How Sabanto runs its 20-person Farmer Advisory Board | Craig Rupp

Sabanto makes a retrofit autonomy kit that attaches to off-the-shelf tractors — converting machines farmers already own into autonomous systems capable of performing field operations without a driver. In this episode of BUILDERS, Craig Rupp returns three years after his first appearance to share what he's learned building the commercial motion for ag autonomy from scratch, in a market where no playbook existed. Topics Discussed: Why Sabanto chose retrofit over building from scratch — and why that decision defined their GTM

Pioneering a farm-by-farm demo motion in a market where trade shows don't close deals

Building Sabanto's 12-dealer network and why co-selling was non-negotiable in the early days

Why change management is a product problem, not a customer success problem

The Farmer Advisory Board: structure, mechanics, and why sales is never in the room

What Monarch's collapse reveals about deployment pacing and investor-driven GTM pressure

Craig's vision for smaller, redundant autonomy systems replacing $1.2M high-horsepower tractors

GTM Lessons For B2B Founders: Count the change vectors your customer must absorb — then minimize them. Monarch asked farmers to switch brands, switch fuel types, add electrical infrastructure, and adopt autonomy simultaneously. Sabanto's retrofit model collapses that to one: the autonomy layer on a tractor they already own, service, and trust. When Craig designed the product, he was designing the adoption surface too. Founders entering operationally entrenched markets should map every change vector before locking in architecture.

In a "show me" market, the demo is the sales motion. Video doesn't close. Trade shows don't close. Craig drove to farms across the US in a three-quarter ton truck, had the system running in under two hours, and left it for a week or two before a farmer would buy. The unlock wasn't features — it was: can I see it on my land? For founders selling physical or deeply operational technology, the on-site proof-of-concept is the primary revenue activity.

Be present for every early channel installation — not to audit, but to train the trainer. Sabanto's 12 dealers handle installation, training, and support. But early on, Craig's team was on-site for every install, training the dealer to train the end customer. You can't delegate institutional knowledge you haven't compressed yet. Channel doesn't scale until your learning is transferable.

Structure your advisory board so sales can't contaminate it. Craig's Farmer Advisory Board has about 20 members selected for candor. Monthly, his COO runs the session alone — no marketing, no sales. Opens with the top five problems engineering is working on, then hands the mic to customers. Most founders run advisory boards as a brand exercise. Craig runs his as a direct engineering input.

Deployment pacing is a GTM decision. Craig's read on Monarch: investor pressure drove volume before support, distribution, and bug resolution could keep pace. His countermodel — 10 units over the first six months, then 50 — isn't ops discipline. It's a market trust calculation. In hardware and deep tech, burning early adopters poisons the category at first contact.

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