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One of the pleasures of plant-keeping is sharing your little green babes with other plant lovers. A significant number of the houseplants in my collection have grown from cuttings that I got for free from friends and perfect strangers alike.
Just last month, no fewer than 15 plants came into my care as small cuttings carefully rooted by a dear friend who lives too far away. And in July, I got a vibrantly gorgeous coleus in exchange for some gardening advice. If that’s not generosity, I don’t know what is.
In fact, one of my favorite things about the plant community is how generous everyone is – with advice, cuttings, seeds, plant accessories. You name it, I’ve probably given it and received it throughout the decade or so of caring for houseplants.
Generosity and community building are also two of the values on which the plant sharing app Propa was built on. I caught up with Pat, the founder of Propa, to chat about the power of plants to bring people together.
Hi, Pat. Can you tell us a little bit about yourself and your plant startup?
I’m the CEO and founder of Prōpa, an app that helps people find and share houseplant cuttings. Our mission is to make interesting houseplants more affordable and more accessible, and we believe sharing cuttings is the best way to achieve both of those goals.
How did you come up with the idea for Propa?
I fell in love with the Pilea peperomioides about 4 years ago when it was still impossible to find. I learned about it after researching plants that fit well with Scandinavian interior design, and started to obsess over this plant. It’s such a fantastical plant – it’s almost like it’s out of a Dr. Seuss book.
I love hunting for things and the idea of a rare plant really grabbed my attention. I also love building things, so I created PileaMap.com, which alerted people when a nearby retailer started carrying Pilea peperomioides. As Pilea became easier to find, I realized that there will always be a need for a place to find the latest ‘hot plant.’
However, I didn’t want to make something that was just a tool, I wanted to make something special that made people happy. I believe this is best achieved through community – what better way to build community than through sharing?
And so the idea grew into a place where people could share their houseplant cuttings, and I named it Prōpa (pronounced with a long O). Our motto is Share your plants, Propagate your passion.
I started working on Prōpa in August of 2020 when I felt that houseplants had gotten so popular I couldn’t stand around anymore, and then I quit my job to work on Prōpa full time in June 2021 because there was just so much I wanted to do to help it grow. It has been a blast!
How does Propa work and why should plant lovers want Propa on their phone?
Prōpa makes it incredibly easy to find a cutting of any plant you want. You simply add the species to your wishlist, and you’ll get a notification whenever someone has a cutting available. Many of our users give away propagations for free as long as you cover shipping, but I’ve also had people send me boxes full of cuttings and refused to let me pay for shipping!
Prōpa is unique in that we give “props” – like “likes” or “karma” – for each plant that you send into the world. That’s not just the plant that you gave to someone, but also all of its descendants.
We want to connect people to the chain reaction of sharing that they initiated, and let people see the positive butterfly effect of their actions. Eventually, you could open up Prōpa and discover that you have hundreds of new props out there in the world!
But we’re more than just a plant sharing app. We’re a community of crazy plant people. You can join groups where others help identify plants or diagnose whatever issues you’re having. You can connect with other plant people nearby, or you can find out about plant swaps in your community and see what kinds of plants people are bringing to them. If you love plants, we want Prōpa to be your happy place.
How is Propa different from just joining a Facebook plant swap group?
Facebook plant swap groups are awesome! Some of them are massive and have really great communities, and it’s possible to find amazing plants in them.
But Facebook groups aren’t the easiest place to swap plants. In the biggest and most active groups, your post can get buried quickly and you have to monitor the group to find what you want. It’s even harder to set up a trade.
The Facebook groups are a sign that people need a place to share plants. They aren’t the best suited for sharing, they’re just the most accessible.
We have built Prōpa to be the easiest place to find any plant. If you want a plant, add it to your wishlist and you’ll know immediately when someone has one available. If someone wants one of your plants, look at their profile to see what cuttings they have. It’s just easy.
Is there a clear favorite plant among Propa users? Who’s the Queen Bee of the Propa app?
Right now, the most wishlisted plant is the Monstera adansonii, also known as the Swiss Cheese Plant.
It’s closely followed by the Pilea peperomioides and Monstera deliciosa, which have been crowd favorites for a while (they’re also in the most collections in Prōpa). The Monstera adansonii gets a lot of its popularity from its cousin, and it just hasn’t seen the commercial availability that others have enjoyed, so people are still looking for it.
What does a workday look like for a plant sharing app founder?
Because Prōpa is an early-stage startup, my workdays are pretty unstructured and each day can be totally different than the previous.
I start off each morning making a latte and going through emails, news articles, and messages from users, business partners and media contacts. Users will message me in Prōpa, telling me about a feature they love, sharing information about a bug they found, or describing a feature they’d love to see. Many days, these morning messages dictate my day! Do we need a new feature as soon as possible? Do I need to pull metrics for a pitch to a potential investor? Do we have a networking event we need to prep for? Are we just coding all day?
The rest of the day is spent tackling the top problems. Whenever I’ve hit a blocker, I turn to my houseplants and garden. I’ll go around and water everyone, take some cuttings for propagation, and check to see if my earlier cuttings have roots and need to be transferred to soil. These activities are very relaxing, and many ideas for new app features come at this point.
Some days I drive into Washington D.C. or Baltimore and stop by plant nurseries to talk to the people there. I’ve gained a ton of respect for small business owners; these people love plants, they hustle, and at the end of each day they have to have sold product and covered expenses. It’s incredibly tough.
These people are a great source of honest feedback, and they inspire me to work harder and make Prōpa more useful for users and businesses.
When my fiancée gets home from work, I take about two to three hours to chat with her about our days, have dinner, watch an episode of whatever show we’re working through, and just hang out. Then it’s back to work. On productive days, I finish up around 11 PM.
What does the future look like for Propa?
Prōpa is not just a plant sharing app, we’re an app for plant people. We’re constantly adding new features, most of which are ideas from our users. The wishlist and alert, which are now core features, started off as ideas from an early user. If you’re thinking “wouldn’t it be cool if Prōpa did X?” I want to hear it. You might see your idea implemented as a feature within a couple of weeks.
Do you have a favorite houseplant?
I go through phases like most other people, but I’ve had a soft spot for aloe since the 6th grade (for context, I just turned 31). I remember my teacher bringing in a huge aloe plant and telling us that you could rip off a leaf and squeeze its goop out to treat sunburn. It smelled disgusting and I didn’t want it on my skin, but I was fascinated.
My fiancée has this Tiger Tooth Aloe (Aloe juvenna) which we abused for years and more recently started treating properly. I just love it. I love how forgiving it has been and how stout and strong it is and its coloring and spikes. I love how it has these little buds protruding from the bottom. I comment on it all the time.
I recognize that I might not have a sophisticated palate, but I would have to say that the Tiger Tooth Aloe is my favorite right now. I also spend a lot of time admiring my Monstera deliciosa, Pilea peperomioides and Ficus elastica. They’re all beautiful plants.
Where can people find you online?
You can find us at getpropa.com or @getpropa on Instagram. When you download Prōpa, you’ll get an automated message from my account, but if you respond to it, I’ll message you back in real life. I love hearing from people!
Thanks so much for answering my questions, Pat!
All app photos via Propa.
Featured image of Giant Variegated Hawaiian Pothos from Florida Style Plants on Etsy
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