Standing in the pocket

This last week I almost thought about changing tack.

It’s been almost a year, no product-market fit, no real business prospects to speak of, and really nothing more than a dream and crossed-fingers.

I’m looking left, right, and center with business opportunities just dripping. I could AI-ify some old, under-the-radar industry and have a much better chance of earning my keep — and, honestly, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that.

I pass people living on the street everyday — good people who haven’t had the same fortune, opportunities, and privileges. I don’t want to piss mine away on a pipe dream.

But I just can’t quite quit on Mulch just yet.

Every single time I try to, I keep coming back. I see this lush, lighthearted city — ripe with personal gardens and, more than anything, tiny stories, rituals, and community that delight and bind us together. I want to work on this. I’m energized and hungry and (stupidly?) optimistic that it’ll actually work out.

Quarterbacks in the NFL get crushed by punishing sacks after waiting in the pocket for too long. Sometimes though, if they can scramble for long enough, incredible plays find a way of materializing.

Going to keep scrambling. Lucky to have the opportunity to even take this swing. Won’t give up so easy.

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Business Updates:

Next milestone: 1,000 Wildflower Gardens for this spring 🪻🌻🌱

• Last week I was focused on getting people to sign-up — feeling reasonably confident I can get 1,000+ people to sign up (probably will need 2-3 thousand factoring in people who drop off, but that’s all doable)

• This week I’m focused on setting up operations and actually onboarding folks. Part 1 is assigning trees to people (e.g.going from address → specific tree)

  • Last summer I did this all manually (either biking around the city or driving around in a truck), but I decided to opt for Google Earth since the 3D tree bed spotting is surprisingly accurate.

  • The map on the website is animated / cartoon-y. I realized just dropping a pin on that location wouldn’t make it clear where someone’s tree was. A 2D Satellite map was better but still not fully there — sometimes it’s super grainy and hard to see.

  • Ended up implementing a photorealistic 3D map so that it’s easier for folks to identify their beds — took a while but got it done.
    

    

    Still in development — but getting much closer

• Next steps:

  • Notifying folks about their tree selections.

  • De-risking more of the execution (nailing down seed selection, planting logistics) before adding more people.

Feeling energized. Till next week.

Mayank