Meet Divyesh Patel
One of the most exciting things about being a startup is building our team - drawing together our inner circle to help us realize our vision and grow our company and culture. Over the next while, we will be introducing you to more of our team at Ground Truth Ag, continuing with our Chief Operating Officer, Divyesh Patel.
Meet Divyesh
Being part of the leadership team for a startup company from its inception has always been a career goal for Divyesh. “Coming to work for Ground Truth Ag was an opportunity that I couldn’t pass up,” he remembers of his meeting with Chief Executive Officer, Kyle Folk. “I’ve always been on the other side of the table building up businesses like Ground Truth Ag, providing consulting services to startup companies when working for Springboard West Innovations and then facilitating research partnerships at the University of Regina.”
Kyle had worked with Divyesh when he was developing his first company. Realizing that the product he wanted to develop with his next company presented a much more technically challenging problem to solve, Kyle reached out to Divyesh at the University of Regina.
”As we peeled back the layers of the onion to figure out what it would take to build this new technology, we realized this would be a good opportunity for us to work together again,” Divyesh says. “As the chief operating officer, I get to be involved in all parts of the business and I’m really good at that. I have a wide range of expertise and being in this role, I get the opportunity to apply all of it.”
What Divyesh enjoys most about his day-to-day work at Ground Truth Ag is the team the company has built around an in-office workplace and culture.
“We have a very diverse team with different skill sets and everyone is responsible for a different part of the product. I really enjoy watching our team, who are all experts in their fields, come together and combine their expertise in a cohesive way to build a really cool product,” Divyesh explains. “My role is ensuring the team has the resources they need and that our resources and efforts are aligned. I get to balance the controlled chaos we need to be innovative and problem solve the challenges we come across while ensuring we are efficient with our resources so we can deliver our product on time – it’s invigorating.”
“When you think about our product – we started with nothing. In a couple of years, we have gone from an idea to this tangible, working product – you can see it, play with it, use it and grade grain with it. This progress is a real testament to our team. We gave them a vision and a plan and they came together and developed this exceptionally innovative piece of ag tech.”
When not at work, Divyesh likes spending quiet time with his girlfriend and his eleven-year-old dog – a Newfoundland Golden Retriever cross named Ember. He’s happiest when that time is spent outdoors no matter the time of year.
“With back country camping, hiking or canoeing, there’s always planning to do and I enjoy that. When you get out in nature, you can shut everything off. There are no distractions except for what’s in front of you and what you need to do to keep yourself
alive,” he explains. “I grew up in Creighton, Saskatchewan. There’s not much there aside from rocks, trees and lakes so I’ve always just really liked getting outside in the winter. Yes, it’s cold but it’s also quiet and peaceful. You just need the right gear and to do a some planning.”
Divyesh also travels extensively. Much of his family emigrated from India in the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s and have settled and built successful careers all over the world. “We are a big family and very close – and a perk for me is that many of them live in really cool places. To see each other, we end up travelling a lot, whether that’s getting together in the UK, US, hosting my family here to explore Canada or meeting up to visit new destinations together.”
