Breaking Down The Wall Between Startups and Big Corporates

This is Tim Hammerich of the Ag Information Network with your Farm of the Future Report.

In 2022, CNH Industrial unveiled CNH Ventures, with the goal of bridging the gap between fast-moving startups and experienced ag teams. Michele Lombardi says since then, they’ve learned the challenge and opportunity lies in breaking down barriers so innovation and real-world know-how can come together to deliver solutions for farmers.

Lombardi… “Once you start discussions, collaborations with a startup, you immediately see the contrast, the difference that exists in the way of doing business of the two sides. You have a startup, which is very agile, ready to test their products or ideas far before they are actually mature already. They attract tremendous talent. Talent that might not be an expert in agriculture and everything they do, they do it in new ways. On the other side, you have a very experienced team that truly understands the customer, truly understands the products, knows what it's required, can see that things will fail as they are being designed, but it's monolithic in its approach. It will not accept to modify their way of doing business in order to try the approach a startup has. And then you have this wall that builds between the two sides that gradually becomes thicker and thicker, and it makes it very difficult to truly leverage the opportunity that exists. So most of my work is that, is that of trying to break that wall.”

Lombardi holds board positions at several of the independent technologies CNH has invested in, including Monarch Tractor, Stout Industrial Technology, and Zasso.