Back to the Roots: Nikhil Arora and Alejandro Velez
Nikhil Arora and Alejandro Velez, co-founders of Back to the Roots, explain how they pivoted from a college project growing oyster mushrooms on coffee grounds to building a $100 million organic gardening brand. They detail their early bootstrapping strategy, the critical lesson learned from a failed Kickstarter launch of the AquaFarm (later Water Garden) that nearly bankrupted them, and their strategic shift to focus exclusively on lawn and garden products sold in big-box retailers like Home Depot and Walmart.