Client Spotlight: Brian Krogsgard

7/22/26 By Carey Browder

Client Spotlight: Brian Krogsgard

From Digital Ventures to Real Assets and a New Definition of Success

Why We Share These Stories

IronVest's Client Spotlight shares the positive business stories that do not always make headlines. These are the people building companies, serving their customers, and strengthening Birmingham. By highlighting the clients, vendors, and community partners behind that work, we hope to bring greater awareness to good people doing meaningful things across our city.

Brian Krogsgard's career has moved from industrial engineering to web publishing, cryptocurrency, commercial real estate, and, most recently, land surveying. On paper, the transitions may appear disconnected. Look closer, though, and a clear thread emerges: curiosity, disciplined risk-taking, and a desire to build something worthwhile.

Drawn To Build Something New

Krogsgard cannot remember a time when entrepreneurship was not somewhere in the back of his mind. He was not the child running a neighborhood business, but he was consistently drawn to creating rather than simply stepping into an established path.

"I just always remember wanting to do something, wanting to be part of something, particularly something new or something unique, rather than trying to fit into something that already existed."

That instinct led him to industrial engineering at Auburn University and, afterward, to American Cast Iron Pipe Company. The experience gave him a firsthand look at a successful company owned by its employees and the power of an invested team. It also helped him recognize that a traditional corporate career was not the right fit for him long-term.

While traveling for work, Krogsgard taught himself to write code and develop websites. A personal interest soon revealed a business opportunity.

"I eventually recognized that what I was learning was not just a hobby, but something that people actually needed in the world."

In 2013, he began building a web publication and community focused on the industry as a side business. He began working on it full time the following year and eventually sold the company in stages in 2020 and 2021. More important than the transaction itself were the voice he developed and the relationships he built.

"It was really cool not just to have the success of an exit, but having built something that was important within the industry, and having an ability to have a voice within an industry was something I really valued."

Six Months From A Very Different Ending

His experience in open source software led naturally into cryptocurrency. Between 2017 and 2024, Krogsgard built an audience, launched a podcast, and eventually founded a startup backed by venture capital. The company created a strong product, but entered the market at the wrong moment.

"We created a great product just at the tail end of a business cycle."

"We were probably six months to a year late from a nine-figure exit and ended with a $0 exit."

The failure could have been the defining event of his career. Instead, it sharpened the way he thinks about risk, timing, and control.

"I can control my attitude and my effort along the way. I can't control what the market is going to do. I can't control legislation. I can't control macroeconomics, but I can control my capacity to respond to changes in the market."

The lesson was not to stop taking risks. It was to understand the environment and act accordingly, remaining curious while moving with discipline.

"How do I respond to the environment that changes around me, and try my hardest to sail with the tailwind rather than against the headwind."

Trading Digital Assets For Dirt

Even before the startup reached its conclusion, Krogsgard had begun looking beyond digital markets. Conversations with Derek Waltchack helped him see commercial real estate as an asset class that could offer appreciation, income and tax efficiency.

"That's a pretty cool triangle of benefits for any investable asset."

By late 2021, he began converting some of his cryptocurrency holdings into commercial real estate.

"My mindset was I need to own some dirt, real assets that are a little more immune to bubbles and cycles."

One purchase changed far more than his investment portfolio. Krogsgard acquired the building occupied by Weygand Surveyors and began sharing office space with the company's owner, who was preparing to retire. As their relationship developed, the owner posed an unexpected question: Would Krogsgard buy the surveying business, too?

"And I said, 'I'm not a surveyor and talked to my wife about it. And unlike some of my ideas, which she was absolutely right about and said were not very good ideas, she thought this one was a pretty good idea. And we've been on that journey since late 2023.'"

The acquisition brought Krogsgard into the center of Birmingham's real estate ecosystem. Weygand works alongside brokers, title companies, attorneys, lenders, developers, business owners and end users. Those relationships have given him a broader view of how transactions and developments come together.

"Because of where we sit in the middle of all those things, it gives us a really interesting insight to see the importance of all those different parts of the transaction, all those different stakeholders, and the value that they add to the process."

His goal is to make Weygand more than a required box on a due diligence checklist. He wants it to be a responsive partner that understands what a customer is trying to accomplish and adds value throughout the process.

"I hope that what we can show people over time is that we can be a value add part of that process."

Building In Birmingham

Krogsgard grew up in South Alabama and came to Birmingham to join his high school girlfriend, who attended Samford University. They married, raised their family here, and made the city home.

"My family's here, and this is home. It's pretty straightforward, and we built a community here, and we really love it."

Working across municipalities has shown him both Birmingham's opportunity and its challenges. He believes the people shaping local communities are largely well-intentioned, but established processes can sometimes stand in the way of the outcomes those processes were created to support.

"I think there are times where we let process or past planning get in the way of intent for what we're trying to create."

For Krogsgard, progress happens when stakeholders focus on helping good ideas move forward.

"If you look at the places that are most successful right now, I think it's those places are often made up of stakeholders that want to encourage and enable people that are going to create positive change, and they try to figure out how can I help them do that."

The Good Endeavor

Krogsgard's story is not a straight line, and he does not present it as one. His advice to aspiring entrepreneurs reflects that reality: start small, become deeply knowledgeable about something that matters to you, seek mentors, and allow time for the work to bear fruit.

"It's not like there's an acquisition playbook that you just follow, and it'll be great. Good things take time."

His family keeps that long game in perspective. Coaching his children's baseball teams and spending time at home remind him that neither a business win nor a difficult season determines his worth.

"What keeps me grounded is that my family loves me no matter what, and I want to work hard and put my best foot forward, but I don't have to give everything to achieve something worldly. God put us on this planet to be good stewards of the resources he gives us, and if I can do that to the best of my ability each day, I can certainly be satisfied."

After building, selling, losing, investing, and beginning again, Krogsgard measures success differently than he once might have.

"I don't think success is a number in your bank account, or a net worth, or a number of buildings that you've acquired, or businesses that you've exited, or anything like that."

"I think that success, I hope, for me is determined by partaking in a good endeavor."

That idea connects every chapter of his career. The industries may change, but the work remains the same: stay curious, act with integrity, serve people well, and build something worth building.

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