Henry Gordon-Smith talks with Jason Barnard about green ventures.

Henry Gordon-Smith, founder and CEO of Agritecture, shares with Jason Barnard how he turned a personal blog into a global consulting firm focused on climate-smart agriculture. He explains that his early blogging efforts built his personal brand and authority in the sector, helping attract clients who were drawn to his innovative, sometimes controversial insights.

Henry reflects on the evolution of his business, from accepting any client to focusing on premium partnerships and launching a SaaS tool for broader impact. He emphasizes the importance of aligning with the right clients, pricing based on value, and learning from mistakes during the scaling process. A key part of their strategy includes offering pro bono work and free educational content, enabling global access to urban agriculture knowledge while maintaining a triple bottom line: environmental, social, and economic impact.

Henry also shared with Jason Barnard the leadership and cultural balance required in his team—blending visionary thinking with conservative execution. He encourages calculated experimentation while managing skepticism from his left-brain-heavy team of scientists, engineers, and economists.

What you’ll learn from Henry Gordon-Smith

00:00 Henry Gordon-Smith and Jason Barnard

02:21 What Shows up on the Brand SERP for Henry Gordon-Smith When Jason Barnard Searched His Name?

03:18 Why is the Personal Brand of Henry Gordon-Smith Important to His Business?

03:32 What Reputation Did Henry Gordon-Smith Gain That Has Influenced His Business Since 2011?

04:22 How Did the Blog Play a Role in Building a Positive Reputation and Growing the Business?

04:30 What Advice Did the Mom of Henry Gordon-Smith Give Him About Branding Himself?

05:20 What Mindset or Approach Can You Adopt to Effectively Build Your Reputation?

05:45 How Did Taking the Blog Offline Through Workshops Help Improve Understanding of the Customer?

06:19 What Realization Led Henry Gordon-Smith to Decide to Start a Company Instead of Joining One?

06:30 Who Did Henry Gordon-Smith Hire to Help Build His Agritecture Consultancy?

07:01 What Changes Led to the Shift of Agriculture Away From Local Communities in the Developed World?

07:52 What Challenges Does Climate Change Pose to Traditional Food Production and Supply Chains?

08:05 What Social and Global Factors Have Contributed to the Weakening of the Food System?

08:33 How is Technology Helping to Strengthen the Food System in the Face of Modern Challenges?

08:51 How Can a Company Measure Its Impact to Ensure It Makes a Meaningful Difference Globally?

09:21 How Can a Business in a Niche Sector Manage Growth Carefully Amidst Industry UPS and Downs?

10:07 What Solution Was Developed to Help Maintain Impact and Make Farm Planning More Accessible?

11:07 What Does the Triple Bottom Line Mean in the Context of Sustainability and Business?

12:19 What Role Does Sharing Knowledge and Serving Premium Clients Play in the Triple Bottom Line?

12:40 How Can a Digital Company Evaluate and Reduce Its Environmental Footprint?

13:35 Why is it Important for Companies to Measure More Than Just Profit When Assessing Their Impact?

14:55 How Did the Company Evolve From Accepting Any Client to Offering a Premium Self-Service SAAS Model?

15:25 How Did Learning, Observing, and Experimenting Help Uncover What Clients Truly Needed and Valued?

16:13 What Role Did Early Clients Play in Refining Pricing, Methodologies, and the Company Structure?

17:08 How Did Attracting the Right Clients Help Leverage the Company Portfolio and Deliver Quality?

18:13 How Can a Leader Manage a Team’s Nervousness and Help Them Overcome It?

19:15 How Can a Leader Manage Conflicts and Different Perspectives Within a Company Culture?

20:23 What Message Can a Company Communicate to Remain Accessible and Guide Potential Clients?

This episode was recorded live on video June 10th 2025

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rcHGXLTSfAc

Links to pieces of content relevant to this topic:https://agfundernews.com/plenty-has-an-opportunity-to-succeed-say-some-vertical-farming-experts-what-happens-nexthttps://foodinstitute.com/ag-com/experts-huge-opportunities-exist-in-tech-enabled-ag/https://livingarchitecturemonitor.com/articles/smart-agriculture-smarter-cities-w21Henry Gordon-Smith

Transcript from Henry Gordon-Smith with Jason Barnard on Fastlane Founders And Legacy. Green Ventures

[00:00:00] Jason Barnard: From the triple bottom line, sharing it with society for me is very important. Making some money for the company so that we can all have a decent life is very important. The environment thing, I can't see how we affect that. 

[00:00:15] Henry Gordon-Smith: Maybe your company is similar to ours. I'm not so sure, but we're a very digital company. I actually no longer have a physical office ourselves, so you know, because my team members are not commuting to work. Our environmental footprint is primarily through our air travel and what we do is we offset the carbon footprint for our air travel a little bit more every year. So that's basically the minimum that we can do.

[00:00:40] Henry Gordon-Smith: So I think it's great what you're doing, but I encourage you to maybe think, do we have a carbon footprint? What is it? So that's really where it begins is just by asking the question and looking for the data and starting to set a first goal. And there's no pressure to do something that isn't comfortable for your business or doesn't make sense, but it really is about that starting point and that intention. As in business, it's all about that intention and the data behind it. 

[00:01:05] Narrator: Fastlane Founders and Legacy with Jason Barnard. Each week, Jason sits down with successful entrepreneurs, CEOs and executives, and gets them to share how they mastered the delicate balance between rapid growth and enduring success in the business world.

[00:01:22] Narrator: How can we quickly build a profitable business that stands the test of time and becomes their legacy? A legacy we're proud of. Fastlane Founders and Legacy with Jason Barnard. 

[00:01:34] Jason Barnard: Hi everybody and welcome to another Fastlane Founders and Legacy. I'm Jason Barnard. And I'm here today with a quick hello and we're good to go.

[00:01:42] Jason Barnard: Welcome to the show, Henry Gordon-Smith. 

[00:01:46] Henry Gordon-Smith: Thanks Jason for having me. 

[00:01:49] Jason Barnard: Brilliant. We're going to talk about Green Ventures and in particular, your journey from a blog to the company you are now running. And how you are running the company worldwide, big businesses, small businesses, all around agrithecture as we can see written there on your shirt.

[00:02:08] Jason Barnard: Anybody listening, on just the audio version, we have Henry Gordon-Smith sitting in front of us with a huge word Agritecture on his t-shirt. So we start off with the Brand SERP. I Googled your name and your name is a little bit original, let's say. So you come up top, second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, three videos.

[00:02:33] Jason Barnard: You're obviously out there promoting your Personal Brand, getting out there, talking about your company, and this is what I would call a basic traditional blue link result with some multimedia in those videos. And at Kalicube®, what we try to do is or what we do in fact, is help people move from this position where they're obviously out there building their Personal Brand to make it look something more like that with the pictures, the images, the associated other people, making it look richer, more attractive, and make the person look much more like an authority in their field.

[00:03:11] Jason Barnard: So that's where we're coming from at Kalicube®. Do you feel your Personal Brand is important to your business? 

[00:03:18] Henry Gordon-Smith: I think a lot of people hire us because of me, frankly. I've got an amazing team behind me but because I started as a blogger in college and I presented some ideas that were quite innovative, some that were controversial, I predicted sort of the rise and fall of different types of agriculture technologies, which is what we work on.

[00:03:37] Henry Gordon-Smith: That reputation has really lent itself since 2011 to drive the majority of our business. So I think brand image is critical, and I think digital marketing is critical to our DNA. We continue to blog, and I would say the majority of our clients come from our website. 

[00:03:54] Jason Barnard: Yeah. And so there are a couple of things there.

[00:03:56] Jason Barnard: Number one is you said the word, reputation and I think there's a negative connotation about that because we talk about Online Reputation Management. You are talking about positive reputation and managing your reputation proactively. And the second is the story of your blog. You started your blog, you were saying things that people weren't necessarily saying, it was original, it was a little bit, against the grain, and then you built a business. Tell me that part. 

[00:04:22] Henry Gordon-Smith: Yeah, so the blog was really an opportunity for me to research a topic that I was interested in and put it out there and build a Personal Brand. My mom is also a very talented consultant and brand expert as well.

[00:04:34] Henry Gordon-Smith: She's done a good job, and she always said to me, if you're not branding yourself, someone else is. So there's really no reason not to brand yourself. And not to take control over that. 

[00:04:44] Jason Barnard: I like your mother because if you are not branding yourself, Google and AI are branding you that. 

[00:04:51] Henry Gordon-Smith: Exactly. 

[00:04:52] Jason Barnard: Sorry. Carry on about your company. I love that. That's why you have to say hello to your mother.