Heavy Hitters: The Digital Industrial Podcast

Jake Brown, Chief of Staff at NFI, shares insights from his journey in supply chain management, emphasizing innovation in logistics since 1932. He discusses NFI Ventures' strategic initiatives, including AI integration and deal flow vetting for successful partnerships. Jake also highlights the importance of operational efficiency in yard management and the impact of tax reforms on the industry. Tune in for a glimpse into the future of supply chain dynamics and the specific use cases NFI is exploring!

Thai shares the backstory on why one of the world’s premier GCs decided to launch innovation and investment platform Diverge, details how Diverge has developed a systematic process to discover, evaluate, operationally mobilize, and invest in AEC innovators, gives a pulse check on where the industry is at balancing the critical human element with advancements in robotics and AI automation, and finally shares what aspects Diverge is looking for when it comes to making investments directly into innovators they find a fit with.  

We kickoff with a macro capital markets 1H’25 lookback and 2H’25 look ahead, dig in on how industrial software has gone from “relative obscurity” +15 years ago to now one of the biggest sectors in software today, discuss how the exit environment for industrial innovation is shaping up going into the fall and which sectors are showing the most green shoots,  and finally search for the signal from the noise when it comes to AI’s impact on industrials. 

Troy narrates through his three decades of US/Mexico cross-border experience that led him to now standing up yet another cross-border operation, Echo Mexico, shares his outlook where he believes US trade with Mexico is headed coming out of the tariff negotiations, details what the opportunities and challenges are for anyone considering expanding freight services into cross-border applications, and finally outlines how a pioneering firm like Echo balances building technology into its solutions and ensuring that the human element critical to logistics isn’t lost as its employees provide great customer service. 

Ian shares the back story on how the 27,000-acre, master-planned development by Hillwood turned into Alliance, TX (a global logistics hub that has generated more than 66,000 jobs and an estimated $130B in regional economic impact!), why the Mobility Innovation Zone (MIZ) was stood up within Alliance to connect, “people, places, and ideas that push innovation forward in surface and air mobility”, how the MIZ has driven outsized impact into advancing autonomous vehicle innovation and testing through a dual focus on both public and private collaboration, and finally a mobility trends outlook from his exposure both at the MIZ and his collaboration with the Perot Jain VC team.  

Dave shares his 20+ year journey launching and scaling Supply Chain Ventures where supply chain VC all began, details a historical look back on major supply chain events and innovation inflection points that have shaped where we are at today (hint: supply chain is an incredibly enduring investment sector), outlines what he thinks is investable vs. not in this latest wave of AI applied to supply chain use cases, and finally shares how Supply Chain Ventures dual VC and PE mandate both gives the firm a unique capital markets aperture and gives their founders a proven M&A roadmap to learn from.

Join Santosh Sankar, a partner at Dynamo Ventures; Chris Stallman from Fontanales Partners; and Julian Kunahan from Schematic Ventures as they dive into the evolving world of supply chains. They dissect the impact of recent geopolitical changes and tariffs on the industry. The trio also shares insights on the role of AI in optimizing supply chain operations and its fascinating concept of 'curiosity revenue.' With cautious optimism for the retail recovery in 2025, they discuss innovative strategies for navigating complex market dynamics and enhancing investment specialization.

Dave shares his story of building up the Go-to-Market (GTM) engine at Onshape before it was acquired by PTC in 2019, what functional and leadership lessons he learned within that Onshape experience (venture-backed) that has translated to PTC (premier incumbent), how his team at the Velocity Group operates within the broader PTC organization, what lessons he has learned when it comes to recruiting and composing a high functioning GTM team, and finally a “What’s Hot and What’s Hype” overview for manufacturing innovation in 2025.   

Kristina outlines what macro trends she sees ahead in 2025 from both the public and private markets and zooms in how those trends will play into her Applied Technology focus areas, shares the evolution she has witnessed within the industrial innovation ecosystem over the past two decades (both investors and innovators), details why she believes recent advances in AI have the potential to reenergize productivity gains in industrial settings that have stagnated over the last decade, and finally gives advice on how and when innovators should think about forming relationships with banking partners (hint: play the long game).  

On the turn of Ironspring Ventures 5 year anniversary (!), Peter shares the story of the Holt family background and his own journey to now leading HOLT Group, details the various industrial businesses and associated sectors that HOLT Group operates within (hint: “Dynamic” is a core value), outlines how those efforts are clearly complementary to the genesis and ongoing efforts at Ironspring Ventures, reflects on his takeaways from the last 5 years of building Ironspring Ventures and what’s ahead the next 5+ years, shares his outlook on the expanding role of family offices with long-standing industrial roots actively investing into the venture capital asset class to accelerate industrial innovation, and finishes with a twist on “What’s Hot and What’s Hype” from both an operator and a VC lens.