Meet Brody Deren, Chief Strategy Officer @ Trility Consulting / Advisor & Investor @ NeuroFuel / Former President and Co-founder @ Dynamo, LLC

How would you describe the startup culture in Nebraska?

I think we have a very supportive founder-to-founder environment in the startup space in Nebraska. Being a founder/CEO can be lonely at times and the emotional toll of the ups and downs are real. Having peers and like-minded folks to bounce ideas off of and share experiences with is incredibly valuable. We have some great organizations that are assisting to fuel this community, including but not limited to Invest Nebraska, Nebraska Angels, Grit Road Partners, Proven Ventures and NMotion. In the past decade or so, we’ve had some legislative efforts that have provided significant tailwinds to entrepreneurship in Nebraska. 

How do you balance taking risks and making calculated decisions in pursuit of innovation?

In my opinion, speed is a sometimes underrated variable in decision making. The willingness to make a decision quickly, test it, measure the results and very quickly determine whether to keep at it or change course is a competitive advantage. When a company has only limited hours, limited resources and limited capital, every hour counts. No matter how excited the founder or team is about a solution or idea, you need to get the idea into the hands of the target market as quickly as possible to validate it. Fire bullets before you fire cannon balls. 

How do you define success and what metrics do you pay the most attention to?

The metrics I pay attention to differ based upon the business model and company I’m involved with. For a seed stage SaaS company, I’m paying attention to user acquisition, growth rate, total addressable market (TAM). For a priced-round stage SaaS company, I’m paying attention to similar metrics to the seed stage, but now more interested in net revenue retention and lifetime value (LTV) to customer acquisition cost (CAC) ratio. For a services company, I’m interested in repeat business percentage, referral percentage, Net Promoter Score, employee retention and revenue growth. No matter what the business model or industry, I’m interested in the strength of the founders and management team. 

What are the top one or two challenges / opportunities Nebraska startups face?

One of the top challenges that any company from Nebraska faces is the national “flyover state” perception, whether the startup is looking to raise capital or sell to B2B customers on the coasts. We also have a more risk-averse local investor culture, so startups here are going to be more pressured to have demonstrated revenue growth and a clear path to profitability in order to secure significant growth capital. Also, there is a lack of density of successful startups which have scaled and exited, which makes hiring senior talent experienced with growing and scaling early stage companies more challenging.

What is one emerging industry or technology that you believe will have a significant impact on the Nebraska startup ecosystem in the next few years?

My answer here is less focused on a particular industry or technology, as it is on a trade association. I believe Tech Nebraska, which has been newly formed in 2023 and born out of the Nebraska State Chamber of Commerce, will be a resounding voice in further influencing pro-tech, pro-entrepreneurship and pro-business public policy that will have macro impact at the state level. Funded by a variety of major technology providers, enterprise companies and other private organizations, these stakeholders have skin in the game as part of Tech Nebraska to help our state advance in its mission to enjoy a technological renaissance.