S7E79: Tom Adamczyk / Planted Detroit’s - Biosecurity, Vertical Farming, & Improving the Food Supply Chain

Episode Summary

Tom Adamczyk is the Founder & CEO at Planted Detroit, a beyond-organic farm that grows nutrient-packed greens and micros in a sustainable & controlled environment. Today, Harry and Tom discuss the origins of Planted Detroit, the revitalization of the city of Detroit, and Tom’s background in finance. Tom touches on the lessons he learned as a leader and CEO during the Covid-19 pandemic, the role mentors have played in his journey and why he believes it is critical for any business owner or investor to love the product.

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Key Takeaways

07:13 – Tom Adamczyk joins the show to discuss the revitalization of the city of Detroit, his 2000 Chevy Camaro, and where he got his ‘hustle mentality’ from

13:02 – What Tom learned from his time in the financial sector

16:42 – The impact that mentors have had on Tom’s career

20:50 – Challenges Tom had to overcome throughout the Covid-19 pandemic

24:24 – The origin story of Planted Detroit

29:51 – Lessons learned as a leader and CEO

33:30 – Planted Detroit’s ideal customer and offerings

36:48 – Plans for the future of Planted Detroit

39:24 – A tough question Tom has had to ask himself recently and a specific ask he has for his colleague in the vertical farming industry

45:39 – Harry thanks Tom for joining the show and lets listeners know where they can go to connect with him and learn more about Planted Detroit

Tweetable Quotes

“Within business and as an entrepreneur, you have to be able to understand a little bit of everything. From the finance side to Sales & Marketing, to Operations, you’ve got to be technical and have some IT knowledge. There’s a lot of components of a business that you need to understand at least a little bit about each and every one of them.” (12:07) (Tom)

“Hindsight, again, is 2020, but the team at Planted Detroit did a phenomenal job of being able to support one another, buckle down, keep the business operating as a critical infrastructure business. And we kept supplying food to our community all throughout it.” (23:28) (Tom)

“I surrounded myself with people that had different experiences and backgrounds than me. And now, a lot of those people are still with me today. They are part of my leadership team at Planted Detroit. We brainstorm ideas and we learn from one another. They have backgrounds in Plant Science, Microbiology, Grocery, Marketing, as well as Construction and a lot of different aspects.” (28:06) (Tom)

“It’s an amazing product. As an investor in a company, you’ve got to love the product. And that’s really grown organically into my life where people are constantly talking to me about salad.” (36:13) (Tom)

“As an entrepreneur, there’s a million things that you need to do. You have to prioritize. I think it’s a component of what are you gonna do with your time? Again, I’m a humble person, so I’m not the type to say my time is more valuable than yours. It’s simply that time is valuable. It’s valuable to everybody. You can’t buy time. And so, I cherish that. I cherish my time. I think about what I’m gonna do with it. I think about my family. I think about my businesses. And I think about Planted Detroit specifically. It’s a huge time component and a huge investment, but it has so much opportunity.” (39:35) (Tom)