Humans Who Build

Shreya Bakliwal

Learn Practical Tips About Company Building from the Top Leaders in Business & Technology.

  1. VOR 6 TAGEN

    Adi Prasad, CEO, Matter, on OEM Decision-Making for New Tech Solutions, Autonomous Factories, Physical AI.

    Technological innovation in industrial automation is strong. But technology alone is not enough, especially when looking to scale your solutions at some of the most sophisticated OEMs in the world. As Adi Prasad puts it, manufacturing is a systems problem! With over a decade of OEM wisdom, in the most recent episode of Humans Who Build, Adi answers the most common questions that industrial automation founders have: What mechanisms and stakeholders inside enterprise OEMs evaluate and decide on new automation solutions?How to think about building automation products - around specific processes or broader systems?When does automation actually make things worse in factories?How tightly coupled are tooling and automation - can one be changed without the other?How do manufacturing environments differ across Apple, Tesla, and Rivian? What does Adi think about his former boss, RJ Scaringe's new startup, Mind Robotics? :) Adi has been on the manufacturing teams of some of the most significant OEMs of the world, leading the launch of Tesla’s Model 3 battery-enclosure lines, Apple’s iPhone battery ramp, and three Rivian module lines. He also briefly worked with Travis Kalanick at CloudKitchens. After 2 years at HBS, he co-founded Matter, along with his former colleagues and friends including Charly Mwangi, Aish Varadhan, and Aditya Ranjan. At Matter, they are building America's autonomous manufacturing infrastructure, the software, hardware, and factory network focused on complex electromechanical products. Please enjoy the episode. If you liked it, and want to learn more about the industrial automation space, please like and subscribe. :) #factories #manufacturing #tesla #systems #artificialintelligence

    51 Min.
  2. 25. MÄRZ

    Alex Huckstepp, Co-Founder, Uptool, on AI Software for Small Manufacturers, Selling Into Factories.

    98% of manufacturing firms in the US are small and high-mix businesses. Yet most conversations around industrial automation today are centered on robots and humanoids. What about automation for the businesses that actually make up the majority? Alex Huckstepp is building AI software to accelerate operations of exactly these businesses at his new company, Uptool. Its first product is an AI quoting software that ensures that machine and fabrication shops meet the demands of global hardware innovation. Uptool has raised $6M in seed funding from leading industrial tech and vertical AI investors including Khosla Ventures, Eclipse, Bessemer Venture Partners and Kleiner Perkins. Before Uptool, Alex spent over a decade leading sales & BD and GTM functions for some of the most important advanced manufacturing companies in the country including Stratasys, Carbon, ARRIS, and Machina Labs. Therefore, he understands what constitutes an effective sales strategy, whether you are starting from scratch or have scaled up to multiple millions of dollars in revenue. Our conversations with hard-tech and industrial automation founders consistently highlight that sales is one of the most difficult functions to get right. In our first episode of Humans Who Build with Alex, we break down how he has approached sales and GTM across his career. Details of the topics covered in this episode: The small and high-mix opportunity: Nature of these businesses and stakeholders, state of operations and the role of business automation, performance measurement.Key pillars of industrial sales and GTM strategy, including stakeholder dynamics and building early customer partnerships.Challenges in scaling from pilot to production: Customer or industry selection, problem definition, deployment complexity, and preparation for successful deployments.Hiring for industrial sales and maintaining a sales team's optimism and tenacity amidst long-sales cycles.Fundraising models for industrial companies: Venture vs bootstrapped, partnerships with CVCs.At Protean, we are building a community of executives across manufacturing operations, vendor management, and factory systems. This includes OEMs, system integrators, and a small group of founders, with the goal of making the process more informed and genuinely collaborative. What sales or GTM challenges are you facing in your company? Are you interested in connecting with OEM teams to better understand their requirements? Please DM us at info@protean.world.

    44 Min.
  3. 22.12.2024

    Former FARFETCH Chief Fashion Officer, Elizabeth von der Goltz, Shares Secrets of Luxury Fashion.

    How we dress defines our personality in the eyes of others, but most importantly, in our own eyes! Our Women Who Build guest today, Elizabeth von der Goltz, has been at the forefront of building global fashion companies that dress us. Known for her sharp ability to spot the brands we wear and identify lasting trends, Elizabeth has also leveraged her Sixth sense and her business acumen to drive strategy and manage the P&L of major fashion enterprises. Most recently serving as the Chief Fashion and Merchandising Officer at FARFETCH, Elizabeth has spent decades shaping the high-end retail landscape. She began her career as an Assistant Buyer at Barneys New York and quickly rose through the ranks at Bergdorf Goodman, where she played a pivotal role in modernizing the store’s offerings and boosting sales for top brands. Later, as the Global Buying Director at YOOX NET-A-PORTER and Chief Commercial Officer at MATCHESFASHION. In this episode, Elizabeth shares exclusive insights on: - What to build in fashion today: Brand vs a tech enabled solution. ⁠- What does it take to build a fashion company: Supply chain, distribution, designer, short-term vs long-term trends. ⁠- How is the fashion sector evolving: Why are sales of LVMH and Gucci going down but Ralph Lauren is stable? - ⁠Opportunities in the Indian luxury market. - ⁠Our favorite: Differences in fashion in New York City and London. If you liked this episode and want to hear more from us, subscribe to our channel and hit the notification bell to stay updated! ⁠#Businessgrowth⁠ ⁠⁠#FARFETCH⁠ ⁠#Fashion⁠ ⁠#womenwhobuild⁠ ⁠#luxury

    57 Min.

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Learn Practical Tips About Company Building from the Top Leaders in Business & Technology.