Cultivo’s Global Team Summit - Reconnecting With Nature Near Yosemite National Park

Dr Manuel Piñuela (CEO) and James Clifton Chief Strategy Officer), Co-Founders of Cultivo

A couple of weeks ago we had our first global team retreat in California, and it was a landmark chapter in Cultivo’s story so far. We’re a distributed team spread across the US, Mexico, UK and Spain so getting everyone together for the first time was a truly amazing and energizing experience.

The Venue

We stayed at Autocamp just outside of Yosemite National Park. There was a lot of snow during  the weeks leading up to the summit which meant the Yosemite National Park itself was closed, but fortunately it didn’t affect our logistics.

Autocamp was perfect as it’s located in a secluded spot in the Sierra Nevada region. We each had an Airstream as our ‘hotel room’ which was super cool, and there was a great clubhouse with an events space exclusively for our use.

Campfire and S’mores

On the first evening we arrived, we had S'mores around a campfire and told the Cultivo story. Some of the team have been with us for years and for some it was their first day! So we thought it was important that everyone knew why Cultivo was founded and most importantly the values it was founded upon. Namely transparency, trust, being unbiased and kind. As founders, looking around the campfire and seeing such an awesome team together for the first time was pretty emotional.

The Magic of Diversity

The next day was spent talking through our purpose, vision and the roadmap for the company. We had a strict no screen rule so there were no laptops, no presentations, just flip charts, pens and post-it notes. The creative energy in the room was immense.

We’re a mix of scientists, engineers, ecologists, finance wizards, designers, and business folk but it's not just the professional diversity that makes the team so special, it’s also the cultural and cognitive diversity that comes from being such an international team. However, it was the first time we could actually ‘feel’ that diversity, the alchemy of different brains coming together sparking ideas and cracking very hard problems was like electricity - super powerful and truly magical.

Reconnecting with Nature

The third day was dedicated to nature, an area close to all our hearts. On the drive in from the Bay Area we saw large areas of degraded land, which really moved the whole team and made our mission feel very tangible.

We went for a couple of amazing hikes in the Sierra Nevada and along the Merced River. It's no surprise that with a purpose such as Cultivo’s, all the team felt at home being in nature. It was really nice to talk to different people very naturally on the walks and see such amazing biodiversity, including a red tailed eagle, holm oak, live oak, California buckeye, yarrow and manzanita. It was great to be able to reconnect with nature as a team.

Our Reflections

We feel truly honored and humbled to have such an amazing team. Being alongside such passionate, smart, purpose-driven people in the middle of such stunning nature doesn’t feel like work, it feels more like a movement.

We’ve had great feedback from the team and the main thing everyone wants to know is when the next one is, so watch this space!

We’re deeply thankful to our all shareholders, customers and partners for your trust and being on this journey with us.

Manuel & James

Dr Manuel Piñuela (right) and James Clifton (left)