Many consumer-facing startups like Tinder and Snapchat soak up all the publicity and media attention while many of the Industrial startups that are truly transforming our world are deemed not "sexy" and fall under the radar. As a result, many of these startups also do not receive adequate support from corporate investors and venture capital firms that are critical to growing their businesses. 

In the eighth installment of the  "Ventures in Industrial IoT series" brought to you by GE Ventures, we are excited to have with us Ravi Belani, Managing Partner of Alchemist Accelerator who will be sharing with us about how his accelerator works with the companies in their portfolio and with corporates to develop the competence of these "unsexy" startups through collaboration. 

What does adopting an IoT perspective mean to you? With a concept as broad and with as many ecosystem players as the IoT, this is a question that is likely to get you a range of answers depending on whether you talk to a technologist, an executive staff or an academic.   

In the ninth installment of the "Ventures in Industrial IoT series" brought to you by GE Ventures, be prepared for a highly dynamic discussion with Tim Chou, Executive Chairman of Lecida and author of the book, "Precision: Principles, Practices and Solutions for the Internet of Things" to share with us more on what he thinks adopting an IoT perspective really means to a firm and how it can impact the way it does business. 

It is conventional wisdom that the way tech startups operate is fundamentally different from traditional companies. As technopreneurs in the Industrial IoT space, it is vital that you are aware of the reasons behind this difference when dealing with clients coming from traditional industries or vice versa so that you can approach these business dealings in a more strategic manner.  

In the tenth and final installment of the "Ventures in Industrial IoT series" brought to you by GE Ventures, Ariel Stern talks to us about how the gap between tech and traditional companies can be bridged, drawing from the deep knowledge and experience he has accumulated at the helm of his own tech startup, Ayyeka.   

*This episode of the Industrial IoT Spotlight Podcast is sponsored by the Industrial Internet Consortium

What are the barriers to adoption of IoT in organisations? How can solution providers guide clients to realise the full value of IoT? How can end users successfully use IoT to drive quantitative business value?

We discuss the 6 steps to IoT success in an organisational and industrial context. The framework developed by Peter for the IIC formalises the discussion around the implementation of IoT and heavily emphasises organisational factors that may derail success. 

Peter Klement is the IoT Lead of DXC. DXC is the world’s leading independent, end-to-end IT services company, helping clients harness the power of innovation to thrive on change. Created by the merger of CSC and the Enterprise Services business of Hewlett Packard Enterprise, DXC Technology is a $25 billion company with a 60-year legacy of delivering results for thousands of clients in more than 70 countries. Our technology independence, global talent and extensive partner network combine to deliver powerful next-generation IT services and solutions. Contact Peter: pklement@dxc.com

The next IIC meeting will be in Chicago the week of September 12th to 15th, the Q4 meeting will be in China on November 16. Non-IIC members are welcome to stop by and meet the community so please do make an effort.

*This episode of the Industrial IoT Spotlight Podcast is sponsored by the Industrial Internet Consortium

What are the only five questions you should ask to determine which communication standard to use? How should we handle the challenge of defining standards? What does the vastness and confusion of the IoT market mean for technology solution providers? 

Stan explains to us how the IIC is helping to define standards in communications by clarifying vocabulary. He also explains to us the origin of the IoT hype and how both industrial and technology companies should do to succeed in this market. 

*This episode of the Industrial IoT Spotlight Podcast is sponsored by the Industrial Internet Consortium

How to think about building an IIoT solution to provide business value? How to communicate IIoT solutions to corporations who want to implement some “IoT stuff”? What is the role of organizations and associations in accelerating adoption of IIoT solutions? 

Mitch gives us an overview of the manufacturing quality management testbed at IIC in conjunction with Huawei and Haier. He also gives advice on the process of conceptualizing an IoT product, and how to best go to market with it.

Mitch is a managing member of Tseng InfoServ, and a distinguished consultant to Huawei at the IIC. He is also the co-chair of the IIC Innovation and Edge Computing task groups. 

How to engage customers and speed up the sales process? How to get a sale out of a production plant fire? How should you price SaaS so that it encourages engagement and referrals? How to identify who isn’t pulling their weight on a power grid system?

Drew explains his sales philosophy and lessons learnt. We also explore a few case studies that makes use of Alluvium Primer to increase data processing and decision making speed from months to minutes.

Where within the chain of operation in an industrial company is the best place to insert a piece of software? Is a bus system just a bunch of big computers moving around on wheels? Does machine learning hold the answer to maximising the value of each interaction between humans and software? Are we all data engineers regardless of what our name card states?

Drew explains how to take heterogenous data streams and distill it into a stability score that is an index of operations and produce high value alerts. We also explore human machine interaction to build a model more effectively than a fully unsupervised method.

What is the similarity between stability and the S&P 500 index? How can we use data to identify fire risks and where to best open a coffee shop in New York City? 

From using regression to identify fire risks in New York City to managing complex process control, it all comes down to getting the right information to the right person at the right time to make a decision. Drew explains what stability means, and the tension between  machines and people as it pertains to data. 

What is the Chinese focus in IoT and digitalisation? How is the Made in China 2025 plan impacting the market so far? Who are the companies most ready to move beyond pilots to real deployments in IoT? What are the trends for companies using IoT to differentiate their business and how does that impact IoT solution providers?

In this episode, Hunter Dong of SAP discusses the challenges in China market for IoT implementations — unique characteristics in the market that give rise to unique challenges. He also gives advice to companies that are taking the first steps of assessing an IoT solution. 

What are the adoption barriers and barriers to growth in IoT? Should hardware and software be split into two companies, or integrated to achieve synergy? Clint Bundy outlines the 4 main barriers to adoption and growth in the IoT market, and gives advice for companies who want to increase their valuation.

How do investors assess small and medium cap companies? Clint Bundy of Bundy group explains to use the valuation methods for 3 categories of automation companies: hardware & software, controls & engineering, and IoT. Clint Bundy is the Managing Director of Bundy Group, in an investment banking advisory role for owners and executives of privately held firms who are seeking a business sale, acquisition, or financing (equity and debt). Bundy Group is a boutique investment bank specializing in representing clients in the lower middle market ($100 million or less in revenues). Bundy Group's primary services include advising owners in the sale or acquisition of a business as well as assisting clients in raising equity or debt financing. http://www.bundygroup.com

How to engage stakeholders using data generated and achieve ROI within 6-12 months for 65% of customers? What are the key findings from tracking use cases in terms of applications, ROI, and successes? Will the super intelligent edge and data commons become a reality soon? Vinay Nathan of Altizon explains to us his learnings over the past 5 years of stakeholder engagement and generating fast ROI. We also discuss trends on the horizon for IoT. Vinay Nathan is the CEO of Altizon.

What are the trends in the IoT enterprise platform market over the past 5 years? How has Vinay leveraged his patents in connectivity technology into a platform company that has attracted 4M USD of investment? Learn about the various market structures and situations in Asia and the US, and how this affects the development platform market. Vinay Nathan is the CEO of Altizon.

How does mining data from an earthquake make us human seismographs? How does cars use Terbine technology to generate micro weather maps all over the city at a granular level? David explains how to take and use data from everyday objects to make sense of the world in a way that has nothing to do with the original purpose of the object.

Is distributing data just the same as distributing a book in an Amazon warehouse? Is blockchain just a buzzword or is it the solution to accelerate the adoption of IoT via data? Is simultaneity really the most useful way to use data?

David challenges some intuitive assumptions we have around IoT and data, and explains how Terbine deals with these issues to record, store, and price data. 

Is building a data marketplace same as building a plane or inventing the telephone?

David Knight describes the big void above the IoT stack and what he envisions as a big exchange in the sky that would interconnect all the sensors and facilitate transfer of data in a curated way. 

Smart cities: How do cybersecurity loopholes and data marketplaces exist in harmony to create value for both the public and private sectors? Even as IoT matures and develops, is its full potential still dependent on something as basic as human trust? Regulations and standards: Are they necessarily a good thing for IoT adoption? How can agile start ups scale in fragmented environments? We discuss these two issues surrounding the future of IoT With Chirayu Wadke, Partner at SeedPlus.

How to address the growing need for simplified solutions that solve complex problems? Should you challenge the ecosystem fundamentally? What is the best location to start an IoT startup and how should you scale your startup? What are the differences between Asia and Europe/US? Should you move to Asia? Chirayu Wadke, a partner with SeedPlus, tells us about his proteges and what he would do if he would start his own business.

What does a VC look for when they evaluate a product’s viability? Is there a difference between a hardware and software startup? How do you build the right team to develop a coherent IoT solution that differentiates and delivers real outcomes?

Understand from Chirayu Wadka of SeedPlus on what makes a startup scale, and why Ofo and Mobike succeeded despite the failure of other bike sharing companies. Plus, we hear his thoughts on starting a VC fund, and the landscape of tech VC in South East Asia.