Bringing Open Source to the Plant-Based Industry: Jan 2022 Newsletter Update | Issue #1

Links 🗞️Subscribe to our newsletter 🌍 TEDxCountdown-TFF video 🙋🏻‍♂️ Call for Contributors — Play a part in our Ultimate Soy Burger playbook 📞 Hit us up for a chat More about Next Billion Burgers here

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Hello!

Thank you for taking the time to read this update! Hopefully the first of many exciting updates to come your way.

This is Nigel, founder of Next Billion Burgers, and I’d like to first wish anyone reading this a very happy new year and a fantastic start to 2022!

Next Billion Burgers is an initiative to bring open source to the plant-based industry. Our goal is to enable founders anywhere in the world to create great-tasting, plant-based foods that are healthy, affordable and sustainable.

If you were forwarded this page, can I strongly encourage you to subscribe to our newsletter — we promise never to spam your inbox!

2021 in a nutshell Since we launched at the Thought For Food Challenge in June, we have been busy! We’ve spoken to close to 50 individuals to validate the feasibility of the Next Billion Burgers vision; from founders to technical experts, from venture capitalists to academics. From Singapore 🇸🇬 to Tel Aviv 🇮🇱, and even Santiago 🇨🇱, we are ever so thankful to everyone who has spent time to talk and think with us. These conversations have validated key hypotheses, and indicated a clear need for a platform like Next Billion Burgers. More on that later. In November, we also had the opportunity to contribute to a TEDxCountdown talk — big shoutout here to Christine and the wonderful TFF team 🙌🏻 for pulling it together and giving us the opportunity to put our voice out into the world.

I highly recommend giving the rest of the speakers a listen for important ideas on how we can use food as a force for good;

The end of 2021 also saw us pivot from just an idea to a clear plan to get up and running. We also welcomed Yvonne Worden, an experienced content creator and digital marketer based in Seattle who will join us to bring our 2022 vision to life! 🚀

What’s in store for 2022 💡 And asks for help

1️⃣ The first thing we want to do in 2022 is to launch the Ultimate Soy Burger playbook. As the name suggests, we want to create a playbook that will enable any entrepreneur anywhere in the world, regardless of background or expertise, to launch a tasty soy-based burger that is healthy, affordable and sustainable. This will manifest in a series of content deep-dives (webinars, articles, decks, reports etc.) that culminate in a single repository that will be free and open to all. 💡 To do this, we are looking for contributors who are: Founders who can share their journey; Subject matter experts in everything from recipe formulation to co-manufacturing and marketing/distribution; and Content writers who can faithfully document and shape the playbook Check out our ‘Call For Contributors’ here. As this goes on, we will also embark on marketing the playbook and commissioning a pilot run. More in future updates!

2️⃣ Our second workstream will be to begin work on a ‘2nd generation’ type ingredient. By that, we are referring to ingredients that are less-familiar (unlike soy or pea), and where technical challenges still exist. These tend to be crops that are abundant, offer unique advantages (in the process of plant-based manufacturing) but are not widely researched and so require a fair amount of research and development. In these, a more collaborative approach will make the most sense for all parties involved in the ecosystem 💡 To do this, we are looking to speak to anyone who is working on what they might consider a generation 2 ingredient! Schedule a call with us if this fits you

3️⃣ Our third initiative is to launch an MVP platform to accompany the Soy playbook. 💡 To do this, we are looking for: A Product lead/manager who can champion and take this forward Founders who can share intimately about their startup journey and help to beta test ideas Schedule a call with us if this fits you

Above all, we want to get the word out — it’s time for open source to hit the plant-based industry and increase the speed of innovation. Please feel very free to forward this on.

That’s it for now. Wishing you a wonderful start to 2022.

Stay safe, be well, Nigel LinkedIn Book me for a chat!