“We’re Not Here to Tell You How to Farm”: How SESO Cracked the AgTech Market by Leading with Expertise Instead of Technology
Most AgTech startups enter the market promising to revolutionize farming. In a recent episode of Category Visionaries, Michael Guirguis revealed how SESO took the opposite approach: becoming experts in farmers’ problems before mentioning technology.
The Traditional AgTech Playbook
When Michael first explored the agricultural market, he encountered a common pattern. “A lot of people from Silicon Valley, they come here and they try to tell me how to farm,” one farmer told him. This approach had created deep skepticism toward technology companies.
The pattern was clear: tech companies would arrive with sophisticated solutions, telling farmers how to improve their operations. But farmers didn’t need advice on farming – they needed help with specific operational challenges.
Flipping the Script
SESO’s breakthrough came from recognizing this dynamic. Instead of positioning themselves as agricultural innovators, they focused on becoming experts in labor compliance and workforce management. “We’re staying in our lane and we’re really just maniacally focused on everything related to labor,” Michael explains.
This meant diving deep into areas that most tech companies ignored: “The regulations like what’s happening in DC, that’s going to affect labor policy. What are the different workflows related to an I-nine or onboarding a worker or payroll compliance.”
Building Trust Through Domain Expertise
The strategy required significant investment in understanding the industry. “I spent a ton of time early on just driving and flying to farms all over the country. I’ve visited hundreds of farms in the last few years,” Michael shares. “And we try to do more listening than talking.”
This extensive fieldwork revealed that farms needed more than just software – they needed a partner who understood their regulatory environment. “When they see that, hey, we don’t just have software, we really understand this better than anyone they’ve ever spoken to. And we’re going to help them maintain compliance…we have to earn the trust,” Michael notes.
The Power of Focus
While exploring the agricultural market, Michael discovered multiple problems begging for solutions. “AG has so much opportunity for improvement. It’s such a laggard industry in a lot of ways that there’s a lot of different things we could have jumped into early on, whether that’s accounting or bi tools.”
But rather than trying to solve everything, SESO maintained strict focus on labor management. This focus helped them build deeper expertise and stronger relationships with customers. As Michael puts it: “We don’t go there and say we’re going to do this and that for you. And we’ve got all these data analytics on your farm and we’re smarter than you.”
Results of the Expertise-First Approach
This positioning strategy has driven remarkable results. “In terms of the size of h-two a agents that support farms with helping bring in labor, were the 45th largest in the first year. We were the 7th largest last year, and we’re currently the third largest,” Michael shares.
More importantly, they’ve built trust with both large and small agricultural operations. Today, SESO works with “22 of the 100 largest employers in AG” while maintaining support for farms bringing in just one or two workers.
Lessons for B2B Founders
SESO’s experience offers valuable lessons for any B2B founder entering a traditional industry:
- Lead with expertise in your customers’ problems, not your technological sophistication
- Stay focused on solving specific challenges rather than trying to revolutionize the entire industry
- Invest time in understanding the regulatory and operational context of your customers’ businesses
- Build trust by demonstrating deep knowledge of your customers’ pain points before pushing solutions
The key insight? Sometimes the best way to sell technology isn’t to lead with technology at all, but to position yourself as an expert in solving specific, high-value problems that happen to require technological solutions.