Translator: Aline Braga Reviewer: Riaki Poništ
I had an idea.
I thought,
"Imagine if you could harvest honey directly out of the hive
without opening the hive and disturbing the bees
so that the honey would just come straight out of the box
and into the jar with zero processing."
My grandfather keeps bees, and my father keeps bees,
and my brothers, uncles, cousins, and now my sisters.
And harvesting honey has always been a real labour of love.
First, you have to protect yourself from stings,
fire up a smoker to sedate the bees, then crack open the boxes,
and lift heavy boxes,
take those frames out,
try not to squash too many bees,
brush off all the bees or use a leaf blower,
and take those frames to a processing shed,
cut off all the wax capping,
then load those frames into a centrifuge,
spin out all the honey,
filter out all the wax and bee bits,
and if that's not enough hard work,
the frames have to go back the hives again.
It's a hot, sweaty, heavy, messy lot of hard work.
I thought, "There has to be a better way."
So my dad and I got to work on what turned out a decade-long process
to invent the bee-keepers dream.
So I first started by getting a piece of comb out of the hive
and cutting the back off the comb,
and the honey didn't drain out.
And I thought, "That's interesting,"
and then I cut the front off the comb and thought, "This is sure to work."
But the honey still wouldn't drain out.
Then I thought, "Well, maybe -
if I tip the beehive on it's side and build this crazy contraption,
the honey would come out."
The viscosity and surface tension was such
that the honey would stick in that hexagon matrix
and wouldn't come out.
So then I thought, "Well, maybe I can push it out."
So I cast a hexagon piston and plungers to go down cells.
And that didn't work.
Then I thought, "Maybe I can suck it out."
And that didn't work.
And really, the only thing that keeps you going is being optimistic,
that "Yes, I can make this idea work."
And then one morning, when I was almost awake, I thought,
"Maybe, it doesn't have to be hexagon cells all the time,
maybe it can be hexagon cells when the bees are filling them with honey,
and transform into something else when it's time to harvest the honey."
So then I was building this prototype
sort of out of just bits and pieces that were lying around.
We ran on the smell of an oily rag,
so I mean, literally, we ran our cars
off old fish and chip oil from the chip shop.
So the prototype was made out of bits of wood
and old car inner tube and hot melt glue,
and we put that into the hive,
and while I was starting to get somewhere,
my dad, one morning after a couple of strong coffees, goes,
"Hang on, how about instead of doing it like this, we do it like this?"
And he just just moved his hands in such a way.
I straight away dropped everything I was doing and rushed into the shed.
And we built this prototype, put it into the beehive,
and here is the first drops of honey
harvested in that way.
(Applause)
So then it was a case of repeating this single little experiment we had.
So we moved on to 3D printing, and 3D printing was expensive back then.
It cost 2,000 dollars for this small little comb area.
And we put that into the hive, and the bees liked it.
They waxed it all up, they filled it with honey.
And there we were in the paddock
with a spanner like thing on the outside of the hive.
(Video) "Wow, look, it's starting to flow down the tube."
"Oh yes, there it goes." "There it goes."
(On stage) These is the very first drop.
(Video) "It's pouring in!" "Hurray!"
"Excellent."
"It's really pouring; Look at the height of it in there."
So there we were, standing after all this work, in the paddock.
Me and my dad with the very first jar of honey in the world
to be harvested in this new way.
(Applause)
And we thought, "But would anyone like it?"
Perhaps we were just two deluded inventors whiling away in the shed,
hoping that we would invent something that the world would like.
And is it a positive contribution to the world?
And that's a question that I think every inventor should ask themselves.
We thought, "Yes, if we can make bee-keeping more accessible;
yes, if we can make it a gentle process for the bees."
So the way it works is, we give them a partly formed honeycomb cells.
The bees then cover it all in wax,
complete the comb, and draw their comb out further.
Then they cap it all off with their beeswax.
Then we come along from the outside of the hive and turn the handle,
and inside the comb beneath the bees' feet,
the parts move, allowing honey to drain down to the trough at the bottom
and out of the hive.
(Applause)
Hang on.
(Licking fingers)
I can't wait any longer. I love honey.
(Laughter)
And I love you too, honey.
(Laughter)
So there we were, with our brand new invention.
But how do we get it to the world?
So we started exploring well-trodden roads of convincing investors
or selling out to companies or licensing out our patents,
and I thought,
"There must be a better way."
Perhaps we can sell enough on crowdfunding to cover our costs.
Then my talented sister Mira helped us put together a great crowdfunding video.
I'm just going to have to change that honey jar
because it's just about to overflow.
(Applause)
So there we were, in the shed that we call our home.
My better half and our friends were roping in to do this launch,
and the shed is kind of the perfect synergy
between sort of workshop and kitchen -
I mean for me anyway -
but perhaps it's not so great for domestic harmony.
(Laughter)
So there we were, about to press the "Go" button,
and you might notice that we've got a baby on the way.
Now, just to add a little bit more pressure to the situation.
Our landlord just told us
that he's selling the property and selling our home.
And I said, "Don't worry, honey. I've got an invention."
(Laughter)
So here we are.
We pressed the "Go" button,
and we reached our 70,000-dollar target in seven minutes.
(Cheers) (Applause)
I was in kind of a dream-like state
after being up all night trying to finish the page.
And then,
we reached one million dollars in two hours,
and that was a world crowdfunding record for the fastest to one million dollars.
Then in a day we had two million US dollars in orders.
Then we broke another world crowdfunding record
of the most successful campaign ever to launch outside of the U.S.
Then the campaign
topped out at 12.2 million US dollars.
(Cheers) (Applause)
(Laughter)
So then we're just trying to rope in friends and family;
there's thousands of emails coming in,
and people are saying,
"You're going to save the world. You're saving the bees."
Other people are saying,
"No you won't. You're going to ruin the world. It's the end of civilization."
We're going, "Wow wow, settle down everyone.
It won't save the world, but it might help."
"Yes, you still need to look after your bees
as you always have done."
Send.
(Laughter)
"Yes, it really does work." Send.
(Laughter)
"No, it's not a scam.
We have a 24/7 production line running in Brisbane, Australia,
and after we've shipped 25,552 hives,
we'll ship you yours, I promise."
(Laughter)
"Hum, thanks, but I'm already married."
(Laughter)
"Hello? Oh, no, sorry, I'm too busy.
Who? Honey, it's New York Times."
(Laughter)
"Em, could you possibly come tomorrow morning instead?
We're just - got to tidy up the shed. Thanks.''
(Laughter)
I know, really crazy time to have a baby, but hey.
So what was amazing
is thousands of emails are pouring in everyday.
It's kind like a whack-a-mole.
They pop up, you whack them down, and they pop up again.
And we've roped in our small team of friends and family to help with this.
And a common thread was,
"Well, you've been a beekeeper one month,
and you've turned your whole neighborhood pesticide-free.
That's amazing."
And thousands more emails were flooding into our team
with this common thread of people really advocating for the bees,
an important role they play in the world.
Because when you become a beekeeper,
you can't help but notice the interconnectedness
of all life on earth that we completely depend on.
So I think the world loved our invention,
loved this new way of harvesting honey,
and was now shipped 48,000 Flow Hives to 130 different countries.
(Applause)
And 60% of these hives are gone to new beekeepers,
who quickly become advocates for the bees.
40 years ago, there was 200,000 beekeepers in the USA.
Just five years ago, those numbers had halved.
Now I'm happy to say we're making a significant increase to that every day.
Because if we look after the bees, then we look after our natural world.
And honey really is an amazing bonus.
We all have ideas, and we all see better ways.
Right here in this room, and in your backyard,
there are thousands of inventions waiting to happen.
And our world needs backyard inventors to see those better ways,
to be driven by optimism, passion and purpose,
to change our world for the better.
Thank you.
(Cheers) (Applause)