“You’re not really sure what you want to do. Of course, you’re an entire person so you start employing yourself in whatever. And then you start forming yourself in terms of what you see, what you hear, and what you smell around.”
– Henrik Kristensen
Due to the countless barriers to innovation, many people never choose to innovate or bring their ideas to life. And the grand majority of those who do try to innovate end up failing. How do you lower the cost of innovation and maximize the probability of success?
Henrik Stamm Kristensen is a serial entrepreneur who has founded five companies, four of which are food technology companies and one of which is a communications platform. After 35 years in the food industry, he is now the Founder and CEO (Chief Moonshot Officer) at BlendHub and the Founder of ChemoMetric Brain.
Growing up in Denmark where food transparency is more apparent, he loved exploring recipes and cooking. He realized that cooking is truly catering to the consumer group. He later worked for an American Danish company for 12 years, exposing himself to the world of ingredients and how they’re used or misused in recipes. He extracted key insights into the food supply chain, raw materials sourcing, ingredient sales, etc. breaking his way into the industry segment.
“When you shoot for mars, you might reach the moon.”
– Henrik Kristensen
💬 Discussed in this episode…
● [03:20] Why Henrik cares about the food industry and became an entrepreneur in this space
● [7:25] Why he jumped from working at the multinational to starting his own business
● [11:25] The value of expanding your perspective through travel
● [13:15] How Henrik internally explored himself to uncover the problems he would dedicate his life to
● [16:35] What the moonshot mindset is
● [24:45] What BlendHub is and their value creation
❗ What PROBLEM is BlendHub solving?
It’s a human right to know what we are putting into our mouths. Unfortunately, food industries are mostly B2B. It will require time and patience to educate them, in order to eventually reach the end consumer.
🛠️ What is BlendHub’s SOLUTION?
Creating a platform for food production as a service. Under the BlendHub umbrella in the four food technology companies, they ensure food safety, food security, and food quality. Initially, it began with a static factory, but this wasn’t enough. They needed a global replication model.
So, they invented the world’s first portable powder blending, packaging, and quality control factory in a forty foot container. After the first one was patented in 2010, it was deployed in India in 2011. Through localization, they were able to save 30% on costs. They ideated a multi-localized network of food production hubs that are closer to the ingredients and the final consumers.
Perhaps in the next few years, you will be able to validate your food in a cloud-based library that is available to everyone. BlendHub is continuing to push the edge of what is possible, devising a platform for the digitized and data-based future of food production and consumption.
For the entrepreneurs who want to innovate on a certain food (new plant-based product or beverage), BlendHub simplifies every part of the process by providing the ingredients, tools, innovation lab, and methods for optimizing and distributing the food products. By decreasing the barriers to innovation, they accelerate it, benefiting everyone in the industry.
Their progression toward a decentralized autonomous organization allows them to mold human behaviors and monetary models together in a transparent manner.
“When people are sharing personal values, you can start creating shared value.”
– Henrik Kristensen
BlendHub’s mission is to “create a sustainable solution to feed a global population expected to reach 9 billion people by 2050.”
💣 2 Value Bombs
💥 1. MBreak out of your comfort zone and travel. Travel will expose you to the problems that exist out there. All of those problems = potential opportunities! When you discover one that interests you AND excites you, it may be the ONE problem worth dedicating your life to. It could be the key to unlocking your future. When Henrik travelled, he witnessed the various ways people use and consume food, leading him to innovate in his industry.
💥 2. Moonshot mindset is thinking exponentially instead of incrementally. The world has taught us that everything is linear. Recently, we have realized that our potential is exponential. For Henrik, his job is not a box of work, it’s a box of exploration. Exploration leads to exploitation. Exploitation leads to us landing our big ideas on Mars and beyond. As the Chief Moonshot Officer, Henrik creates an identity around himself regarding these beliefs. 2% are innovators, 12% are early adopters, and most ideas die before they go to market. Therefore, adopting moonshot thinking is essential.
📚 People & Resources Mentioned
● Josh Tetrick, Co-Founder and CEO at Eat Just, Inc.
● (Book) Crossing The Chasm by Geoffrey Moore
● Feedabillion.org
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