Best Brick Phelps Podcasts (2026)

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116. Mark Schwartz, Trimble - The Best Kept $2.31B ARR Secret Bridging the Physical and Digital Divide 44:20

Play Pause

20h ago44:20

44:20

Mark outlines why the Trimble Dimensions conference last November was the right time to make such a big AI splash in the AECO sectors, details where the company is headed with its expansion of the Trimble Marketplace to create a more open and integrated ecosystem, looks back on lessons from his prior Chief Digital Officer role as to what it has tak…

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115. John Jacobs, JE Dunn - The 10-Year Foundation: How JE Dunn Built a Data Blueprint for the AI Era 52:58

15d ago52:58

52:58

John walks us through the story on both the ‘Why’ and the ‘How’ a 101 year old general contractor built a single common data environment underneath every business unit (a foundation that has been laid for over a decade now!), shares the cultural alignment required to execute a technology strategy like that, outlines how that common data environment…

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114. Joe Foster, Holman Robotics - Launching an End-to-End Robotics Solution Within a 100 Year Old Global Automotive Services Leader 43:43

29d ago43:43

43:43

Joe shares the why, who, and how Holman Robotics was launched within a 100+ year old global automotive services business, what it takes to scale robotic automation solutions from pilots to scaled deployments, how Holman succeeded internally with their own robotic automation deployments before launching Holman Robotics externally, and finally how Ho…

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113. Alice Leung, Brick & Mortar Ventures - Building Out the Future of Construction Tech 44:48

2M ago44:48

44:48

Alice shares why the firm launched the first AEC-focused accelerator, Formwork Labs, and what the ecosystem gap was it wanted to fill for founders, how her construction operating experience informs her outlook as an AEC investor and what she looks for in founders (hint, industry experience can be a “double edged sword”), details a then and now look…

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112. Mark Hawkins, Venture/Operating Partner - Industrial Innovation Through a CFO's Lens 59:34

2M ago59:34

59:34

Mark shares both his career journey across some of the world’s premier technology companies and how his roots growing up in a Midwest industrial town + degree in operations management gave him a unique vantage point/passion for optimizing some of the world’s premier supply chains for those technology companies, details his lessons learned on what i…

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111. Rachael Ferrera, Zachry Construction - Breaking Ground: The Future of Horizontal Construction 38:09

3M ago38:09

38:09

Rachael digs into the history behind Zachry’s now >100 years (!) of construction operation, shares a then & now look back on how she has seen Zachry evolve technology and innovation during her nearly 2 decades of service, details why an Ideation and Investments function was stood up, outlines that nuance between ‘horizontal’ and ‘vertical’ construc…

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110. Aaron Toppston, GS Futures - Building the Future of the Built Environment 43:53

5M ago43:53

43:53

Aaron shares the back story on why one of Korea’s largest conglomerates stood up GS Futures and its associated Built Environment fund, how they balance objectives between financial returns and strategic impact, details why the construction industry is “allergic to overhead” and where that presents opportunity ahead for innovation, and finally discu…

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109. Jake Brown, NFI - Innovating Supply Chain & Logistics since 1932 48:40

5M ago48:40

48:40

Jake outlines why a company like NFI (that has been innovating supply chain & logisitcs since 1932!) decided to stand up a ventures effort in NFI Ventures, how NFI approaches build, buy, partner decisions, what their ventures team lessons learned are when vetting deal flow, ensuring succesful pilot launches, and engaing successful firm-wide deploym…

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108. Thai Nguyen, Hensel Phelps - Diverge's Mission to Build the Future of the AEC Industryuture 34:39

6M ago34:39

34:39

Thai shares the backstory on why one of the world’s premier GCs decided to launch innovation and investment platform Diverge, details how Diverge has developed a systematic process to discover, evaluate, operationally mobilize, and invest in AEC innovators, gives a pulse check on where the industry is at balancing the critical human element with ad…

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107. Dan Renouard + Rodd Langenhagen, Baird - Intersection of Industrial Innovation and Capital Markets 48:46

6M ago48:46

48:46

We kickoff with a macro capital markets 1H’25 lookback and 2H’25 look ahead, dig in on how industrial software has gone from “relative obscurity” +15 years ago to now one of the biggest sectors in software today, discuss how the exit environment for industrial innovation is shaping up going into the fall and which sectors are showing the most green…

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106. Troy Ryley, Echo Global Logistics - The Road Ahead for US/Mexico Cross-Border 38:39

8M ago38:39

38:39

Troy narrates through his three decades of US/Mexico cross-border experience that led him to now standing up yet another cross-border operation, Echo Mexico, shares his outlook where he believes US trade with Mexico is headed coming out of the tariff negotiations, details what the opportunities and challenges are for anyone considering expanding fr…

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105. Ian Kinne, Hillwood - Building a "Mobility Innovation Zone" 45:27

8M ago45:27

45:27

Ian shares the back story on how the 27,000-acre, master-planned development by Hillwood turned into Alliance, TX (a global logistics hub that has generated more than 66,000 jobs and an estimated $130B in regional economic impact!), why the Mobility Innovation Zone (MIZ) was stood up within Alliance to connect, “people, places, and ideas that push …

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104. Dave Anderson, Supply Chain Ventures - Where Supply Chain VC Began 43:37

9M ago43:37

43:37

Dave shares his 20+ year journey launching and scaling Supply Chain Ventures where supply chain VC all began, details a historical look back on major supply chain events and innovation inflection points that have shaped where we are at today (hint: supply chain is an incredibly enduring investment sector), outlines what he thinks is investable vs. …

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103. All-In Supply Chain Innovation 4.0 47:52

10M ago47:52

47:52

The band is back together after the 2025 supply chain conference blitz and we cover how we tactically approach conference season, where the macro supply chain winds are blowing this year (tariffs, DOGE, regulatory changes, etc.), what role the latest AI into supply chain push is playing (tip: watch out for 'Annual Curiosity Revenue'), and how we th…

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102. Dave Katzman, PTC - Onshape to PTC, a Manuf. Innovation Journey 32:52

11M ago32:52

32:52

Dave shares his story of building up the Go-to-Market (GTM) engine at Onshape before it was acquired by PTC in 2019, what functional and leadership lessons he learned within that Onshape experience (venture-backed) that has translated to PTC (premier incumbent), how his team at the Velocity Group operates within the broader PTC organization, what l…

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101. Kristina Nilsson, J.P. Morgan - Applied Technology in 2025 33:53

11M ago33:53

33:53

Kristina outlines what macro trends she sees ahead in 2025from both the public and private markets and zooms in how those trends will play into her Applied Technology focus areas, shares the evolution she has witnessed within the industrial innovation ecosystem over the past two decades (both investors and innovators), details why she believes rece…

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100. Peter J. Holt, HOLT Group - Ironspring Ventures 5 Year Lookback + Lookahead 51:11

12M ago51:11

51:11

On the turn of Ironspring Ventures 5 year anniversary (!), Peter shares the story of the Holt family background and his own journey to now leading HOLT Group, details the various industrial businesses and associated sectors that HOLT Group operates within (hint: “Dynamic” is a core value),outlines how those efforts are clearly complementary to the …

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99. Josh Kanner, Oracle - The Impact of AI in Construction 36:19

1y ago36:19

36:19

Josh shares a then and now look back on his 20-year journey building multiple Builtworld startups and what key evolution points he has seen in the ecosystem, details how Oracle Construction and Engineering is leveraging AI to help customers and their skilled workforce do their jobs better and more safely, outlines how responsibly applying AI in con…

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98. Nick Kim, Upfront Ventures - SoCal's Industrial Innovation Resurgence 38:38

1y ago38:38

38:38

Nick walks us through how he and Upfront went about furthering development of their national infrastructure and hard tech focus areas, shares his outlook on the LA and SoCal industrial resurgence that is underway, discusses the rich SoCal industrial history underpinning this resurgence (“primes” and associated talent have been there for decades!), …

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97. Sivan Zamir, Xylem - Building a More Water-Secure World 32:45

1y ago32:45

32:45

Sivan details both why Xylem set up a corporate innovation and venture capital team in 2021 and how those efforts move the needle for a $8B revenue F500 water-focused corporation that spans 150 countries and 23,000 employees, dives into how integral water and water technology are for the current Ai frenzy and data center boom to actually achieve th…

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96. Craig Fuller, Freightwaves - RIP Great Freight Recession 55:04

1y ago55:04

55:04

Craig shares his story from growing up in the freight industry to what led him to found Freightwaves, takes us behind the scenes of his industry statements/predictions both entering (2022) and exiting (2024) the current freight recession and what the blow back was from being out ahead on market moving data like that, channels his inner Sec. of the …

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95. Dave Yuan, Tidemark - Dominating Control Points in VaaS 38:30

1y ago38:30

38:30

Dave shares why he took on the challenge of building Tidemark after over 20 years in the venture asset class (and garnering Midas List recognition), how Tidemark takes on a product ethos in building its Vertical SaaS (VaaS) value-add capabilities such as content and community events among other efforts, VaaS learnings from recent research they’ve d…

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94. Usman Shuja, Bluebeam - Ai in AEC 37:36

1y ago37:36

37:36

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 scal…

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93. Zach Fredericks, Primary Venture Partners - Road Ahead for Supply Chain 37:36

1+ y ago37:36

37:36

Zach dives into the Primary thesis on supply chain innovation bringing better interoperability, decreasing operational complexity, and better financial infrastructure into this sector, shares his outlook on how Ai will impact logistics operations, explains his reasoning for business model evolution to “sell work not SaaS”, and where he sees the fut…

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92. Elisabeth Reynolds, MIT - The USA Manufacturing Agenda 39:31

1+ y ago39:31

39:31

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…

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91. Chris Ott, Creative Blue - Strategic Storytelling in Industrial Innovation 35:37

1+ y ago35:37

35:37

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 f…

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90. Zeeza Cole, BCV - Industrial Renaissance 31:08

1+ y ago31:08

31:08

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 …

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89. Jack Garza, SVB - The State of Hardware-as-a-Service 27:43

1+ y ago27:43

27:43

Jack outlines how Silicon Valley Bank defines Hardware-as-a-Service and why SVB produces research on this business model, shares what the key lessons learned were and the macro trends identified in this 2nd edition of this research report, details how Hardware-as-a-Service investing stacks up against the broader VC deals and dollars dropoff (hint: …

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88. Addis Goldman & Brady Helwig, Special Competitive Studies Project - National Action Plan for Advanced Manufacturing 38:12

1+ y ago38:12

38:12

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 domes…

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87. Jonathan Campbell, Campbell Companies - Moving the Dirt World Forward 39:58

1+ y ago39:58

39:58

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 ca…

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86. Sarah Liu, Fifth Wall - Building a Built World Network Effect 28:04

1+ y ago28:04

28:04

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,…

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85. Reilly Brennan, Trucks Venture Capital - Transportation Innovation Rolls On 31:47

1+ y ago31:47

31:47

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, r…

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84. Jason Pritzker, Fifty Three Stations - Bridging Legacy Industry and Venture Capital 40:11

1+ y ago40:11

40:11

Jason shares the origin story behind The Pritzker Organization (60 years of company-building expertise and over 200 transactions across industries representing ~$30B in equity value) and how those roots supported the launch of Fifty Three Stations $190M debut venture fund, details how the firm leverages its differentiated commercial ecosystem to dr…

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83. Leo Polovets, Susa + Humba Ventures - Intersection of Deep Tech & American Dynamism 30:34

1+ y ago30:34

30:34

Leo shares the origin story of why storied VC firm Susa Ventures decided to launch new fund, Humba Ventures, to invest at the intersection of deep tech and American Dynamism, details what differences are required to evaluate companies with that level of focus on deep tech, defends Humba’s thesis that deep tech is the best place to invest and build …

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82. Paul Kwan, General Catalyst - The Case for Global Resilience 34:12

2y ago34:12

34:12

Paul shares the why behind a storied venture firm like General Catalyst launching a focus on Global Resilience as one of the firm’s 4 key focus areas, how the firm leverages its firm-wide global and multi-stage breadth of mandate to truly get creative in solution formation, describes a sub-segment of their thesis defined around Industrial Resilienc…

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81. All-In Supply Chain Innovation 2.0 43:49

2y ago43:49

43:49

The besties get the fleet back together to discuss how the 2024 supply chain conference blitz kicked off, what's the insiders' outlook on VC funding supply chain tech despite the macro pullback in deals & dollars, where the freight market cycle sits currently (hint: still as cyclical as ever), and finally where the crystal ball outlooks are for the…

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80. Anna Farberov, PepsiCo Labs - CPG Innovation Meets Digital Industrial 31:39

2y ago31:39

31:39

Anna explains the origin story of why PepsiCo decided to launch Labs and how those efforts for a global CPG company tie into the digital industrial ecosystem, details how the Labs team programmatically both identifies and collaborates with startups to drive a win/win for Pepsi business units and the startups (hint: Labs acts a single point of conta…

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79. Maggie Kenefake, Iron Prairie Ventures - Industrial Tech in America's Heartland 30:38

2y ago30:38

30:38

Maggie shares the origin story of why she launched an industrial tech venture firm in America’s heartland, details how she builds a competitive advantage leveraging a six-state Midwest region of industrial stakeholders to drive value for her portfolio, explains why sector-focused emerging managers play a critical role behind this industrial tech th…

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78. Matt Trotter, Stifel Venture Bank - Venturing into 2024 43:43

2y ago43:43

43:43

Matt outlines why Stifel (~$7B market cap + 8,000 employees) expanded its venture banking group in 2023 to further support the innovation economy, dusts off his crystal ball to describe where the venture market is headed in 2024 and how that macro outlook will play into the digital industrial sectors, shares a ‘then & now’ look on how the digital i…

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The Hanging City 29:18

2y ago29:18

29:18

In this episode we will be covering Charlie N Holmberg's romantasy book called the Hanging City. We will cover topics like romance and fantasy plot intertwining, meet cutes, and romance beats.

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77. Chris Stern, Trimble Ventures - Connect & Scale 45:02

2y ago45:02

45:02

Chris describes both the why behind Trimble standing up a corporate venture capital (CVC) strategy and what he means by Trimble Ventures being an “and” within the company’s innovation efforts, details how the CVC platform aims to accelerate growth and drive value for its portfolio companies (hint: aligns to corporate objectives to Connect & Scale),…

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76. Vijen Patel, The 81 Collection - Innovating Un-sexy Industries 34:48

2y ago34:48

34:48

Vijen details both what he defines as un-sexy industries and why he cares about driving innovation into the 81% of the US GDP underserved by VC, outlines how he activates a differentiated network of founders who’ve built in un-sexy industries to drive value for his firm, describes the founders fund ethos he instills into his VC firm by leveraging h…

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Do Not Disturb by Freida McFadden 21:20

2y ago21:20

21:20

In this episode, I will cover do not disturb by Freida McFadden. We will go over topics like multiple perspectives, unusual story structure, and creating suspense.

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Yumi and the Nightmare Painter 44:16

2y ago44:16

44:16

In this episode, I will cover Yumi and the Nightmare Painter by Brandon Sanderson. We'll go over its story structure and possible ways to strengthen relationships in your stories.

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Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone act 3, finale. 7:11

2y ago7:11

7:11

In this episode, I will cover Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, Act 3, the finale. We will go over promises and payoffs.

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Harry Potter and the Philosopher's stone, Act 2 Part 2 13:51

2y ago13:51

13:51

In this episode, I will cover Harry Potter and the philosophers stone, part 2 of Act 2. We will go over story arcs pertaining to the second act, as well as story genres.

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Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, Act 2 part 1 11:14

2y ago11:14

11:14

In this episode, I will cover Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, part one of act two. We will go over topics like delivering on the premise, secondary stories, and creating a feeling with less.

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Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, Act One 11:10

2y ago11:10

11:10

In this episode, I will be covering Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, Act 1. We will go over the first five beats of the story structure and talk about blank slate characters, prologues, and positive catalysts.

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Save the Cat Structure 16:27

2y ago16:27

16:27

In this episode, I will be covering the save the cat story structure, which I will be using to analyze stories in the upcoming episodes.

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75. Emily Fritze, The Westly Group - Growth Environment for Industrial, Energy, Buildings, and Mobility Innovation 31:14

2y ago31:14

31:14

Emily shares a macro outlook on the growth stage ecosystem aligned to sectors in industrial tech, mobility, buildings, and energy, discusses lessons learned investing in these sectors for both software and hardware-enabled software (“bits meet atoms”) business models, and outlines how The Westly Group approaches climate tech investing as its evolve…