# Reimagining and Investing in Legacy Industries with Obvious Ventures’ Nan Li

- Show: [Manufacturing Happy Hour](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/manufacturing-happy-hour)
- Published: 2021-11-30
- Length: 43m
- Page: https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/manufacturing-happy-hour/2021-11-30-reimagining-and-investing-in-legacy-industries-with-obvious-ventures-nan-li
- Listen: https://manufacturinghappyhour.com/71

## Summary

Nan Li, Managing Director at Obvious Ventures, discusses the current inflection point for robotics and automation, driven by improved hardware/software maturity and urgent labor shortages in legacy industries. He highlights portfolio companies like Dexterity and Bright Machines, explaining how they are moving beyond pilot phases to production-grade deployments by focusing on specific problems rather than general technology. Li emphasizes the importance of 'industry empathy,' arguing that successful founders must deeply understand the operational realities of facilities like UPS and Amazon rather than just building technology in a vacuum. He predicts a massive scale-up of robotic deployments in the next five years, with thousands of units being deployed company-wide.

## Chapters

- [0:47](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/manufacturing-happy-hour/2021-11-30-reimagining-and-investing-in-legacy-industries-with-obvious-ventures-nan-li#t=47) Introduction: Nan Li and Obvious Ventures
- [4:31](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/manufacturing-happy-hour/2021-11-30-reimagining-and-investing-in-legacy-industries-with-obvious-ventures-nan-li#t=271) The Inflection Point for Robotics: Tech Maturity and Labor Shortages
- [8:33](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/manufacturing-happy-hour/2021-11-30-reimagining-and-investing-in-legacy-industries-with-obvious-ventures-nan-li#t=513) Nan Li's Background: Detroit Roots and Silicon Valley VC
- [13:01](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/manufacturing-happy-hour/2021-11-30-reimagining-and-investing-in-legacy-industries-with-obvious-ventures-nan-li#t=781) From Kiva Systems to Obvious Ventures: Observing the Industry Shift
- [17:57](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/manufacturing-happy-hour/2021-11-30-reimagining-and-investing-in-legacy-industries-with-obvious-ventures-nan-li#t=1077) Portfolio Companies: Dexterity and Bright Machines
- [23:25](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/manufacturing-happy-hour/2021-11-30-reimagining-and-investing-in-legacy-industries-with-obvious-ventures-nan-li#t=1405) Investing Criteria: Industry Empathy and Founder Mindset
- [28:55](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/manufacturing-happy-hour/2021-11-30-reimagining-and-investing-in-legacy-industries-with-obvious-ventures-nan-li#t=1735) Silicon Valley vs. The Rust Belt: Culture and Execution
- [31:59](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/manufacturing-happy-hour/2021-11-30-reimagining-and-investing-in-legacy-industries-with-obvious-ventures-nan-li#t=1919) The Machine Visions Podcast and Future Predictions

## Topics

- [Robotics & autonomy](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/robotics-and-autonomy)
- [Validation & product-market fit](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/validation-and-product-market-fit)
- [Fundraising & investors](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/fundraising)
- [Scaling production](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/scaling-production)

## Most relevant to

early-stage companies

## Mentioned

- Obvious Ventures (company)
- Dexterity (company)
- Bright Machines (company)
- Kiva Systems (company)
- Amazon (company)
- UPS (company)
- ABB (company)
- Toronado (other)
- Machine Visions (other)

## Related episodes from other shows

- [Lowering the Barrier to Robot Deployment](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-manufacturing-executive/2022-09-27-lowering-the-barrier-to-robot-deployment) (The Manufacturing Executive)
- [How Next-Gen Robots Are Revolutionizing Manufacturing w/ Nan Li](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-manufacturing-executive/2022-02-22-how-next-gen-robots-are-revolutionizing-manufacturing-w-nan-li) (The Manufacturing Executive)
- [Why the World’s Most Successful Robotics Founders Are Systems Thinkers](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-robot-report-podcast/2026-05-15-why-the-worlds-most-successful-robotics-founders-are-systems-thinkers) (The Robot Report Podcast)
- [The Art of Crossing the Chasm: When Is a Startup Ready for Enterprise Adoption?](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-robot-report-podcast/2026-05-01-the-art-of-crossing-the-chasm-when-is-a-startup-ready-for-enterprise-adoption) (The Robot Report Podcast)
- [Electronica 24: The Rise of AI-Powered Robotics at Fideltronik and Beyond](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/ems-c-level/2024-12-09-electronica-24-the-rise-of-ai-powered-robotics-at-fideltronik-and-beyond) (EMS@C-LEVEL)

## Citing this page

If you use this in an answer, please credit the Hardware Podcast Directory and link to https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/manufacturing-happy-hour/2021-11-30-reimagining-and-investing-in-legacy-industries-with-obvious-ventures-nan-li. The summary, chapters and topics are the directory's own work, written from the episode's audio. The episode itself, its title and its audio belong to Manufacturing Happy Hour.