Irving Fain, founder and CEO of Bowery Farming, spoke with Marcelo Gigliani-Alcantarilla (MSB/SFS’25) at Georgetown’s 2024 Venture in the Capital Conference. Before Bowery, Fain co-founded the loyalty software company CrowdTwist, later acquired by Oracle, and helped launch iHeartRadio’s digital business.
Fain explained that he wanted his next company to combine personal passion with a large societal problem, which led him to agriculture. Bowery grows produce indoors in stacked, controlled environments without pesticides, using far less water and producing more crop cycles a year than outdoor farms, with software, computer vision and AI running its operations. He discussed water scarcity, the role of government incentives in attracting private capital, and why founders should avoid believing either their best or worst press. His closing advice: entrepreneurship always means stepping off a cliff, and preparation only makes the cliff smaller.