The Future of Supply Chain: a Dynamo Ventures Podcast

In this episode, Santosh is joined by Julian Counihan, General Partner at Schematic Ventures. Julian started a career in technology as a software developer for warehouse control and automation systems and since then staked a flag in investing in the supply chain sector. Santosh and Julian discussion covered supply chain start-ups, e-commerce, warehouse automation, the coolest robots and more. Highlights in the conversation include:Getting to know Julian’s background in seed investing and the supply chain (1:17)Discussing the current state of warehouse robotics and industrial automation (7:33)The excitement and challenges of rail automation (20:55)Start-ups and avoiding pitfalls with long-sale cycles (23:35)Offering contrarian takes on robotics and investing (33:56)Picking our favorite robots (38:24)Schematic Ventures is an early-stage venture capital fund located in San Francisco. The fund is focused on investments in technology companies within supply chain, manufacturing, commerce infrastructure & digital industrial sectors. Find out more at schematicventures.comAbout The Future of Supply Chain:During each episode of The Future of Supply Chain, we sit down with a different entrepreneur, investor, or industry veteran to discuss their story, views on the industry, and how we can collectively build the future of supply chain together.

*From time to time we’ll re-air a previous episode of the show that our newer audience may have missed.* In this episode of the Future of Supply Chain podcast, we spoke with Laura Ann Howell, COO of Reliance Partners. We discussed how to know when a business needs a COO, diversity, and workplace flexibility.

In this episode, Santosh is joined by Martin Rand, CEO and Co-Founder of Pactum. Santosh and Martin discussed how Pactum unlocks value from the long tail by automatically negotiating contracts on a massive scale using a chat-based format. This episode focused on:Launching Pactum as a start-up (2:50)Reaching pareto optimality in negotiations (4:45)Use case description of negotiation with vendors (6:23)Benefits seen and value created for customers and suppliers (12:28)Example of Pactum in retail (20:15)Where Pactum fits into the future of the supply chain (21:57)How launching a second startup compares to launching your first one (24:01)Determining pricing strategy and utilizing profit-sharing (26:01)Lessons learned from having an engineering team in Estonia (28:50)Pactum is an AI-based system that helps global companies to autonomously offer personalized, commercial negotiations on a massive scale. The system adds value and saves time for both the Pactum client and their negotiation partner by aligning their values to determine win-win agreements via an easy-to-use chat interface that implements best-practice negotiation strategies. The company is based in Mountain View with engineering and operations in Estonia. Find out more at pactum.comAbout The Future of Supply Chain:During each episode of The Future of Supply Chain, we sit down with a different entrepreneur, investor, or industry veteran to discuss their story, views on the industry, and how we can collectively build the future of supply chain together.

In this episode, Santosh is joined by Jeremy Kellett, director of recruiting at Oakley Trucking. Santosh and Jeremy discussed some of the roadblocks Oakley Trucking faces and ways it’s found to overcome them. This episode focused on:Oakley’s beginning delivering fertilizer and grain and Jeremy’s start in the business (1:06)The differences in owner/operator and company driver business models (7:03)How Oakley avoids the high turnover rate common in the industry (11:10)Challenges of dry bulk commodity transportation (14:25)Challenges of recruiting great owner/operators and using referrals to find the best drivers (18:15)One-on-one dispatch for communicating with drivers on the road (21:50)Problems of insurance minimums skyrocketing (26:20)Using podcasts for communicating with drivers (30:55)Oakley Trucking is a family-owned and operated trucking company headquartered in North Little Rock, Arkansas. You can listen in to their podcast at podcast.bruceoakley.com.About The Future of Supply Chain:During each episode of The Future of Supply Chain, we sit down with a different entrepreneur, investor, or industry veteran to discuss their story, views on the industry, and how we can collectively build the future of supply chain together.

In this episode, Santosh is joined by Drew McElroy, Co-founder and Chairman of Transfix. Santosh and Drew’s discussion revolves around the Transfix story and harmonizing physical and digital operations. The conversation included:Transfix’s origin story (1:35)Applying software to create a competitive advantage and drive people toward the future (5:05)With every segment of the supply chain being digitized, where is the digitalization really accelerating? (9:10)Learning to harmonize the digital and the physical to become a world-class 3PL (14:14)Addressing criticism of margins in digital freight brokerage and driving value (18:30)Full truckload vs. less than truckload and using to AI to solve problems (28:05)Challenges of going from a start up to a scale up and evolving as a co-founder and CEO (38:41)Drew McElroy co-founded Transfix in 2013 with the goal of creating a simpler, smarter and more sustainable freight ecosystem. Learn more about Transfix at transfix.io.About The Future of Supply Chain:During each episode of The Future of Supply Chain, we sit down with a different entrepreneur, investor, or industry veteran to discuss their story, views on the industry, and how we can collectively build the future of supply chain together.

On this episode of the Future of Supply Chain podcast, we sat down to chat with Chris Nordh, Senior Director of Advanced Vehicle Technologies and Global Fuel Products at Ryder. We discuss electric fleets, updating electrical and physical infrastructure, and automation technology in the supply chain.

On this episode, Santosh is joined by Craig Fuller, Founder and CEO of FreighWaves. Craig and Santosh have a robust conversation spanning across the founding of FreightWaves, the state of digital brokerages, and the biggest lessons learned in building:  How Craig coined Chattanooga as the “Freight Alley” and decided to found Freightwaves there (1:58)How the Sonar Freight Forecasting Platform works (11:38)Bull or Bear outlook for the freight markets moving forward? (24:20)The current state of digitizing freight (31:42)The biggest lessons learned in building Freightwaves & the purpose of the media arm (41:20)Where new founders should be focusing their efforts (48:00)Craig has led the FreightWaves team to raise over $75 million to build products like Sonar and FreightWaves TV which serves a daily audience of over 25,000 viewers. You can learn more about the Craig and the FreightWaves team by visiting https://www.freightwaves.com/About The Future of Supply Chain:During each episode of The Future of Supply Chain, we sit down with a different entrepreneur, investor, or industry veteran to discuss their story, views on the industry, and how we can collectively build the future of supply chain together.

Justin and Santosh span a number of topics including the global pandemic,  :  Norton Transport’s humble beginnings: delivering buses (1:45)Defining driveaway services for commercial vehicles and manufacturers (5:16)Cultivating a genuinely unique culture for Norton drivers (12:36)New tech, carbon-neutral trucks, and low emission vehicles (21:50)Opportunities for innovation in the driveaway industry (28:20)Justin and the crew at Norton have built an impressive business brick by brick over the years in the driveaway space. You can learn more about the Norton Transport team by visiting https://www.nortontransport.com/About The Future of Supply Chain:During each episode of The Future of Supply Chain, we sit down with a different entrepreneur, investor, or industry veteran to discuss their story, views on the industry, and how we can collectively build the future of supply chain together.

Siva and Santosh span a number of topics including the global pandemic,  :Starting a global logistics career by sailing on a container ship (1:25)Managing a global supply chain during a global pandemic (4:32)Inventory management by customer segmentation (10:30)Technology at the forefront of risk management innovation (18:20)On-shore, Near-shore, and vendor diversification as a defense strategy (21:32)The priority of digital enablement for supply chain in 2020 (28:20)Siva and Solvay are some of the few individuals who are experts in handling a logistics marketplace like the one we’re currently experiencing. You can learn more about the Solvay Technology team by visiting https://www.solvay.com/en/About The Future of Supply Chain:During each episode of The Future of Supply Chain, we sit down with a different entrepreneur, investor, or industry veteran to discuss their story, views on the industry, and how we can collectively build the future of supply chain together.

Abby and Santosh discuss her journey into designing logistics systems for the likes of IBM, The Port of Savannah, and others:  The Importance Of Cultivating A Love For Both Art And Science (2:00)Designing Human Centered Logistics Systems (5:15)Creating Sustainable Supply Chain Systems (13:30)A Case Study: Designing with Speed & Empathy (21:20)Abby’s work is important and exciting for the Supply Chain industry on the whole. Big thanks for joining! You can learn more about Abby and her work designing logistic systems by visiting https://abbyhollis.com/.About The Future of Supply Chain:During each episode of The Future of Supply Chain, we sit down with a different entrepreneur, investor, or industry veteran to discuss their story, views on the industry, and how we can collectively build the future of supply chain together.