More than a Desk with Collider Member Tim Welle
Meet our Collider member Tim Welle, co-founder at DXD Ag Insights!
Where are you from? How did you get to Rochester?
I grew up on a dairy farm near Freeport, Minnesota, which is a small town 25 miles northwest of St. Cloud. After high school, I went to the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, MN, and then lived in the Twin Cities for a few years before moving to Durham North Carolina while my girlfriend (now wife), Sarah, was in Graduate School. Mayo Clinic brought us back to Minnesota when Sarah started a job in the Informatics department at Mayo Clinic Health System in Mankato. We arrived in Rochester in 2019, when Sarah took a position in Rochester, so we are fairly recent transplants.
What are some of your interests and hobbies?
I love baseball and fast-pitch softball. Throughout my 20’s, I would play softball multiple days a week as well as at least a few weekend tournaments through the summer. While I don’t play near as often anymore, I still try to make a guest appearance for a weekend tournament every year or so on my little brother’s team. Another big interest of mine is History Podcasts. I have about a dozen history podcasts that I subscribe to. A few of the best examples would be Dan Carlin’s “Hardcore History” and Mike Duncan’s “Revolutions” podcast. History podcasts describe the people and personalities involved in historical events, and sometimes how personality quirks changed history. The podcast format also allows the storyteller to explore seemingly innocuous events that, in hindsight, started a chain of events ultimately leading to seismic changes years later.
What do you do?
I am one of the co-founders at DXD Ag Insights (http://www.dxdag.com). We are building products and services that enable agronomists to use their field observations to learn from their data and improve crop management decisions. (Agronomists are experts in crop production that are hired by growers for their advice). My focus is on the business side, and my partner Lori Wiles is a data scientist living in Colorado.
Why did you choose coworking?
I have been working from home going back all the way to 2012 when I was in my last position, and I was looking for a change in scenery. I missed being in a space with other people and having a place to go for work, instead of just getting dressed and walking down the stairs. Also, the teams I have worked with have been spread throughout the country- so my work life hasn’t had much in the way of socializing. I appreciate the opportunities that coworking provides me to chat with interesting people doing interesting things, attending happy hours, and other events like our Fourth and Toast meetings.
What value do you find in the Collider community?
One valuable aspect is learning about ideas and perspectives that people are applying within their business that are relevant to your own company, even if they are solving a different problem in a different industry. I have also been involved in Fourth and Toast over the last few months. This program has given me a venue to practice and improve my public speaking skills. It has been great to start each Wednesday in a comfortable space to give speeches and hear different perspectives from the group on a wide array of topics. The Collider staff has been extremely helpful to help me identify and access resources available to support early-stage companies. This saves me time, stress, and is helping me advance DXD Ag Insights faster than I would have been able to do on my own.
Any memorable moments at Collider that you want to share?
There are so many members at Collider that have a genuine interest in what you are doing and are willing and able to provide helpful perspectives. It has been a welcome change to emerge from the isolation that we all experienced during the COVID pandemic to join a community that is helping entrepreneurs, and the overall community, push forward into the future.
