On today’s episode, I sit down with Saif Khawaja, founder and CEO of Shinkei Systems and Seremoni, two companies that together form a vertically integrated seafood business, where Shinkei builds robots that change how fish are handled right after they’re caught (resulting in longer shelf life and better quality) and Seremoni is the brand and standard under which that fish is sold.

This was, without a doubt, one of the most compelling conversations I've had on the show to date. We talk about the inspiration behind starting the business, the early days of building hardware that could actually run on boats, and how that’s turned into a system now being deployed across vessels in the U.S., with a plan to sit on roughly 25 by the end of the year.

We also get into the mechanics of how the business actually works - why their machines are deployed for free, where they actually make money in the system, the decision to buy a processing plant, what it looks like to work with distributors, restaurants, and retailers, and how all of it ties back to controlling quality from the moment the fish is caught.

I learned so much during my conversation with Saif, and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.