Venture Capital, Aspirations, and Scaling Businesses

Mike Droesch and Joe Lynch discuss the supply chain road map. Mike is a Partner at Bessemer Venture Partners, a venture capital firm that backs promising startups in technology, supply chain, healthcare, and consumer markets. Mike's focus is on logistics and supply chain. Click the link to see Mike review BVP's Supply Chain Roadmap. 

Summary: The Supply Chain Road Map

In this podcast, Mike Droesch from Bessemer Venture Partners shares insights on the importance of a supply chain roadmap and how technology is transforming the logistics industry. He discusses their firm's focus on investing in early-stage companies that bring innovation to the sector, and highlights key areas such as workflow optimization, digital connectivity, and automated financial workflows. Mike also emphasizes the significance of having a founding team with industry expertise and a deep understanding of pain points, and how venture capital funding enables the development of cutting-edge solutions in a competitive market.

#SupplyChainRoadmap

#LogisticsTech

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About Mike Droesch

Mike Droesch is a Partner in the Cambridge office primarily focusing on AI applications, cybersecurity, supply chain software, and B2B marketplaces. He currently serves on the board of directors for Tackle, Curri, Raft, Cypress, Netography, Optimal Dynamics, and VendorPM. Previously, Mike worked with a few venture-backed startups in Boston, including two Bessemer portfolio companies, Fuze and InsightSquared, where he supported sales operations and analytics efforts. He started his career as a systems engineer and then spent nearly three years in management consulting at Navigant, where he helped companies build new businesses around emerging energy and infrastructure technologies in the U.S. and Middle East. He holds an MBA from the MIT Sloan School of Management, a Master’s Degree in naval architecture and engineering from the University of Michigan, and a degree in mechanical engineering from Tufts University.

About Bessemer Venture Partners

Bessemer Venture Partners helps entrepreneurs lay strong foundations to build and forge long-standing companies. With more than 145 IPOs and 300 portfolio companies in the enterprise, consumer and healthcare spaces, Bessemer supports founders and CEOs from their early days through every stage of growth. Bessemer’s global portfolio has included Pinterest, Shopify, Twilio, Yelp, LinkedIn, PagerDuty, DocuSign, Wix, Fiverr, and Toast and has more than $18 billion of assets under management. Bessemer has teams of investors and partners located in Tel Aviv, Silicon Valley, San Francisco, New York, London, Hong Kong, Boston, and Bangalore. Born from innovations in steel more than a century ago, Bessemer’s storied history has afforded its partners the opportunity to celebrate and scrutinize its best investment decisions (see Memos) and also learn from its mistakes (see Anti-Portfolio).

Key Takeaways: The Supply Chain Road Map

• The importance of having a supply chain roadmap aligned with company goals and objectives.
• Bessemer Venture Partners' focus on investing in early-stage technology companies.
• The impact of COVID on the supply chain logistics technology industry and market volatility.
• Venture capital's preference for software businesses over hardware due to scalability and capital requirements.
• Mike Droesch's journey from mechanical engineering to venture capital at Bessemer Venture Partners.
• The supply chain roadmap: identifying opportunities for technology to impact the supply chain and logistics industry.
• Workflow optimization software helping trucking companies improve efficiency and profitability through data-driven decisions.

Timestamps

(00:00:00) The Supply Chain Roadmap

(00:00:19) The History of Bessemer Venture Partners

(00:02:00) Venture Capital in Supply Chain Logistics

(00:06:31) Venture Capital's Focus on Software Startups

(00:08:57) Discovering Venture Capital and BVP

(00:12:13) Exploring the Supply Chain Technology Landscape

(00:18:21) Optimizing Trucking with Workflow Optimization Software

(00:24:35) Unlocking Supply Chain Efficiency with Digital Connectivity

(00:29:02) Logistics Visibility: Bridging Silos and Automation

(00:35:16) AI Readiness: Cleaning Data for Future Decisions

(00:36:44) Automating Financial Workflows with AI

(00:38:08) Improving Invoicing and Payment with AI

(00:42:11) VC Funding Drives Logistics Industry Innovation

(00:42:48) Streamlining Supply Chains for Competitive Advantage

(00:44:14) Investing in Early-Stage Supply Chain Tech

(00:46:56) Industry Expertise Trumps Finance in Supply Chain Startups

(00:48:49) Investing in Supply Chain Startups

Learn More About The Supply Chain Road Map

Mike Droesch | Linkedin

Bessemer Venture Partners | Linkedin

Bessemer Venture Partners

Roadmap: Supply Chain Software - Bessemer Venture Partners

Roadmap: Supply Chain Software

Why fintech is the next supply chain frontier

The Logistics of Logistics Podcast

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