Page 56 - November 2021

A Unique Perspective
Keith with Lance Robinson, his partner in McColee Land & Livestock.
by Diane Rice
Commercial breeder Keith Nellesen’s business background has aided his ability to craft innovative incentive opportunities.
Successful entrepreneur Keith Nellesen knows better than most people that to be successful in business, you have to motivate customers to purchase your product. So it’s no surprise that along with finding clients’ moti- vation to buy his software and tech products, he’s been able to find like inducements in his Quarter Horse breeding program.
“He’s a realist who knows exactly what
he wants to do and has an imagination that, combined with his business background, allows him to always find a way to make things work,” says Lance Robinson, his partner in McColee Land & Livestock, which breeds speed for the racetrack and the barrel racing arena. “His [non-horse] companies got really, really good
at determining the things they needed to do
to encourage people to go a certain direction, and he has transferred a lot of those ideas to the horse business, which can push the industry to a whole new realm of potential participants.
“He’s got a program [the KVN Corona Bonus, established in 2018] for the people who buy yearlings from him, with an incentive for breeders, owners and trainers of horses by his stallion,” explains Lance, who played a large part in launching the Pink Buckle and Ruby Buckle incentivized barrel competitions. “He has
come up with ideas for syndicated horses that come from a different perspective than those
of people like me who have been involved in
the horse business our entire lives. He’s helped our [McColee] program advance a little quicker than it would have with the usual approach, and I think he might be able to help the AQHA and racing as a whole in the same way.”
His Formative Years
Keith, along with his younger sister, Lee Ann, and his older brother, Allen, spent their youth in their hometown of Idaho Falls, Idaho, with their parents, Don and Nancy Nellesen. Keith was introduced to horses at his grandparents’ farm in Swan Valley, Idaho, and during summers between seventh and eighth grades and on through high school, he also worked with his uncle, who ran Conant Valley Ranch in Swan Valley.
“I only rode on the ranch,” Keith says. “I didn’t know anyone who rodeoed.” But he always loved horses. “I grew up pretty much just hunting and pushing cows on them, and I always loved what they can do; I like about anything you can do with a horse.”
After high school, he spent his freshman year at Boise State University, then transferred to Brigham Young University (BYU) in Provo, Utah, where he graduated cum laude with a master’s degree in accounting in 1992. He then entered the public accounting field.
He married his wife, Melisa, in 1991, and they have since added three children to their family: daughter McKenzie, 26; son Cole, 23; and daughter Preslee, 12 — the inspiration for the McColee Land & Livestock name.
Big in Business
Keith’s business education prepared him for his entrepreneurial ventures, which in turn prepared him financially for funding his horse venture.
In 2011, Keith and his high school friend Todd Pedersen founded Vivint, Inc., which expanded on the offerings of its parent
“He’s a realist who knows exactly what he wants to do and has an imagination that, combined
with his business background, allows him to always find a way to make things
work.”- Lance Robinson
54 SPEEDHORSE November 2021