You might call Michael Bissonette’s new company, AeroGrow, an example of seed capitalism:
Originally developed by NASA, aeroponics accelerates the speed at which plants grow by drizzling nutrients onto their roots, which dangle in the air instead of being planted in soil.Commercial aeroponics systems have long been available, but they were big, clunky and expensive (at around $900 each)—not consumer friendly. That was because they were bought mostly by the geeky criminals of the crop-production world: people who grow marijuana at home.
They cared neither about the look of the product nor about its effectiveness at growing anything other than cannabis. But with the demand for fresh, organic produce booming, Mr Bissonette saw a potentially huge market for an aeroponics system that looked good, was easy to use, and worked with the kind of crops (tomatoes, strawberries, legal herbs) that home kitchens need.