Public writings
60 entries
- If intelligence is electricity, then what is the heater?
If tokens become as cheap and as ubiquitous as electricity, what are the appliances? A thought exercise on the factory: the work 100x more intelligence transforms, the work nobody does yet, and who can build a moat.
- After the tech: AI transformation is a matter of will, agility and courage
Back from China and Singapore: once the AI technology is taken care of, what decides a transformation is the willingness to win, organizational agility and managerial courage.
- What if the incumbents still win ugly?
The strongest case that SAP, Oracle, Salesforce, Workday, ServiceNow and the other systems of record win the AI era by 2030 with good-enough agents and the distribution they already own, then where that case breaks down and what would settle it.
- A Standard for the Hands: what Anthropic's hardware move means for physical AI
Why the closed loop that made code explode has been missing from robotics — and why a hardware standard, not a humanoid, is the load-bearing announcement.
- Nobody Knows What a Token Costs, so choose wisely your AI partners
Hyperscaler debt, the depreciation fight, and how an industrial can think about AI.
- Is it still the ontology ?
A field report on the two best objections to the first piece, and why the answer runs all the way down to code. Highly recommend to read first piece, “it’s t…
- Will winners of the AI era be more like IBM?
AI use 25% — redactional
- AI takes a new kind of founder
AI use 25% — Human directed the thesis, structure, all claims validated against sourced data. AI drafted prose and organized research.
- Chocolate Covered Broccoli, or why most genAI entreprise transformations fail
The first time I heard the phrase “chocolate covered broccoli” I was in San Francisco, sitting at a long table with a few founders and a partner from a fund…
- SAP Sapphire : cool slides, 4% drop in market cap. Autonomous entreprise will not be vendor-locked.
When Christian Klein walked the Sapphire stage in Orlando last Tuesday, he delivered the most accurate diagnosis of enterprise AI I have heard from a major s…
- Diffusion speed and the driveshaft : the only question that may matter about AI in operations (and the world economy, maybe)
AI use 25% — Human directed the thesis, structure, all claims validated against sourced data. AI drafted prose and organized research.
- AI era field notes : leading through fog of war
I was re-reading Le Fil de l’Épée on a flight last month — de Gaulle’s early treatise on leadership, which I return to every few years like some people retur…
- Deterministic code as the output layer: How we found an AI Architecture that can be used in low-error-tolerance contexts (read : factories)
Hi everyone! I’m Renan, founder of OSS, leading venture builder and investment fund specialized in operations, based in Paris and Boston.
- It’s the ontology, stupid !
Hi everyone ! I’m Renan, founder of OSS, leading venture builder and investment fund specialized in operations.
- In the Age of AI, the Marketplace Might Be the Most Interesting Bet
Something unexpected is happening at the edges of industrial software. Here’s what we’re seeing from the ground.
- From Prompt to Product: A Field Report on Automating a Physical Product with AI Agents
Two days ago, one of our portfolio startups we work with produced something we believe might be a first in its category. A complex physical product — with a…
- The Factory’s Real Problem Isn’t on the Shop Floor
A few weeks ago, I sat across from the COO of a European luxury brand. Thousands of employees, factories on multiple continents, a name you’d recognize. I as…
- The Contextual Layer is the Moat
There’s a moment that happens on almost every factory visit. You’re sitting with a production manager — coffee in hand, whiteboard behind them covered in han…
- About SaaSpocalypse: news from the front
Following the latest release from Anthropic — Claude getting materially better at coding and reasoning — fear spread fast across investment circles. The narr…
- The ClawdBot Moment
Something unusual happened last week.
- MyC, three years later: a quiet conviction taking shape
The news is out: MyC has raised €10 million to fuel its next stage of growth.
- Headcount in the age of AI: reflections from the shopfloor
Over the past year and a half, we have started to observe early, concrete signs of AI-driven productivity gains in operational companies. These gains are not…
- Where the Factory Software Stack Is Heading in the Age of AI
A view from the field
- Reshoring in an Age of Fracture: What We’re Seeing From the Factory Floor
A lot has been written lately about rising geopolitical tensions. It’s often abstract, macro, and far away from the daily reality of companies. I want to tel…
- 2030 at Mid-Course: Five Years In, What My 2020 Predictions Got Right, Wrong, and Completely Missed
We’re now halfway through that decade.
- Selling industrial software in the AI era : trust, not tokens.
Hi ! I’m Renan, and I lead OSS Ventures, the most awesome venture builder specialized in software for operations in Europe (to my knowledge, we’re the only o…
- Turns out, entreprise AI is not SaaS.
I’m Renan, I run OSS Ventures, the most awesome software for operations venture builder in the world (to my knowledge, we’re the only ones). In five years, w…
- On Distance
I run OSS Ventures, the leading venture builder specialized in software for manufacturing. Our business model is launching and building software companies, a…
- Design in the Age of AI: The Human Layer
At OSS Ventures, the most awesome SaaS venture builder specialized in manufacturing in the world (we’re the only one), we prided ourselves during the first f…
- Burn, risk and venture capital
Venture is not a science. If someone claims they have a perfect playbook, they’re either selling you something or they’ve only lived through one cycle. Ventu…
- On polarization
I’ve been spending a lot of time in factories lately. And in boardrooms. And in fundraising meetings. One pattern keeps coming back, no matter where I look :…
- Designing AI production features in manufacturing : designing for the AI controller
At OSS Ventures, we’ve spent the past few years creating AI-first companies and deploying them in real factories. Today, five of those products are live and…
- Factory as a computer
Factories and computers are rarely mentioned in the same breath. One conjures images of sparks flying, forklifts buzzing, and operators in safety shoes. The…
- Leverage Revolution: Are Factory Jobs About to Get Well Paid?
Walk into any smartphone store today and you’ll be met with a paradox. For roughly the same €1,000 price tag as a decade ago, you now hold in your hand a dev…
- Going West: Reflections on five european SaaS startups expansion to the US
A year ago, five of our largest portfolio companies decided to cross the Atlantic and open offices / start a meaningful presence in the United States. We fol…
- When Software Becomes Probabilistic: Borrowing Manufacturing’s Playbook for a GenAI World
At OSS Ventures, we build startups for the future of industrial operations. Over the past few years, that’s meant spending a lot of time in factories (860 to…
- AI in production : reflecting on one year, five projects and dozens of factories deployed.
A year ago, we went all in on AI at OSS Ventures, the leading venture builder for operations.
- No-code, AI, ERPs, SMEs, rewrites: reflecting on BONX’s $8.6M fundraising
BONX just raised $8.6M.It’s a milestone — but more than that, it’s a story of risk, resilience, and rewriting the rules of what software for operations can b…
- Why we invested in (well, co-built) Cinqo
Industrial waste has been on our radar for years. It’s the kind of systemic inefficiency that makes you want to fix things. But every time we looked closer,…
- Why we invested in (well, co-built) Relief
This is the story of how we got there.
- Blue collars, data mess, mobile first SaaS : reflecting on Kraaft fundraising.
Kraaft just raised €13M.
- Creating an industrial GPT from proprietary sources
At OSS Ventures, the leading startup studio builder specialized in manufacturing, we try to be on the edge.
- Why we invested in (well, co-built) BONX
At OSS Ventures, we are lucky enough to be a bunch of builders, creating startups to change the world of operations. So far, we’ve launched 15 companies alon…
- Why we invested in (well, co-built) VERTICAL
At OSS Ventures, we invest in and co-build the software stack of the future of operations. As a venture builder existing since 2019, we created 12 companies…
- Why we invested in (well, co-built) AUTOMI
At OSS Ventures, we invest in and co-build the software stack of the future of operations. As venture builders existing since 2019, we created 12 companies o…
- Why we invested in Full Speed Automation
At OSS Ventures, we invest in and co-build the software stack of the future of operations. As a venture builder existing since 2019, we created 12 companies…
- Why we invested in (well, co-built) JUNO
At OSS Ventures, we invest in and co-build the software stack of the future of operations. As a venture builder existing since 2020, we created 12 companies…
- Why we co-built OPLIT
Truth is like poetry. And most people fucking hate poetry (had to find a first line)
- Why we invested in (well, co-built) MyC
Dissecting a strange but awesome startup story of growth, mutual realizations, and how shifting reality creates new horizons
- The COO next door : new year’s wishes to manufacturing COOs around the world
Hi. I’m Renan, co-founder of OSS Ventures Builders, the first venture builder in the manufacturing space. We launch software startups for factories.
- Why we invested in (well, co-built) Mercateam
Hi ! I’m Renan, the CEO and co-founder of OSS Venture Builders, the most awesome startup studio specialized in manufacturing (partly because it’s the only on…
- Why does my ERP looks like a ghost town ? Designing for content generation
Hi. My name is Renan, and I’m currently heading the most awesome startup studio of Europe, specialized in manufacturing, based in Paris and called OSS.
- Manufacturing the new IT stack: unbundling the ERP
Hi. My name is Renan, and I’m currently heading the most awesome startup studio of Europe, specialized in manufacturing, based in Paris and called OSS.
- 30 predictions for 2030
Hi. My name is Renan, I’m heading a France-based venture builder firm called OSS.
- Most enterprise software sucks, for a billion reasons. Here’s one.
or why it’s easier to be fancy & disengaged rather than accountable and helping.
- A tsunami is but another wave
A tale of two companies
- Protocols and standards, towards an openness revolution in manufacturing
alternate title : if you’re nerdy and you know it clap your hands
- C'mon, we need to talk about IT, CEOs and COOs
Hi. My name is Renan, I’m the CEO of OPEO Startup Studio, a startup studio based in France and specialized in manufacturing. Alongside eight incredible found…
- Reflecting on 6 months of Startup Studio, in manufacturing, in Europe
A little over 6 months ago, my four co-founders and I chose to 🚀 launch a Startup Studio, OPEO Startup Studio. Of all thing, we chose to launch it in France,…
- Hello, world !
Birth of a startup studio
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