Following your passion: Manali Yavatkar's journey from AI to sustainability

In this discussion, Manali Yavatkar, founder and CEO of Palm, talks about her journey from being an AI developer to creating a sustainable future with the Palm Bin—an innovative composting appliance. The episode highlights the massive food waste issue in the U.S. and how Palm Bin addresses common composting challenges such as odor, flies, and mess through its unique thermoelectric cooling technology. Manali shares the environmental benefits of composting, the design and functionality of the Palm Bin, and her approach to sustainable manufacturing. The conversation also explores potential municipal and apartment building partnerships to increase composting participation and compliance with new waste management laws.

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Transcript

Chris Brandt: 0:00

In the United States alone, we waste about 92 billion pounds of food. That translates to almost a half a billion dollars a year, not to mention the environmental impact that poses. Today, we're going to talk with somebody who left a career in AI to work on making the world a more sustainable place. So stay tuned. Today I'm talking with Manali Yavatkar, founder and CEO of Palm. She has created a smart appliance for compost collection, which sold out in just a day on Kickstarter. Palm Bin preps food waste for nutrient rich, black gold compost, collecting food scraps for composting without the smell and mess. It does this all while maintaining the moisture and microbes in the food. Its unique cooling tech uses thermoelectric semiconductors to keep food scraps cold, which stops the odor causing bacteria. So let's talk with Manali about composting and how her design takes the challenges out of home composting. Welcome Manali.

Manali Yavatkar: 1:06

Thanks, Chris. Thanks, I'm. Glad to be here.

Chris Brandt: 1:09

Well, I'm excited to have you. I, I think this is, um, this is a cool topic and, and it's something I've wanted to do myself for a long time. But, um, you know, like you address, you know, with your product, you know, some of the logistics of it are kind of You know, a little difficult. I love the idea of, you know, composting, but you know, one of the challenges I've always had is, you know, we do, I'm in the Midwest here and we don't necessarily have the sort of composting infrastructure that you know, you, you have out in the West Coast. And when we were talking earlier, you did give me tips. On the fact that I actually do have some of that. So I'm excited to hear that. Maybe we can fill other people in on, you know, how that all goes down. Um, but before we get into all that, could you, you have kind of an interesting journey? Because, you know, right now, um, the tech industry is sort of imploding and everything's going crazy. And, you know, the only thing that anybody wants to talk about is AI or cyber security. And you were, you know, an AI developer and you're like, In this hot market, let me get out of here and go do something

Manali Yavatkar: 2:12

else.

Chris Brandt: 2:13

So like what, what, what, what led to that decision?

Manali Yavatkar: 2:16

I mean, that's a great question. I, yeah, I was working as an ML engineer at a healthcare startup and I actually really loved it. So it wasn't just, it wasn't the work that I was doing, you know, it wasn't like I didn't enjoy my work or I didn't think it was challenging. It was more so that I saw just a different opportunity. Um, and the opportunity presented it to my, to myself. Through my own experience. So I moved to San Francisco. I started composting for the first time. And this is when I started going through all these problems, right? Like the smell, the mess, the flies, the having to empty my food waste bin that's in my kitchen all the time. And it was just, A terrible experience. And that's what sort of prompted me to ask, you know, why can't this be better? And is there already a solution out there? So it was that opportunity, that personal experience. And then also looking at like where we are in the world, what's happening with climate change. Like this is a heat food waste is a huge problem. And I've always been very passionate about sustainability. So. It was kind of like a no brainer, like, you know, I was doing interesting work as an ML engineer, but I thought I could have more of an impact, um, both personally and from an environmental standpoint by pursuing this idea and increasing participation in compost and really getting people to do it.

Chris Brandt: 3:38

Well, I mean, yeah, I mean, it's, it's interesting, you know, it's, this is sort of a, uh, definitely, uh, it sounds like a passion project for you, and I think that's very cool, and I think that, um, you know, it's, it's interesting. We seem to be entering an era where that matters more to people, and I think that, you know, you're very, um, self sufficient. It's symptomatic of like what's going on in, in the tech space right now where people are really looking for purpose. And with this sort of things kind of getting more difficult, employment getting a little uglier in the tech space, I think a lot of people are going, why am I doing this and why don't I spend my talents doing something that's going to benefit people? Right. Is that kind of your thinking too?

Manali Yavatkar: 4:17

Exactly. And yeah, and purpose is so important, right? You want to feel good about what you're doing because you're spending majority of your time on it. Right. Working, you know, whatever career you're, you're in, you're spending majority of your time there. And so purpose is very important, but I also think, you know, that's also a privilege being able to, right. You know, pursue something that gives you purpose. Is also a privilege because, you know, you're giving up something that's a sure thing that's going to give you a paycheck.

Chris Brandt: 4:46

I mentioned in the intro that, you know, there's 90 billion pounds of food waste or something like that. 92 billion pounds. And, you know, we, we have a, Garbage disposal here. And I know like, you know, a lot of what should be composted ends up going down the garbage disposal. I know that makes the water very nutrient rich, which causes algae blooms and, you know, like all sorts of unfortunate outcomes. But that's just a very small, that's like the tip of the iceberg of like the problem with food waste, right? Because, um, one, it takes an enormous amount of energy to, to compost. Produce food, right? And, and the, the, the dollar amount, I mean, I, I saw something around nearly half a trillion dollars or something of waste, uh, annually, right? Uh, could you speak to like some of the, the environmental impacts of, of food waste?

Manali Yavatkar: 5:36

In terms of food waste and it ending up in a landfill. So disposal of food waste has major environmental impact, right? Like if you put your food waste down your disposal, depending on your waste treatment plant, it's either going to end up in the ocean or most likely it's going to actually be pulled out and sent to a landfill. Um, and you know, same thing. If you put your food waste in the trash, it's going to end up in a landfill and the problem with that is food waste in a landfill doesn't get access to oxygen because landfills are very compact. Everything is like very compacted and there's no oxygen flow. So when food waste breaks down anaerobically without oxygen. It produces methane, which is a greenhouse gas. That's 80 times more potent than carbon dioxide. Um, and that's a massive problem. And actually the UN says that reducing methane emissions is the number one way to slow climate change. So it's a methane emissions are a huge problem. So that's, that's one issue with putting food waste in landfills. And the other issue is. Food waste has a lot of nutrients, right? It's food, right? Um, so you're essentially taking those nutrients and you're throwing them away and that those nutrients are never finding their way back to the soil. So we have another issue that's happening, which is we, we don't have topsoil. We're, we're running out of topsoil. Topsoil is like nutrient rich. We need topsoil to grow nutrient rich food, right? And we only have about 60 years of topsoil left. Wow. Yeah. Because we're just throwing away all these nutrients. Um, so composting is super important because it diverts feed waste from landfills, and it returns those nutrients back to the soil.

Chris Brandt: 7:24

Well, and if you're not returning those nutrients back to the soil, then you have to add in like nitrogen and things like that through fertilizers. Yes. which are of, in and of themselves problematic, right?

Manali Yavatkar: 7:35

Yes, exactly. And yeah, so compost provides those nutrients and it actually reduces the need for, uh, pesticides. So it actually makes the, the microbes that it generates in the soil actually makes plants more resistant to diseases. So you don't need to use pesticides in the same way, which obviously have huge environmental impacts. Um, it. Increases your soil's ability to retain moisture. You need less water, which we all know we're running out of water as well. Right. And yeah, it prevents soil erosion. There's just a host of benefits that it brings to soil. So, um, that's why I think, you know, everyone should compost their food waste.

Chris Brandt: 8:19

Yeah. No, you're making it, you're making a pretty strong case for it. Um, so, so, you know, you mentioned that, um, you were, you moved to San Francisco, you started composting cause they have the green bin composting out there. Um, which we don't have here. We have a green bin, but it's yard waste. Um, and. And, you know, you, you, you, you found some problems with the, the process. Could you speak to some like, some of the challenges you saw with the products that were on the market and like, what, what, what was it you wanted to fix?

Manali Yavatkar: 8:50

Just to give everybody context in San Francisco and a lot of cities and more and more cities, we have a green bin where you're supposed to put your food waste in that bin and then your city will go and compost it for you. So people just have to collect their food waste in a countertop bin in their kitchen. Um, and that is where majority of the problems happen. So, you know, your food waste is sitting at room temperature. It gets stinky. It attracts flies. Um, you have to empty it all the time because it's smelling and the compostable bags will break down pretty quickly. So you have like a mess of food in there that gets really gross that you have to clean out. Um, so the, the solutions that exist today are. You know, regular bins that either, um, have really tight seals, so they keep all of the odors inside the bin. So what that means is So you open it, you get hit in the face with some nasty odors. Um, and you know, a couple of fruit flies coming out of there too. Um, so that's not a great solution. Uh, the other type of bin has a carbon filter, so it's trying to filter the odors as the air. So it usually has some like air holes and so it wants, you know, wants some air, but it's like basically um, filtering out the odors as it comes out and those are not very effective. Um, and they, you have to replace that carbon filter pretty regularly, so that becomes an issue. And the carbon filter is also a great breeding ground for fruit flies, for their eggs. Um, yeah. So a lot of people have issues with that as well.

Chris Brandt: 10:29

Yeah. Fruit flies are the worst, the worst. They drive, drive you nuts.

Manali Yavatkar: 10:33

Yes.

Chris Brandt: 10:33

I do have a, I do have a quick fix for fruit flies, by the way, and I'm just going to throw this one in. I take little bowls. And I put, uh, like apple cider vinegar in them. And then I cover them with plastic and I, I poke holes in the top and I just leave them on the counter and they fly in there and die. And it's, it's, it's. The only thing that I've ever had tried that works, so that's just a little tip. That's

Manali Yavatkar: 10:55

great, and it's all natural, I love it.

Chris Brandt: 10:57

But the better way to do it is to not breed them in the first place in your carbon filters of your composting unit.

Manali Yavatkar: 11:02

Yes, exactly.

Chris Brandt: 11:04

So tell me a little bit, like, how does composting, Work, you know, like, you know, we, we, we throw and you can't compost everything, right? I mean, you're not throwing meats and things in there, right? I mean, what, what constitutes compostable stuff?

Manali Yavatkar: 11:17

Yeah. So you can actually, yeah, you can compost meats. Oh, really? And yeah, so if you, that's the, that's the better thing about municipal curbside composting. So when your city takes your food waste and compost it at a facility. They typically accept meat, bones, basically anything that's organic because they have a process where, um, the piles get to a certain temperature that kills any sort of pathogens. So if you're doing backyard composting, you typically don't want to put meat in there because they don't get hot enough. Um, but if you're doing municipal composting where there's a facility, your food waste is going to, you can absolutely add meat. Um, so yeah, basically anything organic. So I put like my dog's hair in the compost, you know, like your, you cut your nails, your fingernail clippings, like you can put that in the compost, like anything that is organic can go in there.

Chris Brandt: 12:13

Can you compost organic diapers?

Manali Yavatkar: 12:15

Um, that is a great question. So it depends on what they're made out of. Yeah, typically you don't want to compost so a lot of compost facilities don't accept

Chris Brandt: 12:27

Right. Well, I mean, I would imagine E. coli outbreaks, you know, would be a little scary. The reason I bring that up is because, you know, obviously that's a huge landfill problem. Right. Right. And one of the things, one of the things that I noticed about your product that it sort of reminds me of when my kids were in diapers and we had those, uh, bins that had sealable bags, you know, that, you know, like you, so you didn't get that out or, you know, You know, when you take it out, but we'll get to that. We'll get to that, because I think that's an interesting part part of the design. All right, so so you can compost. anything with municipal composting. That's, that's a, that's totally new to me. I, I had no idea about that. That's, see, I'm learning something new every day. Um, so, so when you're, the, the process goes, you, you have it on your counter, you, you put the food in there and it, it has to have, air and maintain a certain temperature to compost or, you know, like, how does it go from there? Feeling like, you know, the second you, you, you scrape it off the plate, what, what happens?

Manali Yavatkar: 13:25

Yeah, you scrape it off the plate, you put it in your countertop bin. Um, it sits there, it'll start breaking down because, you know, it's at room temperature, it'll start breaking down and that's what is creating the smells. So basically you're having bacteria that's growing. That because it's at room temperature, um, and that bacteria is actually what's Creating the smell and attracting the flies and all of that. And, um, your compostable liner will start breaking down because it breaks down into specific temperature and moisture level. So you're, you're hitting that temperature level. You're definitely hitting the moisture level with, you know, your food waste. So your compostable liner is going to start breaking down. And by the time you empty it, it's probably going to be a mess in there. Um, but yeah, from there, you, you know, drop it in your curbside green bin. Your city will pick it up. It will take it to a compost facility and then the composting process actually requires more than people think it's not just food waste. So you have to add brown matter. So composting requires a ratio of green matter to brown matter. So green matter is like nitrogen based and it's food waste and then brown matter is carbon based and that's something like cardboard or like leaves. Or sawdust. So that's so you have to, you have to have the right ratio. So at the compost facility, they're going to add that brown matter. Then they're going to make sure you have the right moisture level, which is 40 to 60 percent moisture. And then they're going to, um, basically, um, create a pile and let it heat up and then aerate the pile. So make sure there's oxygen going through that pile.

Chris Brandt: 15:03

You mentioned that like with the, the meats and things like that, um, the, the, the commercial or the, you know, municipal composting facilities, they, they are at a higher temperature. Do they actually heat? the compost, or is that just a natural process getting the mixture right?

Manali Yavatkar: 15:21

It's just a natural process, actually. Yeah, so the microbes, um, that work, that are actually doing the composting, um, and breaking down the food waste, they generate heat. And so, they're, they're generating the heat, and that heat is just helping the process along, and it's just a whole little symbiotic system.

Chris Brandt: 15:41

Now, is it, is it like, you know, you know, making spirits, or, you know, brewing beer, where you have to have like a certain, um, Uh, Microbe mix, or is it just, just the naturally occurring microbes or do they add things in?

Manali Yavatkar: 15:54

You do need the right microbes, but they like, they're in the food waste, so you don't need to actually add them.

Chris Brandt: 16:00

Interesting. Yeah. So. Um, so one of the things that like I was kind of shocked by, you know, because I'm like, you know, we were talking about and you're telling me about these wonderful, you know, green bins San Francisco has and I've seen pictures of them. They're like half the size of the regular bins. It looks like some of them and you know, they're kind of petite, big bins. Yes,

Manali Yavatkar: 16:19

yes.

Chris Brandt: 16:20

Uh, so. But you said that, like, in my area, and I don't even know how you, you knew, like, off the top of your head, that's, which I was wildly impressed by, you know, I live in a Chicago suburb, and you're like, Oh, yeah, there's this composting, you know, but, um, but apparently there's a lot of, like, kind of independent composting facilities that you can sign up for that can do kind of curbside pickup for you, right?

Manali Yavatkar: 16:42

Yeah, exactly. So, um, yeah, if your city doesn't provide it as a service, part of your trash pickup, You can sign up for a private company that will actually pick up your food waste, compost it for you, and then some of them actually give you compost. So in the spring, when you're doing your gardening, you can ask for some compost and they'll bring, they'll drop it off. So you get to actually use the compost that you've created, which is really cool.

Chris Brandt: 17:07

I love that idea. I mean, cause I, I love gardening. I mean, you know, my dogs have, my dog has destroyed and his friends have destroyed my garden. Um, but we, we just put in some very high raised beds that they can't, you know, pee on basically. Um, and, and so we're, we, you know, that, that need for good compost, you know, is, is there, um, and, you know, it's like to take the old stuff out and bring the new stuff back as something you could use, uh, that, that would be amazing. So like, how would somebody, uh, where would somebody go to find, you know, if there's something local to them?

Manali Yavatkar: 17:41

Yeah. So, I mean, Google is a great resource. I

Chris Brandt: 17:43

mean, is there a good resource besides just asking you?

Manali Yavatkar: 17:46

Um, not, not currently. Um, and I'm actually trying to create that resource. So, um, yeah, so we're actually creating a compost service lookup tool essentially. So you can just enter your zip code and then figure out what your options are. Because a lot of people don't actually know they may live in an area with municipal curbside composting, but it's something you have to opt into. And people just don't know that That exists. So there's not one good resource out there right now to actually find these things. Um, so we're trying to create that and every municipality, every private company may have different requirements about what you can and cannot put in their bin. So some may require you to have a specific certified compostable bag, and they only accept those or. You know, so we want to keep that information on our website as well. So when you, you know, put in your zip code, you can get all that information in one place.

Chris Brandt: 18:43

Uh, and, and so I guess if, if somebody is a composting facility and they want to get on your list, uh, how should they get in touch with you?

Manali Yavatkar: 18:51

Yeah. So email us at hello at palm labs. co.

Chris Brandt: 18:56

I'll put a little link here somewhere for that. And, and in the show notes. Perfect. The composting bin that you've got is this kind of. Unique, um, because it's solving some special problems that, that, that you, you know, wanted to solve for. Uh, you know, it's kind of just a passion project, sort of a personal project for you in that regard. Um, so could you speak to like, 'cause the product's beautiful and I'll, I'll, I'll, I'll put a picture up here, you know, for people to take a look at what the picture, the, the product looks like. I mean, it's a beautiful product. I mean, it's gonna look great on your, your countertop. I mean, there's obviously a great amount of. industrial design that went into, you know, putting this all together. Um, but you've got some, as I mentioned in the intro, you've got some unique technology in here that's kind of helping it be a more functional piece of your kitchen. Could you speak to, you know, all the things that went into, you know, creating this product?

Manali Yavatkar: 19:50

Yeah. Yeah, definitely. Um, so yeah, I mean, we wanted to, first off, we wanted to solve the main issues people are having, which is Smell the flies and the breakdown of these compostable bags. And then, you know, those things basically cause you to have to empty your curse, your kitchen bin frequently, you know, multiple times a week. So we wanted to solve for that as well. Um, and so easy way to solve for this is to keep your food waste cold. That bacteria, that stinky bacteria is not going to grow. It can't grow. So you're not just, You know, like the other bins, you're not just masking the odor or containing the odor, you're preventing that odor from even being there. Being created. Um, so we wanted to create a bin that can keep your food waste cold, so you don't have to put your food waste in the fridge or the freezer and use valuable space. We wanted to be very user friendly, very accessible, very convenient. And so having it on your countertop right there in front of you every time you're going to scrape your plate. Um, Is, you know, it makes it very, very convenient and easy so that cooling is kind of like our bread and butter and what solves the majority of these pain points. It also prevents your compostable liner from breaking down because that liner breaks down at a certain temperature and moisture level. So you're going to hit that moisture level, but you're not going to hit that temperature threshold. And so your liner will actually stay intact.

Chris Brandt: 21:20

You kind of are using, you know, very cool tech. To keep it cool. Could you, could you talk about how, how you're actually doing that?

Manali Yavatkar: 21:28

So we're using thermoelectric cooling, which is a different technology than what your fridge uses. It's a lot, um, less energy intensive and it's, you know, much smaller, like it's a much, Physical footprint as well. Um, but basically it uses a Peltier module, which is this really cool thing that, you know, you send a current through it and one side gets really hot. And once I gets really cold, and those are semiconductors that do that. Um, so we're using that to essentially cool the whole bin.

Chris Brandt: 21:58

That's cool. Because I mean, I remember, uh, when those, those semiconductors kind of came out and it was, you know, this is how we're going to cool computers in the future and, you know, all that. And that was a very exciting and promising technology. It's interesting to see, you know, something like that applied in a different context here, you know, and, and it, and the thing that's nice about it, because cooling something is very energy intensive, typically,

Manali Yavatkar: 22:20

right?

Chris Brandt: 22:20

I imagine this device doesn't require much energy to run at all, right? Right.

Manali Yavatkar: 22:25

Yeah, it's um, essentially it's about like 0. 4 kilowatts a week, so that's like a, you know, a light bulb in your house. Um, it's really not a lot of energy, and um, yeah, we've really optimized the cooling, so it's not running all the time, it runs only when it's, when necessary, and we can adjust the current going to the module as well, so we can We can really optimize for efficiency.

Chris Brandt: 22:52

Another aspect of this like cleaning this thing is very easy because it's just it's all dishwasher safe stuff, right?

Manali Yavatkar: 22:57

Yeah, so it has an inner caddy that's removable so you can transport your food waste to your green bin really easily and that caddy As well as, um, it has this like ring inside to catch any food. So basically anything that touches food waste is removable and dishwasher safe. So we've tried to make the cleaning process really easy as well.

Chris Brandt: 23:19

That's got to be nice. Cause I can imagine that gets just pretty rank after all.

Manali Yavatkar: 23:23

Yeah. And we, we actually have a piece on the lid, like the inside of the lid that's removable and dishwasher safe as well. So if you really fill it, your lid could get dirty. Um, and that's, that was a pain point for me as well, um, and in our user testing. So we, we actually created like a removable part of the lid, um, is dishwasher safe. So,

Chris Brandt: 23:46

yeah, I wouldn't want to have to hand wash that, you know,

Manali Yavatkar: 23:49

exactly. Or just, you know, have to wipe it down with a cloth or anything like that. Um,

Chris Brandt: 23:53

the other aspect of this that I think is interesting is that, Um, one of your focuses I know is on building a product in a sustainable way. Could you speak to that aspect of it too?

Manali Yavatkar: 24:07

You know, we wanted to be very cognizant about the fact that we were creating a new product that people were buying. Um, and we wanted to make sure that. It's not going to end up in a landfill, right? We're trying to prevent your food waste from going to the landfill. We don't want to contribute and create another pipe in a landfill. So that was super important to us. And what that meant was in the design process, we had to design for disassembly. So in order to provide, we have a repair program in order to provide repairs, the product needs to be able to be disassembled. And a lot of electronics today are just glued together. It's like parts are just glued together and you have to break it basically in order to take it apart. Um, we didn't want to do that. So we designed it, you know, we're using screws, we're using things. It's a, you know, it's more expensive to do it that way because you have more parts and But that was super important to us. So we, you know, we wanted to make sure that we incorporated that. And the other thing is we're using sustainable materials where we can. So instead of, you know, like a plastic insulation, we're using recycled cellulose, which is infinitely recyclable. So we can actually, you know, create new insulation panels from old ones, which is great. Yeah. Um, and then we're using. You know a bioplastic instead of a hundred percent Fossil fuel based plastic and that bioplastics also recyclable. So we not only have a repair program We also have a take back program So in you know, you use your bin for eight years ten years and you're done with it You can send it back to us We'll take it apart and we'll actually recycle the parts into new palm bins And

Chris Brandt: 25:49

so like recycling the bioplastics, is that different than trying to recycle other plastics? Because I know one of the challenges with recycling Plastic is that it's a very energy intensive process is that though do those bioproducts? Uh recycle easier.

Manali Yavatkar: 26:03

It's still mechanical recycling So you basically just grind it up and be you know, grind it up. You have to compound it and then you can reuse it Um, there are some bioplastics and we're looking into these, you know For down the line that are also compostable at end of life. So it's, it's just about doing like, you know, you can't, you know, those plastics, you can't put in the dishwasher. So we can't use those for the dishwasher safe parts. Um, but we're looking into it for the exterior. We just have to do some testing and it's all about, you know, doing the LCA analysis as well, which is something else that we're doing to really look at the life cycle.

Chris Brandt: 26:39

I feel like we're getting very meta here with a compostable composter. You know,

Manali Yavatkar: 26:44

yes,

Chris Brandt: 26:46

that's interesting. This is like the designing for sustainability. And I know that like, it's, it's like, you're kind of hitting on a lot of points here. It's like, you, you've got, you know, cool style, sustainability, sustainable manufacturing, you know, like, but, but the other thing is, and like ease of use. And one of the things I know that like part of the ease of use is that you, you know, you can put compostable bags into this so that like, you know, you can just grab a bag and, and, and walk out with it. Right. Um, How does, how does that work?

Manali Yavatkar: 27:14

So we actually have our own bags, our own compostable bags, um, that are certified. So there is, you know, there's a lot of kind of greenwashing in the compostable bag industry. Um, you can interesting, can find a lot of bags on Amazon that are green. So they look like they would be compostable, but they are not. Um, so we wanted, you know, we want to ensure that our customers have certified compostable bags. So we actually created our own that fit within our bins as well, because our bins have a pretty unique shape. Um, so those, those bags will fit within our bins, fit really nicely and, um, are compostable. So we're also working on creating a new type of compostable liner made out of paper pulp. So that's another sort of like R and D product project that we have in the works. Um, but those paper pulp liners, um, are just better because they break down faster. So compost facilities like them more. The problem with the compostable bags is that they take longer to break down. So that can, um, affect the compost cycles at these facilities.

Chris Brandt: 28:25

I would imagine if you're getting the compost back and you got a lot of green bags that haven't fully broken down, that would kind of suck. Yeah,

Manali Yavatkar: 28:30

exactly.

Chris Brandt: 28:32

You know, I mentioned that you, you had this on Kickstarter and it sold out in a day. And I think right now you're like 530 some percent of your, your goal. Um, could you talk about like the Kickstarter process and where you're at and like when you're actually going to be shipping all of these?

Manali Yavatkar: 28:48

We completed our Kickstarter. It was like a 30 day campaign. Um, like you said, we hit our goal. We went over. Um, so that was great. We are planning to ship to customers in December and time for Christmas. Um, that's the goal. And then we are still accepting pre orders. So you can still pre order right now. You can still pre order on Kickstarter through their late pledge.

Chris Brandt: 29:11

Okay,

Manali Yavatkar: 29:12

we're going to have preorders on our website pretty soon here. We're just building out a new website, which is really exciting with that compost look of tool. So that's super exciting, but that's kind of what's in the works for us.

Chris Brandt: 29:24

Wow. That is, that is exciting. So if, if one were to order now and what, so what, what I'll put your Kickstarter campaign address up here. It usually goes over there. You can never get the side right. Um, I'll put it up there. And, uh, and, and so, so you can, people can go and, and, and get to that Kickstarter. But if, if they're kind of, you know, signing up late, when do you think they're going to be looking to get it? Will they still be potentially getting it by Christmas? That seems like a lot of Composters to make before Christmas

Manali Yavatkar: 29:55

depending on when you order if you order right now, you still get it in time for Christmas Depending on how many orders we get, you know that delivery might get pushed to January or February So

Chris Brandt: 30:08

that'd be a great problem for you to have and I assume yeah Are you financing this purely through Kickstarter or are you going to bootstrap this company? Are you going to look to raise seed money? Have you raised seed money? Like how does it all work?

Manali Yavatkar: 30:21

So we did do like a small friends and family to kind of kick us off. Um, Kickstarter is obviously helping, but we are going to raise a pre seed round here in the next few months, uh, mostly from angels. So it'll be, you know, a smaller round, but mostly from angels and micro VCs. Um, and yeah, I mean, this is definitely like a product that we could potentially bootstrap. It's just about how fast do we want to move? You know, we can move a lot faster with a little bit more money and. The market opportunity is right now, you know, more cities are implementing curbside composting. New York City is just about to get it in October. All of Manhattan is going to have curbside composting, which is incredible.

Chris Brandt: 31:05

Yeah, that's definitely a target to shoot for.

Manali Yavatkar: 31:07

Yeah. Yeah, exactly. Well,

Chris Brandt: 31:08

so if you're an accredited investor and you want to, you know, get in on, on the composting rage, you know, here you go. They just reach out to you at the same, uh, same time. Same address. Yeah.

Manali Yavatkar: 31:19

Yeah,

Chris Brandt: 31:19

that would be great. What's next for you and for Palm? Are you going to add in AI features to this?

Manali Yavatkar: 31:27

That's a great question. You know, the great convergence. Yeah. Yeah. Um, so we, we do have impact tracking, right? So the bins actually do constantly measure the amount of food waste that you're adding. And, um, tell you your impact. So tell you how much food waste you're diverting from landfills, how much methane you're preventing from going to the atmosphere. And that's actually pretty interesting data because a lot of states now are enacting laws that require food waste to be diverted. So there is. So basically municipalities have to comply and demonstrate that compliance in some way. Um, so that data can actually be very useful for, um, not only compliance, but also planning these complex facilities because waste is sort of like a black box. No one really knows how much waste is being generated, how much food waste is generated versus, you know, other just, you know, solid waste. So having that data is actually pretty interesting. Um, so, you know, we're, we're going to look into how we can help with compliance there. Um, and then the other thing is, yeah, this is like a direct to consumer product, but apartment buildings have to comply with these laws as well. So, um, we definitely are looking to partner with apartment buildings to help increase participation in composting. And I think that's a really good market because. If you live in an apartment and your food waste bin smells, you're going to smell it everywhere in your apartment. Yeah, that would not be

Chris Brandt: 33:02

good in a big apartment building. I think I've been in that apartment building where that's been happening before.

Manali Yavatkar: 33:08

Um, and also emptying your bin, you know, multiple times a week can be a hassle when you're in an apartment building and you have to take an elevator to get to the trash room. So, um, creating a better experience is basically the only way. We're going to get people to participate in compost. So I think partnering with apartment buildings is also, um, is also in our, um,

Chris Brandt: 33:29

And I could see the municipalities. I mean, my, my municipality sends around like, you know, Hey, you can buy these light bulbs or you can do this, you know, there's all sorts of offers and discounted offers and things like that. Buy them in bulk.

Manali Yavatkar: 33:41

Exactly. And rebate programs. So a lot of cities provide rebate programs for compost. Um, for mostly for comp, like if you want to backyard compost for like a tumbler, um, but some of them actually are starting to, to provide rebates for countertops as well. So we could get a, you know, on our roadmap is getting approved for these rebates as well.

Chris Brandt: 34:03

Do you think that you'll also be making like even larger ones for maybe more of an industrial use like an office or a restaurant kind of setting?

Manali Yavatkar: 34:12

Yeah, exactly. Exactly. So, um, yeah. Larger. Versions of the Palm Bend for, you know, the apartment buildings, trash room or, um, an office space. Um, yeah, so that's definitely, definitely in the works as well.

Chris Brandt: 34:27

It's such cool stuff. I, and I, I, I really admire the fact that you kind of left the hot market right now to go, you know, follow your passion and do something that's like, Making the world a better place. I mean, I just, I feel like, you know, I'm kind of, I'm more of a pessimist in the, the, the space of sort of the, the climate change world right now. And I think that the evidence seems to me that we've kind of blown past what the, the salvageability of it all is. And we, we need to like start looking at more mitigating, you know, factors too. But I mean, like every bit we can do to help, you know, either delay that happening or, or, you know, like, get us to a point where we can fix it once we've kind of stabilized it, I think is super important. And I, I very much appreciate that people like you are out there doing this. So thank you on behalf of me and the planet.

Manali Yavatkar: 35:23

Yeah, I mean, I think like there's so many solutions that we have to help reduce methane emissions. Carbon emissions that we know work. We just need to implement them. That's kind of the problem is we, you know, we have these solutions like we, we should be also, you know, trying to find new solutions as well, but we already have a lot of solutions and the implementation is just what we're failing at. Right now. So

Chris Brandt: 35:48

yeah, we've we've been failing at that stuff for a long time, which is really frustrating. But you know, here we are. But at least we have people like you, we're gonna make it better. So I just want to thank you so much for doing what you're doing. Thanks so much for coming on and sharing your product. I'm excited, you know, for when it starts shipping in December. And good luck with everything.

Manali Yavatkar: 36:12

Thank you so much. Yeah, it was great chatting with you.

Chris Brandt: 36:14

Thanks for watching. I'd love to hear from you in the comments. And if you could, give it a like, think about subscribing, share this with a friend, and I will see you in the next one.