Bryce’s idea came from personal experience with the challenges associated with hay and grain production that are faced by farmers on a daily basis. Using his deep knowledge of the problems, Bryce has been building devices for commercial hay and grain growers, along with enterprises that are running pivot and lateral irrigators. His most prominent solution is a device for large-scale commercial hay producers to monitor their hay sheds. Bryce’s solutions, under the name Shepherd Monitoring Systems, have been trialed by several farmers since July 2023.
Bryce’s extensive background in hay production and experience having already developed several solutions ensured that he had a resolute understanding of the building blocks for growing a start-up when he joined the HatchTEK program . However, much of this experience was gained on-the-fly and he has been without a clear methodology or structure to his businesses expansion. In progressing through the early stages of the HatchTEK program, Bryce was particularly enthused by the simplicity yet effectiveness of the lean canvas tool. In working through the canvas, Bryce was able to better lay out the opportunities and needs of his Shepherd products and ways to capture the market.

Bryce identified that his key point of differentiation to other competitors in the space was his focus on the commercial hay producers. Many of the existing monitoring solutions for hay sheds or storage are designed for small producers or enterprises and don’t address the nuances of larger-scale commercial operations. Given that Bryce fits within his own customer segment, he was able to easily develop his lean canvas to identify the best avenues for growth for Shepherd.
Towards the latter stages of the program, Bryce launched a recently updated website which will be a key conduit for reaching potential customers. He also put his new entrepreneurial skills to the test at a variety of large industry events where he was able to conduct deep customer discovery and work on communicating the value of his solution.