Good Soil, Great Growth: Reflecting on My Time at the 2025 Good Soil Forum
This past week, I had the honor of serving as a panelist at the Good Soil Forum 2025 in Dallas, TX. Alongside Tyrome Smith and Adam Berk, we led a conversation titled "Numbers Don’t Lie: Mastering Data to Grow & Scale." What made this session truly powerful wasn’t just the content we delivered, but the intention behind it…to equip entrepreneurs with practical strategies to turn data into decisions and decisions into sustainable growth.
For me, the highlight of the panel was helping the audience reframe data not just as a reporting tool, but as an asset that appreciates over time. I told the story of how the Mormon Church turned centuries of genealogical records into a data empire now valued at billions. The point? Your business data, customer trends, operational cycles and conversion patterns is your asset. And when you track it well, it compounds.
We also broke down:
The essential metrics every founder should know: LTV, CAC, and Customer Retention.
The difference between KPIs and OKRs and why both are critical.
The power of retention as a signal for whether your product is solving a real problem.
Why data-driven storytelling isn’t about vanity metrics, but clarity and control.
One of the key moments was when we asked: If you had to pick ONE metric that matters across all businesses, what would it be? For me, the answer is retention. Because retention tells you if people found real value. Acquisition can be bought. Retention has to be earned.
What I walked away with wasn’t just appreciation for the opportunity, but admiration for the founders in the room. Their grit, their questions, and their hunger for better tools reminded me why I do this work.
To those who attended our session, thank you for showing up fully. If you want to continue the conversation, I invite you to book a free strategy session with me at www.DistrictAnalyst.com. Whether you're just starting to track your data or preparing to present to investors, I’d love to help you turn your metrics into momentum.
Until next time,
Germar Reed
