INTERVIEW
was time to drain the honey. That would get
around the issues of viscosity and surface
tension holding the honey in. I started making
a really complicated version that broke the
honeycomb apart in a horizontal direction. It
was my father who came up with the genius
idea of doing it vertically. It was much more
efficient, less complicated, and that’s what
finally made the cut. My dad had a massive part
to play. He is the co-inventor of the product.”
Anderson is very close to his father, Stuart.
“Our minds are wired in similar ways. He
only has to make half a hand movement and
I know what he’s talking about. Our fami-
ly never lets us play Pictionary together at
Christmas because, after a couple of pencil
strokes, we’ve got it.”
Crowdfunding became a focus early on
because it cut out the need for external inves-
tors. While he acknowledges they would
bring skills into the start-up, they would also
demand too much equity. Anderson wasn’t
prepared to give it away. So after getting the
right design, the family teamed up to struc-
ture a funding campaign. A year before the
launch, his sister Mirabai came on board to
use her film-production skills for a publicity
campaign. Videos were important to show
how the hive worked and how honey was
extracted – by simply turning a handle on
the outside to split the plastic combs on the
inside. The video included testimonials from
beekeepers, outlined an offer and made a clear
call to action. A social media campaign was
also kicked off.
Anderson set a goal of 1000 likes on Facebook
and 1000 email responses before a launch
could start. They started by using generic
bee-orientated content, then used their video
clip. “We got a million views in 38 hours,
and it was game on. A thousand emails were
com i ng i n ever y day. By t he ti me we lau nched
the crowdfunding, we had 70,000 people onour email list.” Since then, no further funds
have been needed to finance the business.
Cred it a lso goes to A nderson’s g ra nd fat her,
an academic, for putting in place a plan for
patenting the invention. That protection hasn’t
stopped attempts to knock off the design,
however. The first cons happened when others
used crowdfunding to pitch similar beehives
but nothing was actually delivered. Then,
backyard knock-offs started to appear. Lately,
serious rivals have been marketing heavily to
win a share of the rewards. They are being
dealt with by Flow in the courts.
The Flow brand is now well established,
and there is more to come. A hive is being
designed for commercial beekeepers, who
are much more numerous than hobbyists. The
frame of the Flow Hive was designed for this
market but the first product was pitched at
hobbyists because of doubts that professional
beekeepers could easily be convinced to change
their ways. “We have some developments that
will allow beekeepers to harvest in ways that
are good for bees and will be easier for them
on an automated scale. We are getting some
traction now. Many are heavily invested, and
for them to switch to a new system is not
something they are going to take lightly. But
we are starting.”Team work ... Cedar credits his
dad Stuart as co-inventor of the
Flow Hive.“Our video clip
showing how the hive
worked got a million
views in 38 hours, and
it was game on.”