Manufacturing and operations is an area that has been much neglected by venture capital, but has plenty of issues that can be address. Renan Devillieres of venture builder OSS Ventures focuses on this space, with distinct methods and successful results. In this episode we discuss how he goes about creating successful new businesses, with very good results to date.

In a wide ranging discussion, Renan discusses:

• what is venture building
• the process for finding pain points in factories
• how Renan characterises different operations
• why there is still so much low hanging fruit in this area
• what sorts of manufacturers are open to change
• how to make sure there is enough initial customers and how to work with them
• working with different tech stacks
• how to make sure that companies don't customise for specific clients
• making the OSS fire itself from each company
• the different markets and sales processes he sees
• finding the right founders and the skill sets they need
• the effect of AI
• how the global manufacturing model of the past 30 years is changing now

Its a great conversation with lots of insights from Renan and a must listen for investors and founders who want to build successful businesses.

01:30 Renan introduces himself

02:45 introduction to OSS

04:00 what is venture building?

09:00 finding pain points in factories

13:15 how the regulatory environment can affect go-to-market strategies

17:30 why is there so much low hanging fruit

21:00 how different manufacturers are stuck or open to change

25:30 finding the first customers

29:00 working with clients to build viable solutions without customising too much

32:00 how the OSS team fires itself

37:00 how different software has different sales and decision making processes

41:20 the necessary founder skills

44:15 how AI is affecting manufacturing

49:10 trends in manufacturing and how its all changing now

55:30 favourite questions

Links

OSS Ventures website - https://www.oss.ventures/

Subscribe to the EIS Navigator podcast on most services here: https://the-eis-navigator.captivate.fm/listen

Suggested books and media

The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck by Mark Manson

Empty Planet by Darrell Bricker & John Ibbitson

Bio

Renan Devillières,

CEO OSS Ventures

A graduate of the Ecole Normale Supérieure and the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Renan began his career as a consultant at McKinsey, before becoming an economist at the OECD and then strategic project manager for the Richemont Group. After his various experiences, Renan launched into entrepreneurship by founding a start-up, which he later sold. Having always been attracted to tech and industry, Renan co-founded OSS Ventures in 2019 with the mission of supporting French industry in its technological, environmental, social and societal transition from industry 2.0 to industry 4.0.