{"href":"http://player.captivate.fm/services/oembed?url=http%3A%2F%2Fplayer.captivate.fm%2Fepisode%2F7138eb10-4cd1-4189-8605-b0146fe18bea","version":"1.0","provider_name":"Captivate.FM","provider_url":"https://www.captivate.fm","width":600,"height":200,"type":"rich","html":"","title":"S3E36: David Cohen - LED Innovation and Helping the World Grow Smarter","description":"Episode Summary\r\n\r\nJoin Harry Duran, host of Vertical Farming Podcast, as he welcomes to the show, CEO at Fluence, David Cohen. Fluence is a horticultural lighting company owned by OSRAM. They explore physiological plant development under various levels of photosynthetically active radiation and custom spectra compositions. Today, Harry and David talk about David\u2019s eclectic background in the LED lighting industry and the circuitous route that led him to Fluence. David reflects on the learning curve he experienced transitioning into his role as CEO of Fluence, highlights from his earlier career and best practices for scaling quickly in the fast-paced industry of vertical farming.\r\n\r\nEpisode Sponsor\r\n\r\nCULTIVATD\r\n\r\nKey Takeaways\r\n02:37 \u2013 Harry welcomes to the show David Cohen, who talks about his fervor for health and wellness, what leadership means to him and mentors who have impacted him\r\n16:52 \u2013 David recalls highlights and lessons he learned during his time at Fraen\r\n23:42 \u2013 David talks about how he got involved in the controlled environment agriculture market and the circuitous route that brought him to Fluence\r\n28:45 \u2013 David reflects on the learning curve he experienced moving into his role at Fluence\r\n37:02 \u2013 David provides best practices for scaling extremely quickly\r\n42:25 \u2013 David discusses the pivoting he and his organization needed to do in the midst of the global pandemic\r\n43:31 \u2013 David describes the current offerings that Fluence offers\r\n47:51 \u2013 David talks about where he\u2019s seeing the most innovation in the LED industry\r\n51:04 \u2013 A tough question David has had to ask himself recently\r\n55:23 \u2013 Harry thanks David for joining the show and let\u2019s listeners know where they can learn more about Fluence and connect with David\r\n\r\nTweetable Quotes\r\n\r\n\u201cOver all the different jobs I\u2019ve had that you do your best to keep customers happy, but it\u2019s not always gonna work out. There are times when customers are just going to be furious. That\u2019s a great opportunity to get closer to a customer. Don\u2019t be afraid of negativity and don\u2019t be afraid of aggression. Absorb it and do something with it rather than let it intimidate you.\u201d(14:24)\r\n\r\n\u201cFailure is part of success as far as I view it. There\u2019s no such thing as perfection.\u201d(16:46)\r\n\r\n\u201cScaling is scaling. When you want to go from slow to fast, from small to big, from Texas to Canada to Europe to Asia, you need to follow the same footprint. And I\u2019m lucky my experiences were really well suited to help [Fluence] do what it wanted to do.\u201d(27:42)\r\n\r\n\u201cI think that the capital to effect this type of change globally is available, but you need really great people to step in and say \u2018I\u2019m gonna take a chance here. I wanna do something that\u2019s right. I don\u2019t know if it\u2019ll be successful or not, but we\u2019re gonna go do it anyway.\u2019\u201d(32:55)\r\n\r\n\u201cWhat we\u2019re [Fluence] trying to do is make sure that we base everything that we do on research and science. We want to be able to go to growers and say, \u2018Either talk to our customers or talk to our Research partners.\u2019\u201d(45:51)\r\n\r\n\u201cIn an industry and a market like this, I think that if you\u2019re not prepared to pivot, to be flexible and to adapt to what\u2019s happening, you\u2019re gonna have a tough time.\u201d(51:49)\r\n\r\nLinks Mentioned\r\n\r\nDavid\u2019s LinkedIn\r\n\r\nFluence Website\r\n\r\nSponsor Info:\r\n\r\nCultivatd Website\r\n\r\nCultivatd Instagram\r\n\r\nCultivatd\u2019s Twitter\r\n\r\nCultivatd\u2019s Facebook\r\n\r\n\ud83c\udf99\ufe0f\ud83c\udf99\ufe0f\ud83c\udf99\ufe0f\r\n\r\nPodcast Production and Marketing by FullCast: https://bit.ly/3sxZ34y\r\n\r\nSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.","thumbnail_width":300,"thumbnail_height":300,"thumbnail_url":"https://artwork.captivate.fm/7fb5ee66-376b-4735-96e7-a7ef2db938b7/image.jpg"}