Michael Perry

Tech doesn’t have to be lonely. SMBs are expected to scale like startups and secure like enterprises—often with a fraction of the resources. That’s why mentorship and real-world guidance matter just as much as the tech stack itself. This San Francisco Business Times piece echoes what we see every day: tools are just one piece of the puzzle. What really drives growth? Clarity, community, and making intentional tech decisions that actually serve the business. Because strong tech foundations aren’t a luxury. They’re what keep your momentum moving forward. https://lnkd.in/epGKeQrE  #SmallBusiness #TechStrategy #SMBsupport 

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Leading product teams in regulated environments requires a different kind of discipline. In this episode of the HTD Agile Leaders Podcast, I sat down with Melissa Douros, CPO at Green Dot Corporation, to talk about how product leaders can move faster without sacrificing trust, governance, or customer safety. I enjoyed this conversation on product delivery, AI done responsibly, and what it really takes to lead transformation at scale.

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Great founders know where to focus. Bret Taylor knows how to break it down. We pulled some key insights from the Sierra co-founder and CEO's Frameworks for Growth episode—on customers, selling outcomes instead of features, and what some startups miss about pace, product, and predictions. 🧵 Highlights in the carousel 🎬 Watch the full ep: https://lnkd.in/g9WmVtzf

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I’m thrilled to officially announce our $3M seed investment in Propel People, a company we built inside the 1848 Ventures studio to tackle one of the biggest challenges facing the #construction industry today: the skilled #labor shortage. For small and medium-sized contractors, hiring isn't just a challenge. It's the number one threat to their growth, profitability, and safety. With 94% of contractors struggling to find qualified workers, it’s clear that traditional hiring methods aren't built for the trades. That’s why we built Propel People. It’s a mobile-first, AI-powered hiring platform designed for how construction actually works: in the field. By leveraging smart candidate ranking, instant #SMS-based screening, and a fully #bilingual interface, Propel helps contractors build great crews faster and more efficiently. I’m also thrilled to formally announce that industry veteran Dexter Bachelder is at the helm as CEO. Having worked with Dexter and the team over the last few months, we've already seen the impact of his leadership. His 25 years of experience scaling construction tech companies will be instrumental as Propel People enters this initial stage of growth. This investment reinforces our core thesis at 1848 Ventures: building AI-native companies that solve fundamental pain points for the #SMBs that form the backbone of our economy. A huge congratulations to Dexter and the entire Propel People team on this milestone. We are incredibly proud to partner with you to support the people who build our world. Read the full announcement below. #constructiontech #venturecapital #seedfunding #ai #skilledtrades #smb

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Seth Levine nailed it! The concentration problem isn't just a GP pain point... it's choking innovation. When capital pools around the same 20 funds, emerging managers and founders get shut out. Love that he's using his platform to call this out. Foundry has backed 50+ emerging managers. That's the diversification the ecosystem needs. This is exactly why Carta exists — making capital allocation visible and accessible. Capital Evolution hits at exactly the right moment. Thanks for having us Daniel Dart. Team Carta loves the community of FUTURE TITANS you have built 🚀

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Skilled labor is the bottleneck in industrial ops. Elevāt's platform basically tries to “productize the expert” using machine signals + docs + prior fixes. Now they have $12M to scale. Congrats to them. In industrial AI, the tech is usually the easy part....adoption is the battle. Curious what you think is the real gating factor:  -- trust (techs believe it’s right and won’t get them hurt),  -- workflow integration (it fits into CMMS/ticketing/parts + works offline/on-device), OR  -- incentives (the field team is rewarded for using it vs “just fixing it their way”). Which one kills deployments most often in your experience?

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In this episode of The Future of BizTech, I sit down with Katherine Lehman, Chief Marketing Officer at ReturnBear — the logistics innovator helping e-commerce brands turn costly returns into profitable, planet-friendly opportunities. ReturnBear goes beyond traditional return portals by combining software with its own logistics network, allowing brands to resell returned items locally instead of shipping them back overseas. With clients ranging from Shopify merchants to major brands like Skims, ReturnBear is cutting costs, reducing fraud, speeding up inventory turnover, and slashing emissions — all while giving consumers a smoother return experience. The conversation explores ReturnBear’s unique model that solves the messy, expensive challenges of cross-border returns, why forward fulfillment is changing the game for e-commerce logistics, and how the company is helping brands compete with Amazon-level convenience while avoiding landfill waste. Katherine also shares behind-the-scenes insights on scaling ReturnBear’s operations across multiple countries and why sustainability, profit, and customer experience no longer have to be at odds. If you’re curious about the future of e-commerce logistics, sustainable retail, or how brands can make returns work for their bottom line, this episode is a must-listen. 

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There’s a lot of conversation about how AI is concentrating capital. That’s real. But I’m also seeing how it’s expanding what small teams can build. At ThriveLink, AI has allowed us to move faster, reach more patients, and build technology that helps families navigate systems that were never designed to be easy. We’ve been able to do with a small amount of capital what used to require entire teams and millions in funding. The tools are changing. The mission isn’t. Thankful to the Los Angeles Business Journal and Plug In Ventures for highlighting the changing venture landscape and what founders like myself are navigating right now.

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