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Kaylee Williams: Hey, everybody. Welcome back to the “Iowa Tech” podcast. It’s your host, Kaylee. We are here in the Jethro’s Barbecue Studio, and, um, this episode I will, uh, clarify is not sponsored by Propel Water, but I did grab two Propels before we came in today ’cause it’s a hot one, and I wanted to be sure that I provided a nice cold sweet beverage for our guest today. So I have with me Jeff Caldwell. He’s the vice president of strategy and content at Stratovation Group. Did I get that title

Jeff Caldwell: Foundation group. Did I get that title right? You did. Perfect. All right Okay.

Kaylee Williams: You did. Perfect. Okay. Okay, perfect. So, um, let’s start there. What the hell does that mean?

Jeff Caldwell: I don’t really know some days. No, we– So Stratovation Group, we’re a, uh, kind of a research-first company, marketplace research. Our founder, Cam Canfield, is an, an old research guy, and so we do, um, a lot of marketplace go-to-market activity for companies, primarily in agriculture and the food and ag value chain. And we, we sort of underpin a go-to-market strategy with research, sort of qualitative, quantitative, and secondary preceding that. And so we like to, uh, go to market for our clients in a very informed way, and it’s, uh, all backed by research from the marketplace itself. We do work with a lot of early-stage companies and startups, especially in some sort of newer burgeoning areas of agriculture like crop biologicals, drones, and areas like that. We also do a lot of work for, um, a lot of trade associations on the state and federal level, um, involved in not necessarily lobbying activities, but doing similar sort of go-to-market activity for trade associations, if that makes sense. And it’s sort of a way to, uh, basically underpin every action with the validation of qualitative and quantitative research.

Kaylee Williams: Okay, this is really interesting. And now you and I, um, have seen a lot of go-to-market strategies. Me in the VC role, you at Stratovation Group, and even in the work you’ve done before this, which I do wanna come back to. But I wanna ask you right now in this moment, what is a good go-to-market strategy and what’s a bad one? Like, what are just some of the hallmarks of, “Okay, that’s a decent go-to-market strategy,” and, “Okay, what d- what makes this one over here garbage?” You know, we, we kinda

Jeff Caldwell: um, use the analogy of s- a lot of companies take kind of a shotgun blast approach to their marketing strategy, and they will sort of say, especially in agriculture, you know, people tend to sort of, um, lump all farmers together, for example. Whereas there, there are very distinct differences based on things like geography, farm size, uh, financial standing obviously, um, age, uh, a lot of demographics, less psychographics. And so we, we like to liken our approach to more of a sniper shot, and we like to, uh, be very precise and deliberate about identifying who is going to be the most likely customer for a company and what makes them tick, basically. How, how they’re wired, what, how they will, um, integrate this product or service into what they do. And so it’s really sort of a thorough audit of sort of who the customer is and sort of then, then we at once we c- uh, go through the whole research process on that side, then we say, “Okay, here are the kind of the nuts and bolts marketing strategies to make that stuff happen.” And so that’s where we, we sort of are– We’re very consultative. You know, a lot of… Whereas a lot of companies sort of like us, like, will do the work, do sort of the, the, the go-to-market strategy work and then sort of drop it in a company’s lap and say, “Okay, go nuts.” And we like to stick with, you know, we’ve had some, some clients not do well in the marketplace, and we’ve had some fail, and we’ve– but we’ve had a lot more succeed, thankfully for us. And so it’s, it’s, it’s more about sort of working with them versus being kind of a service provider to them and kinda sharing in their, in their success and, you know, sometimes sharing in their downturns. Obviously, in agriculture right now, it’s not the most wonderful place to be. Um, it’s, it’s, there’s a lot of headwinds in a lot of different sectors, and so, um, that is causing us and a lot of our clients to sort of change their approach, change how they go to the market, and change how they address those, those challenges. And it’s tough, but, you know, out of challenges like that come a lot of opportunity too.

Kaylee Williams: Absolutely. What are some of the pivots, tactics, changes that you’re seeing take place given the fact that the market is down right now in ag?

Jeff Caldwell: Um, you know, on the, on the crop side, what, what’s kind of ironic is, you know, on, on the crop side, it’s pretty bearish. On the livestock side, it’s extremely bullish. And so, but that in itself presents its own sort of challenges. So really in looking at a down market, it’s kind of about, you know, coming up with ways to kind of looking a little bit farther down the road and thinking, “Okay, so we’re in a downturn now.” Businesses have to function as businesses, whether it’s a farm or a bank or, you know, any, or a restaurant. You know, everybody has to conduct business. There are ways that ag companies specifically are changing how they, how they offer products. You know, there’s, um, obviously costs, costs sometimes come down, um, when they can, fertilizer and things like that notwithstanding. But, but the, you know, there are ways to get creative, and I think farmers are extremely resilient human beings, and I think that’s being put to the test right now, honestly. But it’s also creating a lot of opportunity, and I think the ones who are, um, going to put the work in now to position themselves for when everything in agriculture is cyclical, and everyone sort of knows that. And so those who are th- being deliberate about planning for when things cycle back around are, are really putting themselves in a really good position for when that does inevitably happen, I guess. And so it’s sort of about right now, at a time like now, it’s about sort of like hunkering down, surviving today, and making sure that you’re around tomorrow to, to be more successful.

Kaylee Williams: Jeff, can we talk a little bit about what makes you uniquely qualified to do this work for your clients? Will you tell us a little bit about your background and how you got here?

Jeff Caldwell: So I have, I’ve lived in the Des Moines area for, let’s see, 22 years now, I guess. I, uh, moved here from, uh, western Kansas. I’m originally from Kansas, and I came here, uh, s- for an ag media company that I was working with. And so I worked for that company for a couple years, and then I went on and was an editor for Successful Farming magazine at Meredith Corporation for about 10 years. And, um, and then got into the marketing side of the business around 2015. And, you know, during that time in my, in the ag media, I was sort of, I was really lucky in that I was given a lot of responsibility, and it was basically like, “Hey, make this work, and if you screw this up, you screw it up for yourself and everybody else.” But I had amazing mentors and a lot of industry moms and dads that helped me out and showed me sort of the right way to do things and the wrong ways to do things sometimes. And, and so I was, I was also really lucky to be kind of a generalist. I grew up in the, like the cattle business and the, and on a wheat farm too, and so quite a bit different in some ways from agriculture here in Iowa. But farmers are farmers regardless of where they are in the world. And so, so I sort of bring a… You know, we have a really unique team at STRAT, and we have some people who have not worked in agriculture before they joined the company, and so to whom it’s very new. And we have a lot of very diverse backgrounds. We have kind of our research guys, we have our account people, we have our leadership, and then we have… I’m kinda one of two of us, I guess, in the company who I dub kinda the old farm boys, you know. And I- we bring, uh, one of my colleagues, Mace Thornton, is a longtime veteran of American Farm Bureau Federation, knows farm policy like the back of his hand, knows sort of h- that side of agriculture very well and sort of the advocacy side, whereas I bring kind of the boots in the dirt kinda perspective. I’ve been on farms in 40-some-odd states around the country, and so I sorta bring that perspective. I’m kind of a… Being in the media for 15 years kinda makes you cynical a little bit, and so I bring kind of a, a cynic’s eye to things. You know, sometimes in, in, in our business, everybody loves to talk about how great they are, and so I’m kind of the cold bucket of water sometimes on some things, but I think, I mean, I do so, you know, with a purpose. You know, I wanna make sure that our clients are successful, and when I see something that isn’t gonna work, I’m gonna call that out just as much as I am gonna call out something that will work. I’ve had the privilege to sit in enough agronomy meetings to know the mechanics of corn pollination and the four stomachs of a, uh, cow and all of that stuff. And so I’ve, I’ve got a lot of sort of working knowledge, and I attribute that to the, my time in ag media as a storyteller. And I think, you know, that’s, uh, my job title is pretty grandiose, and I feel like a hack sometimes, but really my job is kind of as a storyteller. It’s sort of making sure that everybody is telling the right story to the right person at the right time to make a decision. And it’s all about kinda making informed decisions, whether that’s based on hard data or somebody else’s experience that might mirror your own. And so it’s just kinda m-my, my role is sort of making sure all of those pieces, the research findings, the sort of consulting side, and all the marketing assets we can create, I make sure those all kind of fit together to really accomplish what somebody wants to get done, I guess.

Kaylee Williams: What are startups doing right in this moment, in this environment, and what are they getting wrong?

Jeff Caldwell: Um, that’s a really good question. The- Yeah. I think the ones, the ones who are doing a good job Are– I mean, it’s actually, to me it’s pretty simple. It’s knowing the, knowing your customer, knowing what they want, knowing what they don’t want, and taking the time to listen. And the- That’s it. Yeah. And it’s like, and you know, we’re lucky in, in agriculture, you know, every… I’m kind of a contrarian in this way that, you know, for, there– Agriculture is filled with amazing human beings, and everyone is, everyone wants the tide to rise all boats, to an extent. It’s also a very competitive industry and, you know, everyone wants to do very well. And, and they are going to the, the progressive, successful operators out there are going to find specifically what they need to get that done. And I think the successful startups right now are the ones who can recognize that and who can offer that to them at the right time, at the right place. And really honestly, like to me, um, being able to kinda talk the talk is just as important as being able to walk the walk, is in terms of getting the d- that door open for the first time. I think a lot of companies, the, the startups that I see struggling are those who, you know, they may have the most amazing technology in the world, but if they can’t communicate it concisely and in a way that’s gonna resonate very quickly with a potential customer, they’re not gonna make it. And that’s, that’s kind of a, that’s a challenge that I see fairly often, and it’s something that in my mentorship, you know, with, with startups, I always am like, “Okay, why should I care about this?” And it goes back to my time in the media. Yeah. I always kinda took an approach like, hey, if w- if I can get one person to read this article and think about something a little differently or think about what they’re doing, get them thinking about them- themselves and their own business immediately. Like as long as, as long as you’re giving a sort of pitch or something as a startup to someone, the longer it takes that person to put that conversation in the context of themselves, the more difficult it’s, it’s going to become. I think the,

Kaylee Williams: Wow,

Jeff Caldwell: the quicker you can get them thinking ab- uh, okay, this, this particular startup, this is a soil mapping utility, for example. Okay, I want them immediately thinking about the, this 80 acres where they have this drainage issue and they have this and this and this. I want them thinking about the s- the problems that they have and the solutions that I can present them with my platform or tool, whatever it happens to be. And I think the longer it takes for them to get to that point, the more difficult the sales pitch kinda becomes and, and- In, in today’s environment, you know, we do a lot of work in the crop biological sector, like I mentioned, and you look at the constellation of brands in that business right now, and it’s ridiculous. There are dozens and dozens of companies, some of which are longstanding heritage brands, some of which are a couple of dudes in a garage, and that is constantly churning. And so farmers, more than ever before, are just slammed with new ideas and new tools and new technology, and it’s just hard as hell to sift through it all. And so- and I think about, you know, I help manage m- my family’s farm, what’s left of it in Kansas now, and it’s, you know, the simpler we can make a decision, the better. And because we don’t– none of us have time to, to worry about it too much, you know? And so, um, making it fast, making it concise, and making it really hyper-relevant, that’s… The ones who are doing that are doing great. The ones who are struggling with that are the ones who are struggling in general, I think.

Kaylee Williams: I love this, and I actually wanna double-click on this with you because of your background in media and storytelling. And we know that buy– farmers buy in large part because of trust and relationships. And so I, I can’t help but feel like this is an area where we should really dive a little bit deeper for the benefit of our listeners, in particular the founders who are, who are trying to build businesses and, and add value in ag. Um, but I’ll just– Before I ask my next question, ’cause I wanna dig a little deeper on this, um, I will share this is something that we are always talking about in venture, that the burden of responsibility lies with the founder to articulate the problem they solve and the solution that they’ve developed in a way that I can understand it, I being the venture capitalist. You know, I don’t, I don’t work in biologics. I don’t have a PhD in soil health and, you know, all, all these different, uh, credentials that would give me the qualifications to truly understand the science. I don’t need to understand the science. I just need to understand basically what is the value that you provide. And so we’re, we’re often coaching these incredibly intelligent, um, oftentimes, uh, decorated researchers to help them articulate things in a way that’s simpler to understand. And I’m not saying that farmers aren’t intelligent and that they can’t understand the sci- I’m not saying that. But I am saying that as a venture capitalist who studied English in college, like, and I tell– I’ll tell the founders this, “If you want access to our money, you have to empower me to be able to articulate to my own investment committee- Right why I have conviction in this deal.” So diving a little deeper on this, can you tell us the foundational, like blocking and tackling of storytelling? How do you craft a sales pitch in a way, simply to your point, in a concise way that is Relatable. What are, what are some of the key elements that you can share with our listeners to help them do this better?

Jeff Caldwell: Yeah. That’s a really good question. Um Well, I, like you said, the, you know, problem solution. Like, illuminate the problem. Don’t try to, you know, like my, my old boss, John Walter at, at Successful Farming told me a million times, it’s drilled into my head, “Don’t, don’t create a solution looking for a problem.” And, and like that’s, that’s where, yes, we do see a lot of issues with that. I’m glad you brought that up, and it’s, and it’s sort of, um, it is, it is really difficult if you can’t define that problem to do anything. Because you may have the, the most whiz-bang, like world-shaking IP in the world, but like it’s not gonna matter if it doesn’t do something that moves the needle for your customer. And, and, you know, uh, the, in terms of telling the story, you know, that to me is the s- is the starting point. It’s like, okay, for, for our startups, for our early stage companies, yes, it starts with a, the problem and the solution. And, you know, one thing, one, one thing that I’ve always thought about a lot, like I… Years ago, I read Stephen King’s book on, um, on writing.

Kaylee Williams: on writing.

Jeff Caldwell: And the thing that I… And, and I, I spot this now if I watch one of his movies now or, or read something from him, you can see it a mile away now. He, he does not write linear stories. He writes, he creates a situation, and it is, you know, for example, in “The Mist,” it’s a bunch of people in a grocery store, and it’s like the smart-ass, loudmouth guy, and it’s like the, the soccer mom with her kid, and it’s like the tough dude, and it’s the old guy working the register, and it’s like the grizzled old janitor. And it’s the story becomes not a linear thing, but a succession of interactions between those people at certain times under certain stimuli, basically. And so it’s sort of like, you know, like the grizzled old janitor will be having a conversation with like the soccer mom, and like something will fly through the window, and then it’s that inf- that point at which the action happens during that interaction that spurns the story along. And so it’s sort of like… And to me, I… And, and so I always think about that. I don’t necessarily do that in, in the, the storytelling that I do, but I think about that and it’s like, okay, agriculture is full of stimuli. You know? It’s, you think about a, a corn field, you know, and there’s too much rain, there’s not enough rain, there’s, you know, it’s too hot, it’s too cool, it’s this and that. And plants have a, you know, the, the number– The reason that the genome for certain plants is so difficult to decode is because it’s exponentially more complex. The reason artificial intelligence is so difficult for plants and growing environments is because the number of variables is, is infinite almost in some ways. And so the storytelling has to be very simple and, you know, you have to boil down a lot and tie it directly to that problem and that solution that you have. And so it’s, it, it’s almost like I kinda joke that it’s sometimes it’s like writing y- you see like legislations or like declarations and where it’s like, “Whereas this, whereas this, whereas this,” and it’s like 50 pages of whereas crap, and then it’s like,

Kaylee Williams: then it’s like, “Okay,

Jeff Caldwell: be it this.” And so it’s like making sure you have all the right whereases basically, and then, and then come in with your solution. And then do it in a way that is gonna resonate with who you wanna talk to. And, you know, we have this conversation all the time that talking to a 75-year-old farmer who is maybe on his second cellphone and hates it and doesn’t care, but is the proprietor of a 5,000 acre farm, this is a dynamic we run into all the time in agriculture. There’s sort of a push/pull in the sales process that involves multiple people in a farm, the people who understand and use the technology, who are innovative, and those who, for whatever the reason is, are not, maybe not as likely to be that early adopter or that adopter, period. And so it’s a matter of who to reach. Who, who am I going to see the best result if I’m communicating to them correctly and efficiently? And so, so it’s really just knowing your audience, too. I mean, it’s really if b- and, and put it most basically, define your problem, define your solution, and tell that story in a way that’s going to resonate with your, the people you want to talk to the most, and that comes through really strong audience identification, I guess.

Kaylee Williams: Jeff, how do you get in front of farmers to sell to them? Like- Well- How do you even you even- You know, them? the funny thing is they reachable?

Jeff Caldwell: we- … we, the, um, as mu- as, as much new technology is, is sort of becoming native to agriculture now, sometimes the best thing is just a good old-fashioned phone call. And I mean, I spend a lot of time, I spend a fair amount of time on farms talking to people and out, and, you know, it, it’s a, it’s a very personal industry, and that’s another thing that I think a lot of early stage companies and startups don’t do well at. I’ll give, I’ll give you a great example. The Climate Corp. guys, when they were still Climate Corp. before they got a massive influx of capital a few years ago, um, from via an acquisition, they– Everybody kind of laughed at them because they were kind of nerds, and they would come, they would go talk to farmers, and farmers were like, “Who the hell are these nerds from San Francisco?” But then they would tell– But then they would talk more, and they would be like, “Oh, these nerds from San Francisco really know their stuff.” And then they would, then they would start to apply it more directly to farms, and then people were like, “Oh, okay.” And, and then they were acquired for a couple billion dollars. Mm. And so that showed that they… And, and they stru- It’s a classic case, too. I mean, they struggled mightily early on, but they saw that, and they knew how to… They were willing to kind of take their lumps, too. I mean, you know, that’s another thing. Farmers are, can be difficult human beings to interact with. I say that because I am a farmer myself, and I was raised- In a way … by farmers. And you know, they can be stubborn, they can be set in their ways, and they can be resistant to change. And I say that with all the love in my heart because I, my family is, uh, is farmers, and there’s a reason that they’re that way, because they’ve been successful over the years because of that. That, that independence, you know, the, the independent streak that, that brought my, caused my great-grandfather to immigrate here from Germany and settle in, in western Kansas of all places, um, that comes with it, uh, you know, that comes with some other sort of attributes, you know, personality traits. And, and you know, but if you speak the language and if you can have a conversation, that’s another thing I bring. You know, I’m, I’m kind of a hillbilly and people tell me that all the time. And I can- But, but I also recognize when I’m talking to, I, I’m, I am best at this in the cattle business because that’s kind of what’s most native to me. But there are like turns of phrase that you can use. In the cattle business, I use this example all the time. If you’re talking to somebody who feeds cattle or raises calves and delivers them to a feedlot, for example, um, and you say, you know, uh, the phrase pod of cattle. That’s something that anybody outside of the cattle business wouldn’t know what the hell that means. People in the cattle business know exactly what that means, and those are the kind of things… It’s just like when someone’s talking to, to me about bikes, for example. I’m going, I’m going riding tomorrow, you know, and we’re– I was just talking to my friend about that and getting our bikes ready, and it’s like talking, talking about the tools or, you know. Like I play, I play bass guitar and guitar and, and you know, just being able to talk about the individual components of a guitar, for example. You know, just knowing, being able to have a native conversation and, and do so comfortably, and that just comes from… I mean, for me in agriculture, it just comes natural because I was born– I mean, it’s something I’ve been doing my whole life, literally. And so it just takes a lot of practice and like And farmers also have, I, I affectionately call it, hope I can say this, my bullshit detector. And I’ll– And I’ve got one on my head, and it goes off when I hear a startup, for example, showing me that they haven’t put the time in to be able to have that native conversation. And, um, farmers have a way bigger bullshit detector than I do, and it’s because they are sold… The biggest thing is farmers are sellers and they’re buyers, and every day they are working towards selling something or buying something. And so the sale is, is universal in agriculture. Farmers understand that better than anybody, I think, in our economy. And so when you are selling or buying all the time, then when you are selling something into that, you’ve gotta know your shit. You’ve gotta be– And you’ve gotta not only know your shit, but you’ve gotta be able to talk about it in the right way, and sometimes it boils down to literally, uh, the right word choice, the right phrase. You know, I can’t, I can’t… You know, if somebody says Uh, for example, you know, it’s corn here. It’s maize everywhere else in the world besides here. And so if someone uses, you know, I was, I was listening to something from a company and the person used the term maize. I was like, “Huh.” And so that tells me either they’re from abroad or, um, don’t understand our business. And in that case it was, they were from, they were from a different country and so that was, that was native to them. But that stuff resonates and man, people in our business have long memories. I mean, I know that for a fact. I mean, I know people who could like, can bring up when you screw up a sale, 20 years later they’ll be able to bring it up to you and remember it. So like, so it can be tough, but, uh, but it’s that simple really

Kaylee Williams: that simple. You know, someone said this to me once about farmers, and I, I totally agree with you. It is very difficult to sell to someone who knows how to sell. Like that’s, that’s a hard thing to do. And, uh, and so selling to farmers is tough ’cause they know how to sell. They’re selling as well. Um, but someone said this to me once about farmers. They said, “Look, farmers, if you think about a f- like a farmer’s life, right? They get how many growing seasons? 30, 35?” Maybe, maybe more if they’re, if they live to be older and they’re in good health for a long time. But like they don’t actually get that many opportunities to do it right and to do it well. And so when they’re– They can’t be like testing new technology every growing season, and you mentioned earlier it is cyclical because there’s a growing season and then there’s a season when there’s no growing happening. And so there– And that presents all kinds of opportunities to be creative and use that land in different ways and buy inventory or, you know, reassess processes or whate- whatever it may be. But They don’t really get that many at-bats when it comes to a harvest, and I had never thought of it that way. I thought that was really interesting. So I’m, I’m hearing– I’m just remembering that, and I’m hearing a little bit of it in what you’re, what you’re sharing today. Um, I wanna ask you, as we sort of start to wrap up our conversation, I wanna ask if there have been, in your wor- role, in the work that you do consulting and working with these early-stage startup technology companies, and sometimes they’re a little further along even, maybe more mid-stage growth companies, um, are there any books you’ve read or podcasts that you follow or anything that, that has helped you to really– You’re like, ” Yes, that is most of the time really helpful and valuable.” Is there anything you can share with our listeners?

Jeff Caldwell: know, I, I’ve, I track, um, all the, a lot of the, a lot of the website, a lot of the news websites. AgFunder is a big one that I, that I kinda watch pretty closely. I know them pretty well and have worked with them a lot over the years. And anything like that, I mean, gosh, there’s, there are myriad sources now to check that, that talk about sort of the, the state of the business. I think, I think for me it’s… For me, I sort of watch that, watch sources like that to sort of get a pulse for what the industry, what direction the industry is going. And I’m kind of a contrarian by nature. Like, I’m kinda like, if I see everybody move in one direction, I’m gonna go the other way. And it’s just probably not very good. But, but I think that, um, a lot of times when there are big trends underfoot in our industry toward the adop- like the adoption, I mean, the AI right now is, is a perfect

Kaylee Williams: my very next question

Jeff Caldwell: swing a dead cat without hitting somebody talking about AI. And it’s good that we’re, the industry is adopting that en masse, but I tend to think differently. I tend to think, “Okay, the, so the whole industry is doing this, and this is where everybody’s going.” You know, the development of precision ag platforms 20-some years ago, everybody has their own platform, everybody had their own digital platform, and nobody, nobody’s machinery, nobody’s equipment talked to each other very well. And so that was kind of the beginning of sort of the rise of the, “Well, hey, we need some kind of universal platform. We need, we need to play nice with each other because farmers are sick of having to have a different monitor for every piece of equipment.”

Kaylee Williams: your point, listen to your customer

Jeff Caldwell: Right. Exactly, yeah. And so, so I, I watch for sort of long-term trends, and then also, you know, I, I try to pay attention to… And when I’m working with a specific company, I’m working with a company now that’s involved in, uh, rural connectivity. And so, um, low RAN signals basically for, since small data packets from all these sensors that are, that every piece of equipment, you know, there are now millions of sensors on farms in one sh- one shape or another. And, and so th- their connectivity is their product. Selling connectivity is really hard because it’s n- it’s an, it’s not something you can hold in your hand, and it’s not something that you can see. Mm-hmm. And so it requires some explaining. And so, so I kind of watch when, for, for my client’s sake, I kind of pay attention to what’s going on in that space. And so I will seek out any sources for any- anything from pol- from a policy standpoint to product development and other manufacturers who might be making something that would require that connectivity, for example. That’s one thing I pay pretty close attention to. So it’s pretty c- it’s pretty client-focused and, um, but I will say this in case Cam, my boss, is listening. I’m too, I’m just too busy working to read anything- … to study anything.

Kaylee Williams: No bandwidth.

Jeff Caldwell: Right. Right. No bandwidth for that. Okay

Kaylee Williams: um, so let’s do a couple quick fire questions. Um, Hawkeyes or Cyclones?

Jeff Caldwell: Well, my child is gonna, uh, be a, a Hawkeye here, uh, this fall, so I have to say Hawkeyes because my money’s going, gonna be going there. So I have to say And I thought maybe, I thought maybe you’d throw out there, um, what’s Kansas? Jaybirds?

Kaylee Williams: Yeah. Jayhawks?

Jeff Caldwell: the, Jayhawks are the g- the wrong ones. I’m a, I’m a K-State.

Kaylee Williams: You’re K State. Okay. I know nothing about sports, so I probably shouldn’t have picked that question. That’s a, that’s a ridiculous one. Uh, okay, John Deere or Caterpillar?

Jeff Caldwell: Well, I guess I kinda have to say John Deere ’cause that’s kinda what we, what I grew up with. And so, um, yeah, I suppose John

Kaylee Williams: Yeah. Okay. That’s great. Um, I interned at John Deere when I was a high schooler, so I, I would always pick John Deere,

Jeff Caldwell: All right. Awesome

Kaylee Williams: green line, right? Um, so, uh, and my la- I guess my last one would’ve been AI. Is it a bubble or is it the future of everything?

Jeff Caldwell: You know, I don’t think it’s a bubble. I think it’s, I think we’re gonna see, I think we’re going to see its momentum not stop or slow. I think we’re gonna see the momentum shift. I think, um, I think the people who are talking the most about AI in general as sort of this amorphous like subject area are probably the ones who are, I would say, um, are more likely to be full of shit. I think the people who are using it, um, for very specific purposes and very specific value drivers- Yeah … for their customers- Yeah … uh, are the ones who probably aren’t talking about it and are just kinda doing it. And so I don’t, I think it’s a, I, I’ve always, I’ve told this to several people. AI’s just a bigger shovel, man. It’s like it’s given us the ability to do something, uh, to shovel more manure, you

Kaylee Williams: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm

Jeff Caldwell: the, the intelligence that it creates, the ability to synthesize so much. Again, going back to sort of the complexity of growing a crop or grow- raising an animal in a natural environment, the number of variables impacting the productivity of that plant or animal are massively complex. And so any tool that can help us simplify that and get it one step closer to becoming a binary decision is a good thing. And I think AI, if we think about AI as a bigger shovel that can get us there, then hey, I think it’s good.

Kaylee Williams: That’s a great take. I would tend to agree with you there. Specific business value add applications are probably the w- the drivers of AI. Um, yeah, that’s, that’s wonderful. Thank you, Jeff, for being with me on the pod today. It’s great to get to know you and, and your work at Stratovation Group. Um, if anybody wants to learn a little bit more about the organization, the types of companies you work with, or if they just wanna shoot the shit with you and learn about, you know, get your take on other parts of the ag industry and where things are going from a technology perspective, what would be the best way to get in touch with you?

Jeff Caldwell: Um, our website is stratovationgroup.com. Strat- Stratovation, strategy and innovation. That’s sort of, that was the primordial ooze from which that name grew, um, as the story goes. Um, but yeah, stratovationgroup.com. I’m also on LinkedIn. Um, not the most active person on LinkedIn, but quite a bit, so we can hook up there and yeah, whatever else

Kaylee Williams: whatever else. Okay. Jeff Caldwell from Stratovation Group. This has been another episode of the Iowa Tech Podcast. Thanks for tuning in.