Today we’d like to introduce you to Mark Semmelbeck.
Hi Mark, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
I studied engineering at Texas A&M University and worked first as a consultant and later as an independent operator in the oil & gas industry for 35 years. My father was an entrepreneur and college business professor and always encouraged me to look for opportunities to start my own companies. When our kids were 13 and 9, my wife, Roc’C, supported me to go out on my own shortly after finishing my Ph.D. while working full time. We paid off our credit cards, sold our car with a car payment, and replaced it with my Dad’s older car. I had a challenging but great run for 20 years with a business partner whom I met in college, and then I “semi-retired” in 2020 right as COVID hit. I had more time to think about what I wanted to do next, so I started learning about software development and crypto/blockchain applications.
During the pandemic, there was a big push to implement contactless shopping. I knew that RFID technology, like a toll tag, had been considered for implementation by Amazon in some of their Whole Foods stores in California. I wanted to develop RFID readers to put in pantries and refrigerators so that the everyday person could keep track of their groceries and use AI to do automatic shopping. Amazon abandoned their plans after determining the required shopping carts were too expensive. However, I still believed that applying AI to grocery shopping and meal planning was a good idea.
My daughter is active in meal planning and prepping, but I also noticed how stressful it was for her and her husband to work, stay physically active, and plan and prepare healthy meals for their 2 young children. AI was solving some more difficult problems, so surely it could help with a basic, simpler struggle that most families face each week — what to cook and eat. I wanted to blend software and AI to help people like her reduce the time spent planning and grocery shopping.
This idea to help make mealtime easier for my daughter, developed into building a meal planning app, to what is now A Better Meal (www.abettermeal.com). Initially, I found two young entrepreneurial partners, a designer and a software consultant, to help me get it started, but they eventually left to pursue their own endeavors. I stayed the course and continued building an exceptional development and business support team. There is so much I didn’t know about the B2C software domain that I have had to learn on the fly – but I love and appreciate that part of the story. Of course, hindsight is always 20/20. I would have done so many parts of this journey completely differently had I known what I know now. But my experience is that I learn lessons best when I learn them the hard way. I wish it wasn’t always so but it is what it is!
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
It is difficult to specify the obstacles and challenges of this journey as they are a continuous part of the day-to-day process. When I started in the software business, I was learning app programming languages. I did a lot of coding early in my career, which was a LOT easier when I was younger, and didn’t need to sleep much. I searched for a team to take over development, but the first group that I hired wasn’t productive – they took too much time and delivered a disappointing product. I sought after and hired a new team of developers and things started to proceed much faster with better quality. The challenge I faced when starting was that I didn’t build the complete team I needed. There were a lot of starts, stops, and restarts. But during this time I learned the need of all the different pieces necessary for a real development team. I have been learning through a fire hose since I started this project!
When I first started A Better Meal, I wanted to be just the financier and the idea guy. (That is a pipe dream!) I learned that you can hire great people who are highly skilled at their jobs but every project needs someone who can see the big picture and convey that to the team consistently.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
A Better Meal was designed with the idea of simplifying families’ weekly meal planning while leveraging an innovative yet more basic use of AI technology. We wanted to be able to offer personalized meal plans that were tailored to your family’s unique needs, whether that be specialized diets or just picky eaters.
It’s a one-stop meal planning, grocery list organization, shopping, and preparation solution.
Here’s a quick example of how home cooks can use our app… On Sunday, a user would receive their new meal plan based on their personal preferences. The preferences take into account macros and nutrients, cooking methods, preparation time, allergens to avoid, dietary styles (like vegetarian or keto), and types of cuisines. From their meal plan recommendations, they can add and delete other recipes, search for different recipes, or import recipes from social media and the Internet. With one click, they can add ingredients to their grocery list, and then send the grocery list to their partner via email or text, or they can start shopping on their favorite grocery app – most of which are integrated into A Better Meal. After the groceries are unloaded at home and they begin cooking, the app’s recipes provide step-by-step instructions. There is even a feature that allows you to swipe to the next step without touching your device. No more messy fingers touching your devices while cooking!
Our platform makes it easy to consolidate and organize your favorite recipes — you can import from Instagram, Pinterest, the web, and beyond. You will even be able to import handwritten recipes that will convert to text so you can store or share them with the online community. With save and share features, users can come back to their favorite recipes and meal plans and share them with friends and family. We hope that the collaborative community approach will also expand the database of recipes, improving the way people approach meal planning and inspiring them to try new recipes or eat healthier at home.
This summer, we are gearing up to make the app interactive, with plans to add fun games and challenges, and featured guest chefs, to make it even more fun for the community to engage with one another.
If we knew you growing up, how would we have described you?
Like most people, how you described me would have depended on where you knew me from. I was a nerd who spent hours reading the encyclopedia, sometimes a class clown, and a person who would try about any type of adventure. I grew up in the Texas Panhandle town of Amarillo and started the entrepreneurial journey at a young age. I found myself in business mowing neighbors’ yards, cleaning up construction sites, and painting house numbers on curbs (permit?, I don’t need a permit!). I even spent a year in high school as a cowboy working at a feedlot! The perfect job to make you want to go to college. I was independent, determined, and a bit rebellious at times.
As someone who always thrived on finding solutions to hard problems while enjoying math and science, my Dad recommended studying engineering in college, which was a natural fit. I attended Texas A&M University during the time of the Arab oil embargo and petroleum engineering seemed like a great career – it was exciting work that could take me around the world. I worked for small and large companies for a while and eventually decided to start my own company with my best friend from college.
Pricing:
- $2.99/month
Contact Info:
- Website: abettermeal.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/a_better_meal
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/abettermealapp
- Youtube: @ABetterMealApp
- Other: https://abettermeal.com/a-better-meal-introduces-mobile-app-to-transform-weekly-meal-planning/
Image Credits
Sarah Thomason
