Heavy Hitters: The Digital Industrial Podcast

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.

Chris shares what strategic storytelling is and the difference between a story and a strategic story, why this is all very important for industrial innovators to get right, how founders can get started to sell their vision more effectively (thematically and tactically) by building their personal brand which in-turn bolsters the company brand, and finally a “What’s Hot and What’s Hype” section when it comes to which tactical media tools and channels are most effective in 2024.  

Zeeza details how 20 years of investing in the physical world led BCV to launch their Industrial Renaissance practice, what are the unique confluence of events in 2024 that have combined to usher in “a new era in industrials”, what 3 key lessons learned stick out that BCV will be leaning into in the next decade of investing, how BCV’s broader Bain Capital family enables the BCV platform to drive differentiated value and networks for the portfolio, and finally a “What’s Hot and What’s Hype” overview.  

Jack Garza, an expert from Silicon Valley Bank, dives into the fascinating world of Hardware-as-a-Service (HaaS). He discusses the evolving definition of HaaS and shares insights from SVB's recent research report. Jack highlights significant trends in venture capital investments, revealing a rise in funding at the seed stage. He emphasizes crucial metrics for success in this ecosystem and the importance of building meaningful partnerships within the industry. With a keen eye on future projections, he addresses the challenges and opportunities facing hardware innovators today.

Addis and Brady share why the Special Competitive Studies Project was formed and how the organization’s research efforts culminate in Action Plans like the latest one just released on US Advanced Manufacturing, outline the geopolitical backdrop currently at play between the US and China when it comes to keeping the US long-term competitive in domestic manufacturing capabilities, detail the advanced manufacturing technologies the research identified as the highest impact opportunities ahead and the associated action plans to accelerate those technologies adoption (hint: the human element is still as critical as ever),  and finally discuss the dynamics and ideas behind trying to fund all of this innovation and aligned action plans. 

Jonathan details how he balances long-standing incumbent stability while also staying agile/open to new innovative ideas and engaging external innovators, why direct investing in the venture asset class was a strategy chosen to further innovation efforts, what you have to do as an operator to attract, develop, and retain “Dirt World” talent that can sustain a strong culture within an organization (with an NBA-inspired twist!), and finally how family offices with legacy roots in industrial markets are playing a bigger role than ever both in engaging and investing into the venture ecosystem.

Sarah shares the story how Fifth Wall has scaled its sector-focused approach from launch in 2016 to today now managing >$3B AUM across several different product offerings, describes how the fund leverages its >110 owner and operator LPs from the real estate industry to add value to Fifth Wall’s stakeholders and ‘manufacture alpha’ in their returns, details how to balance the varying incentive alignment between both corporate strategic LPs and financial LPs, and finally we chat on her current outlook how Ai will make an impact on the Built World.

Reilly details a sector-specific then-and-now look back from his more than two decades of transportation experience, shares how the venture asset class has shifted in light of the momentum in this sector and what this has meant for sector-focused VC firms, outlines why building ecosystem and collaboration across startups, investors, universities, regulators, etc. is needed for the next decade of transportation innovation to thrive, and finally shares lessons learned from investing in transportation business models that may combine both hardware and software components.