Dane Kuper and Dustin Balsley worked together for different agriculture technology companies in California when it became apparent to them that the livestock industry could benefit from utilizing technology to help manage their business. Both Dane and Dustin came from a livestock background and had intensive knowledge of the industry going in, so with their experience they decided to start working on a platform that would be effective managing farms like the ones they grew up on.

A year and a half after they began thinking about their idea, they launched their first platform for Performance Livestock Analytics on January 1, 2017. Performance Livestock Analytics is a business that “developed a scalable, high performance content platform that combines the power of big data and analytics with the experience of PLA’s in-house staff of farmers, computer and data scientists.” After coming up with their business plan, they entered into the Pappajohn business plan competition and that led them to Daniel Winegarden of the North Iowa Area SBDC and Pappajohn Center.

Not only did they end up winning the competition that year, but they also worked to revise their business plan with assistance from the SBDC. They said it was a “Great experience. The resources available are outstanding. I think many times it’s easy to overlook the resources of the SBDC but it’s important to utilize it.” After networking with the SBDC, they have found significant revenue growth and have been able to add ten new employees.

Performance Livestock Analytics has continued to find major success within their industry, becoming the top Agtech startup to watch in 2018, according to Argiculture.com. They have been able to find very talented young individuals around Iowa to help them keep their business growing. They have also grown their company and launched Performance Beef and believe that it is one of their biggest triumphs. “The way our platform has caught traction across the cattle industry has changed that game in how feedlots operate today.”

They plan to double their staff due to the significant revenue traction they have gained and continuing to develop strategic partnerships, which will allow them to continue to grow.

For more information about Performance Livestock Analytics, please visit their website at www.performancelivestockanalytics.com/.