Craig Elworthy has spent nearly two decades working in the tech sector as a product manager for email security companies.
While he's currently the senior product manager at LinkSquares, a Boston-based artificial intelligence company that aims to help companies as they review and sign contracts online, he's also the founder of Lawnbright, a subscription-based lawn service in Andover that sends its non-toxic products to customers and offers them customized weather updates for a greener backyard.
Elworthy says his service is "bootstrapped," and they haven't sought outside funding. He declined to provide an exact headcount, saying Lawbright has a "lean team" that consults experts such as "turf scientists" and people versed in e-commerce and marketing.
We talked online with Elworthy to discuss how his venture merges his passions of tech and lawn care. The interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
What is your business model?
Lawnbright is a subscription service that delivers customized lawn care products to subscribers throughout their season, and makes it really easy to use them successfully.
Our core product is a custom lawn care plan, which sends customers a mix of soil and conditioners every six to eight weeks throughout their growing season. That plan is largely based on a soil sample that the customer sends in, so your neighbor may get different products than you depending on how he or she has treated their lawn in the past.
We also have a host of ancillary products, both one-off and subscription, like our Yard Patrol for getting rid of ticks and mosquitoes, or Weed Wipeout to prevent crabgrass. We are 100% e-commerce based.
How does your technology work?
We have logic built into our signup process that generates a lawn plan for the customer based on weather and climate data we generate from their specific location. We further customize the product selection with a soil test. That tells us what deficiencies the lawn has and allows us to tweak the customers' plan to meet those needs. That’s done by a human expert and we think it’s important to have that human touch to finalize the product lineup and make sure it works for the customer.
What is your headcount? Are you hiring, and if so, do you have a target headcount by a certain date?
We’re focusing on building a team that meets customer needs in a new category — DTC (direct to consumer) lawn care — and that requires thinking differently. It’s really important to us to get the customer experience right, and to do so we’ve prioritized being lean and nimble. We’ve been able to respond to customer needs by tweaking products even in the short time since we've launched (about 90 days) because of this philosophy and we believe it’s what makes us competitive in the market.
How do you differentiate yourself from competitors?
DTC home care services and products have blown up through Covid and DTC lawn care is a new category in its infancy.
Our main competitors have long established business models which have set consumer expectations. National lawn care companies like Tru Green or big box retailers like Home Depot have defined the competitive landscape.
Our philosophy is about making better habits and DIY lawn care really simple for people. So for example, we’ve built out a tech platform that monitors your weather in real time and sends you alerts about how long to run your sprinklers based on projected rainfall, or when you should apply one of your Lawnbright products based on soil (temperatures).
One final thing is people’s interest in turning to a more eco-friendly solution for their lawn. Our products are natural and eco-friendly - we leverage ingredients like molasses, kelp and cornmeal, so they’re much better for the earth and your family members (whether two- or four-legged!).
Why Boston? What is it about our local innovation scene that keeps you here?
My wife and I have both lived in the Boston area all our lives. I’m a dad of three and raising a family here. My kids were actually part of my inspiration for starting Lawnbright. I love a green lawn but really did not like the chemicals I was seeing applied before they’d go out to play, so I started to think about natural alternatives like the products that wound up in our lineup.
But beyond that, I’ve worked in tech in Boston for more than 15 years and I think it’s one of the few places in the world where you can tell people you are solving the issue of lawn care with a tech platform and they don’t think you’re totally nuts.
And I’ve worked really hard to get a nice lawn, so I’m not going anywhere.
