When Soj Gamayon arrived in California from his home in the Philippines, he was determined to make the most of his journey. The experience, featuring intensive mentoring and networking opportunities, has significantly influenced the way Gamayon thinks about developing his AgriConnect idea, which uses AI to help farmers identify crop threats. Moreover, it has altered his view of himself. “What this trip has meant to me is that I’m actually a risk taker!” says the student entrepreneur. “And I think that’s always going to be something I learned about myself and that maybe changed me as a person.”
The journey began with two weeks in Los Angeles, where Gamayon met with Hans Yang, the head of Microsoft for Startups, who had been a global judge at the Red Bull Basement World Final in Tokyo. Yang gave him a tour of the University of Southern California’s Iovine and Young Academy, dedicated to preparing students to innovate at the intersection of technology, design, and business. Gamayon reflects, “Microsoft had helped me think through the systems that I have on the backend of my startup, and Hans and I were catching up. I was able to tell him about the progress I was making, and it was a very genuine interaction.”
Yang commented on the transformation he witnessed in founders like Gamayon, “The highlight of my time at Red Bull Basement in Tokyo was watching founders go from an idea to a real business. With someone like Soj, who came in with a concept, what he left with was a journey that he can now follow for the rest of his life.”
Throughout his time in Los Angeles, Gamayon was provided with resources to prepare for the culmination of his trip: three immersive days at Plug and Play’s Silicon Valley Summit. The Summit brings together more than 4,000 attendees from over 20 industries to network, hear from expert speakers, and discover promising AI startups. Gamayon was provided with a coveted startup booth and the opportunity to pitch AgriConnect to a room of movers and shakers.
“For the two weeks ahead of the Summit, basically every day I had a two-hour session with different Plug and Play mentors. Everything was curated according to where I am right now – a pre-product startup – and also to the industry I’m in, which is Agriculture,” Gamayon shares. The mentors took a custom approach to Gamayon’s needs, covering topics from product tech to pitching and scaling.
Just eight months after first envisioning AgriConnect, and only six months after his Red Bull Basement win, the experience couldn’t have come at a better time. Gamayon explains, “This is my first rodeo, my first startup. I don’t have a product, so I can’t answer anything too technical yet, and I don’t have revenue, so I can’t give a good financial projection. I had been pressuring myself to have all of those stats ASAP, but the time in LA taught me that I had to reorient how I was looking at my startup. The mentors told me, ‘Soj, you’re not at that stage yet. This journey should be about how you can defy the odds and take calculated risks to learn more.’”
Despite this new mindset, Gamayon acknowledges that he was nervous going into the Silicon Valley Summit. “It’s so prestigious. I felt like, ‘This is really the place to be. Do I actually belong here?’” But the mentors reassured him, pointing out that he had won Red Bull Basement over 110,000 other ideas, putting Agri-Tech into the spotlight. This realization clicked for Gamayon, whose idea had originally been inspired by the needs of farmers like his uncle. He describes, “It gave me a lot of clarity to think that this is beyond me now. Beyond my uncle. Even beyond the Philippines. It’s a whole industry that I’m representing. And I think that’s ultimately what I learned: from doubting myself to believing that I’m supposed to be here.”
Before flying to California, Gamayon’s goal was to talk to as many investors as he could. However, he came to understand that he was there to solidify his value proposition. He says, “When I talked to people at the Summit, I always told them that I am pre-product, and that I am trying to de-risk two main things: the technical aspect of my startup and the market. And these people in the industry, they understood.”
Jamie Lipman from the Plug and Play Tech Center said, “I’m very excited for Soj and AgriConnect. I think there is a lot of potential for his company, and we know he’s going to make such an incredible impact in the agricultural space.”
Next up for Gamayon,