Changing Lives By Taking Chances

Abstract

<p>Kevin Kimle knew he was taking a leap of faith. He had a great job working for Pioneer Hi-Bred International in business development. He negotiated deals and performed market analyses. In doing so he used one of the first web browsers ever created to read reports from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Kimle ('91 economics) began thinking: This technology has enormous potential to serve the agriculture industry at large. He knew he could make it happen. He understood it was a leap of faith, but he had faith in his idea, his abilities and the people he would gather around him. "A light bulb went off about the power of creating software to create efficiencies in how agriculture worked. It was a cost-effective way to move and share information between buyers and sellers. My friend, Dave Krog, and I had fresh ideas on how that could play out," Kimle says. Kimle and Krog ('80 agronomy, MS '82 economics, PhD '88 economics) left Pioneer to build the business that would become E-Markets. The internet-based electronic commerce system was the fist of its kind in agriculture and food industry. Following the success of E-Markets, Kimle launched Decision Commodities, a company that provided risk management tools similar to mutual funds for grain producers.</p>