Bobby Clayson on Building, Pivoting, and Solving Real Problems

For Bobby Clayson, entrepreneurship has never been about chasing a single idea. It has always been about solving problems.

Over the past decade, Bobby has helped build companies in dramatically different industries—from launching one of Utah’s fastest-growing fintech startups to rethinking how food moves from local farms to families. As an early co-founder of TaxBit, he played a key role in creating a platform that simplified cryptocurrency tax and accounting compliance for individuals, enterprises, and governments. Today, as the founder of Crofter Market, he’s applying those same entrepreneurial instincts to America’s food supply chain.

Bobby’s story is a reminder that entrepreneurship rarely follows a straight path. It requires disciplined learning, timely pivots, and clarity of purpose—especially when success comes quickly or setbacks hit hard. His journey offers valuable lessons for founders, investors, and anyone looking to build something meaningful.

The Early Days of Entrepreneurship

Bobby’s path into entrepreneurship began long before TaxBit. Raised by an entrepreneurial father and immersed in startups for years, he always knew he wanted to build something of his own. That opportunity arrived in 2017, during a surge in cryptocurrency interest.

At the time, Bobby was deeply involved in blockchain technology and began noticing a growing wave of confusion about how digital assets would be taxed. When the IRS clarified that cryptocurrency would be treated as property subject to capital gains tax, the complexity of reporting those transactions became clear. Alongside a small founding team that included tax and legal expertise, Bobby helped launch TaxBit to automate the process and bring structure to a chaotic new space.

From the outset, the team’s effectiveness depended on cross-functional trust.

As Bobby explains, “If you dive into anybody’s discipline, you understand that it’s deeper and more important, and I think we started with a deep respect for each other’s disciplines and expertise.”

That respect enabled speed and adaptability. Rather than becoming anchored to their first idea, they treated it as something to test and refine.

“Your theory about what your product should be is just that. It’s a theory and that’s how you should treat it. When you have an idea as somebody who’s an entrepreneur, you need to treat it as a theory that you’re going to go out and prove or disprove and evolve to solve a problem.”

That mindset led TaxBit to pivot from a consumer-facing product to an enterprise-grade platform serving exchanges, institutions, and government agencies. The pivot positioned the company for scale. TaxBit went on to achieve unicorn status with a valuation exceeding $1 billion and became one of Utah’s fastest-growing companies.

From Fintech to Food Systems

After helping scale TaxBit, Bobby found himself drawn toward a very different challenge: the food supply chain.

During the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, grocery shelves emptied while farmers struggled to move product. Processing plant shutdowns and distribution failures exposed deep cracks in the system. Bobby began asking a fundamental question: If farmers were still producing food, why couldn’t consumers access it?

That question eventually led to the creation of Crofter Market, an online marketplace connecting consumers directly with local farmers producing regenerative and sustainably raised food. The platform aims to provide transparency, convenience, and a viable distribution channel for small producers who lack the resources to scale.

For Bobby, the shift from fintech to food wasn’t as dramatic as it might seem. In both cases, he saw a clear problem and an opportunity to build a solution.

“You don’t want to be a hammer looking for a nail. You want to find what the issue is and then solve it.”

That philosophy continues to guide his approach today.

“If you fall in love with the problem, you can adapt. What I care about is achieving the end result and solving the problem that is clear and present to me and to other people very clearly.”

Building a Marketplace from Scratch

While TaxBit grew in the world of software, Crofter Market operates as a two-sided marketplace—balancing producers and consumers simultaneously.

The first priority was credibility. Many small producers are skeptical of technology platforms. Crofter Market had to demonstrate goodwill, reliability, and genuine alignment with producers’ goals before onboarding could begin at scale.

From there, the team faced the classic marketplace challenge: balancing supply and demand. Too much supply without enough demand creates inefficiency. Too much demand without enough supply causes shortages. Scaling requires deliberate pacing, not overly aggressive expansion..

Crofter Market began in a limited geographic area to refine logistics and operations before expanding. By narrowing its scope, the team could test fulfillment systems, build relationships, and ensure consistent quality before scaling further.

For Bobby, the impact is tangible: farmers moving inventory more efficiently, consumers accessing healthier food, and communities strengthening local supply chains.

Leadership Lessons Along the Way

Bobby’s career hasn’t been without hard lessons. One of the most significant came after his time at TaxBit, when he stepped away from the company he helped build. Reflecting on that period, he points to ego and communication challenges as areas where he had to grow.

Through reflection and mentorship, he began focusing on humility and self-awareness as leadership tools.

“[Ego] drives you, it gives you identity, it gives you ambition. Those are all things you need as an entrepreneur, but when it gets out of its cage, it’s destructive to you and everyone else around you.”

Today, those lessons guide how he leads Crofter Market—respect across disciplines, openness to feedback, and a commitment to continuous improvement. He also places a high value on mentors and advisors, seeking out expertise where his team lacks it and maintaining relationships built on gratitude and trust.

Advice for Aspiring Entrepreneurs

When asked what advice he would offer aspiring founders, Bobby keeps it simple: start.

He encourages aspiring entrepreneurs to stop waiting for the perfect idea or timing and instead begin testing concepts, building prototypes, and talking to potential customers.

“Ideas are so easy to generate…execution is everything.”

He also recommends working at a small startup to gain firsthand experience. In a team of fewer than 20 people, employees see every aspect of the business—from sales and marketing to product development and customer support. That exposure can be invaluable for anyone considering launching their own company.

Above all, he returns to a consistent theme: focus on the problem. When founders remain committed to the problem rather than a specific solution, they stay flexible, resilient, and better equipped to adapt.

Looking Ahead

Today, Crofter Market is focused on strengthening its Utah footprint, refining logistics, and building a scalable model for connecting local farmers with consumers. The long-term vision is national expansion: a platform where families can regularly source high-quality food directly from trusted producers.

As Bobby puts it, “Our objective is to make this one of the ways people feed their family on a regular basis.”

For Bobby, the path from TaxBit to Crofter Market represents a larger view of entrepreneurship: one rooted not just in building companies, but in creating meaningful impact, learning along the way, and staying anchored to purpose.

Success, in his view, is less about a breakthrough moment and more about a sequence of disciplined decisions—act, adapt, improve, repeat.

Want the full story behind Bobby Clayson’s journey?
Listen to the complete MountainWest Capital Network Podcast episode, where Bobby shares insights on scaling startups, navigating pivots, and building businesses that solve meaningful problems.

[Listen to Bobby’s full story here →]

Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/leading-through-hypergrowth-to-reinvention-crofter/id1818372923?i=1000751732717

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/2qNw8LLaE4atpeUazuhTjN?si=7f2bfe0af0a44d82