The document discusses the avocado market and opportunities for disrupting it. It notes that the global avocado market is large and growing but local European producers cannot meet demand. The Americas are the main producers, while the US and EU are the biggest importers. There is demand for avocado plantlets and sustainable avocados in Europe that is not being met. The document identifies Vegan Vera as the target customer persona and validates her characteristics and pain points through research. It finds that the main problems are sustainability issues not being noticed by consumers, limited expansion of European production due to plant supply bottlenecks, and significant food loss due to avocado perishability. It then presents ideas to address these problems through tissue culture cloning

1. Bio.Kitchen
TechChallenge
Disrupting Avocado – The Dreamers
Reading Deck

2. The Avocado Market is big and growing but local
European producers can‘t cover demand
BIG AND GROWING AVOCADO MARKET
(in Billion USD)
US AND EU BIGGEST IMPORTERS
(in Million kg, 2019)
AMERICAS ARE MAIN PRODUCERS
(in Thousand tons, 2019)
9.4
12.8
18
2015 2019 2025
1040.3
604.7
94.4
74.2 43.9
US EU Canada Japan China
4.2
94
546
662
2300
Turkey
Spain
Peru
Dom. Rep
Mexico
<< 1% of
EU demand
MARKET CUSTOMER IDEATION
Demand for Avocado plantlets
world wide per year
8,5 M plants
Lack of plants is main limiting
factor for expansion of european
Avocado production
Demand for sustainable Avocado
in Europe per year
242 M kilograms
Customer Demand for sustainably
produced Avocado not met by
market supply
SOURCES: Statista Avocado Industry Dossier 2020; Avocado costs and returns study, San Diego County (2020);
PROTOTYPE
1

3. Seasoned Sara
43 y/o
Has family with two kids, working
in HR, living in frankfurt
Energetic, loves to enjoy life,
travels a lot
organic food not priority, loves
eating guacamole at parties
Reading Robert
25 y/o
Vegan Vera
33 y/o
Computer Science Student in
Munich, a bit introverted
Enjoys books and movies,
organic food not priority
Loves avocado toast for
breakfast once in a while
Single, Berlin, working in
Marketing, upper middle-class
Vegan, healthy, caring,
sustainability important
Organic avocado is important
source of nutrition
„Vegan Vera“ selected as target customer
Validated through customer testing
Key Insights: Vegan Vera selected as target persona, because she has very high consumption of Avocado and the problem of
finding sustainable Avocado is most relevant for her.
MARKET CUSTOMER IDEATION PROTOTYPE
2

4. Lack of knowledge regarding ESG-imapct
of Avocado
Customer Journey: Frictions at purchase and ripening
• Finding variety in
recipes
• Finding and
Selecting a ripe
avocado
• Understanding
sustainability
impact
• Evaluating ripeness
of Avocado
• Reducing food loss
• Sometimes dark
marks inside
Food
Planning
Purchasing
Avocado
Making Food
Waiting
for Ripeness
PAIN POINTS
Vegan
Vera
FRICTION
SEVERITY
MILD
STRONG
Main friction points
STEPS
Key Insights: Most relevant frictions occur during purchase and while ripening. Results of these
frictions are increased food loss, and reduced customer satisfaction due.
Findings have been validated through Face-to-Face interviews and an customer survey.
39%
Want sustainable
& local Avocado
Don‘t know origin
of Avocado
but
Target Customer characteristics validated
High Avocado consumption
5-6 Avocados per month
Sustainability is important
65% find sustainable lifestyle important
Major Pain-Points validated
Lack of knowledge regarding
sustainability
Selecting a ripe avocado
73%
Validated through customer research
Face-to-Face Interviews (n=5)
Customer Survey (n=51)
SOURCES: Own research with (i) online survey with 51 participants among target customer group, and (ii) extensive face-to-face interviews with 5 participants
MARKET CUSTOMER IDEATION PROTOTYPE
3

5. Problem Definition: 3 root-cause problems
PROBLEMS
What are the key problems regarding Avocado
consumption?
 Daily need of 8,5B litres to
produce Avocado world wide
leads to emptying of critical
water reserves
 Profitable Avocado farming
causes deforestation of rain
forest
 Most consumers don‘t know
origin of Avocado and associated
sustainability issues
 More Sustainable Avocado
consumption possible in Europe
(e.g. Spain or Turkey)
 Expansion of European
production limited by supply of
plants
 Waiting time for Avocado plants
between 6 – 24 months
 Ca. 900M € damage per year
caused by Avocado food loss in
Europe
 80+ % of food loss occurs at
supermarket or at consumer
 Main cause is the fruit going bad
because of contaminations (e.g.
funghi), or opening fruit too
early or too late
Sustainability issues
remain unnoticed by
consumer
1
Bottleneck of plant
supply limits
expansion of
European
production
2
Perishability creates
significant food loss1
3
1) See Apendinx for Value-Chain Analysis
SOURCES: Desk-Reserach of various studies, papers, and reports; see apendix for comprehensive list of sources
MARKET CUSTOMER IDEATION PROTOTYPE
4

6. Leapfrog plant
supply
Solution Ideation: Drive supply and demand
Build direct
relationship &
feedback-loop
A
Promote
sustainable
consumption
B
Two viable ideas developed
Tissue culture cloning The AvoApp
Increase availability of
Avocado plants
Enable scaling of
European production
Drive demand for
sustainable Avocado
Key Insights: 1) Tissue culture cloning increases availability of Avocado plants, while increasing resource efficiency
2) The AvoApp drives customer demand for sustainable Avocado by providing detailed information
MARKET CUSTOMER IDEATION PROTOTYPE
5

7. PROTOTYPE
TESTING
&
ITERATION
1
Produce plant growth
hormones
Produce plant growth
media
Prepare explant
material
Cultivation of cloned
explant
ITERATION 1 ITERATION 2 ITERATION 3
Woody plant medium w/agar at
pH 7
Murashige and Skoog Basal Medium
pH 6.1
Murashige and Skoog Basal Medium,
Agarose, Charcoal, pH 7.8
Survived for
ca. 1 week
Still alive Still alive
Product Prototype 1: Tissure Culture Cloning
6
A
Large space needed
Long propagation time
Labour intensive
Grafting
unchanged for 40 years
Old process:
Tissue Culture Cloning
Our Solution:
500x more plantlets
Less time, space, and
resources required
Elimination of viruses
and diseases
Potential for genetic
optimization
1) Most critical levers to influence are the pH-Level and the ingredients of the growth medium. These levers have been adjusted throughout the iterations to find the optimized setting.
MARKET CUSTOMER IDEATION PROTOTYPE

8. The AvoApp: Promoting sustainable consumption
Check sustainability
& country of origin
B
Manage ripeness to
reduce food loss
Track your sustainable
consumption
Educate about origin
and sustainability
Reduce food loss
through ripening timer
Track individiual
environmental impact
MARKET CUSTOMER IDEATION PROTOTYPE
7

9. Product Prototype 2: The AvoApp
Positive Feedback,
NPS of 80% (n=7)
Development &
incremental iterations1
Prototype and Testing
Features
8
Track individual
consumption
Scan QR-Code on
Avocado
Learn about
sustainability of Avo
Initial concept
validation
1) Code available on GitHub under github.com/Faj5097/AvoApp
B
Instructions to explore the protoype (find more comprehensive guide in the Technical Docu):
Download Expo Go App from the AppStore / Play Store on your phone
Log-in with the following information
Username: TheDreamers_TC21s pw: DisruptAvo21
Open „Avo App“ under recent projects
Scan one the three QR-Codes in the corners of this page
The different QR-Codes represent different Avocados from different Supermarkets
1
2
3
3
MARKET CUSTOMER IDEATION PROTOTYPE

10. The Business Model – Short Term
AvoApp
Plantlet
Cloning
Consumer
Avocado Farmers
Intermediaries
TheDreamers Business
Sell Plantlets
Consumption Tracking
as AvoApp is E2E-touchpoint
Feedback Loop
to optimize cloning process
Sell Avocados
consumption
Data
9
Innovative cloning process
w/ increased productivity
AvoApp allows direct customer access
Scaling potential through AvoBox
Potential for plantlet optimization
MARKET CUSTOMER IDEATION PROTOTYPE

11. TheDreamers: Disrupting Avocado Industry
Buket Orhun Marcus
Customer Insight
Researcher
Literature & Market
Researcher
Solution & Prototype
Designer
10
„Oh cool, that‘s really
helpful. I think I would
actually use it.“
- Julia, 28

12. BACKUP
11

13. Price and Ripeness main drivers of purchase
Criteria
Price
Look
Ripeness
71%
84%
49%
Customer Insights: Hypotheses validated
Lack of knowledge regarding ESG-imapct of Avocado
39% 73%
Want sustainable
& local Avocado
Don‘t know origin
pf Avocado
but
MARKET CUSTOMER IDEATION
Face-to-Face Interviews ( n=5 ) Customer Survey ( n=51)
Target Customer characteristics validated
High Avocado consumption
ca. 5-6 Avocados per month
Sustainability is important
ca. 65% state that a sustainable lifestile is
important to them
Pain-Points validated
Lack of knowledge regarding
sustainability
Selecting a ripe avocado
SOURCES: Own research with (i) online survey with 51 participants among target customer group, and (ii) extensive face-to-face interviews with 5 participants
Key Insights: 1) Target customer characteristics have been validated
2) Major Pain-Points have been validated
12

14. PRODUCTS
& SERVICES PAIN RELIEVERS
JOBS TO
BE DONE
GAINS
PAINS
GAIN CREATORS
Choose
good Avo
Store until
ripe
Decide for
recipe
Manage
environmental
impact
Transparency
about origin
Nutricious
food Good taste
Variation in
food
Expensive
price
Organic Avo
are rare
Stains inside
of Avo
Forget about
Avo when riping
Unclear ESG
impact
Good quality
Avocado
Good
availability
Nice recipes
Transparency
about origin
Clarity on
label
Ripe in
supermarket
Educational
content about
ESG impact
Recipe
apps
Calorie
counter
Social
media
Food box
deliveries
Farmers
markets
MARKET CUSTOMER IDEATION
Vegan
Vera
Vegan Vera‘s Value Canvas helps to understand customers
wants and needs further clarify problem statement
BACKUP
13

15. Our Value Proposition
14
TheDreamers offer an effortless way for
sustainable Avocado consumption
by enabling sustainable plant
production through tissue
culture cloning.
by enabling sustainable
consumption through the
AvoApp.

16. Tissue culture cloning: Leapfrog avocado production
A
MARKET CUSTOMER IDEATION
Large space needed
Long propagation time
Labour intensive
Grafting
unchanged for 40 years
In-vitro tissue
multiplication
Rooting plantlet Greenhouse
acclimatization
500x more plantlets
Less time, space, and
resources required
Elimination of viruses
and diseases
Potential for genetic
optimization
Industrializeable process for tissue culture cloning:
Old process:
15

17. The Business Model – Vision
AvoApp
Plantlet
Cloning
Consumer
Intermediaries
AvoBox
monthly Avo supply
subscription service
TheDreamers Business
16
Sell Plantlets
Consumption Tracking
Feedback Loop
Sell Avocados
Avocado
Farmers