Recap and Reflections – Inaugural Heavy Hitters: The Digital Industrial Summit

When I launched Heavy Hitters: The Digital Industrial Podcast back in 2020, candidly I had no clue what I was getting into as a podcaster (still don’t!)... but what I did know as true then as it is even more now with ~100 episodes in the books is that there needed to be some form of translation medium between the venture capital asset class speaking one language and then the real-world industrial operators speaking a completely different language when it came to digital industrial innovation. With more than ½ the US GDP and millions of skilled laborers (skilled heroes) composing the core industrial sectors I grew up within, and have spent my entire career focused on, I can say without hesitation that we simply cannot afford to leave these foundational industries behind the massive technology wave underway. So I do take a ton of pride in the small dent of translation progress this show has made via amazing guests willing to lend their time to share experiences, an engaged audience from across 97 countries, and an even broader set of stakeholders who’ve leveraged these insights to take action and drive impact. Editing podcasts early Saturday mornings is not exactly on the fun list for an emerging manager (thank you to my wife and kids for supporting that!), but I do love doing this, and here's to the next 100 episodes!  

Aligned with all of that, my overall goal was to create a one-to-many platform for sharing conversations with leading voices across the digital industrial ecosystem to further discussion (and action) of best practices in advancing innovative solutions into complex industrial industries such as manufacturing, construction, transportation & logistics, and alternative energy. In connecting these legacy industries and the venture capital asset class, my aim was to unpack the opportunities and challenges in digital industrial innovation today and to help founders, investors, and corporate leaders become better equipped to identify allies and navigate pathways to further their respective missions and business objectives. While the one-to-many platform took off and network effects started to build, a consistent feedback loop back to me popped up time and time again over the years as we exited the COVID pandemic and curated, thematic, and in-person events became a hot trend... 

"When are you going to get the Heavy Hitters ecosystem together in person?” That was the repeat question asking what might occur if we got all of these powerhouse changemakers in one room? What kind of magic could we spark with these “Heavy Hitters” connecting in person? Heavy Hitters: The Digital Industrial Summit was born out of this idea, and last week, we hosted the first event in New York City. Were we nervous that this idea would have legs and folks would show up, that we’d find the time & resources to actually pull this off with a high bar on quality for the event (both in extremely limited supply for emerging managers!), etc.? Yes is the answer (understatement), but we stayed true to our entrepreneurial instincts and went for it alongside some amazing partners at CDW, Gunderson, Stifel, and Withum who also saw the vision for the ecosystem to have an event like this.  

And the results were absolutely worth it! In a packed room in NYC of 100+ founders, investors, corporate innovation, and other luminaries in the digital industrial ecosystem, the Summit covered big issues of the day in manufacturing, construction, transport and logistics, and alternative energy (along with where the growth capital lies to scale up innovation in these industries). Below are highlights from each hard-hitting session. Finally, thank you to everyone who had patience with us on this inaugural event and wasn’t able to attend due to space constraints. We had a waitlist that far surpassed the number of attendees, so we’re learning from this year and hope to adapt for the next Summit. 

 Legacy Industry Innovation Meets the Capital Markets – Juliet de Baubigny, BDT & MSD Partners and Peter J. Holt, Ironspring Ventures 

Leveraging her more than 20 years of experience as a venture investor at Kleiner Perkins, Bond, and now BDT & MSD Partners, Juliet called out what emerging companies building in industrials can learn from Amazon, Google, and other outstanding companies she’s worked with when it comes to scaling and business model innovation. To grow a break out company in industrial markets, Juliet advised founders to be fearless in going after big markets, think strategically in forging partnerships across channel partners, and build teams that equip their businesses with the insight and know-how to succeed in their unique markets. If you weren’t familiar with the BDT MSD portfolio, it is very active in the digital industrial sectors with investments in the likes of Flexport, Equipment Share, Platform Science, GoodLeap, and many others. Established, downstream capital partners like BDT MSD see the opportunity available/forming in these massive industry TAMs, I believe it's indicative that we’ve got a great decade ahead to drive outsize returns and industry impact!  

Manufacturing Innovation in 2024 – Bilal Zuberi, Lux Capital, Dayna Grayson, Construct Capital, Adam Gluck, Copia Automation, Ty Findley, Ironspring Ventures 

Fresh off our Copia board meeting in NYC the day before the Summit, we got the band back together and weighed in on the macro “Made in the USA” landscape and how the current market environment has helped/hurt investing in manufacturing innovation in 2024. With the rise of nearshoring/friendshoring, tariffs looming, rate environment shifting (drives material CAPEX decisions), and renewed interest in building up manufacturing capacity domestically through reshoring, we also looked ahead to 2025 and what will move the needle in manufacturing in the coming months. And we then had a candid discussion on manuf. innovation Go-to-Market, where we debated the merits of various approaches we’ve all seen/trialed when it comes to manufacturing tech – including when and how to pursue product-led growth (bottoms-up) vs established enterprise sales (top-down), what the latest activities are to get large enterprises to commit to new tech faster (while avoiding pilot purgatory), and ultimately what role the CEO plays and for how long when it comes to sales cycle lengths associated to enterprise accounts in manuf. 

Building in the Built World – Josh Kanner, Oracle, Scott Wolfe Jr, Levelset, Sarah Liu, Fifth Wall, Adam Bridgman, Ironspring Ventures 

Anchored upon insight and lessons learned from building, growing, and exiting some of the most successful construction tech businesses over the last decade, this conversation assessed the evolution of interest in and funding attracted to ConTech over that period to its current state. The discussion also hit on industry nuances investors must be up the learning curve on such as knowing that projects start & finish (ie. is that technically churn in your metrics?) as well as knowing who is the real buyer in the category being approached. The group also tackled how to approach AI when building tech for the built world (do you build a net new application? or do you incorporate AI into existing solutions?), and what the role of Ai technology will be ahead in helping businesses in this sector operate better, faster, and at lower cost.  

All In: Supply Chain 3.0 – Julian Counihan, Schematic Ventures, Santosh Sankar, Dynamo Ventures, Chris Stallman, Fontinalis Partners, Ty Findley, Ironspring Ventures 

Bringing our “All In” style pod to the live stage, this group of supply chain besties mixed it up on the year that was in freight (what’s up / what’s down from initial 2024 predictions, is the “freight recession” really over as Freightwaves CEO Craig Fuller has called, etc.) and who is in and out when it comes to investing in supply chain given the last year of Pitchbook deals & dollars data outlining a depressed funding environment form the ZIRP era highs (how far has VC tourism in this sector pulled back?). In a year that saw reshoring further boom, a major port worker strike still at play, and AI proliferating everywhere including cobots/humanoids within warehouses, we analyzed what made an impact across supply chains this year (and what is still hype). Stay tuned for our next supply chain besties chat post Manifest (February 2025)!  

Powering the Energy Transition – Aidan Madigan-Curtis, Eclipse Ventures, Marianne Wu, Congruent Ventures, Liz Reynolds, MIT, Colleen Konetzke, Ironspring Ventures 

This impressive lineup, which has seen multiple waves of energy transition momentum, examined where we are in the latest venture cycle and what “levers” need to be pulled (or pulled further) to accelerate progress in this journey. Do we need more capital? More workers? New policy? New technology? Our experts aligned on the necessity for both digital and physical solutions to advance the transition to renewable energy sources at scale, and the need for novel business models in an environment where adoption, not technology, is the biggest hurdle. A multi-faceted approach to talent (including raising wages) was also called out as essential to get right in the mission to mobilize a diverse group of stakeholders to think and act differently when it comes to producing and using energy and advancing the underlying infrastructure required to scale new renewable energy sources.   

Growth Investing in Digital Industrial – Ben Fife, Goldman Sachs Growth Equity, Emily Fritze, The Westly Group, Jake Tauscher, G2 Venture Partners, Ty Findley, Ironspring Ventures 

While acknowledging the quantitative headwinds in today’s broader venture market environment (liquidity remains constrained, growth round deals & dollars both dramatically down from ZIRP era, fewer dollars raised for new growth funds, etc), these growth investors with deep sector experience in industrials were unanimous that all of them have remained consistent in their deployment mandate and have plenty of dry powder for great founders building great businesses. They advised startups building in these sectors to be opportunistic when raising, develop meaningful relationships with growth investors well before actively raising, and focus on business fundamentals (unit economics, furthering commercial traction, maturing the management team). They also called out the value of choosing a growth investor who knows your market’s nuances (these industries aren’t check-the-SaaS-napkin box diligence), so as a founder, it pays to have a thoughtful strategy about pursuing relationships with late-stage investors who can actually add value/insights along your journey vs. just reaching out when it's time to raise funding. 

What’s next? 

My hope is that many new connections were forged last week in New York and that everyone who attended the Summit now has at least 3-5 new connections in the digital industrial innovation ecosystem to call upon to help them advance their cause... the snowball continues to build. The passion for collaborating to make tangible progress on the challenges and opportunities in this ecosystem is real and contagious, and I am eager to continue to do my part to build ecosystem on the podcast (and beyond). Huge thank you again to all the Heavy Hitters who attended, my team for their big lift with the event, and our sponsoring partners who all made this day come to life – we need 10x more of all of you. Keep an eye out for Heavy Hitters Summit 2025!