Goran Markovanović i Mario Salaj
Episode · #368
PAMETNA HRVATSKA Mario Salai i Goran Markovanović
Guest Goran Markovanović i Mario SalajHosted by Boris ŽivkovićMay 3, 2026
Goran Markovanović i Mario Salaj
About this episode
What you'll hear in this conversation
Imagine cultivating a garden without ever touching soil — monitoring its growth from your phone, knowing exactly when your produce is ready, and having it delivered to your door. That's the premise behind PlantOn, an application created by Goran Markovanović and Mario Salaj. They've built a digital bridge between urban consumers and local small farmers, offering a novel way to access fresh, transparently grown produce. This conversation explores how they're making remote gardening a reality, what it takes to build trust in a food supply chain, and the surprising challenges and opportunities in connecting traditional agriculture with modern technology.
Insights from the conversation
What to take from this episode
01
The PlantOn experience includes 24/7 video surveillance of your garden plot and detailed activity logs for every action, from weeding to pest control. This level of transparency isn't just about building trust; it's about making the intangible tangible, allowing customers to feel connected to their food source even when it's miles away.
02
PlantOn doesn't promise specific quantities or types of produce. Instead, it guarantees the process—the farmer's best effort and the customer's full ownership of whatever grows. When you cannot control the outcome, selling the integrity of the input becomes the core value proposition.
03
Once a crop is harvested, the same garden plot is immediately replanted with a new, seasonally appropriate vegetable. This continuous use maximizes land efficiency for the farmer and ensures the customer receives fresh produce as often as possible, turning a single plot into a continuously active subscription.
04
When customers find themselves with more produce than they can consume, they have options: give the surplus back to the farmer for sale or preservation, or donate it to other PlantOn users. This built-in flexibility addresses the common problem of food waste, turning potential excess into a feature that benefits both producers and other consumers.
05
While individual customers can pay for their garden plots upfront or in twelve monthly installments, business clients like hotels and kindergartens negotiate custom terms based on plot size and specific needs. A two-tiered pricing model, fixed for consumers and flexible for businesses, allows a platform to scale by meeting distinct market demands without over-engineering its core offering.
06
PlantOn requires a 200 HRK deposit for pre-orders, which is later deducted from the total cost of the garden plot. This small upfront commitment filters out casual inquiries, ensuring that early traction numbers reflect genuine interest and serious buyers, not just curious clicks.
07
Goran Markovanović and Mario Salaj are clear about their role: "We are not producers; we are simply a platform connecting producers and buyers." Defining your business by what it is *not* can be as crucial as stating what it *is*, especially for a novel concept that might otherwise be misunderstood.
08
PlantOn manually connects each customer to an OPG, considering the customer's location, desired crops, and the farmer's capabilities. Instead of an automated algorithm, human oversight ensures the best possible match, prioritizing service quality and local connection over pure scale in the early stages.