When you’re building technology for a traditional industry, conventional Silicon Valley wisdom often falls short. In a recent episode of Category Visionaries, Craig Rupp, founder and CEO of Sabanto, shared insights from his journey bringing autonomous technology to agriculture. Here are five crucial go-to-market lessons that every AgTech founder should consider.
1. Start with Real-World Validation, Not Pitch Decks
When Craig decided to enter the autonomous farming space, he didn’t start with market research or investor presentations. Instead, “I went and leased the JCB 4220… and went and bought an 18 row 20 inch planter, spent the winter writing software, putting hardware together.” He then got his CDL license and personally transported his system across multiple states, working directly with farmers.
This hands-on approach provided more than just technical validation – it offered deep insights into real-world implementation challenges that no market research could reveal.
2. Challenge Industry Assumptions (But Respect Industry Knowledge)
While agricultural equipment manufacturers push toward ever-larger machines, Sabanto took the opposite approach. “We believe that Autonomy is going to take horsepower in the other direction,” Craig explains. “We’re focused more on smaller sub 200 HP tractors and having them work twenty four, seven.”
However, this contrarian stance is based on deep industry understanding, not outsider arrogance. As Craig notes about farmers, “They’re some of the more progressive technology adopting people you will ever meet.”
3. Build for Integration, Not Replacement
Instead of trying to replace existing equipment, Sabanto developed a system that integrates with it. Their autonomous system “takes about 4 hours” to install, and as Craig emphasizes, “I don’t think autonomy… is an all or nothing proposition.” He draws a practical analogy: “Nobody uses cruise control to back it out of the garage.”
This approach acknowledges that farmers have significant investments in existing equipment and that new technology needs to enhance, not replace, their current operations.
4. Find the Hidden Market Opportunities
While many assume autonomous farming is primarily for large-scale industrial agriculture, Sabanto discovered unexpected traction in organic farming. As Craig explains, “A lot of farmers – one of the reasons why they do not switch to organic is just the labor requirements.” While conventional farming might need just a few field operations, organic farming requires multiple passes: “They have to do tillage. Then they plant. Then they get a tineweed and they rotary ho… Then they cultivate, cultivate.”
This insight revealed how automation could actually enable more sustainable farming practices – a counterintuitive but valuable market opportunity.
5. Build Infrastructure, Not Just Technology
By 2022, Sabanto had proven their technology worked. But rather than rushing to market, they spent significant time on commercialization infrastructure. “Throughout 2022, we thought, okay, so we have all this… now let’s productize this,” Craig explains. They focused on “giving it the ability to hand it off or let other people deploy Autonomy into their operations.”
This included building dealer networks, creating training programs, and developing certification processes – all the unsexy but crucial elements that enable scale in traditional industries.
The Platform Play
Perhaps most importantly, Sabanto sees beyond just selling autonomous systems. “We want to give others the ability to add or I guess contribute to agriculture,” Craig explains. “There’s a lot of implement companies out there that are really innovative, and what’s stopping them from instrumenting or creating technology on their implements is just the proprietary nature of agriculture today.”
This vision of creating an open platform for agricultural innovation shows an understanding that in AgTech, success often comes not from disrupting an industry, but from enabling its evolution.
Looking Ahead
For AgTech founders, these lessons point to a crucial truth: success in agricultural technology isn’t just about having better technology – it’s about understanding how that technology fits into the complex reality of modern farming. As Craig’s journey shows, the best innovations often come not from trying to revolutionize agriculture, but from deeply understanding and enhancing the way farmers already work.
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