Heavy Hitters: The Digital Industrial Podcast

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.

Josh shares a then and now look back on his 20-year journey building multiple Builtworld startups and what key evolution points he has seen in the ecosystem, details how Oracle Construction and Engineering is leveraging AI to help customers and their skilled workforce do their jobs better and more safely, outlines how responsibly applying AI in construction can advance the entire industry, and walks us through what his key lessons learned are from his three M&A transactions in the Builtworld to-date (tactical and strategic).

Nick walks us through how he and Upfront went about furthering development of their national infrastructure and hard tech focus areas, shares his outlook on the LA and SoCal industrial resurgence that is underway, discusses the rich SoCal industrial history underpinning this resurgence (“primes” and associated talent have been there for decades!), and details why the human element involved in industrial sectors is only going to be strengthened by the adoption of industrial automation (not replaced).    

Sivan details both why Xylem set up a corporate innovation and venture capital team in 2021 and how those efforts move the needle for a $8B revenue F500 water-focused corporation that spans 150 countries and 23,000 employees, dives into how integral water and water technology are for the current Ai frenzy and data center boom to actually achieve the potential everyone is hoping for, outlines some of the water improvement efforts that will be required in order for international supply chain reshuffling to occur where water access might prove challenging (ie. Nuevo Leon), and finally we discuss how everything Xylem innovates on is inherently sustainable and what that means to her. 

Craig Fuller, Founder and CEO of FreightWaves, shares his journey from the freight industry to establishing a transformative media platform. He discusses the challenges and predictions of the recent freight recession, shedding light on the importance of data-driven forecasts. Craig envisions his strategy as Secretary of Transportation, emphasizing the need for tech-savvy leaders. He also critiques regulatory hurdles in aviation and explores pressing supply chain issues, including truck parking shortages and labor disputes, all while offering insights from the recent FreightWaves F3 conference.

Dave Yuan, Founder of Tidemark and seasoned venture capitalist, shares insights from his extensive career and the launch of his growth equity fund focused on vertical SaaS. He discusses the importance of product-centric approaches and community-building initiatives for SMB leaders. Dave dives into learnings from recent research on 'Control Points' in Vertical SaaS and the transformative potential of AI in the industry. He emphasizes how understanding stakeholder dynamics and fostering partnerships can drive growth in capital-intensive sectors.

Usman shares how Ai is entering the AEC ecosystem faster than ever and how Bluebeam has developed a 4-part Ai framework to guide the company's approach, details why careful attention to the ethical considerations of Ai’s deployment within the AEC environment is key to long term success, describes some of his lessons learned on what is takes to scale commercial adoption in industrial innovation from his over a decade of experience across various industrial verticals, and finally a “What’s Hot and What’s Hype” section where he sees the Builtworld headed. 

Zach Fredericks, a supply chain expert and venture capital strategist, explores innovative trends transforming logistics. He discusses the need for better interoperability and advanced AI solutions to streamline operations. Zach also highlights a shift towards selling services instead of software, emphasizing customer-centric approaches. He delves into the impact of pandemic-induced challenges and what the future holds for supply chains, blending automation with essential human oversight for a balanced approach to industry evolution.

Liz walks us through the USA manufacturing agenda detailing where we’re at given past and present efforts, shares how government funding and the private capital markets can be better bridged together so that manufacturing and supply chain innovation efforts actually hit scale, discusses both why now is different and why we’re seeing more innovation talent and capital flood into manufacturing than ever before, and finally why “digitalizing the middle” is such a critical effort to ensure our USA industrial skilled labor (heroes) isn’t left behind the current wave of technology innovation.