Dec 16, 2020The Next Cloud-size Disruption: Food and AgricultureEd Byrne is the co-founder of Soilworks Natural Capital, a public benefit corporation focused on accelerating the move to regenerative agriculture; he is also the co-founder of Scaleworks, a Venture Equity Fund that invests in, and operates, software-as-a-service companies. The food and agriculture sectors are on the precipice of a…Entrepreneurship7 min readEntrepreneurship7 min read
Dec 8, 2020What is Regenerative Agriculture? Consumer Edition.There are already a variety of explanations and definitions for what Regenerative Agriculture is, but I haven’t yet come across one for the people who eat food, not farm it. One-Liner: Regenerative Agriculture is a form of farming that works with all of nature to produce food that is both…Regenerative Agriculture7 min readRegenerative Agriculture7 min read
Jun 24, 2020Managing Cash in SaaS through Economic UncertaintyOriginally published in Protocol Let’s not underplay the current situation — we are in crisis mode. Not because we’re heading towards a recession, not because SaaS companies might shrink, but because of all the unknown unknowns. Fear causes irrationality so SaaS CEOs must demonstrate reasoned leadership, making decisions that protect…SaaS6 min readSaaS6 min read
Jun 3, 2020Natural Capital — bringing a business mindset to environmental issues.In this article I want to introduce Natural Capital — as we define it at Soilworks — explain why it is a critically important resource and why businesses and entrepreneurs should get involved. Natural Capital is the world’s stock of natural resources, which includes geology, soils, air, water and all…Regenerative Agriculture4 min readRegenerative Agriculture4 min read
Apr 22, 2020Recession Planning for SaaS(Originally Published on Techcrunch) We’ve had a great decade long run in SaaS — abundant capital, thriving economy, and a massive existing market shift from on-premise to Cloud. But the good times will end and challenges are coming. I’m not predicting when it will happen — maybe it’s the spread…SaaS8 min readSaaS8 min read
Mar 6, 2020How acquirers look at your company(Originally published on TechCrunch) There comes a time for many founders when they are ready to pass the baton of running their business to someone else. It’s a rare founder that wants to go from zero to running and scaling a large long-term company. When that time comes — you…Mergers And Acquisitions6 min readMergers And Acquisitions6 min read
Aug 20, 2019Simple is not EasyThere’s a lot of power in simplicity. The best writers and communicators tend to write in short sentences and use common words so that their audience can quickly understand the message, and not spend too many brain cycles deciphering the words. Simple ideas spread faster. Simple ideas are easier to…Startup3 min readStartup3 min read
May 27, 2019Working backwards to uncover key success factorsIf you’re a SaaS business — you’re likely overwhelmed with data and an ever growing list of acronyms that purport to unlock secret keys to your success. But like most things — tracking with you do has very little impact on what you actually do. It’s really important to find…SaaS5 min readSaaS5 min read
May 27, 2019Netflix is still too cheapHow do you know your product is priced too low? One way is when you raise the price between 13 and 18%, you have almost no churn, not many complaints, and your stock price actually goes up! When Netflix increased their prices a few weeks ago, investors were so confident…Startup5 min readStartup5 min read
Mar 1, 2019Free Is Not A Business Model, Especially For Your Book.A group of Product Managers just co-authored what sounds like an interesting book, called ‘Launch’. But I doubt it will get the readership it may deserve. It certainly won’t get a mass of critical reviews. Why? Because it’s free. Free isn’t a business model. Charging isn’t only about making money…SaaS2 min readSaaS2 min read