our customers’ needs.
We discovered there were far more large-scale operations in the gamebird industry than we initially thought. Many of these potential customers manage multiple sites, multiple species, and have vertically integrated breeding, hatching, and sales processes. To address this diversity, we worked closely with our development team to expand our original minimum viable product. We asked a lot of questions, took pages and pages of notes, and spent the next year focusing on the most impactful changes we could make within our limited budget.
Our second trip to the industry conference a year later showed us that we were still slightly off the mark. We continued gathering customer feedback and refining our approach to better serve the industry. Now, as we prepare for our third trip to the annual conference this February, we’re excited to showcase the improvements we’ve made. We’ve learned how to make our pricing more customizable so customers only pay for the features they need. We’ve also figured out how to better demonstrate HatchTracker’s value proposition by showing how it saves our customers actual time and money. Additionally, we’ve identified a new subcategory of potential champions for our product and will be hosting a brunch for them to build stronger relationships.
Building Trust and Solving Problems: Tech Advice for Ag Entrepreneurs
What advice would you give to other entrepreneurs, especially those in agriculture, who are looking to solve specific industry challenges through technology?
Jessica: We are both so excited about how agriculture is growing and evolving to keep up with the world. Agriculture is a vitally important industry, and it’s one that we both love passionately. For entrepreneurs exploring tech solutions to agricultural challenges, we suggest focusing on honing the value proposition of your products. It’s essential to ensure your potential customers can clearly see how your product or service will save them time, save them money, or solve the specific problem they are facing.
Kristin: People in agriculture often have a “make it work” mindset and understand the importance of stretching every penny. They can be skeptical of new methods and will hold you to your word. Building strong relationships and partnering with people within the industry you want to help is key to establishing your credibility. When your customers know and trust you, they are much more likely to listen to what you have to say—including your sales pitch.
Gaining Clarity and Growth Through Startup Competitions
What advice would you give to other entrepreneurs entering startup competitions, especially those in agriculture or tech?
Jessica: These startup competitions can be so helpful in getting you to step outside your own mind and your own knowledge base. The structure of the competition model often forces you to go back to basics and question some of your foundational assumptions. Sometimes, you’ll confirm what you already knew, but other times, you’ll realize you’ve been working off assumptions that don’t quite fit. When you have the opportunity to recognize that and correct it, you’ll see your business start growing in ways it wouldn’t have without that shift.
Even if the competition model doesn’t feel like a perfect fit for your business or industry, we’ve found that it’s helped us grow a lot in our understanding of and relationship to HatchTracker. We feel more prepared than ever to speak in a way that our customers can really hear what we have to say.
Wrap-Up
HatchTracker’s journey is a reflection of the power of identifying a real need and turning it into an innovative solution. Through dedication, adaptability, and a commitment to understanding customer needs, Jessica and Kristin have built a tool that is making a meaningful impact in the gamebird industry. As they continue to refine and grow HatchTracker, their story serves as an inspiration to entrepreneurs everywhere striving to solve industry challenges through technology.
Editors Note: The answers in this Q&A have been lightly edited for clarity, grammar, and length without altering the intended meaning of the responses.
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