How Mushrooms Can Change the World 🍄 | Silver Laus (Shroomwell) | Changemaker Insights Ep. 3

Welcome, Silver, to our latest edition of Changemaker Insights. Really happy to have you here. Today we're going to talk about you personally, but also about Shroomwell. So really great to have you. And maybe starting off, would you like to give us a bit of an introduction to Shroomwell itself? What does it do? What's the organization about? It's about mushrooms. I think that's clear. But what are the products it sells? What is the mission behind, what is the bigger vision that you have?

Thank you, Thomas. And first of all, very grateful for you to have me on this podcast. I heard there are a few big names before me who've been taking the stage, so I'm glad to be here with those names. But I'll try not to disappoint. Let's make this interesting and fun. So Shroomwell, yeah, as the name implies, it's all about mushrooms. So how the name became to be is actually it's the mushroom and wellness. So Shroomwell. And we used to have a different name when the company was founded and we rebranded a bit over a year ago now. It was Chaga Health. And as the name implies, we were very much into chaga mushroom. So that was all we were doing, everything about chaga. So the company got started in 2014. So we're turning 10 this year. And it started from the personal need. As always, the good products, they start from personal need. So the founder, the story actually goes back to like the '90s. So our founder's grandma was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer. It was beginning of the '90s in Estonia. We just became free from Soviet Union. Things were hectic. And then diagnosed stage 4 cancer. And basically every professional in the field said, there's nothing we can do. You have weeks, maybe months to live. And when you lose hope, you're ready to try with whatever. And they remembered that there is a very interesting kind of a potion recipe sitting on the shelf. So they tried that. And yeah, lo and behold, that was our original product, Chaga Elixir. Så Dan lived another 14 år, if jeg ikke er feil, og døde ikke fordi han hadde cancer, men fordi han var gammel. Men det var i 90-tallet. Så selskapet startet ikke der. Men historien repeterte seg med founders god venn. Samme ting, fase 4 cancer, og de var sånn, ok, la oss prøve dette. Og opprinnelig var han faktisk gitt uker. To live, and he extended his lifespan two and a half years with chaga. But for a person who has stage four cancer, two and a half years is is a millennia basically. So, and before passing away, he he literally said that like this is something that needs to go into the bigger world. Like this this is something different. Like so, Sim, the founder, started a company called Chaga Health, and that was the original recipe. So that was the original product that we started with in 2014. Being a small, fluffy, cute company when we first started, we started to grow. And around 2017, 2018, we added new products in the product line. We got our own production going. We became more professional. And then we realized at one point that if we keep on growing, if we keep on doing those things and keep on growing with the pace we are, there's not enough chaga to go around. to harvest sustainably. So those who don't know, chaga is a functional mushroom that grows in the forest on a live host tree. So you actually have to go around to find it. You have to spend time because you don't know exactly where it grows and so on. So it's not that easy, that simple. We started looking into opportunities to actually harvest and grow chaga. There was only one company in the world at that time who was able to do that or who figured out kind of the way how to do that. And that company was in Finland. And we are located in Estonia, which is a neighboring country. So we went to kind of explore their business doings. We tried to figure out what they're doing and we tried to figure out what we can do better compared to them. And then we started Chaga Farms from there. And with Chaga Farms, you need a live host tree. You need birch trees for that. it's very expensive to go and buy off forests to do the farming yourself. So we started to collaborate with the forest owners. And that was actually my first position as well when I joined the company, to actually collaborate with the forest owners and expand the chaga farms. When we were doing this, obviously, we were looking at it from the spectrum of we need chaga because we have an end-consumer product that we need to supply chaga to. But when we were doing that business model, it became very clear that we stumbled upon something very interesting, which is a completely new approach to forestry because we offered forest owners income that they didn't have before without having to cut down their forest.

Great.

And in some of the cases, the income is even larger or bigger than cutting down the forest. So forest has been seen as a logging industry for thousands of years. That's the main value. And if you cut down the forest, you have a next revenue stream in, what, 60 years? Oh, it's a very long wait. And then we came in and we're like, okay, let's grow mushrooms together in the forest and you have a revenue flow for the next 20 years and you still have your forest left. And people were like, okay, where's the catch?

That's really cool. So that means it originated from a personal need in the '90s and now evolved into a bigger company. that actually combines 2 big things, right? So the one is health, improving the health of all our people on this planet, at least the ones that take your products. So the health is the one issue, but it seems like you have a very nature-related way of doing business too, right?

Yes.

When it comes to actually providing benefits to stakeholders, like the people that own the forests, where you actually make change by giving them alternatives. And by actually generating more or less new forms of revenue for them. So it's a combination of different topics what you as an organization do, correct?

That is correct. And from there, another business model came out where we're looking at, okay, if we have chaga, if we can already offer additional value to the forestry, what else can we do? Is there any other big kind of issues, environmental issues that we can fix using mushrooms? And we started to dig in, and then we found a few big problems, one of them being root rot, which is a massive problem, especially in the Northern Hemisphere, where it literally kills the trees inside out. And like, you can't really stop it because it travels through the roots. And we started to test out different mushroom strains to see if we can actually fight root rot. And now we have a project. So I'm kind of like, like kind of running fastly through the entire process of last like 5 years, basically, right? Basically what happened, we found 2 strains that can fight with the root rot. At the same time, doing this project, how to push out the root rot, we inoculate the trees with certain mushrooms that also have a fruiting body that are also extremely valuable as a wellness functional mushrooms. So there is not only win-win, but there is win-win-win.

Wow.

If you know what I mean.

Allow me to dig a little deeper here. I find this really fascinating because developing new business models requires a very holistic understanding of all of the different elements that are part of the business model. How do you approach this as an organization? I mean, you said, well, you looked at the problem side of things. What other problems are there when it comes to sustainability in general or to forestry? But what else? I mean, that's most probably not enough to just discover problems in terms of the organizational view on it. What do you do to discover these business models and then actually exploit on them and generate revenue out of problems that you discover?

So we are kind of unique. We call it a full circle company. So we don't only manufacture, we also grow mushrooms. We have We grow mushrooms, we harvest them, we produce them, we have our own brand. So we are a full circle company. So most of the decisions that we make today, we're also looking the other side of the business being like, okay, let's see if we're growing this mushroom, what kind of problems can this mushroom fix? And then use those mushrooms to put into end consumer products to go and fix the, I don't know, health crisis, for example. So we're looking at all of the spectrums of our business and see how that business model fits in there.

So that literally means you come from the product, you come from the mushroom, and then you try to find application fields where the mushroom more or less can solve certain problems. Is that correct? So it's not necessary that you look for problems amongst your customers, but you rather look at the technology, parenthesis, which is the mushroom. So you look at the solution that you already have and you see which of the problems that are out there can be solved by it.

Yes, that's more or less right. Obviously, we have tons of ideas. We've been throwing a lot of ideas on the table being like, okay, what kind of environmental problems we have that we can fix with the mycotechnology, which is the mushroom technology. there's 30, 40 ideas on the table, but then you eventually have to select the few that you're actually going to focus and work on. And then we're trying to find the ones that have the most applications on every business aspect that we have.

That's great, because it's more or less an axis flip when it comes to innovation. I mean, what's usually very often propagated is start from the problem the customer has and only look at the customer's problem. Customer centricity is key. Not saying that you're not doing this, but you're coming from the mushroom. You come from your own internal offering and product that you already have, which you grow yourself, which you manufacture, and then you can see which other problems can be solved by that. I think it's a great approach.

We have a slogan, there is a mushroom for every problem.

I love that.

And that's a kind of an approach that we're having as well. Like, this is how we're thinking. It's like, okay, there are more problems in the world that we can solve. So let's say if we are thinking in a way that there's mushroom for every problem, if there is one mushroom, it has to solve at least 3 problems. If it solves at least minimum 3 problems, then we're going to take it on as a project.

That's super great. There is a mushroom for every problem. I love that. Maybe speaking of your organization's philosophy, I mean, that seems to be a part of it, almost like a defined virtue. There's at least 3 problems that one mushroom can solve. But speaking of your organization, what is it that your organization maybe does different? What makes your organization unique when it comes to running a business, when it comes to serving customers? Why does your company stand out? What would you say as a CEO?

Well, that's an excellent question. And obviously, we're very much, or I'm very much biased answering that question. So, at least this is what we feel what's different. I think the first thing is the approach inside out. the way that if we select a product, a mushroom, a problem combined, it has to fix more than one problem. So the holistic solution has to fix more than one problem. So that's one thing. The other thing is that we're not afraid of throwing ideas on the table. So the founder is very visionary. We have a lot of people in the company who are very visionary. So we're rather throwing more ideas on the table than last year's ideas. And then we're trying to really select the best ones that really stand out. Obviously, the work starts after you select the project and then making it happen and making a real application out of it. That's a whole different story, right? And we all have our problems in every organization making those things happen. But I think what makes us unique is being in the right place at the right time, acknowledging where we're at, acknowledging which direction the world is moving to, and then trying to fit in into that world by saying that, okay, there is a solution for minimum 3 problems here. So it services the forest owner, it services the, I don't know, governmental level, it services the end consumer product. And that, I think, is what makes us different. And also being the full circle.

Yeah, cool. And speaking of visionary, you said the founder is very visionary and many people in the organization are very visionary. Speaking of the vision of Shroomwell, I mean, the mission is to combine or to solve the health crisis and health problems with mushrooms, with a nature-based solution, right? But what's the vision? How does the world of Shroomwell, specifically your world, and then maybe the world in general serviced by your products and offerings look like in 10, 15 years from now? What is different? And what, what kind of difference has been brought to this world by your organization?

The vision of the company can be defined very easily. It's to better humankind using mushroom technology, and then looking for those opportunities. So being human health, or being the environment, or something else. So like, we're really working towards that. How the world is going to change, like what's going to change in 15 years, us being around, or what the world is going to miss if were not around is, first of all, I'm personally in charge of the Truwell wellness side. And I can speak for that very dearly because this is the vision I'm driving for Thor's the most. It's like, if I'm making an average product, the world doesn't need another average product. There is plenty of average products out there. If I'm gonna put something out there, it needs to stand out. It needs to have something that— there has to be something that's made different. compared to every other product out there. And if it doesn't tick the box, sorry, the product is no fit, right? And also, if we're looking all the other products or all the other kind of parts of the organization, it's kind of easy because this is the field that is just emerging. So easy, I mean, in a way easy, right? It's like it's just emerging. But the technology, the mushroom technology can offer So much compared to every other technology that we have right now. So I'll just give you a quick example. So we live in the world of pesticides. We live in a world of like I would say very artificial world, which down the road driving us toward destruction. So we're in a situation where, for example, we're running out of certain commodities that we've been mining or digging out of the ground for like. century now, and we're very dependent on it. One of them being peat mud, for example. Mushrooms can offer alternative to that. So we're actually working with one of the solutions that we have is we're working on the mix, we call it the mushroom carpet, that has, I don't know, 3 to 5 different applications. You can use it to solve very big problems. One of them is being alternative for peat mud, and it's more effective than the peat mud itself is actually. So the same rule applies. It's like, okay, if we come out with a certain technology, it has to fix not one, not two, minimum 3 big problems in the environment.

That's great. And you specifically say in the environment, and you specifically see your role as the one that is responsible for making these products stand out, right? So you're the one that actually makes sure that these products, these offerings, these solutions really solve not only one problem, but 2, And at least 3. Speaking of you personally, I mean, you say for your lifetime, you've been a dedicated biohacker. Could you give us a bit of an insight on what that specifically is? What is a dedicated biohacker? I love the word dedicated in there, but biohacker is certainly also interesting.

Yeah. So, let's start with the word biohacker first. So, I've been kind of exploring the biohacking world for For 10 years now. Back in 2014, I used to live in Canada, in Toronto, and I started to hear from different podcasts, I started to hear the word biohacking, and I was like, biohacking is kind of bettering yourself. I didn't really know exactly what it is, but being an entrepreneur, the most valuable asset you have is your brain. Like, you can lose your hands, you can lose your legs, like, you can still operate. Brain is something that makes things happen, right? And I was living in a constant brain fog, like constant brain fog, having like 7 coffees a day, you know, trying to survive, pushing things forward. And then I was like, I need a better flow. Like, I need to be easier than that. And biohacking was kind of the way for me to become way more effective and active. And then this is where I deep dive in. So what is biohacking? Biohacking is being in control of your environment around you and inside of yourself to be more effective. So what if you can expand your brain potential 10%, 20%? Like, can you imagine the impact, like what you can do? Like, and that was my question in my head. And this is where my story started as a biohacker.

Great. And maybe transferring to the other word, dedicated, because we're asking all our learners in the very first challenge, for example, to come up with their personal mission, right? And in all of the podcasts I had, people speak of their conviction, their personal mission, whatever gives them energy is their passion, their purpose. So is biohacking what you've What you stand up for every day? What's your personal mission? I mean, there's most probably more things than biohacking, but would you be able to let us know?

Yeah, so the word— what the dedicated means in this case is, um, so there's an 80/20 rule, I would say, like in everything in life. So you do 20% of things, you get 80% of results. So that would be, you know, biohacking, uh, at itself. Now, the rest of 20%, to achieve the rest of 20%, you have to put the 80% effort in. And most people don't want to do that, and they don't even need to do that because it becomes either too expensive, too time-consuming, whatever it is. I'm kind of a freak in that sense. Like, I want to push the boundaries and understand, like, what else I can do. Like, I'm willing to go the extra mile. So, like, I've been trying, like, if I, I listen a lot of biohacking podcasts. I, I read a lot of books. Like I try to keep myself, uh, informed as much as possible and up to date. I've been doing crazy things like, uh, injecting certain things into my body to see the results and like stuff like that. So like I always say that if my mom would hear everything that I've done, like she would probably panic and call me and be like, stop killing yourself. But I don't see the world this way. Some of the things that I've done, uh, illegal in the way where it's like, like medicinal world says that you can't do this. But by the end of the day, I'm like, it's my body, it's my decision. And, uh, I'm, I haven't done anything illegal in a way like, uh, injecting some heavy hardcore drugs. I'm, I'm talking about simple things that most people don't even know that you can do that and it gives you an edge. So that's what I say is dedicated. It's like going the extra mile and be like, Hey, this is interesting. Let me try this.

That's brilliant. I immediately had to think of Alexander von Humboldt. I don't know if you know who traveled the world and was in the jungle and was trying to do everything just for the sake of understanding, for the sake of his own curiosity, for the sake of helping then the world with his insights. So, I think that's a brilliant approach. And, speaking of the connection to the dedicated biohacker, which is you, so you're very much into health, You're very much into biohacking. How did you connect this to the organization which you're now leading? How did this connection happen? And how does it help you now? I mean, most probably there's a very, very strong alignment when it comes to the mission of the organization and your personal mission, the values of the organization and your personal values. Otherwise, you wouldn't be the CEO leading the entire company, right?

Well, it's directly connected. Like in any business, if you don't understand the business, if you don't understand the core nature of your business and consumers, it's very difficult to make good decisions and right decisions for the consumer. If we're talking about mushroom and wellness, well, you need to understand your customers. They're humans, and you need to understand their needs and how their body is operating so you can give them the best advice. What I love about mushrooms, and I found my way into the mushrooms around 2018, 2019, Like 2019, I was already deep diving in, but 2018 was where it, uh, became on my radar. And I'm like, this is going to be the next big thing. Like, I just had that feeling. And, uh, the more I learn about the mushroom and the more information, uh, comes to light about mushroom, I'm convinced that the mushroom are gonna be the most powerful thing in human existence that we ignored for like, I don't know, hundreds of years now. So it used to be a core in our society, in our human nature for thousands of years, and then we lost it somewhere. And let me tell you why. So on a DNA level, we are much more closer to mushrooms than we are to plants or any other animals.

Yeah.

We share 50%, over 50% of our DNA with mushrooms. And that itself already puts mushrooms on a pedestal And in a position where anything we consume is much more bioavailable and much more bioactive than anything else. Knowing and understanding that helps obviously me to design products and understand our customers.

For a beginner like me, maybe a little detour because we spoke already about you, but for a beginner like me, since you're saying this is going to transform the world and if we uncover more of it, this will benefit us all, But what is it that you would recommend to dive a little deeper into the topic of mushroom business and mushroom businesses? Is there any recommendation that you have for all the listeners, including me?

Oh, absolutely. I think the best spent hour, hour and a half, go to Netflix and search for Fantastic Fungi.

Ah, I've seen that. Yeah.

Right? So it's done by Paul Stamets, who's kind of the forefather of fungi farming. production of mushrooms. He's been in the field, in the business for 50, 60 years now. So he's the one who popularized this field and he's the one who spent tens of millions of dollars up to date to investigate it further. I think that's a good segue or that's a good way into the mushroom world.

Great. Coming back to you personally and maybe also be very connected to the world of mushrooms in itself, but is there a leader out there in this world? Is there an organization, is there a business that you look up to where you say, wow, they really understood it, they've built an organization which is unique, they have established a culture which I would love to see at my company too? Any names that you could give us?

Yeah, obviously. There are many companies, some of them being closer to us here in Estonia or in the region, and some of them further, some of the big companies. One of the companies I would love to kind of mention, and you guys probably know it, is Mindvalley.

Mindvalley.

So yeah, the founder of Mindvalley, Vishen Lakhiani, is actually also an investor in our company. He currently still lives in Estonia, and the way he has built up his organization and the way he's operating that organization in my eyes, is mind-blowing. The dedication that people have, the communication that people have in the organization, the way the decisions are made and how fast the decisions are made and everything. I would love to be there one day.

Nice. And what is it specifically that inspires you? Leadership principles, the culture that he's built, and what are you trying to do likewise?

I personally believe that— so there are a few things, uh, or 2 things I strongly believe. So one is Humanity Plus concept. Humanity Plus means that your organization gives more to humanity than it actually takes out of humanity. So let me just give you an example. So hedge funds, they're not Humanity Plus. They actually consume more from humanity than they give back. Coca-Cola, in my eyes, not a Humanity Plus because they make money selling highly fructose water that destroys human health, and they make a lot of money doing that. These are examples of not very good Humanity+ companies. And then there is Humanity+ companies who are like bettering humankind, making sure that the return that they're giving back to humanity is minimum 10x, tenfold. And what I love about Mindvalley is this is exactly what they do. That's one thing. So they're always thinking, I was like, okay, if I'm putting something out there, sure, I'm making money, but that's a side product. I'm actually making tens or hundreds or thousands of lives better through that. And the other thing that I really admire, it's every business, doesn't matter how many people you have in the business, 2 or 200 or 2,000, business is all about people. It's a relationship of people. So how you see your organization, your people, and how you respect them and how you talk to them and how you make decisions, how you— basically how you respect them is everything. And when I'm looking at this organization aside, from the sidelines, I'm like, okay, this is— I wouldn't say they perfectioned it, but they're very close to that.

How you treat each other, right? So that's how you define how the culture is, how people treat each other.

Absolutely.

Nice. And I love the Humanity+ concept. Yeah, that's a great one. Sometimes not too easy to have it in all dimensions, right? So also practically, practically every little decision you would need to question, is that a Humanity+ decision? Like, are we giving more than we're taking? But I think overall, it's a really, really great mantra of value to have and then pinning down or also like trying to measure all of your action against it, right?

Yeah, and also there is another thing, is like there is a reality, right? There is, uh, economical, uh, things. There is like everything around us that makes that humanity plus so much harder. And like sometimes you have to make tough decisions, but keeping that in mind, you do your best to keep your line.

So yes, yes, totally. Maybe to, to leave the audience, um, and I know this is very hard But maybe to leave the audience with an advice from yours that you have personally gained a lot from in the last years. But if you were to pin it down to one single advice, and imagine it's the Changemaker Insights podcast, so it's about making change as a human. So all of our listeners are trying to save the world. Not necessarily everyone is trying to save it big time with an organization, or it's like her or his own venture. Maybe it's also the small actions. It's the small projects. It's the little steps. It's the baby steps. But what is it that you would give everyone as advice? One single advice in becoming a changemaker, being better at changemaking. Anything that comes to mind and is really important and has helped you.

Entrepreneurship is constant development of yourself, right? And it's constant learning. But I think the biggest learning for me for the last, let's say, 10, 15 years has been that It's okay to be vulnerable and that you have to be vulnerable because that's what makes you a human being. Humans don't respect you less because of that. They respect you more. It also gives you the opportunity that you can actually start to relate with other human beings and they want to talk to you and they want to help you. So we have to lose— I know it's slowly fading away and maybe some cases we're going too much extreme on the other end. But we have to lose this macho mentality where it's like, you know, nothing can break me. Rah, rah, rah. Like, I'll take— just bring it on. Like, throw whatever you have at me and like, I'll just take it, everything on. It's like, we're human beings. Like, nobody is that tough. Like, we all break down sometimes. And your people, whoever those your people is, is this your organization, your friends, your family, or anybody else you're communicating to? They need to know you're a human being. Like, they need to know so they can relate. And they're like, oh, you're vulnerable, you're a human being, I can relate, let me help you, how can I help you? And next time they can come to you and be like, listen, I have a problem now, can you help me? And that's what makes a human connection true, I would say.

That's powerful. I grew up in a world where I was told in the business world, if you show emotion, you're a loser. But there's so much more than our cognitive capacities. There's also emotional capacities. We have emotions. There's no sense in hiding them. There is no sense. So I wholeheartedly agree and would definitely sign what you just said. Showing vulnerability is one of the core competencies, and being able and being strong to show that, core competencies of the 21st century.

Listen, I grew up in the Soviet Union. showing vulnerability, especially if one generation up, like my parents, that was close to death sentence. We have the wall up that takes time to demolish down, but acknowledging it and understanding that this is a humane or human emotion and this is okay, I think that's the first step towards healing.

Totally. And you somehow sneaked in a second advice, which you said you need to be a lifelong learner. Which of course also speaks to my heart. Because we're a university and it's about lifelong learning, I don't believe, or we don't believe in this threefoldedness of life. First you educate, then you work, and then you retire. It's about lifelong learning. And I think you're a brilliant example for that, just the way how you lead and build the business by constantly exploring new problems and using mushrooms to solve it. So to me, you're a real changemaker.

Can I just add one more thing to that lifelong learner? We don't live in the '50s anymore. So we still try to sometimes idealize the life that we had in the '50s and '60s, but we don't live there anymore. If you don't learn, if you don't constantly upgrade yourself, you're going to be obsolete. And especially this day, in this age, it's like you constantly— whatever you know today is almost obsolete tomorrow. So if you don't learn, and Listen, this comes from a guy who didn't believe in the books. This is how sad it was for me. So when I started to pick up books and I started to learn and I discovered the power of the knowledge, there was no looking back. But especially for this day, this age, if you don't upgrade, constantly upgrade yourself, sorry, you're going to be obsolete.

Yes, wonderful. I mean, uncover your inner self constantly, your inner strength. It's a journey, it's a process, and it's It's definitely not a destination. That's a wonderful last statement. Thank you very much, Sylva, for joining this episode on Changemaker Insights. So you're definitely a real changemaker, and I'm curious to follow you in the next couple of months and years to see if your vision unfolds. I'm sure many parts of it will unfold, and the pathway will definitely be exciting, I'm sure.

Thank you, Thomas, and thanks for having me.