The technology advice that has nothing to sell you.
Every quarter brings a new platform, a new vendor pitch, a new AI promise. Most of them do real work for somebody — the question is which ones earn a place in your business this year. Spoon River helps you tell the difference: what to build or buy, how to build your team and who to staff it with. Turn your team from the one people wait on into the one everyone relies on.
Let's cut through the hype together.
60 minutes · video or in person (Des Moines)
The approach
Every consultant will recommend technology. Few will recommend less of it.
Most technology advice comes from someone with a stake in the answer.
Not here. You get a straight read on your options — including the option to do nothing.
Independent judgment, from someone who spent a career building these systems and leading the teams behind them.
Evidence over hype
A new tool shows up every quarter promising to change everything. Most don't. You'll get a straight read on what's really worth your investment and what's marketing hype.
The long view
Accomplish this year's goals without sacrificing next year's. The right call solves today's problem on a foundation that scales with your business — no tearing it all out in two years.
Honest "no"s
Sometimes the answer is a spreadsheet, a process fix, or keeping what you've got. We're not afraid to tell you, and hearing it now is a lot cheaper than finding out after the contract is signed.
The services
Three ways to work together.
Advisory Session
$350 · 60 min
Bring a decision — a vendor pitch to weigh, a build-vs-buy call, a key role to fill. Or bring none at all: a dozen small questions, or an hour on where AI actually earns its keep. Direct answers, with the reasoning behind them.
Book a sessionBest for ongoing work
Advisor on Call
$2,500 · per month
- A 60-minute session every week
- 2 hours of email a month
A standing advisor who already knows your stack, your budget, and your last three decisions — so each one builds on the last instead of starting over. The weekly session is where you work ahead of the problem: what's coming, what to stop doing, where the team needs to be in six months. Between sessions, send the question that came up Tuesday and get a written answer back. Month to month; stop whenever it stops paying for itself.
Let's talkEmbedded Advisor
Custom · scoped to fit
When a weekly session isn't enough — a migration to steer, a team to stand up, a quarter of decisions coming fast. Deep enough to change how the work runs: how decisions get made, who owns what, what the team stops doing. The way of working is yours to keep after the engagement ends. Every situation is different, so we'll scope it together rather than guess at a number.
Let's talkWho you're talking to
Built by an engineer and business owner, not a slideware consultant.
Nick Anderson spent fifteen years building the systems behind the buzzwords — leading machine learning, data science, data engineering, software and platform engineering teams at John Deere and Principal before leaving to run his own business.
Today he owns & operates a brick-and-mortar business in Ankeny, IA, making the same technology decisions you face — what to buy, what to build, where AI earns its keep — with his own money on the line.
That range from Fortune 500 engineering leadership to Main Street operating reality is hard to find in this business. Anyone can recommend technology. Few have built it. Almost none have run their own business on it. He's done all three.
- Background
- ML, data science & engineering, software & platform engineering leadership — John Deere, Principal
- Currently
- Owner-operator of a technology-run small business, Des Moines metro
- Based in
- Des Moines, Iowa
- Works with
- Owner-operators, executives, team leads, and enterprise business units
Start here
Hear it straight.
Book a 60-minute session, or send a note about the decision you're facing. If a session isn't the right fit, that's a straight answer too.
