Wilson Acton

Managing Partner at Tall Grass Ventures investing in (pre)seed Agrifoodtech. Excited about the intersection of Ag, Tech and Business.

[Rhishi Pethe @rpethe]

SFTW Plus:
We want more Donnas, not Amelia Bedelias

Two topics in this week's edition

1. Most chatbots and LLMs are passive today. They follow and respond to your questions (and they do it creatively), but they are not active (yet).

They are not fundamentally changing existing workflows A good LLM should be like Donna Paulsen from the TV Show Suits.

Donna knew almost everything that was happening with Harvey, she had the intellectual and emotional intelligence to know when to interject and how to interject

Today many LLMs react like Amelia Bedelia and only give you responses to your questions

This week's edition explores why agribusinesses and Agtech startups might be in a great position to provide the missing ingredient to go from passive to active models, and be able to create new workflows and unlock new value

2. Some interesting lessons for investors, and entrepreneurs from the Building Bridges webinar organized by @AgVenturesAllia and Tall Grass Ventures with Spenser Stensrude (Ag Ventures Alliance), @wjacton (Tall Grass) and Tanmay Bhargava of @TELUS_AGCG Global Ventures

@AgtechAlchemy

This week's edition is sponsored by @farmers_edge

https://t.co/0EYX1TuS6K

[Wilson Acton @wjacton]

@mcfarljo @Conexus_VC @cultivatorsk @VCBrags Congrats Jordan. Looking forward to working with you in the new role!

[Wilson Acton @wjacton]

The work @Simpson_Centre is doing advancing #agriculture #policy is worth paying attention to. Pleased to be part of the conversation

[Wilson Acton @wjacton]

Really enjoyed this discussion with @GTFPC. Tune in and have a listen!

[GrowingTheFutureProductions @GTFPC]

🔥 New Episode: https://t.co/06pF1aQR6l

Hear how @wjacton applies the lessons learned as a 5th generation farmer, competing in show jumping, and a career as an M and A lawyer to helping agricultural startups in his stable on this episode.

[Jamie Quint @jamiequint]

An explainer on what is going on with Silicon Valley Bank:

- In 2021 SVB saw a mass influx in deposits, which jumped from $61.76bn at the end of 2019 to $189.20bn at the end of 2021.

- As deposits grew, SVB could not grow their loan book fast enough to generate the yield they wanted to see on this capital. As a result, they purchased a large amount (over $80bn!) in mortgage backed securities (MBS) with these deposits for their hold-to-maturity (HTM) portfolio.

- 97% of these MBS were 10+ year duration, with a weighted average yield of 1.56%.

- The issue is that as the Fed raised interest rates in 2022 and continued to do so through 2023, the value of SVB’s MBS plummeted. This is because investors can now purchase long-duration "risk-free" bonds from the Fed at a 2.5x higher yield.

- This is not a liquidity issue as long as SVB maintains their deposits, since these securities will pay out more than they cost eventually.

- However, yesterday afternoon, SVB announced that they had sold $21bn of their Available For Sale (AFS) securities at a $1.8bn loss, and were raising another $2.25bn in equity and debt. This came as a surprise to investors, who were under the impression that SVB had enough liquidity to avoid selling their AFS portfolio.

[Wilson Acton @wjacton]

Exploring and unpacking the journey we have been on at Tall Grass Ventures with Tyler Chisholm as part of the Collisions YYC podcast. Good to take a moment to look back at building our firm, completing our first investments, and nearing completion on raising our fund.

[Tyler Chisholm @TylerChisholm]

🌱 Are you curious about the intersection of technology and agriculture? Then you won't want to miss this episode of Collisions YYC with @wjacton, Managing Partner of Tall Grass Ventures: https://t.co/0dBVVEnMXg

[Jordan McFarlen @mcfarljo]

$4 MILLION Seed Round💰

Major raise for second time 🇨🇦 Agtech founder Kyle Folk of @GroundTruth_Ag

Great to see Emmertech VC @seantoconnor, Tall Grass @wjacton backing this!

[Walter Knitl @waltofk]

Great panel at #iotn22 on #iot #innovation with @brendaLaunch, Dwayne Dulmage, @wjacton, Philipe Hebert, @reg_joseph ... do I detect consensus that Canada is selling itself short when reaching out for international opportunities?

[CTV News Calgary @CTVCalgary]

It's an invention that could save lives in an emergency, and was created by a Calgary high school student. https://t.co/1SJBDolP9s

[Wilson Acton @wjacton]

Great conversation with @TylerChisholm, as always, discussing the maxing opportunity for #tech in #Alberta and #Saskatchewan

[Tyler Chisholm @TylerChisholm]

Today on #CollisionsYYC #FollowTheMoney, @wjacton rejoins the show to share his insights on raising #capital in #Alberta for tech companies. As a 4X Founder in #Agtech, Wilson has experience in taking ideas from the back of a napkin to successful exit. https://t.co/0IBLyxPXEt

[Wilson Acton @wjacton]

Great discussion with the @cultivatorsk team!

[Cultivator @cultivatorsk]

Agtech Accelerator Cohort 1 - 3rd Virtual Session💻🌾
FEATURING: Lizzie Crough from @GANConnect + @wjacton a 4x tech co-founder.

🔥The founders engaged in Wilson's fireside chat where he shared the importance of setting milestone goals and identifying the global market.

[Wilson Acton @wjacton]

Great to see another promising company in @HomeTeam_Live really lean into the work it takes to be a successful company!

[GrowthX @growthx]

Welcoming Tanner Goetz and Jacob Faith of @HomeTeam_Live to The Revenue Accelerator!

[Wilson Acton @wjacton]

@lukesophinos One item that seems to be common in your case study is the founder that sees the big vision but can’t “sell” that to the VC. Often getting disregarded as too much of a dreamer, or naive, etc. @lukesophinos thoughts on how to overcome the hurdle?

[Wilson Acton @wjacton]

As some of you know, I've been working on a new type of VC to support B2B tech. More to come on Tall Grass Ventures once we officially launch but we know that some things won't change - our commitment to the highest ethics and support for #mensariusoath created by @govclab

[Regina Leader-Post @leaderpost]

HomeTeam Live helping amateur sports pump out professional broadcasts https://t.co/kbeEE2fPLz

[Wilson Acton @wjacton]

Great article in @BetaKit about the recent fundraising by @HomeTeam_Live. Lots on the go with the HomeTeam so certainly one to watch in 2022.

https://t.co/EdneP5RWFo

[Wilson Acton @wjacton]

@DaniWildfong (1) Ask the team for their thoughts and ideas as well. Often they will have the solution or a big part of it. (2) follow through on 1 and take the advice and collaborate (3) if something isn’t going well, don’t step in as that takes their responsibility away

[Trent Fraser @trentfraseryqr]

Happy to be asked to be a strategic advisor for @HomeTeam_Live along w smart gents like @wjacton & @davesullivan15

HTL delivers:
- cutting edge AI technology - broadcast quality production
- a locally developed App.

It’s exciting. It’s local.

➡️ https://t.co/BOsCMQoa7s

[Adam Grant @AdamMGrant]

The basic principles of constructive feedback:

1. Before you give it, ask if they want to receive it.

2. Be clear that you believe in their potential and care about their success.

3. Be as candid as possible in what you say, and as thoughtful as possible in how you say it.

[Wilson Acton @wjacton]

Fantastic discussion on how we can continue to accelerate #tech in #Alberta

[Brenda Beckedorf @BrendaLaunch]

Good conversation with Minister Schweitzer and @AlbertaIot on the growing IoT sector in Alberta. @wjacton @LVSMITS_KC @doug_schweitzer