It’s time once again for our year-end newsletter. What a year it’s been! From our biggest almond pollination season ever, to significant R&D breakthroughs and key hires, to exciting international pilot tests, it’s fair to say we’ve kept plenty busy in 2021. Here’s a quick recap of what we've been up to since our last newsletter...
Team
Since October, we’ve made several new additions to the team including 2 new full-time hires, 5 part-time interns and a key advisory board member.
Tyson Nunes
Sales Representative
Tyson brings a valuable Ag background to our sales team. In addition to prior Ag sales roles, Tyson co-manages his family dairy operation in Tulare, CA.
Adam Pertofsky
Mobile Application Developer
With over a decade of programming experience under his belt, Adam joined our software team to lead development of the Verifli mobile app.
Matt Beekman
Advisory Board Member
In addition to hiring Tyson and Adam, we welcomed a new member to our advisory board: Matt Beekman. A third-generation beekeeper, Matt returned home to run the family business after earning degrees in economics and political science from UC Berkeley. Matt's passion for exploring innovative tools and practices drew him to become involved with The Bee Corp after meeting Ellie at a beekeeping club event last year.
30 under 30
Bee Corp founders Ellie Symes and Wyatt Wells were honored as members of the 2022 class in the prestigious Forbes 30 Under 30 list. Recognized for their work since they founded The Bee Corp in 2016, Ellie and Wyatt join 29 entrepreneurs selected in this year’s Enterprise Technology category.
Here’s what Wyatt had to say about this award:
“This recognition is deeply humbling. I can’t think of anyone more deserving of this award than my partner, Ellie. The Bee Corp would not exist today if not for Ellie’s unmatched tenacity and confidence in the face of risk. I’m so proud of Ellie and so grateful for everyone on The Bee Corp team whose passion, hard work and ingenuity made this achievement a reality.” -Wyatt Wells
Conferences
Our sales team can finally take a breather for the holidays after a marathon conference season. Since November, they did 5 shows in 6 weeks, spending 16 of 23 total work days on the road. Though they’re no doubt exhausted, Jeff and Tyson were jazzed up for the opportunity to finally interact with growers and beekeepers face-to-face.
Our next conference is the World Ag Expo (February 8-10 in Tulare, CA). Ellie will take the stage on the 8th to lead a seminar about optimizing pollination, and Jeff and Tyson will staff our booth. The show takes place at the peak of almond pollination, so while Ellie, Jeff and Tyson mingle and make deals, the rest of our team will be grading hives and churning out reports during our busiest time of the year.
Final thoughts
As we gear up for our fourth almond pollination season, it’s remarkable to look back at how far we’ve come since we first launched Verifli. Back then, our full-time team included only Ellie, Wyatt and Gretchen. We’ve now grown to 12 full-time employees and our product is being used in 5 different countries across 3 continents.
Though we’re immensely proud of our progress so far, we’re focused on what’s next. There are many exciting growth opportunities in store for The Bee Corp in 2022 and beyond, and we hope you’ll continue following our updates and offering your support.
Sincerely,
Your friends at The Bee Corp