Seedsheet

Seedsheet is on a mission to become the ultimate backyard brand.

It’s an agriculture-technology company targeting the fifty-five-billion-dollar market for gardening. This company has created a product that makes successful gardening easier.

• Fast Company says, “Now you don’t need a green thumb to grow fresh, healthy produce.”

• Treehugger says, “It’s even easier than a trip to your local farmers’ market.”

• And Fortune notes, “In recent years, food has been one of the tech industry’s hottest areas. Now a Vermont startup has brought this do-it-yourself phenomenon to gardening.”

Last year, seventy-eight percent of American households gardened. And seventeen million people started the hobby for the first time.

Gardening was particularly popular during the pandemic. An estimated twenty million first-time gardeners picked up the hobby when Covid struck. Not only was gardening a safe way to pass the time while people were stuck at home, but the industry itself is especially recession-resilient. In 2009, there was an eleven-percent increase in household gardening, and a twenty-percent increase in food-gardening sales.

This industry’s recession resilience stems from the fact that, when economic times are tough, people try and save money by growing their own food.

The problem is, gardening is hard. Forty percent of beginners quit because they can’t grow anything. And forty-three percent of older gardeners quit because it’s too much work.

So Seedsheet invented a product that makes gardening easier and more successful. Here’s how it works:

First, users design their own garden or choose from more than ninety organic, non-GMO foods and flowers.

Next, professional-grade seeds are sealed into a patented weed-blocking sheet (this is the Seedsheet). Seed spacing is determined for optimal growth.

From there, users place their seedsheet on top of soil — no planting required. Weed-blocking fabric keeps weeds away organically, allowing plants and vegetables to grow unhindered.

Seedsheet eliminates the hardest parts of gardening, and the most common points of failure: seed planting, seed spacing, and weeding. It increases garden success by fifty percent, increases yield by thirty percent, and saves 148 hours of time over a three-month period.

Seedsheet has been featured in Forbes, Fast Company, and on “Good Morning America.” It also appeared on the TV show “Shark Tank” where it started a bidding war.

In July 2021, the company was awarded a utility patent. It has generated five million dollars in lifetime revenue, including two million dollars within the last twelve months.

Seedsheet is initially marketing its product direct-to-consumers through Shopify, but has plans to expand to television ads, brick-and-mortar sales, and sales through wholesale club stores.

Team Background

Cam MacKugler - Founder & VP of Product

Cam has a background in developing consumer products, and his inventions have been featured in Popular Science, Fast Company, and Fortune.

Prior to starting Seedsheet out of a childhood love of gardening, he was a project manager and graphic designer with Bread Loaf Corporation, an architectural and design business.

He earned a Bachelor’s degree in Architecture from Middlebury College.

Jim Feinson - Board of Directors

Jim is the former President and CEO of Gardener’s Supply, one of the nation’s largest multi-channel sellers of gardening products and accessories. He held this role for more than thirty-two years before becoming an independent consultant and advisor.

He studied at Cornell University and Harvard Business School.

Chris Stroud - Chief Marketing Officer

Chris is an industry leader in consumer marketing. His campaigns have driven more than one billion views and $300 million in direct-to-consumer e-commerce sales.

In addition to his role with Seedsheet, he is a partner at Harmon Brothers, an advertising-consulting agency that helped market notable products like Squatty Potty, Poo-Pourri, and Purple mattresses.

Additionally, he is Vice President of E-commerce Marketing with Cozy Earth, a company selling bedding products.

Chris holds a Bachelor’s degree in Business from Utah Valley University.

Co-Investors