Pablo Borquez Schwarzbeck, MBA ’15, came to Cornell to learn the skills he would need to run the farm that has been in his family for four generations. Instead, he started a business of his own. Borquez Schwarzbeck built Produce Pay, an online platform that gives farmers better options for monetizing their crops. After participating in eLab and earning his MBA, Borquez Schwarzbeck moved Produce Pay to Los Angeles, where the company has grown guided by his innovative vision and respect for industry tradition.
“I got swept up by the entrepreneurship world at Cornell,” Borquez Schwarzbeck said. “Tom Schryver at the Center for Regional Economic Advancement and professor Steve Gal at Johnson helped me a lot. In truth, the entire eLab program and its staff were key to our success. eLab prompted me to participate in the Cornell business pitch competitions, where I earned some of my initial funding from prize money and non-diluted grants.”