Overview

Deep Nexus is a quantitative trading technology firm founded in 2017 on the premise that financial markets contain repeatable, non-random anomalies. The company began with simple neural networks and evolved into sophisticated deep-learning systems integrated with a full automated trading stack. By 2020, they expanded into cross-asset portfolio modeling, discovering both the power and the limitations of conventional machine learning in non-stationary markets. In early 2025, they developed a proprietary information-theoretic trading framework intended to overcome those limitations and unify their prior research. Today, Deep Nexus focuses on scaling this system.

For Deep Nexus, I raised and secured the first flagship test fund and worked closely with the CEO as a trusted strategic advisor — offering capital, direction, and executive-level support through the firm’s formative stage.

From The EDG’s perspective, Deep Nexus represents one of the most technically disciplined and intellectually rigorous firms we have encountered. Their progression from early neural-network experimentation to deep-learning systems, and ultimately to a proprietary information-theoretic trading framework, demonstrates rare methodological seriousness. We view Deep Nexus as a firm that has resisted hype cycles and instead allowed research, data, and hard-earned limitations to shape its evolution.

Supporting Deep Nexus has reinforced several lessons foundational to EDG’s future direction:

• True edge requires structural insight, not incremental predictive tweaks.
   
• Markets punish intellectual laziness — conventional ML is insufficient without a framework that can accommodate non-stationarity and regime instability.
   
• The temperament of a founder matters as much as the technology; Deep Nexus’s CEO has demonstrated resilience, obsessive rigor, and the capacity to grow through technical dead-ends.
   
• Providing strategic and emotional support to a deeply technical founder has given EDG a clearer understanding of how to back early-stage, research-heavy teams: with capital, yes, but also with presence, stability, and disciplined thinking.

Deep Nexus is currently operating with a matured research framework, a robust internal theory of markets, and a proprietary information-theoretic system designed to generalize across instruments and conditions. Their automated trading infrastructure is in place, and the firm is now actively scaling its modeling systems, data pipelines, and internal research environment. The flagship test fund — which EDG raised — provides the capital foundation for ongoing development and early live-market testing.

EDG’s view is that Deep Nexus is entering its true formative phase: the transition from research-centered exploration to scalable deployment. If the information-theoretic framework continues to behave as expected, we believe Deep Nexus has the potential to become a next-generation quantitative research firm — one capable of producing durable, system-level trading approaches rather than short-lived model-specific alpha. Their future likely includes expanded R&D staffing, accelerated infrastructure build-out, and eventually a larger institutional fund structure once the system is fully validated in live conditions.

Water Science Inc. is a drastically innovative chemical, biochemical, electrochemical, biological, and biotech - deep research, IP, engineering, and manufacturing firm with a range of products including fertilizer, fertilizer delivery mechanisms, organic pesticides, renewable liquid fuels, pharmaceuticals among others. The products are built upon years of R&D in biological and chemical manufacturing methods by the prolific founder and inventor Robert J. Littmann and are intended to be commercialized through its subsidiaries, partners and affiliates: AgriScience, Inc.; Industrial Waste Elimination, Inc.; Water Science Biotechnology, Water Science Renewable Energy Inc.; and Electrolytic Hydrogen Inc.

From the vantage point of EDG, WaterScience represented a bold and meaningful attempt to apply biochemical innovation toward real-world sustainability and environmental impact. The company’s value proposition — significantly higher fertilizer retention and reduced nutrient runoff — aligned deeply with long-term environmental stability and ethical stewardship. The scale of ambition (a large 100,000 sq ft facility and broad product lines) was appropriate for the structural ambition of the problem (agriculture, pollution, sustainability).

Supporting WaterScience taught several critical lessons that now shape how EDG views future investments:

• Transformational, high-CAPEX biotech ventures demand capital discipline and rigorous long-term planning: even with promising technology, scaling a manufacturing-heavy, regulation-sensitive business is high-risk and resource-intensive.
   
• Impact-driven ventures (especially in environment / sustainability sectors) often carry latent externalities and dependencies — regulatory, supply-chain, market-adoption — which must be deeply analyzed before committing major capital.
   
• Providing not just capital, but administrative, operational, and structural support (investor introduction, governance, oversight) is essential: innovation alone isn’t enough without robust infrastructure around it.
   
• The value of holding conviction: I believed (and still believe) in the underlying technology and its potential for societal/environmental benefit — but such ventures require patience, resilience, and a willingness to withstand long development cycles before realizing return or impact.

WaterScience, along with its subsidiaries, partners, and affiliates, continues to possess the same technological potential and commercial promise it demonstrated during its early development. 

However, the company is presently immobilized by a series of legal disputes initiated by hostile investors. The claims and counter-claims have escalated to a point where all parties have entrenched themselves in mutually unreasonable positions, resulting in a prolonged stalemate.

As it stands, the company’s forward progress is constrained not by technology, capability, or market viability, but by unresolved litigation and investor conflict.

From EDG’s perspective, the future of WaterScience is bifurcated. If the legal conflicts are resolved — through settlement, restructuring, or a change in governance — WaterScience retains the potential to become a transformative green-chemistry and sustainable-manufacturing enterprise. Its technology, market fit, and long-term environmental impact profile remain strong, and under disciplined leadership the company could scale meaningfully across fertilizers, fuels, and specialty chemical applications.

If, however, the stalemate persists, the litigation will continue to drain time, resources, optionality, and internal cohesion. In that scenario, the company risks being  fully destroyed — not due to a failure of science or business fundamentals, but because of investor hostility and the inability to reach a rational resolution.

From EDG’s standpoint, WaterScience sits at a crossroads:
resolve the disputes and the sky remains the limit; allow them to persist and the company will collapse under their weight.

Remarkable Brands — a brand-investment and franchising initiative aimed at acquiring or creating high-potential consumer & service brands, systematizing them, and scaling via regional / national roll-out.

A fast-casual restaurant concept built around a high-protein chicken-focused menu.

Rustic Chicken was a flagship fast-casual restaurant brand emphasizing high-quality chicken dishes, operational simplicity, and scalable unit economics. The brand development included menu design, supplier negotiations, safety protocols, digital marketing, and franchise-ready operating systems. Rustic Chicken served as the cornerstone concept within Remarkable Brands’ broader franchising strategy.

As Managing Member and operating partner at EDG, I was deeply involved in building, operating, and scaling brands under Remarkable Brands. My responsibilities included:

• Constructed operational infrastructure: developed operations manuals, standard operating procedures (SOPs), and administrative systems to support franchising and multi-location rollout.
   
• Participated hands-on in core operations when needed: sales & marketing, parts management, technician sourcing, recruiting, even technician-level work — ensuring a real “in-the-trenches” understanding of operational bottlenecks and cash-flow realities.
   
• Evaluated and acquired target brands / business ideas; performed due diligence on liabilities, lease terms, location histories, and founder commitments.
   
• Launched and managed multiple sub-brands: e.g., the restaurant-equipment servicing & small-equipment catalog business (“Affordable Restaurant Service and Equipment”) — scaled up to five U.S. locations under my oversight.
   
• Oversaw brand development for a new restaurant concept (“Rustic Chicken”) — including menu design, operational rollout, branding, and early marketing strategies.
   
• Managed financials, cash-flow tracking, lease obligations, location selection, and negotiating with landlords and vendors.
   

As Franchise Operations Development Manager and Franchise Sales Manager (2015–2019): I led the expansion, operational development, and systems-building efforts across Remarkable Brands and its portfolio of restaurant and service-based companies. 

• My responsibilities spanned multi-state operations, franchising strategy, sales, technology development, and hands-on operational support during the build-out of new units.

• I drove the company’s growth from 1 to 5 franchise units, developing the operational infrastructure required to support a multi-location, multi-brand platform. I authored comprehensive franchisee operating manuals, implemented industry-leading HAACP safety procedures, and built labor-efficiency models that reduced staffing costs by ~20% across multiple units.

• I negotiated supplier and equipment contracts that produced 10–30% savings, including initiating competitive bidding among national vendors. I led the development of an internal purchasing portal and field-technician app that secured discounted parts pricing, streamlined procurement, and improved service operations.

• Operationally, I directed franchisor oversight across Utah, Tennessee, Mississippi, and Texas. I managed day-to-day operational performance, supervised field technicians, executed multi-state digital marketing initiatives, and supported franchisees with systems implementation, troubleshooting, and revenue-optimization strategies.

• For Rustic Chicken, the flagship restaurant concept, I contributed to construction, startup operations, and ongoing management — negotiating supplier contracts, authoring safety and operations protocols, developing digital marketing, and designing scalable labor models.

• For Affordable Restaurant Service & Equipment, I led expansion and ongoing multi-state franchise oversight. I developed market-penetration matrices, operational models, an internal company intranet, and co-created a proprietary integrated software system that unified scheduling, performance tracking, training, and operational decision-making — enabling real-time incentives and reducing administrative overhead.

• These contributions built the operational backbone of Remarkable Brands during its expansion phase, formalized its franchising model, and established the systems and structures that supported growth across multiple states and diverse business units.

From EDG’s vantage: Remarkable Brands was an ambitious and instructive venture. The attempt to build a brand-platform and franchise engine was rooted in solid strategy: building repeatable systems, controlling operations, and scaling proven service/brand models. In practice, the venture exposed several structural flaws and risks that overshadowed early enthusiasm:

• Scaling before a brand has proven long-term stability creates over-exposure. In particular, taking on multiple lease obligations and heavy fixed overhead before confirming a brand’s resilience proved fatal when external stressors (e.g. location weaknesses, labor demands) emerged.
   
• Due diligence underestimated latent liabilities — bad location histories, burdensome leases, founder disclosure gaps — which significantly increased downside risk.
   
• Asset-heavy, labor-intensive businesses (franchises, service centers, restaurant operations) require long operational trial periods before scaling — systems must run stably for at least a full business cycle before expansion. Rushing expansion leads to structural fragility.
   
• External dependencies and market unpredictability (consumer demand, labor, real-estate, supply-chain) made scaling more fragile than anticipated.

Currently, the majority of the sub-brands under Remarkable Brands have been wound down or sold; a handful remain, but the broader franchising ambitions have been shelved. The initiative serves now more as a rich experience-base and learning lab rather than an active growth platform.

While Remarkable Brands in its original form will not be revived, its greatest value is pedagogical and strategic: the operation provided EDG with a hard-earned education in scaling consumer-facing businesses, risk structuring, operational queuing, and the perils of over-expansion.

That experience — the successes and failures — will inform all future ventures: only proven, stable operations should be scaled; rigorous due diligence before acquisition or expansion; full visibility into liabilities (leases, contracts, founder history); and operational systems must be validated over time before leveraging growth.

Someday, EDG may deploy those lessons in a new brand-investment framework — but only when conditions, timing, and structural foundations are strictly validated.

From EDG’s standpoint, Fireside on Regent was an ambitious and creatively successful restaurant venture that achieved strong critical reception but faced structural constraints that ultimately undermined its financial viability. The core product—handmade pastas, wood-fired pizza, and elevated small plates—was validated repeatedly by customer response and industry recognition, including three “Best of Utah” awards. Operational execution was strong: excellent food, a committed team, and a distinctive dining experience in the Eccles Theater complex.

However, the venture was hampered by factors outside operational control: an unfavorable lease structure, lack of promised surrounding development, limited signage and visibility, constrained seating capacity, and inconsistent foot traffic tied to theater scheduling. These external limitations placed a ceiling on revenue potential that even strong execution could not overcome.

The Fireside experience imparted several lasting lessons that now shape EDG’s investment filter and risk-assessment approach:

• Externalities matter as much as internal excellence. Even the best team, product, and operational execution cannot compensate for structural disadvantages in location, lease terms, and surrounding economic conditions.
   
• Before investing in brick-and-mortar ventures, the full “story” of the asset—its history, constraints, latent risks, and dependencies—must be known in detail.
   
• Landlord promises and development plans must be verified, not assumed. Fireside’s business model relied on infrastructure and foot-traffic patterns that never materialized.
   
• In hospitality, control over visibility, signage, and customer flow is not optional—it is existential.
   
• Financial discipline requires knowing when to exit, even from something critically beloved. Emotional attachment cannot override structural realism.
   

These insights have strengthened EDG’s capacity to evaluate location-dependent businesses, assess structural risk, and avoid overexposure to variables outside the operator’s control.

Fireside on Regent has been fully wound down. The brand no longer operates, and the company’s remaining activities concluded with the shutdown process. What remains is the institutional knowledge, documented systems, awards, and operational learnings—not an active business entity.

While Fireside will not be revived in its original form, the lessons it provided are foundational to EDG’s evolution. This experience sharpened EDG’s understanding of lease risk, real-estate dependencies, externalities, capital structure, and the non-negotiable requirements for a brick-and-mortar business to achieve durable profitability.

Any future EDG participation in hospitality or consumer-facing physical businesses will require:

• Full control or strong leverage over real estate and visibility
   
• Validation of surrounding development and traffic patterns
   
• Clear upside potential not constrained by fixed structural limitations
   
• Operational flexibility and exit optionality
   

In EDG’s view, Fireside represents a case study in operational excellence constrained by external factors—a reminder that even “the right restaurant” cannot succeed in “the wrong box.” The experience now informs how EDG designs, structures, and de-risks future investments across all asset classes.

North Wasatch Recovery was an Intensive Outpatient & Sober Living Program in Ogden, Utah.

As Investor, Board Member, and Operations Analyst (2015–2018), I supported the development, operational structuring, and early growth efforts of North Wasatch Recovery, a mid-market drug and alcohol treatment center in Ogden, Utah. My work focused on strengthening the organization’s clinical leadership, operational systems, and payer relationships during its foundational stage.

I led the recruitment and onboarding of a new Medical Director, ensuring clinical governance, regulatory compliance, and quality-of-care standards were aligned with state and insurance requirements. I contributed to the development of proprietary billing and treatment-workflow systems, aimed at improving operational transparency, reimbursement accuracy, and patient-care continuity.

I secured approximately $650,000 in fundraising, supporting expansion initiatives, staffing, and operational infrastructure. In addition to capital formation, I negotiated key contracts with Weber Health & Human Services and actively lobbied for major payer relationships with the VA and SelectHealth, helping position the organization for long-term sustainability.

Through these combined responsibilities—clinical leadership recruitment, systems development, fundraising, payer negotiations, and operational support—I helped structure the early-stage foundation upon which North Wasatch Recovery sought to scale its clinical and administrative operations.

From EDG’s perspective, North Wasatch Recovery was a mission-driven, mid-market treatment center with strong early potential and an important role in serving the Ogden community. The clinical concept was sound, the need for services was clear, and the operational model—once fully developed—had the capacity to generate both meaningful clinical outcomes and sustainable revenue.

However, despite promising foundational steps—clinical leadership recruitment, payer-contract initiatives, and early systems development—the venture was hindered by structural weaknesses in financial management, cash-flow controls, and internal governance. These deficiencies created persistent operational instability that overshadowed the underlying value of the service offering.

North Wasatch Recovery provided several important lessons that now inform EDG’s approach to healthcare and service-based investments:

• In healthcare, operational discipline is non-negotiable. Clinical quality alone cannot offset weak financial, administrative, or billing systems.
   
• Cash-flow transparency and accounting controls must be established early. Without them, even promising treatment centers become vulnerable to mismanagement.
   
• Payer relationships (Medicaid, SelectHealth, VA, county contracts) are strategically pivotal—and the timelines for securing them must be integrated into the business model from the beginning.
   
• Founders in service-based healthcare ventures must possess both clinical and operational maturity, or they must be paired with leadership that does.
   
• Board oversight must be active, not ceremonial. Passive governance in a high-risk, regulated industry creates avoidable exposure.
   

As a result, EDG now applies a heightened diligence filter to any healthcare-adjacent venture, ensuring that leadership, controls, and compliance frameworks are sound before significant capital or operational support is deployed.

North Wasatch Recovery is no longer in active operation. The business was ultimately unable to overcome the financial-management and governance challenges that emerged during its growth phase, and operations ceased after continued instability. No active clinical or administrative functions remain, and the entity should be regarded as fully wound down.

While the organization itself will not continue, its legacy within EDG is instructional. The experience has shaped EDG’s standards for investing in:

• treatment centers
• healthcare operations
• recovery/sober-living services
• any clinically regulated service business
   

Future EDG involvement in behavioral health or recovery services would require:

• verified operational controls
• robust billing systems
• experienced clinical leadership
• reliable payer contracts
• transparent financial governance
   

The North Wasatch experience ultimately strengthened EDG’s operational intelligence, sharpened its healthcare-sector investment criteria, and provided a clear framework for avoiding similar structural risks in future ventures.

Bobo sales was an e-commerce company that developed technology for tagging multiple items in an uploaded photo. This allowed a user to stage a room, upload that room to the website, and tag multiple items in the image as products for purchase. 

You can see similar technology proliferating on sites like Instagram and Pinterest today. We launched in ~2014 and were able to garner some pretty promising partnerships with some established players but the company did not succeed for a multitude of reasons; too crowded of a cap table, too low of an initial raise, not enough technology experience on the board, board dis-alignment, etc. 

I was as passive investor in this enterprise.

The technology was the right idea, and at the right time. Ultimately, there were not enough technical skills involved in management.