Heavy Hitters: The Digital Industrial Podcast

Ben shares an outlook on what’s going on in the growth stage ecosystem given the current market reset (spoiler: lots of capital still to deploy and they remain active), dives into how that reset is impacting the industrial innovation sector now and going forward, what he is evaluating growth stage companies on, and how his team at GS Growth harnesses the vast, global resources of Goldman Sachs to add value back into the companies they invest behind. 

Karen explains how the Chicago Columbian Exposition spurred on the 2nd industrial revolution and inspired the launch of her firm, why there has been such an explosion of venture capital interest and investment in digital industrial innovation over the last decade, what will be required of both the public and private US ecosystems to accelerate the current manufacturing revitalization underway, and finally a chat on “What’s Hot and What’s Hype” for digital industrial innovation. 

Dennis shares how a lifetime dedicated to aerospace innovation led him to co-founding New Vista Capital as his next chapter after Boeing, what the transferable lessons learned are that bridge from running one of the world’s largest industrial companies to early-stage innovation, what he sees as accelerating market trends behind the firm’s aerospace and national security thematic focus areas, and why maintaining US competitiveness in manufacturing is currently one of the greatest challenges and opportunities facing the US in the decades ahead (a matter of national security). 

Jim shares the origin story of Toyota Ventures and how the firm leverages its $500M AUM to discover what's next for Toyota, how having a broad investment thesis beyond just core automotive and mobility helps avoid the innovators dilemma, what he is looking for in robotic-enabled innovation and the associated challenges and opportunities that come with those business models, and how having a dedicated Climate Fund is supporting Toyota’s goal of reaching carbon neutrality by 2050.   

Sam shares how the convergence of data, compute, and advanced engineering is leading to their thesis of “The Super Evolution”, how that thesis is intersecting and driving impact into industrial sectors, what the 4 key trends are that she is seeing develop behind tailwinds in industrials, and why she thinks of climate tech as a “persistent, horizontal underlying trend in nearly every space we touch”. 

Katie shares The Engine’s definition of and approach to Tough Tech investing, her thoughts on why the Tough Tech category has shown fundraising resilience during a challenging time for the broader venture market, details how the firm drives value to their portfolio via both public and private sector partnership networks (stat: for every $1 raised from The Engine, raised another $1.22 from the public sector), and how The Engine has chosen tools and frameworks that enable the firm to quantify and deliver on its deep commitment to having a positive impact on the world.

Steve shares why a storied Silicon Valley firm chose to form a pod of focused supply chain expertise, digs in on Menlo’s recent research that arrived at three fundamental themes shaping the global supply chain, offers his perspective on hot spots for supply chain innovation across the globe including why he is especially bullish on opportunities in the LatAm region, and wraps up with the four key trends they are closely monitoring going into 2023 (hint, re/near-shoring pairs nicely with his LatAm interest!).

Hot off a trip to Vegas for the 2023 Manifest supply chain innovation conference, the four besties Chris Stallman of Fontinalis Partners, Julian Counihan of Schematic Ventures, Santosh Sankar of Dynamo Ventures, and host Ty Findley of Ironspring Ventures go off script digging in on a macro market pulse where we are now in the latest freight market cycle, a then & now reflection on what supply chain innovation has occurred over the last decade that led us to today, and finally a 2023 crystal ball session about where both innovation and deal-making trends are headed in this sector. I might even ask them what they would do first if they were made Department of Transportation Secretary for a day...

Alan shares how DCVC both defines the fund’s DeepTech thesis and how his associated focus on attacking “trillion dollar problems” at the intersection of AI and traditional industries fits in, gives a macros market pulse on the deal dynamics ahead for DeepTech in 2023 as VC recalibration continues, DCVC’s lessons learned as to why DeepTech fund specialization is critical to really understanding the nuanced opportunities and challenges associated with scaling into these markets, and what it takes today to be a differentiated DeepTech investor that founders want to partner with.

Lior shares the origin story of both why Uber Freight was launched in 2017 and how the intrapreneurship support he had from Uber leadership was key to building this freight division, the circumstances and path Uber Freight took from launch into profitability in 2022, how far along we are in the autonomous, Class 8 trucking commercialization effort, and finally why Uber Freight decided to link up with competitors Convoy and JB Hunt to form a data interoperability consortium and make freight appointment scheduling more efficient for the entire industry.