April 17, 2025 • 55 mins
Bentonville, Arkansas has become an unexpected hub for global supply chain innovation. At the Plug and Play event downtown, innovators, corporate leaders, and venture capitalists gather to tackle some of the industry's most pressing challenges.
Josh Saffran opens by explaining how Plug and Play connects corporations facing supply chain challenges with startups offering innovative solutions. With 400 attendees and keynote speaker Shelley Simpson of JB Hunt, the atmosphere buzzes with possibility as entrepreneurs and industry giants share a single space.
The conversations throughout the day reveal a common thread - artificial intelligence is transforming supply chain from warehouse floors to corporate boardrooms.
We meet Devin Bhushan from Squint AI, whose technology lets companies record factory operations on video and automatically generate step-by-step guides with augmented reality assistance.
Kate Powell shares how Tyson Ventures is seeking AI innovations through their annual Demo Day competition, while international investor Meir from Maniv VC hunts for entrepreneurs with fresh approaches to breaking into fragmented markets.
Perhaps most memorably, supply chain expert Dr. Matt Waller describes his "Supply Chain Hot Wings Challenge," where executives from JB Hunt and Tyson Foods answer technical questions while consuming increasingly spicy chicken wings. As he puts it, both supply chain management and hot wings "require strategy, resilience, and a willingness to cry in front of other people."
Despite the technological focus, every speaker emphasizes the continued importance of human expertise.
Alex Rhodeen from Georgia Tech's ATDC reminds us that while AI brings tremendous value, "supply chains are still going to be human-dependent." The future isn't about replacement but enhancement - making complex jobs easier through thoughtful innovation.
Dive into these back-to-back snippet interviews with attendees, and enjoy yhr special on-site bonus epsiode from DBB!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:06):
Well, hello everyone and welcome to Doing Business in
Bentonville.
I'm Andy Wilson and I've got aspecial guest with me today,
josh Stafford.
Welcome to Doing Business inBentonville.
Thank you for calling mespecial guest.
I do appreciate that You'rewelcome.
You know we're really excitedbecause we're broadcasting from
downtown Bentonville and youhave got a great event planned
(00:27):
for Plug and Play.
Thank you very much forinviting doing business in
Bentonville.
Here and today we're going tobe interviewing some of your
great guests that you have here,but tell all of our viewers
what you have planned for today.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
Yeah, I'm real excited.
We've been doing these expotrend type events for five years
, and about three years ago wedecided to partner with the
University of Arkansas, who doessuch an amazing job in the
supply chain space, and so wecombined forces, had some cost
savings, obviously, in doingthat, but, more importantly,
brought together both sets offolks within our networks, and
so this is our third year ofpartnering with them.
(01:00):
We had 400 people sign up.
We had Shelley Simpson.
We're going to have ShelleySimpson as keynote speaker for
the event, so that waswonderfully planned and it's all
about innovation supply chain.
We're going to have greatpanelists.
Today we're bringing in the HotOnes panel for year two, where
Matt Waller is going to eatspicy wings and talk supply
chain.
So I'm really excited.
A lot of innovation, greatstartups, great panelists and,
(01:24):
more importantly, being able todo this here in Northwest
Arkansas with 400 people signingup is very exciting.
Speaker 1 (01:29):
Well, that's a wonderful event and you know,
josh, you've had great successhere with your previous events
and we want to thank everyonefor coming and participating.
Now talk a bit about Play.
Play and it's a global company,worldwide.
There's events all over theworld.
So talk about the company andthe major.
(01:52):
What does the company focus on?
Speaker 2 (01:55):
Yeah, we've been here since 2019.
We're a Silicon Valley-basedventure capital and our team
focuses specifically on supplychain, but we have 23 other we
call them verticals or teamsthat focus on things like
fintech or crypto or insurtechor health tech and things of
that nature, and so supply chainmakes a ton of sense here for
everything going on with Walmart, tyson, jb Hunt, arcbest and
(02:15):
others, and so what we do is weintroduce innovation solutions
via startup introductions tocorporate partners.
So a corporation has achallenge within the supply
chain that they're trying tosolve.
They can't build it or don'twant to build it internally.
We're connected to over 80,000startups in our global database
and we will source and vet thesestartups and then introduce
(02:36):
them to corporations that willthen have meetings with them
where they will decide do wewant to buy this technology?
Do we want to borrow it?
Do we want to build it ourself?
And, end of the day, throughthat process, they will
hopefully have pilots and thencommercialize the end result
Josh.
Speaker 1 (02:50):
Again, thank you so much for the opportunity.
Now, as we think about today,what are you expecting?
What would be the greatoutcomes?
Because I know you and yourteam have worked very, very hard
, so talk about that.
Speaker 2 (03:05):
Yeah, this is the third year that we've done this
event in collaboration with theUniversity of Arkansas and we
get to see the partnership andcollaboration focused on supply
chain, which has been great.
What we do is reallyinteresting in the community and
obviously what they're doing isfantastic over at the
university.
We had almost 400 people signup.
So when we show up this morning, I'm so excited looking around
(03:25):
the room at the number ofattendees that we have here, and
we invited fantastic founders,wonderful corporate partners,
investors.
So I think today, what you'llsee coming out of this is
tremendous amount of networking,tremendous amount of
introductions and hopefully, alot of deals get made and I'm
not talking about necessarilyinvestment deals, but companies
that could use help from startuptechnology being able to work
(03:47):
with some of these folks goinginto pilot.
So when you look around at thesetup in the room and the number
of chairs, I'm expecting a fullhouse and I'm really excited to
see how the event goes today.
Speaker 1 (03:55):
Well, wonderful and we're excited to be here again.
Thank you so much.
Thank you, hi everyone.
I'm Andy Wilson and I amrecording at the plug and play
event downtown bentonville,arkansas.
And you won't believe who justwalked up matt waller.
dr matt waller, welcome andygreat to see you thanks for
talking to me oh listen, youknow you're the world renowned
(04:16):
matt waller, so of course youknow you walk by.
I had to grab you because, likeI could, you know I see you
from a distance all the time andit's usually on LinkedIn or
somewhere you know, and you'redoing great things around the
world at the University ofArkansas.
Speaker 3 (04:31):
So congratulations for all that you're doing Well
you know, here today I want totell you about a panel I'm
facilitating.
Okay, it's really fun.
It's the second year we've doneit.
It's called the Supply ChainHot Wings Challenge and, for
those listening that are notfamiliar with the concept, we're
(04:52):
combining two of humanity'sgreatest challenges solving
supply chain problems and eatinghot, spicy chicken wings,
eating hot, spicy chickenweights and one thing that they
both have in common is they bothrequire strategy, resilience
(05:13):
and a willingness to cry infront of other people.
But today on my panel I have theSenior Vice President of Supply
Chain Management from Tyson,jeff Lowe, and senior vice
president, executive vicepresident from JB Hunt, spencer
(05:37):
Frazier, and you know they'reboth supply chain experts, but I
want to see how their logisticskills hold up in managing this
one supply chain today, which isgetting increasingly spicy
chicken wings in their mouth.
But, in all honesty, weactually have real questions
that have to do with supplychain management and they will
(05:57):
be eating these really hot andspicy chicken wings while
they're answering questions.
But I like to say this is wheresupply chain meets Scoville
index and you know, I don't knowif that's ever happened before.
Speaker 1 (06:17):
You know, I know this .
I will be attending that event.
Oh, thank you, I will be therefor sure, because I want to see
this and I may try to get somevideo of this.
Okay, you know that we can postwhen we're having, when we
release this podcast, because Ithink what this is is
(06:38):
world-renowned, as you said, Iwould have to say so, you know,
and see, you're just such, youhave such talent.
You know, I mean to pull thisoff.
Speaker 3 (06:49):
Well, speaking of talent, let me tell you what
happened last year.
So I'm sitting there it's adifferent panel, but it's the
same concept and they have thesehot sauces lined up in front of
me, these hot sauces lined upin front of me, and they say,
okay, this is the mildest andthis is the hottest.
(07:10):
Okay, and so go from mildest tohottest.
I said, okay, well, I got theorder confused.
Of course you did purposely,right?
No?
Speaker 1 (07:20):
no, you didn't.
Speaker 3 (07:21):
Oh, and so I put a bunch of the hottest hot sauce
on the first wing.
I took a bite and I couldbarely breathe.
Oh my goodness, I thought wewere going to have to call an
ambulance Now.
Fortunately we didn't, and Idid survive.
As you can see, I love it.
Speaker 1 (07:42):
Well, you know, the only other person I could think
of that you should do this isyou should put our friend Josh
in plug and play in that, oh mygosh.
I mean really, I mean this ishis event, we should just do it.
I mean you should do it becauseit couldn't happen to a better
guy really, and I think youshould reverse the sauces again.
Speaker 3 (08:04):
Well, what we thought about doing was next year
instead of, we always have abunch of milk, big glasses of
milk, because that's supposed tohelp in water, but next time
we're not going to have milk orwater, we're going to have
bourbon.
So I think Josh would reallylike that.
Speaker 1 (08:23):
Okay, I think it is next year.
Josh seems to be have bourbon,so I think Josh would really
like that.
Josh, okay, I think it is nextyear.
Josh seems to be the bourbonguy, right, exactly, exactly.
Oh, matt, it's always great tosee you, and one of the things
that we were chatting about Iwant our viewers to know is that
we're going to have you back ondoing business in Bentonville.
Oh, good, and we arecelebrating.
We have just reached a newmilestone doing business in
(08:47):
Bentonville.
We're now viewed in a hundredcountries.
Speaker 3 (08:49):
Are you serious, I am Congratulations.
Thank you, andy.
Given your leadership and yourbackground, I am not the least
bit surprised.
Speaker 1 (08:59):
It's all for the team .
You know, the team just told methat.
Actually, they told me like 15minutes ago we were, we were
around the 90, uh, 90, 90countries and and, uh, you know,
we were just chatting about itand they went.
Oh, we forgot to tell you, youknow, because that tells you
they do all the work.
You know they're, they're, theyknow it.
I didn't know it and I givethem all the credit, but it is
(09:20):
it, it is, and and we I justwant to say to all of our
viewers and listeners now aroundthe world, we say thank you.
You know, we live, and I wantto just talk to you about this
just for a moment.
But we live in an incredibleplace, don't we?
Northwest Arkansas, oh mygoodness.
Speaker 3 (09:36):
We live in the greatest place.
I mean, you know the retailvalue chain.
This is the heartbeat of theretail value chain.
Yes, it is the heartbeat.
And you think about Walmart.
You know every a Walmart islike within a 10 minute drive of
90% of the country, right, butat the same time, walmart's
ramping up e-commerce.
(09:56):
You know, pickup delivering,home, drone delivery.
This stuff is beingconceptualized here and rolled
out here.
It's quite remarkable.
Speaker 1 (10:09):
It is remarkable I was reading this morning
actually, that Walmart's growthin grocery is 60% of their
business today.
Oh, I didn't know that.
Yeah, and so it's phenomenal.
And I remember this and it'sgoing to date me a bit back and
for years I've spent almost 30years at Walmart and I remember
(10:29):
this when Sam Walton broughtDavid Glass in as CFO, and David
Glass came from the foodbackground, as you know, when he
came, I remember Sam Waltonsaying this he said the future
is food.
We did not sell one grocery.
Well, we sold a few groceryitems, but in our candy
(10:53):
department, if you will.
But Sam Walton said it and hesaid and David Glass will help
us get there.
David Glass, thank you for yourvision, because he really was a
visionary he was a visionaryand now for them to do Walmart,
and I thought that was such amilestone.
I read this morning and I was sohappy for what's taking place,
(11:14):
but you're right, but whatWalmart has accomplished but not
only is Walmart here all thesupport organizations and what
you all are doing at theUniversity of Arkansas, matt,
and we'll get into that on ourpodcast and what you all are
doing at the University ofArkansas, matt, and we'll get
into that on our podcast whatyou all are doing around supply
chain and other things atUniversity of Arkansas it's
phenomenal.
So thank you for that.
Speaker 3 (11:34):
Oh yeah, you know.
One other thing about Walmart Iwanted to say, because a lot of
people don't know this Walmartwas the first company in the
world to have a privatesatellite network.
You know, sam Walton wanted tobe able to provide the home
office with POS and storeinformation on a daily basis.
(11:57):
Right, and to do that they hadto put in a satellite network,
which was a big, big idea backin the 80s.
Oh, back in the 80s.
Speaker 1 (12:05):
Oh, back in the 80s exactly, Gosh.
Speaker 3 (12:07):
But then you know, sam Walton could speak on the
intercom of any store in thecountry, right, in fact, if you
go in the renovated Walmartmuseum in Bentonville they have
his desk with the microphone onit.
Right Through that satellitenetwork he can connect to any
(12:28):
store in the country andcommunicate.
The reason I think that'sinteresting is, I think in any
business communication is one ofthe most important variables.
Speaker 1 (12:38):
Absolutely, absolutely.
It is critical and you know,walmart did a great job of
communicating.
They still do a great job ofcommunicating.
I think Doug and his team doesa great job of communicating not
only to the associates aroundthe world, but also to everyone
else about what's happening andthe opportunities and where
(12:59):
they're going to go.
They do, they create and, toyour point, great communications
create clarity, and claritycreates execution in the
organization and individuals.
Speaker 3 (13:10):
So it works, it does, it does and you know even the
concept of having an electronicPOS system, yeah, in the 80s.
Yeah, how to use RFID in retail.
I mean, the list just goes onand on.
(13:30):
And I was thinking, with all ofthe potential cost increases
associated with the tariffs andeverything, I think Walmart will
gain market share.
Oh, definitely Right,definitely Because of ED share.
Oh, definitely Right,definitely Because of EDLP.
Oh, yeah, and you know I was.
It's amazing that the conceptof EDLP really was pushed by
(13:53):
Jack Schumann.
It was, I remember Jack.
Speaker 1 (13:56):
Great job.
Speaker 3 (13:58):
And you know, throughout the years Walmart has
had pressure to move away fromEDLP and for those listening I
know it stands for Everyday LowPrice.
But I really it's very clearthat the closer they've stuck to
it, the more they've won.
Speaker 1 (14:13):
Yeah, and I think you know too what happened with the
transformation.
And back when Jack was thepresident and CEO of Walmart I
was the store manager anddistrict manager and when he you
know, we're going to stopadvertising because we were
driven by weekly ads or monthlyads and when he said that I
(14:34):
thought that's not possible butyet it worked.
And then, as you know, ittransferred to the suppliers'
everyday low cost now yes, knowit transferred to the suppliers
everyday low cost, now yes.
And that when they got it, whenthe suppliers got it and they
seen what would happen withsales and margins, they got on
board and that's.
(14:54):
And and I think to your point,I think that's you know, through
this whole margins conversation, that the world is happening
today um, I think Walmart willcontinue to win.
Speaker 3 (15:06):
I mean, you know, a lot of times the mainstream
media is critical of Walmart,but they don't realize all the
innovation that's driven in ourcountry.
It's buffer against inflation,I mean.
It's done so much good, andeven amongst suppliers.
(15:28):
One of the things I noticedwhen I moved here 30 years ago
was how, with Walmart givingthem all this data and their
ability to speak into categorylayout and strategy, it creates
innovative competition, becausethese firms try to put their
(15:49):
smartest people on these teamsand then they compete for good
ideas and innovation that drivesinnovation in their companies
that actually benefits otherretailers Absolutely.
And I think of all these things, like even the idea of using
distribution centers and retailthat that was invented by
(16:10):
Walmart, right.
The idea of using backhaul theway they do, right.
This list goes on and on.
So, and you Right, we've gotpeople like you who have been a
part of creating these thingsand they're still here.
So you're helping to driveinnovation here through doing
(16:31):
business in Bentonville, andthere's other people too.
It's just amazing.
Speaker 1 (16:38):
It is.
It is Okay.
So we're going to have you onthe Doing Business in
Bentonville podcast this fall.
We're going to work that outbecause I can't wait to have you
back on and the conversation isgoing to be so rich, so I want
all of our viewers and listenersto be watching for you.
One last thing Okay, back tothe most important topic that
(17:00):
we've talked about today is thehot wings.
Yes, okay.
So now, when is this going totake place?
And I want to take some photosand we can get this done.
What is okay?
The Matt Waller Award.
Speaker 3 (17:12):
It's the Matt Waller Innovation Award.
Oh, okay, excuse me, I like tosay it's an oxymoron.
They said who is the leastinnovative person we can name
this after?
No, it's.
Speaker 1 (17:25):
I don't know why they named it after me, but all
right, I could give our viewerslike a hundred reasons why?
Speaker 3 (17:33):
But really it's looking at people who are
helping to drive innovation, notjust in Northwest Arkansas but
in the world, maybe startinghere.
Yeah, not just in NorthwestArkansas but in the world, maybe
starting here.
And so this year's awardee Ican't announce right now, but
(17:54):
it's a young lady and she hasdone a lot to drive innovation
in our entrepreneurial ecosystemin Northwest Arkansas.
Speaker 1 (18:06):
Well, when you announce that I'll try to get
her on our program today, ohgood, okay, let's get her here
so she can talk about it and, uh, and and excellent.
Speaker 3 (18:12):
Okay, you'll love her .
Speaker 1 (18:13):
She's very easy to talk to okay, brilliant young
lady, we're, we're in there.
That's going to happen.
Well, dr waller, my friend,it's always great to see you.
Speaker 3 (18:22):
Good to see you, buddy.
Thanks for all you're doing.
Speaker 1 (18:24):
No, thank you for what you're doing and I look
forward to spending more timetogether.
Speaker 3 (18:29):
I look forward to it, okay.
Speaker 1 (18:31):
Thank you.
Thank you, Matt.
Hello everyone, I'm Andy Wilsonand we're broadcasting from the
Plug and Play event in downtownBentonville, Arkansas, and my
guest just showed up and Devinwelcome to Doing Business in
Bentonville.
Speaker 4 (18:44):
Thanks for having me, okay.
Speaker 1 (18:46):
Second time now.
Yeah, you were on with Josh,right?
Yep, that's right, and yourpodcast has done really well.
Thank you for being on it.
And today, what we're doing,we're putting together a whole
host of guests in and out todayto get a flavor of what's going
on here.
Guests in and out today to geta flavor of what's going on here
(19:08):
, so we can share thisexperience around the world with
our viewers and listeners.
So, okay, so talk to us aboutyour company, squip.
So tell us what is it, what doyou do, where are you located?
Tell us all about your company.
Speaker 4 (19:21):
So we're a series A startup 're based out of san
francisco, california, and wemake ai software for, uh,
industrial companies somanufacturers, um, supply chain
companies, logistics, um, thingslike that.
Um, I'll give you maybe the oneliner of how it works.
Okay, which is, um, with squint, you can go record a video of a
(19:42):
factory operator doing any taskand our ai will watch that
video and it will write astep-by-step guide of what it
saw, such that someone else cannow perform that task like an
expert.
And then it actually becomes atablet or phone app that new
operators can use, and it usesaugmented reality, so it uses
(20:03):
the camera and it guides peoplestep-by-step through what
they're supposed to do.
And all of that content isauto-generated using AI.
And then, because we have thecamera on, we can actually check
to see if people did the workcorrectly.
And before they do somethingreally wrong or hurt themselves,
we can stop them and say, hey,you did step 17 wrong, because
now we know what it looks likeand how it's supposed to work.
Speaker 1 (20:25):
Okay that's so exciting and we are going to
have sessions here at this eventabout AI and we had Shelly
Simpson, the CEO of JB Hunt, wastalking about the advancement
of the AI at JB Hunt and it'ssuch a wonderful, powerful topic
.
Today I go, I use AI.
I have to tell you you, it hassaved me so much time in my work
(20:48):
here at the, at doing businessin bentonville.
So now, who are?
If you can tell us who are someof your customers that use this
?
Speaker 4 (20:55):
um, we work with, uh, basically like large enterprise
manufacturing companies.
Um.
So some examples would bemichelin, um, siemens,
continental Tires, some food andbeverage companies.
So I think the common threadthat I've seen with
manufacturing companies isthey're all struggling with
(21:16):
workforce turnover right now,and so it actually doesn't
matter what you're building orwhat you're making.
Wow, they all have the sameissue and it's going to help
with that, okay, or?
Speaker 1 (21:25):
what you're making.
They all have the same issueand it's going to help with that
.
Okay, you know, when you weredescribing it in the detail
earlier, the one-liner youmentioned when you were
describing it you know what Ithought about.
I thought about the people onthese assembly lines and I
thought about the hazard thatcan take place in those.
That's where my mindautomatically went.
So, okay, how did you get tohere?
(21:45):
Tell us a little bit about howyou you came to develop this
type of product.
Speaker 4 (21:51):
Yeah, well, I mean, it's interesting.
My background is actuallycomputer vision and AI and I'm
an I'm a software engineeroriginally.
Okay, I have really no ties tomanufacturing outside of the
fact that I've now been immersedin it for three and a half
years, right.
But when I started the companyI had in my previous job I'd
(22:11):
worked with some customers thatwere industrial, and the thing I
kept hearing was, when we'reout in the field or out on the
floor, we really don't have easyaccess to the information that
we need to do the job right, andthat leads to a lot of guessing
, and I don't like to guess inmy job.
I don't think anyone likes toguess at their job, and yet it
seems like that's been thestatus quo for three, four
(22:33):
decades now in manufacturing,and so we built the business to
solve that problem and to bringpeople the right information at
the right time on the job attheir fingertips.
Wonderful.
Speaker 1 (22:44):
So what are the benefits?
What are some that you havemeasured through this process?
I'm sure you measured all thesebenefits and looked at it, and
so tell us some of the outcomes.
Speaker 4 (22:55):
Yeah, yeah, that's a great question.
I think, ultimately, squinthelps with kind of two main
outcomes.
One is downtime reduction in amanufacturing environment,
another one is kind of anincrease in quality, and both of
those are really stemming fromthe same thing, which is human
mistake, causing, you know, abad outcome.
And so some examples would be.
I was actually just I was at afactory a couple of weeks ago
(23:18):
One of our customers and thequality manager came up to me
and they were like hey, we justmeasured the results with squint
and I had to count three timesbecause it didn't make sense.
But he said we went from having12 mistakes per shift to zero
post squint.
And he was like we just don'thave human error anymore and the
(23:40):
impact that makes to amanufacturing company's bottom
line is massive.
Right, it's massive.
Speaker 1 (23:45):
The margins is where we live it's massive yeah, and
not only for productivity, butfor safety.
You mentioned earlier is safety, but productivity is critical
to any organization, and thenthe people that have also.
They can learn to do that jobmore efficient because of what
you're doing, and the betterthey become, uh, the more
(24:06):
efficient organizations become.
So it's so people that arelistening to this around the
world.
How do they get in touch withyou?
Speaker 4 (24:15):
okay, yeah, well, I mean, the the great thing about
today is you can go to ourwebsite.
Yeah, yeah, so you can find usthere.
Speaker 1 (24:21):
Yeah, so what is your website?
What's your address?
Speaker 4 (24:24):
Squintai.
Okay, so you can find us onlineand then we'd be happy to set
folks up with either a pilot ora demo and you can actually try
Squint for yourself.
The easiest and coolest thing Iwould recommend is, when you
(24:44):
talk to someone on our team,send them a video of work that
happens on your floor andthey'll instantly turn it into
an AI-generated SOP.
Okay.
Speaker 1 (24:48):
Are you in Northwest Arkansas often?
Speaker 4 (24:52):
I've been here a couple times this year.
Okay, we have some customers inthe area.
Okay, happy to come here more.
Speaker 1 (24:58):
Okay, here's what I want to do.
I want to have you on our doingbusiness in Bentonville
podcasts, and, and uh, we canremote you in from California.
If you're in Northwest Arkansas, uh, you can come to our studio
.
Because what you're doing, Ithink, is we is so critical to
(25:18):
to productivity in this wholespace, and safety, and, and, and
people learning their jobs, andI think you're onto something
incredible here and now.
What I'd like to do is have youback in and let's spend 30 40
minutes together really layingthis out, and then we post the
video.
We can put links to yourorganization.
(25:39):
We can even show some uh, youknow video or whatever, but I, I
am intrigued by this and I wantto talk more with you and learn
more about your company and getyou uh, get you out to um, we,
we have about a uh, we haveabout viewed in about I was just
told, 100 countries now, and solet's get you out there and so
(26:02):
people can get and learn thisand get more productive and and
uh in the organization.
So what do you?
Will you come back, of course,okay okay, all right I'm gonna
give you my, my card.
I want you to come back.
This is so exciting.
Uh, I'm so glad you stopped bythe booth.
Thank you for doing that and Ijust wish you all the luck in
your organization.
Thanks so much.
(26:25):
All right, thank you, beengreat to visit with you.
Okay, hello everyone.
My name is Andy Wilson and I'mwith Doing Business in
Bentonville, and we're soexcited because we're
broadcasting from a great eventwith Plug and Play downtown
Bentonville, arkansas, and Ineed to throw in for all my
cycling friends the mountainbike capital of the world.
So here we are.
We want to get straight to myguest though Kate Powell Welcome
.
Speaker 5 (26:44):
Thank you.
Thank you for having me.
Speaker 1 (26:46):
Yeah, this is so exciting because we're going to
get to talk about some.
One of my favorite companies inNorthwest Arkansas, of course,
is Tyson Foods, but you alsowork.
Tell us what you do with theTyson brand.
I guess we could say right.
Speaker 5 (27:00):
Absolutely so.
I work for Tyson Ventures,which is the corporate venture
capital arm of Tyson Foods, sowe invest in really exciting
startups that have innovationsin emerging proteins, technology
enablers and what we callpeople planet and agriculture,
so it's a really exciting spaceto be in where we really act as
a catalyst of innovation forTyson Foods.
Speaker 1 (27:19):
Okay, are you working on anything exciting that you
can tell our folks about?
Speaker 5 (27:23):
I am.
So I'm working on I call it ourTyson version of Shark Tank, if
you will.
So we host Tyson Demo Day everyyear.
We're in our fourth year rightnow.
Applications are open until May2nd for startups to apply, and
then we host in person at WorldHeadquarters in Springdale,
Arkansas, on July 9th.
We change topics year to year.
So we've done sustainability,we've done upcycling.
(27:45):
Last year we did supply chaintech, which is why we're here at
Plug and Play's event today,and then this year we're
focusing on what we're callingAI, from concept to consumer,
brand engagement and innovation.
So it's really exciting spotwhere we're looking at startups
that are innovating withartificial intelligence and
consumer insights, productinnovation, how we connect with
our customers and consumers.
(28:06):
So a really exciting space.
Speaker 1 (28:08):
Well, that is exciting and I love what's going
on at Tyson Foods right now andall the creative things that
Tyson is doing, the new productsthey're doing, the way that you
all are upgrading yourfacilities and it's just so.
I think it.
I would say it appears fromoutside, looking in.
It would be a great time to beat Tyson.
Speaker 5 (28:30):
Absolutely.
I love working at Tyson.
It is a great place to be andwe really are focused on
innovation in so many differentareas, like you said, from our
facilities to our supply chainto our actual portfolio of
products.
So we have one of the largestinnovation portfolio that we've
ever had at Tyson Foods rightnow, so it's very exciting.
You've probably seen ourRazorback Nuggets, our Cowboys
Nuggets, so there's a lot ofreally exciting things that are
(28:52):
coming out of Tyson right now.
Speaker 1 (28:54):
Okay, I got to come real here.
Okay, I bought the Tyson theRazorback Nuggets.
Okay, I had to do it.
Right, absolutely.
I mean, with all the stuff thathappened with our great local
Razorback, especially withbasketball most recently.
Right, we had to do it.
I love that.
So what else is going on thatyou can share with us?
Speaker 5 (29:14):
Sure.
So Tyson Demo Day is really ourbiggest focus right now, for my
department, for Tyson Ventures,other things that are going on.
You know we're always focusedon innovations in our supply
chain, innovations that we canfocus for operational excellence
, customer and consumerobsession, what we call data and
digital delivery our teammembers as well.
So we're really focused on thefuture of Tyson.
Speaker 1 (29:35):
That is so exciting.
You know, one of the thingsthat we get the opportunity to
live in Northwest Arkansas,absolutely, and we get to emerge
ourselves in all the innovationthat's taken place, just like
today at Plug and Play event.
Speaker 7 (29:50):
Yes.
Speaker 1 (29:50):
And we just had Shelly Simpson, you know, CEO.
Speaker 5 (29:54):
She was incredible.
She's a great speaker, oh mygoodness, didn't she do great.
Speaker 1 (29:58):
You know Shelly.
I've known Shelly for years.
She's been on doing business inBentonville before.
I just had one of hercolleagues on and you know she
talked about innovation.
Yeah, mainly, especially in thetechnology space and all the
things they're doing to, youknow, to help their truck
drivers be safer.
(30:18):
Isn't that a phenomenal focuswithin Absolutely so.
I know you mentioned earlieryou've done several things
around innovation.
Anything there you want tovisit about?
Speaker 5 (30:29):
Yeah, so you might have heard Donnie King so our
CEO chat about and I'll make alittle plug in there.
So I actually work as a programmanager as well for our
investor relations team.
So in our last earnings call wereally focused on our data and
digital delivery and how we'reusing innovations and how we use
our data, how we connect withour customers, how we can meet
(30:50):
customers where they're at.
So Donnie likes to say that youknow, continuous improvement is
continuous improvement.
We're constantly improving uponwhat we're doing.
Speaker 1 (30:58):
You know, I think you're right.
I think Donnie King's anotherone of those leaders and I know
him personally that he hasbrought that when he came to the
company back to the company.
I guess we should say when hecame back.
You know he had this.
I could tell from again, fromlistening and watching him, this
termination to even make Tysona greater organization,
(31:21):
absolutely, and I see that thatyou all are doing that and
congratulations to you on that.
It's wonderful what's going on.
Speaker 5 (31:29):
Definitely.
And you know Donnie started asa night shift plant manager with
Tyson Foods, so I really lovehis story about how you know
he's really started at a plantand now he's our CEO and he
really has an eye for ourfrontline team members and what
it means to talk to ourcustomers, so we have a really
good eye for innovation fromthat perspective.
Speaker 1 (31:47):
Wonderful.
Well, it's so great to have youon and I want to give you an
opportunity again to sayanything else about Tyson
Ventures or about theorganization, anything else you
would like to add for ourviewers and listeners?
Absolutely, I will make, wouldlike to add for our viewers and
listeners, absolutely.
Speaker 5 (32:01):
I will make another call to action for Tyson Demo
Day.
So our applications are openthrough May 2nd and then we let
startups know if they've beenselected mid-June and then we
host at World Headquarters inSpringdale, arkansas, on July
9th.
So if you'd like to apply,visit our Tyson Ventures
LinkedIn page.
Speaker 1 (32:21):
It has all the information, all the links that
you need to find there and I'lltell you, if you will love,
after this, we can download yourinformation, your link or
whatever for people so you cango to our website Doing Business
in Bentonville and you cancheck out.
We're going to be posting thispodcast on our website and we
can add that link to people thatare interested.
That would be wonderful.
We're glad to do that.
(32:41):
We'll grab that informationafterwards.
Well, thank you so much forbeing here.
It's okay, I'm glad I've got tomeet you.
The best to you and all in yourteam of what you're doing.
I hope you're, I hope you havea just a phenomenal year at
Tyson Foods.
Speaker 5 (32:56):
Thank you so much.
I appreciate it.
All right, thank you All right,thank you Well, hello much I
appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (32:58):
Thanks for having me All right, thank you.
Hello everyone.
I'm Andy Wilson.
I'm broadcasting live down atthe Plug and Play event downtown
Bentonville, arkansas, and Iwill tell you I have just met
the most interesting person.
I'm just going to tell youyou've got to lean in on this.
This is just going to be great,mir.
Welcome to Doing Business inBentonville.
It's so good to be here.
(33:23):
Thank you, wow, you know I'm.
We got.
We met uh on the way to lunch,I think right, and uh, you and
your uh, a partner from uh newyork, I believe, in new jersey,
new york, we together, and so wehad a nice little chat and
thank you for taking a fewminutes to speak with us today
about your wonderful company andabout your country.
I think you have come thefurthest to Arkansas all the way
(33:48):
from Tel Aviv yeah, you don'tget here by accident.
I have met people from Tel Avivbefore, but I've never met them
in Northwest Arkansas.
So welcome to Northwest.
Speaker 6 (33:59):
Arkansas.
Thank you, it's my first timehere and it's been surprising
and wonderful, Right?
Speaker 1 (34:03):
You know we have a very unique corner of the world
here and the wonderful thing ispeople found out about it and we
continue to grow and we justlove how the whole area is
growing.
Well, We've got just abeautiful community here.
Speaker 6 (34:21):
So I put a plug in for northwest arkansas I'll
second your plug which issometimes you have to come from
the outside to notice some ofthis stuff.
Yeah, what's happening here isreally amazing, but I have
fortune.
Speaker 1 (34:31):
I've been here over 30 years and and um, and and my
career was with walmart before Istarted in podcasts and and uh,
so, um, it's wonderful, raisedour daughter here and she has a
family here now settled in.
It's a beautiful place, and so,um, it's just great, uh, it's
just got a great feel to it all.
(34:51):
Right now, let's get in andtalk about your company, what
you do, and we'll just navigatethrough some wonderful
conversation for sure.
Speaker 6 (34:59):
So I'm with manev.
It's an early stage venturecapital fund.
Our rule of thumb is if youheard of the company, it's too
late for us.
We invest in a founder and adebt.
I love that.
Earliest possible stages, onlyin the building blocks of the
physical economy.
So we'll invest into themovement of people, in goods.
(35:20):
We'll invest into manufacturing, uh, into supply chain, uh into
transportation.
We're backed by some of thebiggest players in industry in
that space, alongside financialinvestors.
And we're we're based out ofTel Aviv in New York, which can
be a little surprising forpeople.
It's not an obvious place to runthis from, but it allows us to
take kind of a zoomed out viewwhere you can start seeing
(35:44):
problems on a global scale.
You start seeing a startup inEurope and a startup in India
and a startup in the US and astartup in Israel that are all
tackling a similar problem.
Some are tackling it in reallydifferent ways.
Sometimes that means one ofthem has an advantage over the
other.
Sometimes it just means, hey,there are four ways to view this
problem.
There are a lot of ways totackle this problem and they
(36:07):
might be relevant in differentways or in different contexts.
So that's how we're thinkingabout this.
These problems start to rhyme.
They start to rhyme acrossindustries, they start to rhyme
across geographies and if youcan take that view and start
trying to make sense of some ofthe big problems in the physical
economy, Well, that's wonderful.
Speaker 1 (36:28):
I like your philosophy of investing.
It sounds like you've got agreat philosophy of that.
Tell us about the company howold is the company?
And then we'll circle back,because I've got a couple other
questions.
But tell us about the companyfirst.
Speaker 6 (36:42):
So we've been investing.
It's our third fund now.
We've been investing for aboutseven or eight years.
Okay, and our DNA is automotive.
Okay.
The founding partner, mypartner, mike.
He actually was the firstinvestor into a company called
Better Place, which was thiswild bet and if you have time to
Google it, look it up onWikipedia.
It was a wild bet.
They raised a billion dollars.
(37:06):
They managed to lose it all,which is not ideal, yeah, uh,
but it was a wild swing in 2006to try and electrify entire
countries.
Uh, transportation was a swapnetwork with renault cars that
could be robotically swapped out, the batteries robotically
swapped out, and what it wouldallow you to do is, once you had
the infrastructure in place,you could sell a $20,000 EV at
cost parity with the gas vehicleand, instead of charging, just
(37:30):
drive into the gas station,which was a robotic swap station
, swap out the battery, keepdriving.
And so they came quite close.
If you go to Israel, you canstill see old, better-placed
swap stations that are now,unfortunately, carcasses.
They deployed across a couplecountries, ran out of cash and
died spectacularly, and Monevekind of emerged from the ashes
(37:52):
of that, where we started to seeall of a sudden, first in
Israel, all of these interestingcompanies that were trying to
access automotive and otherlegacy industries, all these
startups that had no access tolegacy industry in the physical
world, and so we started fundone.
It's a small fund focused onIsrael, mostly automotive.
When we went out to raise fundtwo, all of a sudden, other
(38:15):
kinds of solutions and startupsbecame available to us and
started popping up, touching notjust automotive and
transportation, but logisticssupply chain.
We started to see the early,early AI solutions and so and we
also started to see this allover the world, not just in
Israel.
So we expanded our focus andnow we're investing in our third
(38:36):
fund and we truly have a globalview.
We have about 40 portfolioportfolio companies across nine
countries, mostly the US, israeland the EU, probably in that
order, but we have an investmentor two in India, brazil, mexico
, and our philosophy is let thebest ideas come from wherever
(38:56):
they come from.
The important thing is tounderstand the problem set and
understand that the access pointinto industry Right.
Speaker 1 (39:04):
So how do you?
That's fascinating, by the way.
I thank you for sharing that,because I think you painted a
beautiful photo, a picture, ifyou will, of your company and
your beginning.
Now, if our viewers orlisteners are interested, how do
they contact you?
(39:24):
Or do you contact them?
How does your process work?
Speaker 6 (39:28):
Oh, absolutely, we're .
We are probably one of the fewVC funds that religiously um,
read inbound emails, um, and wehave a contact form at manevecom
.
Slash contact or just clickcontact.
I don't know if that's theright url, but please, yeah, if
you're reaching out.
Some of our best investmentscame from entrepreneurs who
reached out on our website.
Speaker 1 (39:48):
We read them well, you know you sound like you do,
because one of the things thatgot me excited when you were
talking was that that you, thatyou deal with smaller startups
or smaller entrepreneurs and anda lot of times you know that
group is hard for them topenetrate an investor fund.
Yeah, but it sounds like that'swhat you you do and that's
(40:11):
exciting.
Speaker 6 (40:12):
Yeah, we love talking to entrepreneurs with good
ideas and, by the way, it cutsboth ways.
It's not just that theentrepreneurs can't find us,
it's that these youngentrepreneurs and industry can't
necessarily connect.
Yeah, it's a really hard kindof two-sided problem here, and
what we say is we would be doingthis without a fund.
It's just no one cares untilyou have one.
(40:33):
So we're transportation geeks.
We would love to talk to peoplewith good ideas.
Speaker 1 (40:39):
It just ends up until you have a fund, no one cares.
Okay, now, so is that whyyou're here at this event?
Because, uh, uh, this is asmaller, a small event?
Or tell us why you're here.
What's your?
Speaker 6 (40:48):
purpose so we, we have a couple of friends, um, in
the uh supply chain space inthe area that we've been looking
for an excuse to come and meetin person.
Okay, now, it's amazing whatyou can do by video, but it's
not the same, all right, and wesaw this event and we thought,
you know, this is the excuse.
Yeah, first of all, to meet theplayers in Bentonville.
(41:09):
I mean to hear the speakershere.
It's been really interesting,right.
But also, I think it's good tosee some of our friends that we
hadn't seen in a long time.
Wonderful, so it's a packagedeal.
Speaker 1 (41:19):
Yeah, well, we're glad you're here in Northwest
Arkansas.
You know you mentioned Israel.
I've been to Israel a few timesand I will tell you it's such a
wonderful country and I enjoymy visits there and the history
and the learning is spectacular,my visits there and the history
and the learning is spectacular, and so, uh, as you were
talking about israel, I quicklyhad flashbacks of wonderful
(41:40):
visits there and the people it'sthis country of wonderful
paradoxes ancient, new,innovative and strangely
traditional.
Speaker 6 (41:48):
It's, it's great, it is it really is.
Speaker 1 (41:51):
It is such a great country.
Okay, what, what else?
What else?
As you look at the landscapeand from your point of view,
what are some things you'reworking on in either supply
chain space or other spaces thatare just creative, they're new
and they're things that you'rereally excited about.
Speaker 6 (42:10):
Can I use this as a call out to entrepreneurs?
Yes, something that I've beenruminating about in my mind that
I want someone to come andsolve.
Come talk to me if you have asolution.
You know, this industry is thestrangest combination of
concentrated and crazyfragmented, and you know, I
would love to speak to startupsthat have interesting ideas
about how do you break into thisspace.
(42:31):
You know, I think we've seenthis huge wave of
entrepreneurship and innovationin the supply chain,
particularly when freight rateswere high.
Yes, you know, you look atlogistics tech investment for
this 2019 to 2021, and it was.
It was a bonanza.
Yes, absolutely.
And then freight rates fell.
Speaker 1 (42:51):
We heard Shelly Simpson, ceo of JB Hunt.
We heard Shelley Simpson, ceoof JB Hunt, talk about that
right.
Speaker 6 (42:57):
And it's hard and the JB Hunts of the world probably
felt the pain If you're astartup that came into that with
six months of runway.
It's really hard, and so we'relooking for startups that have
innovative ideas, but alsoreally innovative ideas of how
do you crack this market, eitherhow do you grab the attention
(43:17):
of a JB Hunt, or is there a wayto reach all these mom and pop
truckers.
Is there a way to do that as astartup?
How do you lower the cost ofentry?
How do you ease the way into amarket that simultaneously has
these huge players ahead of themarket, such a long tail on the
back?
Speaker 1 (43:34):
end.
So here's their opportunityright To reach out to you.
Please, and if you think I'mwrong for asking the question,
tell me that too.
I'd love to hear why I'm wrong.
Okay, anything else that you'rereally hot about right now from
the future.
Speaker 6 (43:51):
You know, I think that we're at a moment now where
everyone's talking about it andit's cheap to do so, but I
think if you dig two or threelayers deeper, there's actually
a much more complicated storywhere I think we can call the
game.
On the IT side, inside thecomputer itself, we can call the
game.
It's going to take a while forthe digital world to fully
(44:14):
embrace and integrate AI, right,but we see how it's useful.
You see how it's being used incoding, how it's being used in
searching and query and database.
Speaker 1 (44:28):
It's just a matter of time until it finds its place
in the digital world.
I think you're right.
In fact, I've spoke withseveral of the guests today and
they've all talked about AI.
I spoke with several of theguests today and they've all
talked about AI, and each ofthem it's a common thread and
they just talked about how AIwould help people be more
efficient, more productive.
It's not about replacing people, is what they're telling me.
It's more about creatingefficiencies, safety, even, and
(44:49):
things.
So I think you're right.
Speaker 6 (44:52):
I think it's by this place, but I think there's a
complicating factor, which isthere's a gap between the
digital world and the physicalworld, and I don't think it's a
finished story yet Exactly howAI interacts with the real world
.
Yeah, that leap.
It's not so simple, right?
I can tell you right now callthe game.
Ai can write code.
But can I tell you that thecurrent wave of robotics,
(45:15):
enabled by the current wave ofAI, can really be useful in a
factory.
Speaker 1 (45:18):
Yet they said it's going to be better.
Speaker 6 (45:20):
It's borderline, yeah , and that frontier.
That's where the startups cometo play.
Speaker 1 (45:26):
Right?
Well, mir, I think you're sointeresting and something I'd
like to just I think we couldreally go down on the subject.
I really like it and I wouldlove to talk to you.
So here's what I'm going to doI want to invite you back on
Doing Business in Bentonvilleand we can remote you in from
(45:46):
Tel Aviv.
Okay, you don't have to come.
And if you want to come back toSarcastown, we have a beautiful
studio here, but if not, wecould remote you in.
And I would love to go deeperon some of the things you're
working on in your company.
I'd like to even go deep around.
Let's getting this out to moreentrepreneurs, what you're doing
, and if we can help you do thatthrough our network, we'd love
(46:09):
to help you do that, because Ibelieve the future in so many
things are these entrepreneursand then your company Come Back
Home and supporting those thatyou choose to.
I think it creates a whole newecosystem.
Speaker 6 (46:27):
So I'd like to welcome you back.
I'd be honored, and if you wantto convince the travel team on
my staff that I have to comeback to Bentonville to do it, I
wouldn't argue.
Speaker 1 (46:36):
Okay, well, we'd love to have you come back.
Speaker 6 (46:38):
Cut off the remote option.
Speaker 1 (46:41):
Well, we'd love to have you come back.
It's been great to meet you.
I'm glad we got to spend a fewmoments together, but I want to
wish you the best, you, yourcompany and the best, and I'm
just so happy to have met, you,to have, and that you're
visiting northwest arkansas.
Speaker 6 (46:59):
Thank you okay, thank you for talking.
First talking to a stranger acouple minutes ago, I know I
know, thank you.
Speaker 1 (47:05):
Thank you so much.
It's been a pleasure and I hopewe can visit again.
Would love that, okay.
Thank you all.
Right, thank you, okay.
Hello everyone.
I'm andy wilson and we arebroadcasting from the plug and
play event in downtownBentonville, arkansas.
What a great day we're having.
We had so many wonderful guestsin, and there's another guest
I'd like to introduce you to,alex Rodin, welcome.
(47:25):
Thank you, andy.
It's so great to have you Nowyou're from the state of Georgia
and tell everyone what you do.
Speaker 7 (47:35):
So I work for ATDC, which is the state of georgia's
tech incubator, and I run thesupply chain vertical wonderful.
So we're sponsored by the homedepot.
Uh, great georgia company,great company, it is great
company.
Speaker 1 (47:44):
It's incredible.
Oh man, I got a story on homedepot.
I I have to say it all right,okay, but I guess we should move
on.
But I, you know being my career, was at walmart, so of course,
walmart and Home Depot, we weresuch great friends, and the
founder of Walmart and SamWalton and founder of Home Depot
were great friends and so,anyway, what a great company and
(48:05):
what a great state.
It's a great state as isArkansas.
Speaker 7 (48:08):
The ecosystem here is incredible.
I can't get back to NorthwestArkansas enough.
Well, we're glad you're here.
Speaker 1 (48:13):
Okay, so welcome, welcome Now.
As we had our previous guestson and talked about supply chain
at the University of Arkansas,so you do the same thing for
Georgia Tech then?
Right, that's correct.
So talk about that with us whatyou do.
Speaker 7 (48:31):
So I'm working with early stage technology founders
focused on supply chainsolutions.
We're housed at Georgia Tech,but we're for the whole state.
As you can imagine, I spend alot of time in Savannah.
I'm an army veteran, so a lotof time visiting Columbus and
Augusta and the militaryinstallations around the state
working with service members whoare moving to the civilian side
(48:54):
, and they've got a lot ofexperience in supply chain Right
.
So thinking about what thosesolutions can look like Two-time
co -founder, big believer inentrepreneurship, is a great
path for service members.
Speaker 1 (49:06):
That's wonderful.
Well, you know, I would tellyou, supply chain is so critical
, as we know.
Speaker 4 (49:10):
Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (49:11):
And you know we'll talk a bit about that.
In fact, you know I'm sure youheard Shelley Simpson, CEO of JB
Hunt yes, and she's been doingbusiness in Bentonville before a
few times and she said, hey,I'm going to come back on, I'd
love to have her, but she gave agreat talk about supply chain.
Speaker 7 (49:29):
Your takeaway from some of the things that Shelley
said Well, supply chain is socomplex and so challenging and
obviously we're dealing with alot of news coming out about
tariffs and what that impactmight be.
But the point is just aboutsupply chain is so critical and
even businesses for example, I'mworking with health systems in
(49:51):
Georgia After Hurricane Helenecame through, there was a
recognition that they had tobetter understand their supply
chain Right, Because you can'tstop providing care even when
there's an emergency, and so theunderstanding and embracing of
supply chain is just criticaland I think people more and more
are understanding the impact ithas and it needs to be done
well.
Speaker 1 (50:11):
Well, you know, covid taught us that Absolutely.
You knowata is such a date.
Now we talk before, we talkafter, yes, and we talk about
the and a great thing that thatI'm sure you did and I'd like to
know did you?
What does some of what?
You'd learn some significantthings after kovat that you're
applying today to supply chainanything significant there?
Speaker 7 (50:33):
absolutely so.
One is just.
I mean literally.
We had a situation where acontainer ship got sideways in
the Suez Canal and disruptedglobal trade for weeks.
So that's the fragility ofsupply chain, but also what
COVID taught us is the need tohave a resilient supply chain
and to think about all aspectsof it.
I think a lot of companies knewthat they were somehow involved
(50:56):
with supply chain.
Speaker 1 (50:57):
They didn't understand their supply chain as
well as they do now, right,what are some of the things if
you can share with us that, atGeorgia Tech, you're working on?
Speaker 7 (51:07):
So obviously, everyone's talking about AI
these days, right, and for me,when you think about the supply
chain space, I'm very focused onsolutions utilizing AI that
take a job that's not easy andmake it easier.
So, if you think predictiveanalytics, so if you're managing
a million square foot facility,you've got machines operating
all over it.
If AI can help, you know to golook at machine 14 as part of
(51:32):
your PMCS process and fixsomething before it's broken,
that's invaluable.
Speaker 1 (51:39):
Well, you know, shirley talked about AI and the
work that JB Hunt is doing inthe supply chain space, plus
even their truck drivers andkeeping them safe, and she
talked about the theft.
I'm surprised you know aboutthat, so you're really focused
and that's the great thingthat's happening.
(51:59):
In fact, I had guests onearlier and that's what they do
is AI?
Yes.
Speaker 7 (52:05):
And candidly.
At the end of the day, supplychains are still going to be
human-dependent.
Ai has a role to play, it hasvalue to bring, but at the end
of the day, if you're doing adelivery, that truck driver is
the source of truth for thatdelivery.
Right, they can tell you I'mstuck in traffic, uh, there's no
gate code and I can't get in.
Yeah, they've got thatinformation.
So anything we can do tosupport the human in the loop
(52:27):
who's making the delivery as oneexample within supply chain is
critical.
That's that's.
Speaker 1 (52:32):
that's wonderful that you know from where we've come
on supply chain since COVID.
If that's the day forward, it'samazing what's happened in
supply chain and, based on whatyou're telling us, the future
around AI is only getting moreimpactful right, Without
(52:53):
question.
Speaker 7 (52:53):
But humans will not be replaced.
Speaker 1 (52:55):
Right, absolutely no.
No, we're not.
We'll be enhanced and do ourjobs more efficient, I believe
because of AI.
Speaker 7 (53:03):
Agreed.
So embracing AI andunderstanding how it can make
your job easier is, I think, theright way to consider it.
Speaker 1 (53:11):
Well, Alex, anything else you want to share about
this great state of Georgia andthe things that you're working?
Speaker 7 (53:17):
on, as is the case in Arkansas as well, and across
the entire southeast Georgia hasa real commitment to economic
development, supportingentrepreneurs.
I know that's the case here inArkansas, which I really
appreciate.
One of the great things I wantis strong ecosystems all around
(53:37):
the United States.
Entrepreneurs are going to beeverywhere.
I'm obviously partial toGeorgia, but I want
entrepreneurs in NorthwestArkansas or Little Rock or
anywhere else in the great stateof Arkansas to know they've got
a resource.
And that's what's incredibleabout the University of Arkansas
the work they're doing, what'staking place with Plug and Play.
So it's really great that theywelcomed me into the ecosystem
Well welcome to North Arkansas.
Speaker 1 (53:59):
We're glad you're here.
If you haven't grabbed a bikesince you've been here and have
time, you've got to go on thebike.
This is the mountain bikecapital of the world.
The reason I'm saying that Iride mountain bikes and I live
out here and it's phenomenal andwe have people all over the
world that visit this greatstate.
So I give Arkansas a littleplug there, but you have a great
state also and it's a wonderfulstate.
(54:20):
I had an opportunity to spend alot of time in Georgia and I
tell you all those wonderfulassociates that work in those
Walmart stores in Georgia, Ijust want to give them and say
thank you for what they do,Absolutely Because they do a
great job also at the state.
So, Alex, it's been wonderfulhaving you on.
Andy, thank you so much andthank you for stopping by.
It's been a few minutes.
I want to wish you all the bestin what you're doing.
(54:42):
And the other thing, thank youfor your service to our country.
Thank you, Thank you for that.
And where did you?
Speaker 7 (54:49):
serve.
Well, I went through basictraining at Fort Leonard Wood
Okay, so that's when.
The first time I got exposed toNorthwest Arkansas was when we
would get some leave, and so Iwas a military police officer
and then was a drill sergeantand for me, being an
entrepreneur, I found a lot whenI left active duty that
resonated in the startupecosystem.
(55:10):
Things that I enjoyed aboutbeing in service crossed over to
being an entrepreneur.
Speaker 1 (55:17):
And I'm very grateful for that.
Well, again, I want to wish youthe best.
Speaker 4 (55:21):
Thank you so much.
Speaker 1 (55:23):
And then I hope to see you again, absolutely Okay,
thank you.
Speaker 7 (55:26):
Thanks so much for your time, Andy.
It's been a pleasure.
Great to see you All right havea great, great event.
Speaker 1 (55:30):
Thank you.
Well, hello everyone and welcome to Doing Business in
Bentonville.
I'm Andy Wilson and I've got aspecial guest with me today,
josh Stafford.
Welcome to Doing Business inBentonville.
Thank you for calling mespecial guest.
I do appreciate that You'rewelcome.
You know we're really excitedbecause we're broadcasting from
downtown Bentonville and youhave got a great event planned
(00:27):
for Plug and Play.
Thank you very much forinviting doing business in
Bentonville.
Here and today we're going tobe interviewing some of your
great guests that you have here,but tell all of our viewers
what you have planned for today.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
Yeah, I'm real excited.
We've been doing these expotrend type events for five years
, and about three years ago wedecided to partner with the
University of Arkansas, who doessuch an amazing job in the
supply chain space, and so wecombined forces, had some cost
savings, obviously, in doingthat, but, more importantly,
brought together both sets offolks within our networks, and
so this is our third year ofpartnering with them.
(01:00):
We had 400 people sign up.
We had Shelley Simpson.
We're going to have ShelleySimpson as keynote speaker for
the event, so that waswonderfully planned and it's all
about innovation supply chain.
We're going to have greatpanelists.
Today we're bringing in the HotOnes panel for year two, where
Matt Waller is going to eatspicy wings and talk supply
chain.
So I'm really excited.
A lot of innovation, greatstartups, great panelists and,
(01:24):
more importantly, being able todo this here in Northwest
Arkansas with 400 people signingup is very exciting.
Speaker 1 (01:29):
Well, that's a wonderful event and you know,
josh, you've had great successhere with your previous events
and we want to thank everyonefor coming and participating.
Now talk a bit about Play.
Play and it's a global company,worldwide.
There's events all over theworld.
So talk about the company andthe major.
(01:52):
What does the company focus on?
Speaker 2 (01:55):
Yeah, we've been here since 2019.
We're a Silicon Valley-basedventure capital and our team
focuses specifically on supplychain, but we have 23 other we
call them verticals or teamsthat focus on things like
fintech or crypto or insurtechor health tech and things of
that nature, and so supply chainmakes a ton of sense here for
everything going on with Walmart, tyson, jb Hunt, arcbest and
(02:15):
others, and so what we do is weintroduce innovation solutions
via startup introductions tocorporate partners.
So a corporation has achallenge within the supply
chain that they're trying tosolve.
They can't build it or don'twant to build it internally.
We're connected to over 80,000startups in our global database
and we will source and vet thesestartups and then introduce
(02:36):
them to corporations that willthen have meetings with them
where they will decide do wewant to buy this technology?
Do we want to borrow it?
Do we want to build it ourself?
And, end of the day, throughthat process, they will
hopefully have pilots and thencommercialize the end result
Josh.
Speaker 1 (02:50):
Again, thank you so much for the opportunity.
Now, as we think about today,what are you expecting?
What would be the greatoutcomes?
Because I know you and yourteam have worked very, very hard
, so talk about that.
Speaker 2 (03:05):
Yeah, this is the third year that we've done this
event in collaboration with theUniversity of Arkansas and we
get to see the partnership andcollaboration focused on supply
chain, which has been great.
What we do is reallyinteresting in the community and
obviously what they're doing isfantastic over at the
university.
We had almost 400 people signup.
So when we show up this morning, I'm so excited looking around
(03:25):
the room at the number ofattendees that we have here, and
we invited fantastic founders,wonderful corporate partners,
investors.
So I think today, what you'llsee coming out of this is
tremendous amount of networking,tremendous amount of
introductions and hopefully, alot of deals get made and I'm
not talking about necessarilyinvestment deals, but companies
that could use help from startuptechnology being able to work
(03:47):
with some of these folks goinginto pilot.
So when you look around at thesetup in the room and the number
of chairs, I'm expecting a fullhouse and I'm really excited to
see how the event goes today.
Speaker 1 (03:55):
Well, wonderful and we're excited to be here again.
Thank you so much.
Thank you, hi everyone.
I'm Andy Wilson and I amrecording at the plug and play
event downtown bentonville,arkansas.
And you won't believe who justwalked up matt waller.
dr matt waller, welcome andygreat to see you thanks for
talking to me oh listen, youknow you're the world renowned
(04:16):
matt waller, so of course youknow you walk by.
I had to grab you because, likeI could, you know I see you
from a distance all the time andit's usually on LinkedIn or
somewhere you know, and you'redoing great things around the
world at the University ofArkansas.
Speaker 3 (04:31):
So congratulations for all that you're doing Well
you know, here today I want totell you about a panel I'm
facilitating.
Okay, it's really fun.
It's the second year we've doneit.
It's called the Supply ChainHot Wings Challenge and, for
those listening that are notfamiliar with the concept, we're
(04:52):
combining two of humanity'sgreatest challenges solving
supply chain problems and eatinghot, spicy chicken wings,
eating hot, spicy chickenweights and one thing that they
both have in common is they bothrequire strategy, resilience
(05:13):
and a willingness to cry infront of other people.
But today on my panel I have theSenior Vice President of Supply
Chain Management from Tyson,jeff Lowe, and senior vice
president, executive vicepresident from JB Hunt, spencer
(05:37):
Frazier, and you know they'reboth supply chain experts, but I
want to see how their logisticskills hold up in managing this
one supply chain today, which isgetting increasingly spicy
chicken wings in their mouth.
But, in all honesty, weactually have real questions
that have to do with supplychain management and they will
(05:57):
be eating these really hot andspicy chicken wings while
they're answering questions.
But I like to say this is wheresupply chain meets Scoville
index and you know, I don't knowif that's ever happened before.
Speaker 1 (06:17):
You know, I know this .
I will be attending that event.
Oh, thank you, I will be therefor sure, because I want to see
this and I may try to get somevideo of this.
Okay, you know that we can postwhen we're having, when we
release this podcast, because Ithink what this is is
(06:38):
world-renowned, as you said, Iwould have to say so, you know,
and see, you're just such, youhave such talent.
You know, I mean to pull thisoff.
Speaker 3 (06:49):
Well, speaking of talent, let me tell you what
happened last year.
So I'm sitting there it's adifferent panel, but it's the
same concept and they have thesehot sauces lined up in front of
me, these hot sauces lined upin front of me, and they say,
okay, this is the mildest andthis is the hottest.
(07:10):
Okay, and so go from mildest tohottest.
I said, okay, well, I got theorder confused.
Of course you did purposely,right?
No?
Speaker 1 (07:20):
no, you didn't.
Speaker 3 (07:21):
Oh, and so I put a bunch of the hottest hot sauce
on the first wing.
I took a bite and I couldbarely breathe.
Oh my goodness, I thought wewere going to have to call an
ambulance Now.
Fortunately we didn't, and Idid survive.
As you can see, I love it.
Speaker 1 (07:42):
Well, you know, the only other person I could think
of that you should do this isyou should put our friend Josh
in plug and play in that, oh mygosh.
I mean really, I mean this ishis event, we should just do it.
I mean you should do it becauseit couldn't happen to a better
guy really, and I think youshould reverse the sauces again.
Speaker 3 (08:04):
Well, what we thought about doing was next year
instead of, we always have abunch of milk, big glasses of
milk, because that's supposed tohelp in water, but next time
we're not going to have milk orwater, we're going to have
bourbon.
So I think Josh would reallylike that.
Speaker 1 (08:23):
Okay, I think it is next year.
Josh seems to be have bourbon,so I think Josh would really
like that.
Josh, okay, I think it is nextyear.
Josh seems to be the bourbonguy, right, exactly, exactly.
Oh, matt, it's always great tosee you, and one of the things
that we were chatting about Iwant our viewers to know is that
we're going to have you back ondoing business in Bentonville.
Oh, good, and we arecelebrating.
We have just reached a newmilestone doing business in
(08:47):
Bentonville.
We're now viewed in a hundredcountries.
Speaker 3 (08:49):
Are you serious, I am Congratulations.
Thank you, andy.
Given your leadership and yourbackground, I am not the least
bit surprised.
Speaker 1 (08:59):
It's all for the team .
You know, the team just told methat.
Actually, they told me like 15minutes ago we were, we were
around the 90, uh, 90, 90countries and and, uh, you know,
we were just chatting about itand they went.
Oh, we forgot to tell you, youknow, because that tells you
they do all the work.
You know they're, they're, theyknow it.
I didn't know it and I givethem all the credit, but it is
(09:20):
it, it is, and and we I justwant to say to all of our
viewers and listeners now aroundthe world, we say thank you.
You know, we live, and I wantto just talk to you about this
just for a moment.
But we live in an incredibleplace, don't we?
Northwest Arkansas, oh mygoodness.
Speaker 3 (09:36):
We live in the greatest place.
I mean, you know the retailvalue chain.
This is the heartbeat of theretail value chain.
Yes, it is the heartbeat.
And you think about Walmart.
You know every a Walmart islike within a 10 minute drive of
90% of the country, right, butat the same time, walmart's
ramping up e-commerce.
(09:56):
You know, pickup delivering,home, drone delivery.
This stuff is beingconceptualized here and rolled
out here.
It's quite remarkable.
Speaker 1 (10:09):
It is remarkable I was reading this morning
actually, that Walmart's growthin grocery is 60% of their
business today.
Oh, I didn't know that.
Yeah, and so it's phenomenal.
And I remember this and it'sgoing to date me a bit back and
for years I've spent almost 30years at Walmart and I remember
(10:29):
this when Sam Walton broughtDavid Glass in as CFO, and David
Glass came from the foodbackground, as you know, when he
came, I remember Sam Waltonsaying this he said the future
is food.
We did not sell one grocery.
Well, we sold a few groceryitems, but in our candy
(10:53):
department, if you will.
But Sam Walton said it and hesaid and David Glass will help
us get there.
David Glass, thank you for yourvision, because he really was a
visionary he was a visionaryand now for them to do Walmart,
and I thought that was such amilestone.
I read this morning and I was sohappy for what's taking place,
(11:14):
but you're right, but whatWalmart has accomplished but not
only is Walmart here all thesupport organizations and what
you all are doing at theUniversity of Arkansas, matt,
and we'll get into that on ourpodcast and what you all are
doing at the University ofArkansas, matt, and we'll get
into that on our podcast whatyou all are doing around supply
chain and other things atUniversity of Arkansas it's
phenomenal.
So thank you for that.
Speaker 3 (11:34):
Oh yeah, you know.
One other thing about Walmart Iwanted to say, because a lot of
people don't know this Walmartwas the first company in the
world to have a privatesatellite network.
You know, sam Walton wanted tobe able to provide the home
office with POS and storeinformation on a daily basis.
(11:57):
Right, and to do that they hadto put in a satellite network,
which was a big, big idea backin the 80s.
Oh, back in the 80s.
Speaker 1 (12:05):
Oh, back in the 80s exactly, Gosh.
Speaker 3 (12:07):
But then you know, sam Walton could speak on the
intercom of any store in thecountry, right, in fact, if you
go in the renovated Walmartmuseum in Bentonville they have
his desk with the microphone onit.
Right Through that satellitenetwork he can connect to any
(12:28):
store in the country andcommunicate.
The reason I think that'sinteresting is, I think in any
business communication is one ofthe most important variables.
Speaker 1 (12:38):
Absolutely, absolutely.
It is critical and you know,walmart did a great job of
communicating.
They still do a great job ofcommunicating.
I think Doug and his team doesa great job of communicating not
only to the associates aroundthe world, but also to everyone
else about what's happening andthe opportunities and where
(12:59):
they're going to go.
They do, they create and, toyour point, great communications
create clarity, and claritycreates execution in the
organization and individuals.
Speaker 3 (13:10):
So it works, it does, it does and you know even the
concept of having an electronicPOS system, yeah, in the 80s.
Yeah, how to use RFID in retail.
I mean, the list just goes onand on.
(13:30):
And I was thinking, with all ofthe potential cost increases
associated with the tariffs andeverything, I think Walmart will
gain market share.
Oh, definitely Right,definitely Because of ED share.
Oh, definitely Right,definitely Because of EDLP.
Oh, yeah, and you know I was.
It's amazing that the conceptof EDLP really was pushed by
(13:53):
Jack Schumann.
It was, I remember Jack.
Speaker 1 (13:56):
Great job.
Speaker 3 (13:58):
And you know, throughout the years Walmart has
had pressure to move away fromEDLP and for those listening I
know it stands for Everyday LowPrice.
But I really it's very clearthat the closer they've stuck to
it, the more they've won.
Speaker 1 (14:13):
Yeah, and I think you know too what happened with the
transformation.
And back when Jack was thepresident and CEO of Walmart I
was the store manager anddistrict manager and when he you
know, we're going to stopadvertising because we were
driven by weekly ads or monthlyads and when he said that I
(14:34):
thought that's not possible butyet it worked.
And then, as you know, ittransferred to the suppliers'
everyday low cost now yes, knowit transferred to the suppliers
everyday low cost, now yes.
And that when they got it, whenthe suppliers got it and they
seen what would happen withsales and margins, they got on
board and that's.
(14:54):
And and I think to your point,I think that's you know, through
this whole margins conversation, that the world is happening
today um, I think Walmart willcontinue to win.
Speaker 3 (15:06):
I mean, you know, a lot of times the mainstream
media is critical of Walmart,but they don't realize all the
innovation that's driven in ourcountry.
It's buffer against inflation,I mean.
It's done so much good, andeven amongst suppliers.
(15:28):
One of the things I noticedwhen I moved here 30 years ago
was how, with Walmart givingthem all this data and their
ability to speak into categorylayout and strategy, it creates
innovative competition, becausethese firms try to put their
(15:49):
smartest people on these teamsand then they compete for good
ideas and innovation that drivesinnovation in their companies
that actually benefits otherretailers Absolutely.
And I think of all these things, like even the idea of using
distribution centers and retailthat that was invented by
(16:10):
Walmart, right.
The idea of using backhaul theway they do, right.
This list goes on and on.
So, and you Right, we've gotpeople like you who have been a
part of creating these thingsand they're still here.
So you're helping to driveinnovation here through doing
(16:31):
business in Bentonville, andthere's other people too.
It's just amazing.
Speaker 1 (16:38):
It is.
It is Okay.
So we're going to have you onthe Doing Business in
Bentonville podcast this fall.
We're going to work that outbecause I can't wait to have you
back on and the conversation isgoing to be so rich, so I want
all of our viewers and listenersto be watching for you.
One last thing Okay, back tothe most important topic that
(17:00):
we've talked about today is thehot wings.
Yes, okay.
So now, when is this going totake place?
And I want to take some photosand we can get this done.
What is okay?
The Matt Waller Award.
Speaker 3 (17:12):
It's the Matt Waller Innovation Award.
Oh, okay, excuse me, I like tosay it's an oxymoron.
They said who is the leastinnovative person we can name
this after?
No, it's.
Speaker 1 (17:25):
I don't know why they named it after me, but all
right, I could give our viewerslike a hundred reasons why?
Speaker 3 (17:33):
But really it's looking at people who are
helping to drive innovation, notjust in Northwest Arkansas but
in the world, maybe startinghere.
Yeah, not just in NorthwestArkansas but in the world, maybe
starting here.
And so this year's awardee Ican't announce right now, but
(17:54):
it's a young lady and she hasdone a lot to drive innovation
in our entrepreneurial ecosystemin Northwest Arkansas.
Speaker 1 (18:06):
Well, when you announce that I'll try to get
her on our program today, ohgood, okay, let's get her here
so she can talk about it and, uh, and and excellent.
Speaker 3 (18:12):
Okay, you'll love her .
Speaker 1 (18:13):
She's very easy to talk to okay, brilliant young
lady, we're, we're in there.
That's going to happen.
Well, dr waller, my friend,it's always great to see you.
Speaker 3 (18:22):
Good to see you, buddy.
Thanks for all you're doing.
Speaker 1 (18:24):
No, thank you for what you're doing and I look
forward to spending more timetogether.
Speaker 3 (18:29):
I look forward to it, okay.
Speaker 1 (18:31):
Thank you.
Thank you, Matt.
Hello everyone, I'm Andy Wilsonand we're broadcasting from the
Plug and Play event in downtownBentonville, Arkansas, and my
guest just showed up and Devinwelcome to Doing Business in
Bentonville.
Speaker 4 (18:44):
Thanks for having me, okay.
Speaker 1 (18:46):
Second time now.
Yeah, you were on with Josh,right?
Yep, that's right, and yourpodcast has done really well.
Thank you for being on it.
And today, what we're doing,we're putting together a whole
host of guests in and out todayto get a flavor of what's going
on here.
Guests in and out today to geta flavor of what's going on here
(19:08):
, so we can share thisexperience around the world with
our viewers and listeners.
So, okay, so talk to us aboutyour company, squip.
So tell us what is it, what doyou do, where are you located?
Tell us all about your company.
Speaker 4 (19:21):
So we're a series A startup 're based out of san
francisco, california, and wemake ai software for, uh,
industrial companies somanufacturers, um, supply chain
companies, logistics, um, thingslike that.
Um, I'll give you maybe the oneliner of how it works.
Okay, which is, um, with squint, you can go record a video of a
(19:42):
factory operator doing any taskand our ai will watch that
video and it will write astep-by-step guide of what it
saw, such that someone else cannow perform that task like an
expert.
And then it actually becomes atablet or phone app that new
operators can use, and it usesaugmented reality, so it uses
(20:03):
the camera and it guides peoplestep-by-step through what
they're supposed to do.
And all of that content isauto-generated using AI.
And then, because we have thecamera on, we can actually check
to see if people did the workcorrectly.
And before they do somethingreally wrong or hurt themselves,
we can stop them and say, hey,you did step 17 wrong, because
now we know what it looks likeand how it's supposed to work.
Speaker 1 (20:25):
Okay that's so exciting and we are going to
have sessions here at this eventabout AI and we had Shelly
Simpson, the CEO of JB Hunt, wastalking about the advancement
of the AI at JB Hunt and it'ssuch a wonderful, powerful topic
.
Today I go, I use AI.
I have to tell you you, it hassaved me so much time in my work
(20:48):
here at the, at doing businessin bentonville.
So now, who are?
If you can tell us who are someof your customers that use this
?
Speaker 4 (20:55):
um, we work with, uh, basically like large enterprise
manufacturing companies.
Um.
So some examples would bemichelin, um, siemens,
continental Tires, some food andbeverage companies.
So I think the common threadthat I've seen with
manufacturing companies isthey're all struggling with
(21:16):
workforce turnover right now,and so it actually doesn't
matter what you're building orwhat you're making.
Wow, they all have the sameissue and it's going to help
with that, okay, or?
Speaker 1 (21:25):
what you're making.
They all have the same issueand it's going to help with that
.
Okay, you know, when you weredescribing it in the detail
earlier, the one-liner youmentioned when you were
describing it you know what Ithought about.
I thought about the people onthese assembly lines and I
thought about the hazard thatcan take place in those.
That's where my mindautomatically went.
So, okay, how did you get tohere?
(21:45):
Tell us a little bit about howyou you came to develop this
type of product.
Speaker 4 (21:51):
Yeah, well, I mean, it's interesting.
My background is actuallycomputer vision and AI and I'm
an I'm a software engineeroriginally.
Okay, I have really no ties tomanufacturing outside of the
fact that I've now been immersedin it for three and a half
years, right.
But when I started the companyI had in my previous job I'd
(22:11):
worked with some customers thatwere industrial, and the thing I
kept hearing was, when we'reout in the field or out on the
floor, we really don't have easyaccess to the information that
we need to do the job right, andthat leads to a lot of guessing
, and I don't like to guess inmy job.
I don't think anyone likes toguess at their job, and yet it
seems like that's been thestatus quo for three, four
(22:33):
decades now in manufacturing,and so we built the business to
solve that problem and to bringpeople the right information at
the right time on the job attheir fingertips.
Wonderful.
Speaker 1 (22:44):
So what are the benefits?
What are some that you havemeasured through this process?
I'm sure you measured all thesebenefits and looked at it, and
so tell us some of the outcomes.
Speaker 4 (22:55):
Yeah, yeah, that's a great question.
I think, ultimately, squinthelps with kind of two main
outcomes.
One is downtime reduction in amanufacturing environment,
another one is kind of anincrease in quality, and both of
those are really stemming fromthe same thing, which is human
mistake, causing, you know, abad outcome.
And so some examples would be.
I was actually just I was at afactory a couple of weeks ago
(23:18):
One of our customers and thequality manager came up to me
and they were like hey, we justmeasured the results with squint
and I had to count three timesbecause it didn't make sense.
But he said we went from having12 mistakes per shift to zero
post squint.
And he was like we just don'thave human error anymore and the
(23:40):
impact that makes to amanufacturing company's bottom
line is massive.
Right, it's massive.
Speaker 1 (23:45):
The margins is where we live it's massive yeah, and
not only for productivity, butfor safety.
You mentioned earlier is safety, but productivity is critical
to any organization, and thenthe people that have also.
They can learn to do that jobmore efficient because of what
you're doing, and the betterthey become, uh, the more
(24:06):
efficient organizations become.
So it's so people that arelistening to this around the
world.
How do they get in touch withyou?
Speaker 4 (24:15):
okay, yeah, well, I mean, the the great thing about
today is you can go to ourwebsite.
Yeah, yeah, so you can find usthere.
Speaker 1 (24:21):
Yeah, so what is your website?
What's your address?
Speaker 4 (24:24):
Squintai.
Okay, so you can find us onlineand then we'd be happy to set
folks up with either a pilot ora demo and you can actually try
Squint for yourself.
The easiest and coolest thing Iwould recommend is, when you
(24:44):
talk to someone on our team,send them a video of work that
happens on your floor andthey'll instantly turn it into
an AI-generated SOP.
Okay.
Speaker 1 (24:48):
Are you in Northwest Arkansas often?
Speaker 4 (24:52):
I've been here a couple times this year.
Okay, we have some customers inthe area.
Okay, happy to come here more.
Speaker 1 (24:58):
Okay, here's what I want to do.
I want to have you on our doingbusiness in Bentonville
podcasts, and, and uh, we canremote you in from California.
If you're in Northwest Arkansas, uh, you can come to our studio
.
Because what you're doing, Ithink, is we is so critical to
(25:18):
to productivity in this wholespace, and safety, and, and, and
people learning their jobs, andI think you're onto something
incredible here and now.
What I'd like to do is have youback in and let's spend 30 40
minutes together really layingthis out, and then we post the
video.
We can put links to yourorganization.
(25:39):
We can even show some uh, youknow video or whatever, but I, I
am intrigued by this and I wantto talk more with you and learn
more about your company and getyou uh, get you out to um, we,
we have about a uh, we haveabout viewed in about I was just
told, 100 countries now, and solet's get you out there and so
(26:02):
people can get and learn thisand get more productive and and
uh in the organization.
So what do you?
Will you come back, of course,okay okay, all right I'm gonna
give you my, my card.
I want you to come back.
This is so exciting.
Uh, I'm so glad you stopped bythe booth.
Thank you for doing that and Ijust wish you all the luck in
your organization.
Thanks so much.
(26:25):
All right, thank you, beengreat to visit with you.
Okay, hello everyone.
My name is Andy Wilson and I'mwith Doing Business in
Bentonville, and we're soexcited because we're
broadcasting from a great eventwith Plug and Play downtown
Bentonville, arkansas, and Ineed to throw in for all my
cycling friends the mountainbike capital of the world.
So here we are.
We want to get straight to myguest though Kate Powell Welcome
.
Speaker 5 (26:44):
Thank you.
Thank you for having me.
Speaker 1 (26:46):
Yeah, this is so exciting because we're going to
get to talk about some.
One of my favorite companies inNorthwest Arkansas, of course,
is Tyson Foods, but you alsowork.
Tell us what you do with theTyson brand.
I guess we could say right.
Speaker 5 (27:00):
Absolutely so.
I work for Tyson Ventures,which is the corporate venture
capital arm of Tyson Foods, sowe invest in really exciting
startups that have innovationsin emerging proteins, technology
enablers and what we callpeople planet and agriculture,
so it's a really exciting spaceto be in where we really act as
a catalyst of innovation forTyson Foods.
Speaker 1 (27:19):
Okay, are you working on anything exciting that you
can tell our folks about?
Speaker 5 (27:23):
I am.
So I'm working on I call it ourTyson version of Shark Tank, if
you will.
So we host Tyson Demo Day everyyear.
We're in our fourth year rightnow.
Applications are open until May2nd for startups to apply, and
then we host in person at WorldHeadquarters in Springdale,
Arkansas, on July 9th.
We change topics year to year.
So we've done sustainability,we've done upcycling.
(27:45):
Last year we did supply chaintech, which is why we're here at
Plug and Play's event today,and then this year we're
focusing on what we're callingAI, from concept to consumer,
brand engagement and innovation.
So it's really exciting spotwhere we're looking at startups
that are innovating withartificial intelligence and
consumer insights, productinnovation, how we connect with
our customers and consumers.
(28:06):
So a really exciting space.
Speaker 1 (28:08):
Well, that is exciting and I love what's going
on at Tyson Foods right now andall the creative things that
Tyson is doing, the new productsthey're doing, the way that you
all are upgrading yourfacilities and it's just so.
I think it.
I would say it appears fromoutside, looking in.
It would be a great time to beat Tyson.
Speaker 5 (28:30):
Absolutely.
I love working at Tyson.
It is a great place to be andwe really are focused on
innovation in so many differentareas, like you said, from our
facilities to our supply chainto our actual portfolio of
products.
So we have one of the largestinnovation portfolio that we've
ever had at Tyson Foods rightnow, so it's very exciting.
You've probably seen ourRazorback Nuggets, our Cowboys
Nuggets, so there's a lot ofreally exciting things that are
(28:52):
coming out of Tyson right now.
Speaker 1 (28:54):
Okay, I got to come real here.
Okay, I bought the Tyson theRazorback Nuggets.
Okay, I had to do it.
Right, absolutely.
I mean, with all the stuff thathappened with our great local
Razorback, especially withbasketball most recently.
Right, we had to do it.
I love that.
So what else is going on thatyou can share with us?
Speaker 5 (29:14):
Sure.
So Tyson Demo Day is really ourbiggest focus right now, for my
department, for Tyson Ventures,other things that are going on.
You know we're always focusedon innovations in our supply
chain, innovations that we canfocus for operational excellence
, customer and consumerobsession, what we call data and
digital delivery our teammembers as well.
So we're really focused on thefuture of Tyson.
Speaker 1 (29:35):
That is so exciting.
You know, one of the thingsthat we get the opportunity to
live in Northwest Arkansas,absolutely, and we get to emerge
ourselves in all the innovationthat's taken place, just like
today at Plug and Play event.
Speaker 7 (29:50):
Yes.
Speaker 1 (29:50):
And we just had Shelly Simpson, you know, CEO.
Speaker 5 (29:54):
She was incredible.
She's a great speaker, oh mygoodness, didn't she do great.
Speaker 1 (29:58):
You know Shelly.
I've known Shelly for years.
She's been on doing business inBentonville before.
I just had one of hercolleagues on and you know she
talked about innovation.
Yeah, mainly, especially in thetechnology space and all the
things they're doing to, youknow, to help their truck
drivers be safer.
(30:18):
Isn't that a phenomenal focuswithin Absolutely so.
I know you mentioned earlieryou've done several things
around innovation.
Anything there you want tovisit about?
Speaker 5 (30:29):
Yeah, so you might have heard Donnie King so our
CEO chat about and I'll make alittle plug in there.
So I actually work as a programmanager as well for our
investor relations team.
So in our last earnings call wereally focused on our data and
digital delivery and how we'reusing innovations and how we use
our data, how we connect withour customers, how we can meet
(30:50):
customers where they're at.
So Donnie likes to say that youknow, continuous improvement is
continuous improvement.
We're constantly improving uponwhat we're doing.
Speaker 1 (30:58):
You know, I think you're right.
I think Donnie King's anotherone of those leaders and I know
him personally that he hasbrought that when he came to the
company back to the company.
I guess we should say when hecame back.
You know he had this.
I could tell from again, fromlistening and watching him, this
termination to even make Tysona greater organization,
(31:21):
absolutely, and I see that thatyou all are doing that and
congratulations to you on that.
It's wonderful what's going on.
Speaker 5 (31:29):
Definitely.
And you know Donnie started asa night shift plant manager with
Tyson Foods, so I really lovehis story about how you know
he's really started at a plantand now he's our CEO and he
really has an eye for ourfrontline team members and what
it means to talk to ourcustomers, so we have a really
good eye for innovation fromthat perspective.
Speaker 1 (31:47):
Wonderful.
Well, it's so great to have youon and I want to give you an
opportunity again to sayanything else about Tyson
Ventures or about theorganization, anything else you
would like to add for ourviewers and listeners?
Absolutely, I will make, wouldlike to add for our viewers and
listeners, absolutely.
Speaker 5 (32:01):
I will make another call to action for Tyson Demo
Day.
So our applications are openthrough May 2nd and then we let
startups know if they've beenselected mid-June and then we
host at World Headquarters inSpringdale, arkansas, on July
9th.
So if you'd like to apply,visit our Tyson Ventures
LinkedIn page.
Speaker 1 (32:21):
It has all the information, all the links that
you need to find there and I'lltell you, if you will love,
after this, we can download yourinformation, your link or
whatever for people so you cango to our website Doing Business
in Bentonville and you cancheck out.
We're going to be posting thispodcast on our website and we
can add that link to people thatare interested.
That would be wonderful.
We're glad to do that.
(32:41):
We'll grab that informationafterwards.
Well, thank you so much forbeing here.
It's okay, I'm glad I've got tomeet you.
The best to you and all in yourteam of what you're doing.
I hope you're, I hope you havea just a phenomenal year at
Tyson Foods.
Speaker 5 (32:56):
Thank you so much.
I appreciate it.
All right, thank you All right,thank you Well, hello much I
appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (32:58):
Thanks for having me All right, thank you.
Hello everyone.
I'm Andy Wilson.
I'm broadcasting live down atthe Plug and Play event downtown
Bentonville, arkansas, and Iwill tell you I have just met
the most interesting person.
I'm just going to tell youyou've got to lean in on this.
This is just going to be great,mir.
Welcome to Doing Business inBentonville.
It's so good to be here.
(33:23):
Thank you, wow, you know I'm.
We got.
We met uh on the way to lunch,I think right, and uh, you and
your uh, a partner from uh newyork, I believe, in new jersey,
new york, we together, and so wehad a nice little chat and
thank you for taking a fewminutes to speak with us today
about your wonderful company andabout your country.
I think you have come thefurthest to Arkansas all the way
(33:48):
from Tel Aviv yeah, you don'tget here by accident.
I have met people from Tel Avivbefore, but I've never met them
in Northwest Arkansas.
So welcome to Northwest.
Speaker 6 (33:59):
Arkansas.
Thank you, it's my first timehere and it's been surprising
and wonderful, Right?
Speaker 1 (34:03):
You know we have a very unique corner of the world
here and the wonderful thing ispeople found out about it and we
continue to grow and we justlove how the whole area is
growing.
Well, We've got just abeautiful community here.
Speaker 6 (34:21):
So I put a plug in for northwest arkansas I'll
second your plug which issometimes you have to come from
the outside to notice some ofthis stuff.
Yeah, what's happening here isreally amazing, but I have
fortune.
Speaker 1 (34:31):
I've been here over 30 years and and um, and and my
career was with walmart before Istarted in podcasts and and uh,
so, um, it's wonderful, raisedour daughter here and she has a
family here now settled in.
It's a beautiful place, and so,um, it's just great, uh, it's
just got a great feel to it all.
(34:51):
Right now, let's get in andtalk about your company, what
you do, and we'll just navigatethrough some wonderful
conversation for sure.
Speaker 6 (34:59):
So I'm with manev.
It's an early stage venturecapital fund.
Our rule of thumb is if youheard of the company, it's too
late for us.
We invest in a founder and adebt.
I love that.
Earliest possible stages, onlyin the building blocks of the
physical economy.
So we'll invest into themovement of people, in goods.
(35:20):
We'll invest into manufacturing, uh, into supply chain, uh into
transportation.
We're backed by some of thebiggest players in industry in
that space, alongside financialinvestors.
And we're we're based out ofTel Aviv in New York, which can
be a little surprising forpeople.
It's not an obvious place to runthis from, but it allows us to
take kind of a zoomed out viewwhere you can start seeing
(35:44):
problems on a global scale.
You start seeing a startup inEurope and a startup in India
and a startup in the US and astartup in Israel that are all
tackling a similar problem.
Some are tackling it in reallydifferent ways.
Sometimes that means one ofthem has an advantage over the
other.
Sometimes it just means, hey,there are four ways to view this
problem.
There are a lot of ways totackle this problem and they
(36:07):
might be relevant in differentways or in different contexts.
So that's how we're thinkingabout this.
These problems start to rhyme.
They start to rhyme acrossindustries, they start to rhyme
across geographies and if youcan take that view and start
trying to make sense of some ofthe big problems in the physical
economy, Well, that's wonderful.
Speaker 1 (36:28):
I like your philosophy of investing.
It sounds like you've got agreat philosophy of that.
Tell us about the company howold is the company?
And then we'll circle back,because I've got a couple other
questions.
But tell us about the companyfirst.
Speaker 6 (36:42):
So we've been investing.
It's our third fund now.
We've been investing for aboutseven or eight years.
Okay, and our DNA is automotive.
Okay.
The founding partner, mypartner, mike.
He actually was the firstinvestor into a company called
Better Place, which was thiswild bet and if you have time to
Google it, look it up onWikipedia.
It was a wild bet.
They raised a billion dollars.
(37:06):
They managed to lose it all,which is not ideal, yeah, uh,
but it was a wild swing in 2006to try and electrify entire
countries.
Uh, transportation was a swapnetwork with renault cars that
could be robotically swapped out, the batteries robotically
swapped out, and what it wouldallow you to do is, once you had
the infrastructure in place,you could sell a $20,000 EV at
cost parity with the gas vehicleand, instead of charging, just
(37:30):
drive into the gas station,which was a robotic swap station
, swap out the battery, keepdriving.
And so they came quite close.
If you go to Israel, you canstill see old, better-placed
swap stations that are now,unfortunately, carcasses.
They deployed across a couplecountries, ran out of cash and
died spectacularly, and Monevekind of emerged from the ashes
(37:52):
of that, where we started to seeall of a sudden, first in
Israel, all of these interestingcompanies that were trying to
access automotive and otherlegacy industries, all these
startups that had no access tolegacy industry in the physical
world, and so we started fundone.
It's a small fund focused onIsrael, mostly automotive.
When we went out to raise fundtwo, all of a sudden, other
(38:15):
kinds of solutions and startupsbecame available to us and
started popping up, touching notjust automotive and
transportation, but logisticssupply chain.
We started to see the early,early AI solutions and so and we
also started to see this allover the world, not just in
Israel.
So we expanded our focus andnow we're investing in our third
(38:36):
fund and we truly have a globalview.
We have about 40 portfolioportfolio companies across nine
countries, mostly the US, israeland the EU, probably in that
order, but we have an investmentor two in India, brazil, mexico
, and our philosophy is let thebest ideas come from wherever
(38:56):
they come from.
The important thing is tounderstand the problem set and
understand that the access pointinto industry Right.
Speaker 1 (39:04):
So how do you?
That's fascinating, by the way.
I thank you for sharing that,because I think you painted a
beautiful photo, a picture, ifyou will, of your company and
your beginning.
Now, if our viewers orlisteners are interested, how do
they contact you?
(39:24):
Or do you contact them?
How does your process work?
Speaker 6 (39:28):
Oh, absolutely, we're .
We are probably one of the fewVC funds that religiously um,
read inbound emails, um, and wehave a contact form at manevecom
.
Slash contact or just clickcontact.
I don't know if that's theright url, but please, yeah, if
you're reaching out.
Some of our best investmentscame from entrepreneurs who
reached out on our website.
Speaker 1 (39:48):
We read them well, you know you sound like you do,
because one of the things thatgot me excited when you were
talking was that that you, thatyou deal with smaller startups
or smaller entrepreneurs and anda lot of times you know that
group is hard for them topenetrate an investor fund.
Yeah, but it sounds like that'swhat you you do and that's
(40:11):
exciting.
Speaker 6 (40:12):
Yeah, we love talking to entrepreneurs with good
ideas and, by the way, it cutsboth ways.
It's not just that theentrepreneurs can't find us,
it's that these youngentrepreneurs and industry can't
necessarily connect.
Yeah, it's a really hard kindof two-sided problem here, and
what we say is we would be doingthis without a fund.
It's just no one cares untilyou have one.
(40:33):
So we're transportation geeks.
We would love to talk to peoplewith good ideas.
Speaker 1 (40:39):
It just ends up until you have a fund, no one cares.
Okay, now, so is that whyyou're here at this event?
Because, uh, uh, this is asmaller, a small event?
Or tell us why you're here.
What's your?
Speaker 6 (40:48):
purpose so we, we have a couple of friends, um, in
the uh supply chain space inthe area that we've been looking
for an excuse to come and meetin person.
Okay, now, it's amazing whatyou can do by video, but it's
not the same, all right, and wesaw this event and we thought,
you know, this is the excuse.
Yeah, first of all, to meet theplayers in Bentonville.
(41:09):
I mean to hear the speakershere.
It's been really interesting,right.
But also, I think it's good tosee some of our friends that we
hadn't seen in a long time.
Wonderful, so it's a packagedeal.
Speaker 1 (41:19):
Yeah, well, we're glad you're here in Northwest
Arkansas.
You know you mentioned Israel.
I've been to Israel a few timesand I will tell you it's such a
wonderful country and I enjoymy visits there and the history
and the learning is spectacular,my visits there and the history
and the learning is spectacular, and so, uh, as you were
talking about israel, I quicklyhad flashbacks of wonderful
(41:40):
visits there and the people it'sthis country of wonderful
paradoxes ancient, new,innovative and strangely
traditional.
Speaker 6 (41:48):
It's, it's great, it is it really is.
Speaker 1 (41:51):
It is such a great country.
Okay, what, what else?
What else?
As you look at the landscapeand from your point of view,
what are some things you'reworking on in either supply
chain space or other spaces thatare just creative, they're new
and they're things that you'rereally excited about.
Speaker 6 (42:10):
Can I use this as a call out to entrepreneurs?
Yes, something that I've beenruminating about in my mind that
I want someone to come andsolve.
Come talk to me if you have asolution.
You know, this industry is thestrangest combination of
concentrated and crazyfragmented, and you know, I
would love to speak to startupsthat have interesting ideas
about how do you break into thisspace.
(42:31):
You know, I think we've seenthis huge wave of
entrepreneurship and innovationin the supply chain,
particularly when freight rateswere high.
Yes, you know, you look atlogistics tech investment for
this 2019 to 2021, and it was.
It was a bonanza.
Yes, absolutely.
And then freight rates fell.
Speaker 1 (42:51):
We heard Shelly Simpson, ceo of JB Hunt.
We heard Shelley Simpson, ceoof JB Hunt, talk about that
right.
Speaker 6 (42:57):
And it's hard and the JB Hunts of the world probably
felt the pain If you're astartup that came into that with
six months of runway.
It's really hard, and so we'relooking for startups that have
innovative ideas, but alsoreally innovative ideas of how
do you crack this market, eitherhow do you grab the attention
(43:17):
of a JB Hunt, or is there a wayto reach all these mom and pop
truckers.
Is there a way to do that as astartup?
How do you lower the cost ofentry?
How do you ease the way into amarket that simultaneously has
these huge players ahead of themarket, such a long tail on the
back?
Speaker 1 (43:34):
end.
So here's their opportunityright To reach out to you.
Please, and if you think I'mwrong for asking the question,
tell me that too.
I'd love to hear why I'm wrong.
Okay, anything else that you'rereally hot about right now from
the future.
Speaker 6 (43:51):
You know, I think that we're at a moment now where
everyone's talking about it andit's cheap to do so, but I
think if you dig two or threelayers deeper, there's actually
a much more complicated storywhere I think we can call the
game.
On the IT side, inside thecomputer itself, we can call the
game.
It's going to take a while forthe digital world to fully
(44:14):
embrace and integrate AI, right,but we see how it's useful.
You see how it's being used incoding, how it's being used in
searching and query and database.
Speaker 1 (44:28):
It's just a matter of time until it finds its place
in the digital world.
I think you're right.
In fact, I've spoke withseveral of the guests today and
they've all talked about AI.
I spoke with several of theguests today and they've all
talked about AI, and each ofthem it's a common thread and
they just talked about how AIwould help people be more
efficient, more productive.
It's not about replacing people, is what they're telling me.
It's more about creatingefficiencies, safety, even, and
(44:49):
things.
So I think you're right.
Speaker 6 (44:52):
I think it's by this place, but I think there's a
complicating factor, which isthere's a gap between the
digital world and the physicalworld, and I don't think it's a
finished story yet Exactly howAI interacts with the real world
.
Yeah, that leap.
It's not so simple, right?
I can tell you right now callthe game.
Ai can write code.
But can I tell you that thecurrent wave of robotics,
(45:15):
enabled by the current wave ofAI, can really be useful in a
factory.
Speaker 1 (45:18):
Yet they said it's going to be better.
Speaker 6 (45:20):
It's borderline, yeah , and that frontier.
That's where the startups cometo play.
Speaker 1 (45:26):
Right?
Well, mir, I think you're sointeresting and something I'd
like to just I think we couldreally go down on the subject.
I really like it and I wouldlove to talk to you.
So here's what I'm going to doI want to invite you back on
Doing Business in Bentonvilleand we can remote you in from
(45:46):
Tel Aviv.
Okay, you don't have to come.
And if you want to come back toSarcastown, we have a beautiful
studio here, but if not, wecould remote you in.
And I would love to go deeperon some of the things you're
working on in your company.
I'd like to even go deep around.
Let's getting this out to moreentrepreneurs, what you're doing
, and if we can help you do thatthrough our network, we'd love
(46:09):
to help you do that, because Ibelieve the future in so many
things are these entrepreneursand then your company Come Back
Home and supporting those thatyou choose to.
I think it creates a whole newecosystem.
Speaker 6 (46:27):
So I'd like to welcome you back.
I'd be honored, and if you wantto convince the travel team on
my staff that I have to comeback to Bentonville to do it, I
wouldn't argue.
Speaker 1 (46:36):
Okay, well, we'd love to have you come back.
Speaker 6 (46:38):
Cut off the remote option.
Speaker 1 (46:41):
Well, we'd love to have you come back.
It's been great to meet you.
I'm glad we got to spend a fewmoments together, but I want to
wish you the best, you, yourcompany and the best, and I'm
just so happy to have met, you,to have, and that you're
visiting northwest arkansas.
Speaker 6 (46:59):
Thank you okay, thank you for talking.
First talking to a stranger acouple minutes ago, I know I
know, thank you.
Speaker 1 (47:05):
Thank you so much.
It's been a pleasure and I hopewe can visit again.
Would love that, okay.
Thank you all.
Right, thank you, okay.
Hello everyone.
I'm andy wilson and we arebroadcasting from the plug and
play event in downtownBentonville, arkansas.
What a great day we're having.
We had so many wonderful guestsin, and there's another guest
I'd like to introduce you to,alex Rodin, welcome.
(47:25):
Thank you, andy.
It's so great to have you Nowyou're from the state of Georgia
and tell everyone what you do.
Speaker 7 (47:35):
So I work for ATDC, which is the state of georgia's
tech incubator, and I run thesupply chain vertical wonderful.
So we're sponsored by the homedepot.
Uh, great georgia company,great company, it is great
company.
Speaker 1 (47:44):
It's incredible.
Oh man, I got a story on homedepot.
I I have to say it all right,okay, but I guess we should move
on.
But I, you know being my career, was at walmart, so of course,
walmart and Home Depot, we weresuch great friends, and the
founder of Walmart and SamWalton and founder of Home Depot
were great friends and so,anyway, what a great company and
(48:05):
what a great state.
It's a great state as isArkansas.
Speaker 7 (48:08):
The ecosystem here is incredible.
I can't get back to NorthwestArkansas enough.
Well, we're glad you're here.
Speaker 1 (48:13):
Okay, so welcome, welcome Now.
As we had our previous guestson and talked about supply chain
at the University of Arkansas,so you do the same thing for
Georgia Tech then?
Right, that's correct.
So talk about that with us whatyou do.
Speaker 7 (48:31):
So I'm working with early stage technology founders
focused on supply chainsolutions.
We're housed at Georgia Tech,but we're for the whole state.
As you can imagine, I spend alot of time in Savannah.
I'm an army veteran, so a lotof time visiting Columbus and
Augusta and the militaryinstallations around the state
working with service members whoare moving to the civilian side
(48:54):
, and they've got a lot ofexperience in supply chain Right
.
So thinking about what thosesolutions can look like Two-time
co -founder, big believer inentrepreneurship, is a great
path for service members.
Speaker 1 (49:06):
That's wonderful.
Well, you know, I would tellyou, supply chain is so critical
, as we know.
Speaker 4 (49:10):
Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (49:11):
And you know we'll talk a bit about that.
In fact, you know I'm sure youheard Shelley Simpson, CEO of JB
Hunt yes, and she's been doingbusiness in Bentonville before a
few times and she said, hey,I'm going to come back on, I'd
love to have her, but she gave agreat talk about supply chain.
Speaker 7 (49:29):
Your takeaway from some of the things that Shelley
said Well, supply chain is socomplex and so challenging and
obviously we're dealing with alot of news coming out about
tariffs and what that impactmight be.
But the point is just aboutsupply chain is so critical and
even businesses for example, I'mworking with health systems in
(49:51):
Georgia After Hurricane Helenecame through, there was a
recognition that they had tobetter understand their supply
chain Right, Because you can'tstop providing care even when
there's an emergency, and so theunderstanding and embracing of
supply chain is just criticaland I think people more and more
are understanding the impact ithas and it needs to be done
well.
Speaker 1 (50:11):
Well, you know, covid taught us that Absolutely.
You knowata is such a date.
Now we talk before, we talkafter, yes, and we talk about
the and a great thing that thatI'm sure you did and I'd like to
know did you?
What does some of what?
You'd learn some significantthings after kovat that you're
applying today to supply chainanything significant there?
Speaker 7 (50:33):
absolutely so.
One is just.
I mean literally.
We had a situation where acontainer ship got sideways in
the Suez Canal and disruptedglobal trade for weeks.
So that's the fragility ofsupply chain, but also what
COVID taught us is the need tohave a resilient supply chain
and to think about all aspectsof it.
I think a lot of companies knewthat they were somehow involved
(50:56):
with supply chain.
Speaker 1 (50:57):
They didn't understand their supply chain as
well as they do now, right,what are some of the things if
you can share with us that, atGeorgia Tech, you're working on?
Speaker 7 (51:07):
So obviously, everyone's talking about AI
these days, right, and for me,when you think about the supply
chain space, I'm very focused onsolutions utilizing AI that
take a job that's not easy andmake it easier.
So, if you think predictiveanalytics, so if you're managing
a million square foot facility,you've got machines operating
all over it.
If AI can help, you know to golook at machine 14 as part of
(51:32):
your PMCS process and fixsomething before it's broken,
that's invaluable.
Speaker 1 (51:39):
Well, you know, shirley talked about AI and the
work that JB Hunt is doing inthe supply chain space, plus
even their truck drivers andkeeping them safe, and she
talked about the theft.
I'm surprised you know aboutthat, so you're really focused
and that's the great thingthat's happening.
(51:59):
In fact, I had guests onearlier and that's what they do
is AI?
Yes.
Speaker 7 (52:05):
And candidly.
At the end of the day, supplychains are still going to be
human-dependent.
Ai has a role to play, it hasvalue to bring, but at the end
of the day, if you're doing adelivery, that truck driver is
the source of truth for thatdelivery.
Right, they can tell you I'mstuck in traffic, uh, there's no
gate code and I can't get in.
Yeah, they've got thatinformation.
So anything we can do tosupport the human in the loop
(52:27):
who's making the delivery as oneexample within supply chain is
critical.
That's that's.
Speaker 1 (52:32):
that's wonderful that you know from where we've come
on supply chain since COVID.
If that's the day forward, it'samazing what's happened in
supply chain and, based on whatyou're telling us, the future
around AI is only getting moreimpactful right, Without
(52:53):
question.
Speaker 7 (52:53):
But humans will not be replaced.
Speaker 1 (52:55):
Right, absolutely no.
No, we're not.
We'll be enhanced and do ourjobs more efficient, I believe
because of AI.
Speaker 7 (53:03):
Agreed.
So embracing AI andunderstanding how it can make
your job easier is, I think, theright way to consider it.
Speaker 1 (53:11):
Well, Alex, anything else you want to share about
this great state of Georgia andthe things that you're working?
Speaker 7 (53:17):
on, as is the case in Arkansas as well, and across
the entire southeast Georgia hasa real commitment to economic
development, supportingentrepreneurs.
I know that's the case here inArkansas, which I really
appreciate.
One of the great things I wantis strong ecosystems all around
(53:37):
the United States.
Entrepreneurs are going to beeverywhere.
I'm obviously partial toGeorgia, but I want
entrepreneurs in NorthwestArkansas or Little Rock or
anywhere else in the great stateof Arkansas to know they've got
a resource.
And that's what's incredibleabout the University of Arkansas
the work they're doing, what'staking place with Plug and Play.
So it's really great that theywelcomed me into the ecosystem
Well welcome to North Arkansas.
Speaker 1 (53:59):
We're glad you're here.
If you haven't grabbed a bikesince you've been here and have
time, you've got to go on thebike.
This is the mountain bikecapital of the world.
The reason I'm saying that Iride mountain bikes and I live
out here and it's phenomenal andwe have people all over the
world that visit this greatstate.
So I give Arkansas a littleplug there, but you have a great
state also and it's a wonderfulstate.
(54:20):
I had an opportunity to spend alot of time in Georgia and I
tell you all those wonderfulassociates that work in those
Walmart stores in Georgia, Ijust want to give them and say
thank you for what they do,Absolutely Because they do a
great job also at the state.
So, Alex, it's been wonderfulhaving you on.
Andy, thank you so much andthank you for stopping by.
It's been a few minutes.
I want to wish you all the bestin what you're doing.
(54:42):
And the other thing, thank youfor your service to our country.
Thank you, Thank you for that.
And where did you?
Speaker 7 (54:49):
serve.
Well, I went through basictraining at Fort Leonard Wood
Okay, so that's when.
The first time I got exposed toNorthwest Arkansas was when we
would get some leave, and so Iwas a military police officer
and then was a drill sergeantand for me, being an
entrepreneur, I found a lot whenI left active duty that
resonated in the startupecosystem.
(55:10):
Things that I enjoyed aboutbeing in service crossed over to
being an entrepreneur.
Speaker 1 (55:17):
And I'm very grateful for that.
Well, again, I want to wish youthe best.
Speaker 4 (55:21):
Thank you so much.
Speaker 1 (55:23):
And then I hope to see you again, absolutely Okay,
thank you.
Speaker 7 (55:26):
Thanks so much for your time, Andy.
It's been a pleasure.
Great to see you All right havea great, great event.
Speaker 1 (55:30):
Thank you.
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