Vision
Get clear about where we are going, what matters most, and what we are not going to do.
Contact Jeff ↗I build things that move ambitious ideas forward.
Strategies. Programs. Products. Organizations. Communities.
I love to dream big, tackle hard problems, and bring people together to build something that did not exist before.
Selected work
Things I’ve
helped build.
The ideas, decisions, systems, experiments, and results behind some of the work I’m proudest of.
01↗02↗03↗
Strategy · Ecosystems
Building a full journey for founders
How four new programs, the Start, Scale, and Sustain Framework, and 300 by ’31 helped Startup Sioux Falls grow from its only accelerator into a connected funnel of programming serving founders at every stage.
Product discovery · Applied AI
Building a SaaS company and learning the art of the pivot
HOAhole started with a problem I couldn’t stop thinking about. GovernanceIQ is what emerged after research, customer conversations, bad assumptions, better questions, and a lot of iteration.
Brand · Entrepreneurship
Building an outdoor company in South Dakota
Dakota Adventure Supply is an ongoing lesson in what it actually takes to build a physical product company: brand, customers, manufacturing, cash, constraints, and stubborn persistence.
The actual human
I’m a builder.
Always have been.
I’m drawn to the idea of what something could become: a company, an organization, a program, a community, a product, or sometimes just an idea that will not leave me alone. I like seeing the bigger picture, finding connections other people may not see, and then figuring out how to solve the challenge.
I’m a sixth-generation South Dakotan, the founder of an outdoor gear e-commerce company, a published short-story writer, a film-camera enthusiast, and an award-winning photographer, thank you very much, Turner County Fair Open Competition. I’m also an American Hiking Society board member and the sole employee and errand boy for my dog Benny.
The projects change, but the underlying impulse is pretty consistent. With creativity as the foundation, I see possibility, get curious, and build something.
I wrote my first business plan at 18. A few years ago, I launched my third business, which I plan to build into a national brand. Oh yeah, and I’m working on a SaaS startup in the background.
When I was 20, I gave a national address about servant leadership and the people who shape us. Years later, I published a science-fiction story about a future built on some pretty uncomfortable tradeoffs. In the past couple of years, I’ve also gone deep into film photography and found a true passion.
These days I’m as likely to be thinking about AI, entrepreneurship, or organizational strategy as I am cameras, dogs, gear, or where I’m heading next. Curiosity and creativity seem to be the things that stay consistent throughout everything I do.
Creative practice · Film photography
Slow down.
Notice more.
Film photography has become a true creative focus for me. A finite roll, manual choices, and no instant do-over force me to pay attention before I press the shutter.
I love old cameras, imperfect frames, and the wait between taking a photograph and finally seeing what was there. Five of my photographs were selected for the 2026 Artists of the Plains show, and, for the record, I am also an award-winning Turner County Fair photographer.
Portraits, roadside discoveries, fairgrounds, and the wide-open landscape of the Great Plains.Selected photographs
Frames I keep coming back to.
Shot slowly, usually on film, and found while paying attention to the people and places around me.
Select any photograph to see the full frame.
How I operate · EOS & executive leadership
See the future. Get clear about today. Build what connects them.
I’m at my best when there is an ambitious destination, a lot of moving pieces, and a need for someone to create clarity and momentum. EOS has become one of the primary ways I do that work: getting the vision clear, putting accountability in the right places, identifying the numbers that matter, solving issues at the root, and creating a rhythm that keeps things moving.
People
Make accountability clear and put the right people in positions where they can actually succeed.
Data
Identify the handful of numbers that tell us whether reality matches the story we are telling ourselves.
Issues
Get the real problem into the room, talk about it honestly, and solve it.
Process
Make the important work repeatable, then use better tools, automation, and AI where they genuinely help.
Traction
Turn priorities into commitments and commitments into progress.
In practice:Long-term visionVision/Traction planningAccountability chartsScorecards and KPIsQuarterly RocksMeeting rhythmsIDSOperating processesSOPs, APIs, AI, and automation
Case 01 · Startup Sioux Falls
From one accelerator to a full founder journey.
Startup Sioux Falls had a good general business accelerator.
The bigger opportunity was scaling our offerings so founders could find meaningful support at every stage of the journey.
Since joining the organization, I have helped build and launch four additional programs serving founders from early idea through growth and established business ownership.
That expanding programming also needed a clearer way to think about who we serve, what founders need at different stages, and how the programs fit together. That became the Start, Scale, and Sustain Framework.
And 300 by ’31 became our six-year target: helping build 300 resilient Sioux Falls companies with sustaining revenue and meaningful community investment by September 30, 2031.
Founder journeyStart, Scale, and Sustain Framework
→A framework for understanding where a company is today and what support can help it move forward.
Connected programmingFive programs · Multiple stages
→A connected funnel built to support founders from first idea through established business leadership.
Six-year target300 by ’31
A measurable goal for the long-term economic impact this programming is designed to create.
The programming expanded
The organization’s only accelerator became a connected funnel serving founders at every stage.
When I joined Startup Sioux Falls in January 2022, CO.STARTERS was the organization’s only accelerator and had graduated 28 founders. Since then, I have helped build and launch four additional programs.
Step 1 of 5
Bootcamp
An early-stage on-ramp.
0graduatesCO.STARTERS
The flagship business accelerator.
0graduatesSaaS Launchpad
A software accelerator for scalable products.
0graduatesGrowco
A 12-month accelerator for operating founders.
0graduatesRoundtable
Peer support for seven- and eight-figure founders.
0graduatesTogether with CO.STARTERS, those programs now form a connected funnel that supports founders from early exploration through growth and established business ownership.
STARTSTARTSCALESUSTAIN
0reported graduates and participants across the programs
28 CO.STARTERS graduates when Jeff came on board.
Published evidence · 2025 annual report
The framework became organizational language.
The annual report visualizes the founder lifecycle across company types and maps existing and future programming against the Start, Scale, and Sustain Framework.
Open the annual report ↗
Grant administered, serving 800+ entrepreneurs, including 100+ rural program graduates, and delivering 5,000+ hours of counseling, mentoring, and training.
Reported graduates and participants across the programs, up from 28 CO.STARTERS graduates when I came on board.
Annual revenue now generated by the programming and directly connected sponsorships, compared with roughly $6,000 annually when I started.
Service · Stewardship · The outdoors
American Hiking Society
I serve on the board of American Hiking Society, helping support a national organization that protects trails, expands access to the outdoors, and brings people together around the places we share.
It connects several things I care deeply about: service, stewardship, public lands, and the belief that time outside can change how people see themselves and one another.
Visit American Hiking Society ↗Case 02 · GovernanceIQ
ValidatingBuilding a SaaS company.
Learning the art of the pivot.
A couple of years ago, I had an idea called HOAhole.
The original premise was simple: homeowners agree to pages of private rules they often do not fully understand. What would it look like to make those rules easier to understand and give people more agency?
Then came the harder questions. Can we get the documents? What should the product actually analyze? Who has this problem badly enough to pay for it? Is the homeowner even the right customer?
Those questions have pushed the idea toward GovernanceIQ: property-specific HOA intelligence designed first for professionals making decisions before a transaction.
It may work. It may turn into something else. That is the point of this case study.
This is the process of following the programming myself: talking to customers, testing assumptions, building, learning, and changing direction when the evidence says I should.
GovernanceIQ
Homeowner empowerment
A provocative premise: make HOA rules legible and give homeowners more agency.
Figure out the hard part first
Before building a polished product, we started testing whether we could acquire the documents, analyze them reliably, and find someone willing to pay.
GovernanceIQ
A shift toward professional, property-specific HOA intelligence before an offer.
Test the assumptions
Customer discovery, acquisition feasibility, prototype learning, and an explicit record of what changes.
This case intentionally distinguishes what we believe, what we have tested, and what remains unknown.
Case 03 · Dakota Adventure Supply
Built in South Dakota. Learned the hard way.
Dakota Adventure Supply started with a belief that there was room for a different kind of outdoor company, one built around the places, people, and traditions that shaped us.
Building it has meant learning about far more than products.
Brand. Manufacturing. Customers. Inventory. Cash. Marketing. Partnerships. Mistakes.
It remains one of the most useful things I have ever done because there is nowhere to hide when you are building your own company.
AI Lab
Don’t just read about the work.
Try some of it.
I use AI constantly, not because everything needs AI, but because it has fundamentally changed what one person can build, test, automate, and learn. The AI Lab is where I experiment with that idea through small, working tools connected to real problems in my life and work.
04Live experiment
Two SeatsA fan-made film guide that uses Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert’s recorded verdicts as a transparent taste baseline for new releases, classics, streaming picks, and what to watch next.Take a seat ↗
05Live experiment
Championship VinylA music-discovery experiment where Rob, Barry, and Dick turn Spotify taste into records, playlists, concert alerts, and arguments worth having.Visit the counter ↗Aussiedoodle · Household management
The actual boss.
Benny is equal parts adventure buddy, meeting interrupter, and persistent reminder that most problems improve after a walk.
He keeps the operating rhythm simple: breakfast, outside, attention, repeat. I am his sole employee and errand boy.
More Benny is coming, whether the website needs it or not.
Recommendations
What people say when I’m not writing the copy.
The words vary. The pattern is pretty consistent. I listen. I connect people. I see opportunities. I build things. And when I say I am going to do something, I tend to get it done.
“Jeff has the rare ability to balance vision with execution. He can rally stakeholders, drive measurable outcomes, and ensure that strategy and operations move in lockstep.”
Scott PetersonCo-Founder, HIRECLICK“He forms real relationships with all stakeholders and ensures people feel heard while staying focused on what matters.”
Bobby GeorgeCo-Founder & CEO, Lightning“His ability to bring people together, foster productive partnerships, and contribute meaningfully to South Dakota’s business community has made a lasting impact.”
Tom EitreimExecutive Director, SD Enterprise Institute“Jeff has reimagined our programming at Startup Sioux Falls. He shows up every day looking for ways to help founders in our community.”
John T. MeyerFounder, LeadMore · Former SSF Board Chair“He is engaged with and respected as a thought leader by the stakeholders the organization relies on for support.”
Kurt LoudenbackCEO, Grand Prairie Foods“I have personally benefited from Jeff’s work as he has introduced me to mentors, fund managers, and other opportunities to learn and further develop my software company.”
Alisha VincentFounder, Desty“The programs that I have personally benefited from would not be where they are today were it not for Jeff’s passion, vision, and ‘make it happen’ attitude.”
Peter HauckFounder, RinkRabbit“He recognizes the interconnected nature of emerging innovation communities and consistently designs programming that aligns local momentum with broader regional opportunity.”
Peter BurghardtFounder, Stringtree.co“Jeff’s leadership of the SBA Community Navigator Pilot Program was one of the most impactful initiatives in our organization’s history.”
Sara LumPartner, StrategieWhat’s next
Let’s compare notes.
I’m interested in ambitious organizations, interesting problems, and people trying to build something that does not exist yet.
Especially roles where I can help set direction, build the organization behind it, and work alongside smart people solving hard problems.