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<\/a><\/p>\nHaving a business idea is often the first steps to becoming an entrepreneur, but identifying if your idea is start-up ready<\/a> is likely the most important step. One of the biggest pieces of advice Futurpreneur Brennan Turner would give potential entrepreneurs is to understand and test their market as much as possible, rather than playing what he calls the \u201cif you build it, they will come\u201d game.\u00a0 That\u2019s exactly what he did when starting his business, FarmLead<\/a>.<\/p>\n Brennan is originally from small-town Saskatchewan, and before turning to entrepreneurship he worked on Wall Street and played professional hockey. He eventually decided to return back home to help manage his family’s farm business operations more efficiently and effectively.<\/p>\n While working on his family\u2019s business, Brennan saw a gap in the market when it came to how farmers buy and sell products. \u201cFarmers are at the center of a year-round cycle of buying crop inputs of seeds, chemicals and fertilizer, and then selling their production,\u201d Brennan told Futurpreneur. He saw that the process farmers used for buying inputs and selling crops relied on phone calls and face-to-face meeting, which often resulted in biased negotiations, a struggle to find resources and a lot of frustration with an inefficient process. \u201cWithout a tool or process to optimize farm business, the reality is that farmers would continue to make deals that were likely not the best possible option,\u201d Brennan explained.<\/p>\n This is where he came up with the idea of FarmLead, a free online marketplace that connects grains sellers with buyers. With the mobile application, users can buy grains, negotiate price and make a counter-offer, anytime, anywhere. Whether they are sellers or buyers, with FarmLead they are able to reach more potential buyers or sellers than if they were making deal by phone.<\/p>\n Brennan\u2019s personal experience formed the basis for his research. He understood the process of buying and selling in the farming businesses, and what this means for farmers. \u201cIt\u2019s a year-round, time consuming process that depends on many factors, including trying to get the best price, covering our risk, managing our cash, and adjusting for unknowns \u2013 namely weather, and international market effects.\u201d<\/p>\n Brennan didn\u2019t just rely on this experience, though, and also undertook intensive research that included market surveys of farmers and industry players, data analytics and general strategy development.<\/p>\n Understanding the market is also a daily component of running FarmLead. Brennen writes a grains market commentary called the Breakfast Brief on an almost daily basis, giving his perspective on the global grains market so that the farmers can get a big-picture view of what\u2019s going on in their industry. His Breakfast Brief is clearly working \u2013 almost 7,000 farmers around the world read it every day.<\/p>\n