This Entrepreneur Wants to Turn Every Home Into an Urban Farm
Jacob Pechenik, CEO and co-founder of Lettuce Grow, explains how he took the seed of an at-home gardening idea and grew it into a sustainable business.
By Dan Bova
Entrepreneur
Apr 1, 2024
Excerpt:
Where do great business ideas come from? For entrepreneur Jacob Pechenik, the concept for his company sprouted from a seed of frustration. In simple terms, he wanted to find an affordable organic food resource for his family, and after digging around for options, he discovered that what he wanted didn’t exist. And from that void, his business idea sprang to life. Literally.
Pechenik is the co-founder and CEO of Lettuce Grow, whose hydroponic gardening system, the Farmstand, allows people with little or no experience grow and harvest fresh organic produce in their homes or their backyards. The compact Farmstand (18.6″ wide, 55″ tall) has a capacity for 36 veggies, herbs and greens to grow at once. There’s an indoor model outfitted with grow lights and an outdoor version as well — both are self-watering and self-fertilizing.
“Most people are convinced they have a brown thumb,” laughs Jacob. “But our system makes it incredibly easy to nurture your own food by sending you living seedlings. And once people start doing it, once they taste that fresh produce that they harvested with their own hands, they never want to stop.”
Lettuce Grow sent me an indoor Farmstand Nook with a selection of seedlings to test out on my own. Previously, I had not been able to keep a houseplant alive for more than a week, so I was firmly in the “brown thumb” camp. But the stand’s automated watering system and self-timed grow lights not only kept my vertical farm alive, but those seedlings thrived. I was shocked, to be honest, and awash in leafy greens before I knew it.
