AquaFarm(ing) - SHR!MP S01E05

16 October 2025

Doubting my initial assumptions and the overall greatness of my idea, it was not the time to give up (yet).

I chose to ignore today's market prices and concerns about cheap imports because they will likely change by the time SHRMP.bio is ready. If cheap imports are still around then, they will be produced using SHRMP.bio's technology.

Not knowing about aquaculture… Well, in analogy to cell culture, I had considered “the growing animals part” merely an engineering project (of the future), rather than a farming problem. Still, it's a valid concern; it would not hurt to know a bit more about aquaculture myself: I hammer through a training course and I now hold a Certificate of Completion "Introduction to Recirculating Aquaculture Systems". That was more interesting and useful than I had initially thought, and it affirms my "future engineering project" view.

I am most concerned, however, about the possibility that I am misjudging the commercial opportunity behind aquaculture, and I concede that "gut feeling" may not be a sufficiently strong basis to convince a potential investor (including myself). Recently equipped with the necessary skills from my Berkeley Executive Education programme, I decided to invest considerable effort in developing future scenarios myself to test whether there may indeed be a need for a solution like SHRMP.bio in the future and/or an opportunity for aquaculture in general. This work became the "Future of Aquaculture" presentation I gave at the AquaFarm conference (although I had intended to present SHRMP.bio initially).

And it exceeded my original assumptions - aquaculture could, in fact, be a very significant future opportunity.

My main conclusion at this point: the worst thing to do would be not to do anything in this area.

Mid-year now, Launchclub is coming to an end, and with it, the first phase of SHRMP.bio.

The early months do end on a high note with a small win, a real win: I pitched SHRMP.bio at the final Launchclub pitch competition (audience choice award!) and secured access to Stone&Chalk's co-working space later in the year (as part of Startmate's Buildmate Programme Pilot).