Stop replacing your technology every two years.
Most teams are stuck in the same loop: adopt the platform of the moment, spend a year making it fit, finally get good at it — then tear it out and start over. Spoon River helps you break that cycle — honest advice on what to build, what to buy, and what to ignore, for whoever's making the call: owner, executive, engineer, or someone in between.
Bring a tough decision. Leave with confident direction.
50 minutes · video or in person (Des Moines)
The approach
Every consultant will recommend technology. Few will recommend less of it.
Edgar Lee Masters made the Spoon River famous as the place where everyone finally told the plain truth.
At Spoon River Advisory, you can expect the same: nothing to sell you, no kickbacks from vendors — just the plain truth about your technology decisions.
Just judgment, from someone who has spent fifteen years building and running these systems.
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
Advisory Session
Bring one decision — a vendor pitch you can't judge, a build-vs-buy call, an AI question, a tool that keeps letting you down. Direct answers on the call, with the reasoning behind them.
Book a sessionEverything Else
Need something bigger, smaller, or ongoing? Send a note about your situation — recurring counsel, a vendor contract review, a team session, whatever the problem calls for — and we'll shape it together.
Start the conversationSometimes the honest answer after the first hour is that you don't need anything else.
Who 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 ML, data, 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 his clients face — what to buy, what to build, where AI earns its keep — with his own money on the line.
That range — Fortune 500 engineering leadership to Main Street operating reality — is hard to find in this business. Plenty of consultants have recommended technology. Fewer have built it. Almost none have lived with the bill. He's done all three.
- Background
- ML, data & 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 50-minute session, or send a note about the decision you're facing. If a session isn't the right fit, you'll be told that too.