Complications from COVID ignite creativity for Grow-NY competition

Since winning a portion of the $3 million Grow-NY competition last year, the Perfect Granola LLC has expanded operations, moved into a larger warehouse with office space and more than doubled its staff. The small agricultural business now has a full production line at Foodlink Inc. and has taken one of its products national.

“Those were our three main focuses: expand operations; hire additional workers; and take that product nationwide,” said the Perfect Granola Founder Michelle Liddle. “We’ve been able to achieve all three of those milestones already, within the first six months.”

Liddle’s company won $250,000 in last fall’s inaugural competition, which awards a top $1 million prize as well as two $500,000 prizes and four $250,000 prizes. Last year’s competition had 17 finalists; Grow-NY officials expect roughly 20 this year.

“I first learned of the competition from (New York State Lt. Gov.) Kathy Hochul, who put out a statement that the Grow-NY competition was coming to the region and that it was a competition that would help agriculture startups that were looking to grow this region in the food and ag business,” Liddle recalled.

Because the Victor startup is mission-based and has its New York State Grown & Certified certification, Liddle thought the Perfect Granola was a perfect fit for the competition.

New York State Grown & Certified is a multi-faceted food certification program designed to strengthen consumer confidence in New York products, address food product labeling and help New York farmers take advantage of the growing market demand for foods locally grown and produced to a higher standard.

“We checked all the boxes,” Liddle said.

The Grow-NY competition launched in 2019 as a three-year program funded with $21 million from Empire State Development and administered by Cornell University’s Center for Regional Economic Advancement. The competition is open to food and agriculture businesses across the globe who, if chosen as winners, commit to making a positive impact in the growing startup hub located in New York state’s Finger Lakes, Central NY and Southern Tier regions. The three regions, which pooled their Upstate Revitalization Initiative funds to develop Grow-NY, comprise 22 counties, said Grow-NY Program Director Jenn Smith.

“Overall, the program, of which the competition is the flagship event, is intended to attract innovation in food and agriculture to our region — which has such a strong tradition of both farming and food production — to growing, making, moving and showing food,” Smith said. “But (also) leveraging that ecosystem and that tradition and that existing industry to contribute to ongoing economic development in the region.”

Applications for this year’s competition opened March 31 and closed July 15. Grow-NY will announce its finalists in September.

“We have a panel of 30 online judges that will help select down to that finalist cohort, and they come from industry, research institutions, entrepreneurial programs and the investment and capital world around food and ag innovation,” Smith added.

This year’s competition is understandably different from Grow-NY’s inaugural event. The initial phase of the competition, what Grow-NY calls the “regeneration” phase, usually involves officials combing conferences and symposia for good candidates for the competition. With the business shutdown that is happening everywhere during COVID-19, officials had to be creative.

“This year we’ve doubled down on the relationships that we have with incubators, accelerator programs and university programs around the country to create this web of awareness and really draw innovators into the program that way,” Smith said.

In addition, Grow-NY plans to postpone its fall expo until spring 2021, although the competition itself and the selection of winners will happen either virtually or via some hybrid model on Nov. 17 and 18 of this year as originally planned.

“We’re really excited to move forward with this competition this year, and while we won’t be able to convene a large audience like we did last year … we’re still seeing this as an important opportunity to advance the dialog around the topics that are relevant to growers, makers and movers of food in the region,” Smith said. “And also that economic development programs like the Grow-NY competition in this moment of uncertainty can provide a much-needed ladder to help new businesses take off and rewrite continually the economy.”

Once the cohort of 20 is announced, Grow-NY assigns each business a mentor to hone their presentation and help them through the competition.

“Once we select the cohort of 20 and we pair them with mentors, we’re really about connecting them to the regional assets that will help them build on that idea and realize it as a concrete plan,” Smith explained. “Whether they win money or not they’re getting a discreet benefit from the program, and the program and the region are getting the discreet benefit of having the influx of talent and ideas.”

Smith said that in many ways, the program removes the friction that a startup may encounter trying to launch itself into a region.

“We can open doors to researchers and state agencies and industry leaders, and that’s because it’s a very coalition-mined and collaborative program where we do get a lot of support from our partner group,” she said.

Judges of the competition base their decisions on five criteria including the viability of commercialization and business model; customer value; food and agriculture innovation; regional job creation; and the quality and completeness of the team and its readiness to deliver.

In addition to the funds that winners receive, they also receive a separate mentor who will work with them throughout the following year.

“The cohort of mentors is something we’re constantly developing. So much of the objective of the program is to act as connective tissue in the region,” Smith said. “It’s been an ongoing dialog with the thought leaders in the industry, in research and in state agencies that are touching the region and in the sector that we’re working in.”

Mentors must live and work within the three regions involved in the competition and they come from a variety of backgrounds, but with the common thread of entrepreneurship.

“Those mentors are the main gatekeepers. Sometimes we even refer to them jokingly as concierges because they open doors,” Smith said with a laugh. “They have tremendous Rolodexes, they’ve got connections and then what they don’t have we can help hunt down.

“I cannot imagine the contact a startup would be seeking … we’re never going to be more than a degree or two of separation from that contact. Mentors build that bridge between the startup and that contact.”

Liddle meets monthly with her mentor, Elisa Miller-Out, serial entrepreneur and managing partner at Chloe Capital.

“I’d already known Elisa Miller-Out and I have so much respect for her, so to have her placed as my mentor was a dream come true,” Liddle said. “I can tap into any of her insight if I have questions about anything or want to be connected with one of her connections. She’s so helpful and supportive. It’s been really beneficial working with her.

“This competition goes beyond just the money — the money obviously is helpful, especially when you’re winning such a huge amount — but then the mentorship is there and being able to work closely with Cornell and really hone in on what is going to make your company successful,” Liddle added.

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