Heavy Hitters: The Digital Industrial Podcast

Hosted by Ty Findley

BusinessInterviews guests

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Episodes

120

Latest episode

Jun 2026

Language

EN-US

About the show

The podcast where heavy industrial industries meet the venture capital ecosystem. Interviewing thought-leading investors and founders to better understand the opportunities and challenges that lie ahead for digital industrial innovation.

Listen to episodes

60 recent

June 1, 202633 min

119. Gene Hodge, Mortenson - Hardhats & Hackathons

Gene outlines the when, why, and how a 72 year old premier general contractor setup a formal innovation group, i4 (and associated BLUlabs R&D facility efforts), how Mortenson consciously takes a people-led, inclusive approach to rolling out innovation ensuring talent in the field doesn’t feel like innovation is “happening to them”, why the firm developed a Director of AI role and the architype chosen to lead AI efforts, and finally what Mortenson’s approach to partnerships has evolved into (both industry and technology partnerships).

May 18, 202642 min

118. Tony Leopold, United Rentals - Rise of Rental

Rise of the construction and power rental market is an understatement title for this episode, and Tony helps us unpack the macro and technology shifts underway underpinning this builtworld boom to support the AI race. We discuss how the world’s largest equipment rental company, United Rentals (30 years old, 28,500 employees,1,750 rental locations spanning multiple continents), is approaching this record demand, how his team went about initially forming, and ultimately gaining company buy-in, to execute an AI strategy within a legacy network of IT established systems, and how United Rentals has thrown accelerant behind those technology efforts by forming strategic partnerships with technology giants like Procore and Snowflake.

February 9, 202646 min

117. John Somers (AEM) + Matt Abeles (ABC) - Plowing Innovation Ahead to CONEXPO 2026

We discuss why North America’s largest construction trade show, CONEXPO, is launching a new “Ground Breakers Stage” specifically aimed at spotlighting future innovation ahead, how industry leading trade associations like AEM and ABC took a ‘mixed fleet’ outlook to collaborate on their respective innovation trends and efforts to bolster CONEXPO 2026, how AI-enabled heavy machinery autonomy specifically will be a major point of focus this year (and why that only further emphasizes the critical human element involved in all of this!), and finally why the broader set of digital tools permeating these sectors has moved from optional to a near must-do in your operations.

January 5, 202644 min

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

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 taken both technically and culturally inside Trimble to reach this level of digital maturity (and ultimately AI readiness), and finally gets out the crystal ball for where we’re headed in 2026.

December 22, 202552 min

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

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 now enables their internal Citizen Technology effort to empower citizen developers embedded within their business units who are closest to their customers pain points, and finally what it all means for JE Dunn’s AI strategy and ability to meet the current AI infrastructure build out underway.

December 8, 202543 min

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

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 Holman is approaching AI internally and within its robotics solutions externally.

November 17, 202544 min

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

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 lookback on the key drivers behind all the current investment and talent momentum entering construction tech, and finally where she views the intersection of construction and supply chain headed.

November 4, 202559 min

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

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 it takes to scale and lead a finance function within a hyper-growth technology company (only amplified if the dynamics of h/w + s/w business models are involved), and outlines his view on this latest wave of AI with his decades of experience watching prior key inflection points in technology.

October 6, 202538 min

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

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’ construction projects, and finishes with a “What’s Hot and What’s Hype” discussion on the latest technology trends impacting the built world.

August 18, 202543 min

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

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 discusses some current built environment tech trends around AI, supply chain, and others.