Libsyn Directory

#333: Revolutionizing Agriculture Through AI-Powered Farm Finance with Ajit Purandare, USMA ’95

Release Date: 08/13/2025

#353: Modernizing Capital Raising with Jesse Prince, USMA ‘04

Service Academy Business Mastermind

Need financing for your next investment property? Visit: Want to join us in Charleston, SC on June 1st & 2nd? Visit: ____ Jesse Prince is an Army veteran who served nearly six years on active duty, including two combat tours to Iraq. After transitioning from the military, he built a career in commercial real estate brokerage while earning his Master’s in Real Estate Finance from NYU, graduating near the top of his class and deepening his expertise in institutional-level real estate. Today, Jesse is the founder of IncrediVer, an AI-powered accredited investor verification and...

#352: Building Workforce Housing to Close Supply Gaps in Growing Markets with Tom O’Hare, USNA ’01

Service Academy Business Mastermind

Need financing for your next investment property? Visit: Want to join us in Charleston, SC on June 1st & 2nd? Visit: ____ Tom O’Hare is a U.S. Navy veteran and the founder of Keel Capital and Keel Home Development, where he leads multifamily and infill residential projects across the Midwest and Northern Virginia. Before starting his own companies, Tom spent 17 years in real estate investment banking and later served as CIO and COO of a national single-family rental platform. During that time, he worked on large institutional portfolios and gained firsthand experience in how...

#351: Building a Multi-Billion-Dollar Real Estate Platform Through Disciplined Investing with Tim Siemer, USAFA ‘06 & Mike Siemer

Service Academy Business Mastermind

Need financing for your next investment property? Visit: Want to join us in Charleston, SC on June 1st & 2nd? Visit: ____ Tim Siemer is an Air Force veteran, aviator, and partner at SMB Equity, a real estate private equity firm investing in stabilized and development projects nationwide. At SMB, Tim focuses on evaluating new opportunities and managing investor relationships, applying a disciplined risk management approach shaped by years in military and commercial aviation. He works alongside his father, Mike Siemer, who transitioned into real estate investing after a career as...

#350: The One-Stop Platform Helping Financial Advisors Work Smarter with Ryan Dau, USAFA ‘17

Service Academy Business Mastermind

Need financing for your next investment property? Visit: Want to join us in Charleston, SC on June 1st & 2nd? Visit: ____ Ryan Dau is a former Air Force officer, and founder of ReframeRIA, a consultancy that helps financial advisors streamline their operations, refine their client experience, and optimize their technology stack. Through ReframeRIA, Ryan partners with advisory firms to improve their workflows, refine their client experience, and implement technology that truly supports their businesses. His mission is simple: remove the operational chaos that slows...

#349: Helping Veterans Break Into Tech Sales with Andrew Garcia, USNA ‘10

Service Academy Business Mastermind

Need financing for your next investment property? Visit: Want to join us in Charleston, SC on June 1st & 2nd? Visit: ____ Andrew Garcia is a U.S. Navy veteran and founder of and , two businesses focused on helping veterans and transitioning professionals break into the tech industry. After a successful career in tech sales at Salesforce, Andrew launched The Arena to provide veteran-friendly recruiting services for defense tech startups. He later expanded his mission through Pursuit, a career training platform designed to help aspiring tech sales professionals land their first...

#348: Revolutionizing TDY: How Furniture and Tech Are Solving a $10B Problem with Steve Buchanan, USMA ‘99

Service Academy Business Mastermind

Need financing for your next investment property? Visit: Want to join us in Charleston, SC on June 1st & 2nd? Visit: ____ Steve Buchanan is a U.S Army Veteran and the CEO of TDY Rentals, a company on a mission to transform the way government travelers experience temporary duty assignments. What started as a frustrating personal experience with TDY housing, turned into a purpose-driven venture to make extended stays feel less like deployments, and more like home. At TDY Rentals, Steve and his team provide fully furnished tech-enabled housing solutions tailored for government...

#347: Scaling Businesses 10X in 3 Years with Jeff Evenson, USMA ‘90

Service Academy Business Mastermind

Need financing for your next investment property? Visit: Want to join us in Charleston, SC on June 1st & 2nd? Visit: ____ Jeff Evenson is an experienced business leader and scaling strategist at scaling.com, where he works with founders who are ready to move from early traction to sustained growth. Alongside Blake Erickson and Dr. Benjamin Hardy, he helps entrepreneurs shift from being day-to-day operators to becoming strategic leaders who design companies that scale. Over the last two decades, Jeff built and exited multiple businesses, including a $3.5M hair salon operation, a...

#346: How EOS Helps Founders Get Their Life Back with Kurt Greene, USMA ‘87

Service Academy Business Mastermind

Kurt Greene is a certified EOS Implementer at EOS Worldwide, where he helps leadership teams build stronger, more scalable companies. A graduate of West Point and an Army veteran, Kurt brings a unique mix of Fortune 500 leadership, HR expertise, and peer-group facilitation experience through Vistage Worldwide, Inc. He works with founders and executive teams to implement practical tools that cut through complexity so they can regain control, align their teams, and get back to their visionary role. Whether partnering with veteran-owned businesses or mission-driven entrepreneurs, Kurt’s work is...

#345: Helping Veterans Thrive Through Wild Bill’s Franchise with Michael Quilty, USNA ‘88

Service Academy Business Mastermind

Need financing for your next investment property? Visit: ____ Michael Quilty (USNA '88) is a Navy veteran and franchise development leader who's built his career around creating opportunities for others. After years leading growth and strategy across multiple industries, he's now focused on helping fellow veterans transition to entrepreneurship through franchising. At Wild Bill’s, he plays a key role in growing the company’s franchise footprint, and expanding the presence of their nostalgic craft soda brand across the country. Michael’s work focuses on identifying the right partners,...

#344: Helping High School Students Navigate the Service Academy Admissions Journey with Travis Wittick, USAFA ‘07

Service Academy Business Mastermind

Need financing for your next investment property? Visit: Want to join us in Tampa, FL on January 26th & 27th? Visit: ____ Travis Wittick is the founder of Academy Endeavors, a coaching company that helps high school students navigate the competitive and complex admissions process for U.S. Service Academies and ROTC scholarships. A graduate of the U.S. Air Force Academy and former Air Force hospital administrator, Travis first discovered his passion for mentorship as an Academy Liaison Officer helping students prepare their applications while still on active duty. After...

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____

Ajit Purandare is the Chief Revenue Officer at Croptell, a FinTech company revolutionizing agricultural finance through artificial intelligence. He brings a unique perspective to the agricultural space, having grown up in farming communities on the eastern shore of Delaware in the heart of "chicken country".

A West Point graduate, Ajit joined Croptell after consulting with founder Scott Sartor for two years. What started as a relationship built through duck hunting in the Mississippi Delta evolved into a powerful partnership aimed at disrupting the agricultural finance space. Coming from a family that immigrated from India, Ajit understands firsthand the critical importance of agriculture and the thin margins farmers operate on.

Through data science and AI powered insights, Ajit is helping to transform how farmers access capital and manage their operations. His mission is to empower farmers to focus on what they do best while providing lenders with better tools to assess creditworthiness beyond traditional FICO scores.

In this episode of the SABM podcast, Scott chats with Ajit about:

Croptell's Mission: Revolutionizing crop finance through AI and disrupting the traditional agricultural finance space
The Problem They're Solving: How only 18% of farmers actually do budgets and the challenges of relationship-based lending
Platform Functionality: 5-8 minute onboarding process with AI-powered insights covering 3,000 major crop-producing counties
Target Market Strategy: Focusing on 265,000 Gen Z and millennial farmers taking over family operations through succession planning
Growth Goals: Raising capital for the next crop finance cycle and building partnerships with private equity and community banks

Timestamps:

00:53 Introduction to Croptell

02:21 The Agricultural Finance Landscape

05:09 How Croptell's Platform Works

08:30 Goals and Future Plans for Croptell

13:23 Challenges and Support Needed

16:39 Personal Connection to Agriculture

17:57 Final Thoughts and Contact Information

Connect with Ajit:

If you found value in today's episode, don't keep it to yourself—share it with a colleague or friend who could benefit. And if you're a Service Academy graduate ready to elevate your business, we'd love for you to join our community and get started today.

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A special thank you to Ajit for joining me this week. Until next time!

-Scott Mackes, USNA '01

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