363. Oaken’s Shashi Raghunandan talks the landowner + farmer relationship, agtech that saves time + money

The American Farm Bureau estimates that roughly 40% of US farmland is either rented of leased. It’s a reality that creates a labyrinth of contracts and agreements between farmers and landowners that the two have to navigate together. One entrepreneur is turning to the power of software to transform that challenge into an opportunity that makes that relationship a little easier to navigate. Shashi Raghunandan, CEO of Oaken, joins us to talk the complex web between landowners and farm operators. We get into:  

• The existing challenge between landowners and farmers, especially as farms grow to significant acreage 
• Oaken as a platform not only manage multiple contracts for large acre farms but to also manage the unique specifics of each individual deal  
• How the migration to cloud-based technologies like Oaken balance in an industry like agriculture that is largely relationship-based 
• The feedback farmer customers are giving on the Oaken platform thus far 
• Shashi’s background in payments and financial services and how it paved the way to him connecting with Purdue DIAL Ventures and eventually leading Oaken 
• What to expect from Oaken in the next 12-18 months