Ryan Landau

The $4B working capital gap in Michigan isn’t just about liquidity—it’s a data problem. Today, SMB manufacturers are forced to act as 0% interest banks. Banks want to lend to these manufacturers, but they can't verify the intent to pay because they can’t see the intent to produce. We analyzed 170,000+ proprietary manufacturing transactions to find exactly where this bridge breaks: it’s the inbox chaos of unstructured invoicing and bilingual data trapped on the factory floor. Alisio is the AI-native verification rail that turns factory floor data into bankable real-world assets. Our agents parse production data—from first milestone to final shipment—to generate a Digital Compliance Jacket. We aren't discounting invoices after the fact; we are verifying production in real-time so capital can move as fast as the parts do. We are showing giants like DENSO, Nexteer Automotive, and TREMEC that Supplier Development isn't a brochure—it’s a data strategy. The Impact For Manufacturers: Turn Work in Progress (WIP) and tooling into liquid assets you can borrow against today. Get paid on milestones, not in 120 days. For Purchasing Groups: Eliminate downline risk. We help sub-suppliers verify data for SAT and USMCA so parts move cross-border without getting stuck. Alisio provides the proof that helps parts move cross border. For Banks & ABLs: Diversify your balance sheet with a new asset class: verified production data, not six-month-old financials—integrated into your existing workflow. The Podcast I joined Matt Allison M.B.A. CLCS and Brad Metzger on Cashflow Chronicles Open Forum to discuss how Detroit-built AI infrastructure is becoming the financial backbone for cross-border manufacturing—and why Michigan’s working capital gap is a massive lending opportunity, not just a supplier problem. Most manufacturers got into this business to make things. They grew because the supply chain around them collaborated—Michigan companies helping Michigan companies. A lot of people think resilience and grit built Detroit, but the truth is that "work hard, stay humble" attitude comes from a deep sense of community. I am proud to be from here 3️⃣1️⃣3️⃣, proud to startup here 💻 and proud to support manufacturers 🏭 from here and abroad. Check out the episode below 👇🏽 https://lnkd.in/gphj7p2P #Manufacturing #FinTech #AI #Detroit #MichiganManufacturing #SupplyChain #CashFlow #USMCA #Nearshoring

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Author Michael Watkins reveals the 3 critical mistakes keeping CMOs stuck in tactical mode instead of leading strategically. You'll learn how to shift from reactive execution to enterprise thinking, why most marketers fail at long-term strategy (and how to fix it), and how to apply the RPM model (Recognize, Prioritize, Mobilize) to level up your entire marketing org. ➕ Plus, discover why the future belongs to leaders who embrace shared leadership over central control. Listen here ➡️ https://bit.ly/4nPVJxJ

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Your roadmap will lead you to failure. Are you beholden to deadline that some exec threw on on the calendar so they could feel good about planning resources? Does your delivery schedule trump experimentation at every turn? Our latest from Innovate, Disrupt, or Die dives into the realities of roadmap-driven innovation and development and the value of building an agile roadmap that champions learning as progress instead of deadlines. Check out our five-step process for building adaptive roadmaps. Link in comments. Subscribe at InnovateDisruptOrDie•com for more.

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Age of Potency - I am completely blow away by Jasmine Bina’s presentation for Amazon. Having just navigated layoffs to change their culture - their decision was all about being able to optimize at the top of the S curve while navigating the bottom. Why? There are three important trends driving our collective need to feel more deeply than ever. Time Trust Work Three things we don’t feel connected to anymore. Work used to define us - how many people are just larping from 9-5? That disconnect + AI is throwing a lot of challenges at culturally led orgs - which is most orgs. The last two decades we were at the top of the S curve - optimizing. It makes sense, many of us are optimized professionals. We reported based on certainty, we chased clear ROI, we built five year plans. The past 20 years we navigated the internet. Now we are navigating AI - we have to re-think everything. AI is re-thinking itself! Now that we are at the bottom of the S curve - we are messy, experimental, creative.. which isn’t our normal way of working. Most plans are one year versus five. In crypto you don’t know what the next six months might bring. As someone scaling a brand in a lower S curve sector - this entire presentation rang true. Navigating ambiguity is with us for another decade. We might as well get used to it. It’s very good. Link to the full video below.

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Hot Take, v2026: I just read this piece from StartMidwest on how Midwest startup investment lagged badly in 2025, and it’s worth your time if you care about this ecosystem. (Link in comments, and thank you, Jamauri Bogan for sharing!) One part of it hit a little close to home: As we head into 2026, Sproutwise already has a meaningful amount of committed work lined up. When I look at where that work is coming from, only roughly 16% of it is with organizations headquartered here in Michigan, while roughly 80% is with companies in Colorado. That’s not a complaint, but it’s a signal, especially in the context of how much time I’ve spent this past year deeply embedded in the Midwest startup ecosystem. What both this article and my own lived experience keep pointing to is something that’s uncomfortable but important to say out loud: we don’t have an ideas problem, and we don’t have a talent problem. We have a connection, confidence, and follow-through problem, and we have a structural capital problem layered on top of it. This article puts real data behind what I’ve been watching play out on the ground: we underinvest in our own region, we don’t recycle wins fast enough, and we don’t yet have the kind of flywheel that makes it easier for the next generation of companies to stay, scale, and thrive here. The good news is that this is fixable. But it’s not fixed by one fund, one program, or one organization. It’s fixed when more operators work together, when more founders stay visible and connected, when more institutions lean in in real ways, and when more people decide to put real weight behind their belief in this ecosystem. As we head into 2026, at Sproutwise we’ll keep building with teams wherever they are, because great companies aren’t limited by geography. And through Silo Busters, I’m going to keep investing time and energy in reducing the friction between the people, capital, and institutions that actually have to work together for this to change. I don’t think 2026 is about pretending things are better than they are. I think it’s about deciding what we want to be true about Michigan and the Midwest, and then building the connective tissue to make that future more likely. Appreciate you, Philippe V., for putting real numbers behind a conversation a lot of us feel but don’t always say out loud. #Startups #Entrepreneurship #MidwestStartups #MichiganStartups #Founders #BuildInPublic #PeopleOps #Leadership

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Ever stare into a codebase where the whole team walked away leaving zero documentation, zero context, live system, deadlines still coming? I've been there. And that's where AI stopped being theoretical for me. Instead, it was about making sense of complexity faster, reducing error, freeing humans for the decisions; that real work that makes all the difference. Doing it well requires intentionality though: what you build, how you build it, and making sure you're not just accelerating toward more tech debt. I'm joining Tech in Motion for an in-person panel on precisely this. Discussing the practicalities, the pitfalls, and what responsible AI use in modernization initiatives looks like today. Come join discussion!

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You need to be paying attention to Ohio tech. Here are some recent headlines... • Nationwide commits $1.5 billion to tech and AI transformation (h/t Jim Fowler) • Stargate Expands: OpenAI, Oracle, and SoftBank announce five new AI data center sites, including Ohio • Cleveland Clinic and DASI Simulations partner on AI ‘Co-Pilot’ for heart procedures (h/t Teri Sirset and Sean McKibben) • Ohio startups can now apply for JumpStart Inc.’s Trailblazer Software Accelerator (h/t Lorne Novick, Nicki Hubbard) • Sonic Fire Tech raises $3.5M Seed Round to bring NASA-inspired infrasound fire defense to market • Inside ‘Innovate Toledo’: How the University of Toledo plans to power the region’s Next Economy (h/t Sharon Speyer) • Cincinnati-backed Kernel (YC S25) raises $22M for powering AI’s new “browser layer” (h/t Rafael Garcia, Catherine Jue) • The O.H.I.O. Fund invests in Dublin-based EASE Logistics to expand AI innovation (h/t Peter Coratola Jr., Ray Leach Jeffrey Stern) • Cleveland Clinic, Khosla Ventures join forces to accelerate health tech innovation • Honda invests $2.6 million to expand research at The Ohio State University (h/t Walter "Ted" Carter) • Akron’s Polymer Bet: First startups join Synthe6 Accelerator (h/t Jessica Sublett, J.D., LLM, Hans Dorfi) • Robots in Every Classroom: Cleveland students get hands-on with AI future • Dayton’s DEXA (Drone Express) raises $15 million Seed Round to take drone delivery mainstream (h/t Beth Flippo) • Ohio to anchor U.S. nuclear revival as Centrus Energy Corp. plans major expansion (h/t JP Nauseef, JobsOhio) • JobsOhio, Ohio Life Sciences Association launch $30 million biomanufacturing workforce initiative (h/t Eddie Pauline) • Cleveland’s Splash secures $70 million Series C, backed by The O.H.I.O. Fund (h/t Steven Muszynski) • Cleveland startup Beacon launches to pay you for referrals (h/t Rob Reznick) -- Link to each story in the comments. Follow OhioX, Ohio Tech News, and Ohio Tech Events for more tech news and events. 🚀🚀🚀 Want this type of news straight to your inbox? Join 8,503+ Ohio tech execs/pros by subscribing here: https://lnkd.in/eSSgK5ix

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On AI and SaaS Sales. Just listened to Adam Robinson and Pete Crowley's (from RB2B) podcast with the G2 CEO Godard Abel. Got me thinking. Basically, the conversation was about how an (early-stage) startup can get on G2 and Reddit, and it can have people talk about it, and appear larger than it is and, which would lead to great results and also for AI discovery. All true because - as Godard noticed - AI values user-generated content - reviews, Reddit threads, YouTube. I kind of wish the conversation made a more drastic distinction between Reddit conversations and conversations that happen on platforms like G2 and how AI treats both. Pete Crowley 💡 mentioned that Reddit is hard to influence, and I've heard this on a number of podcasts now. I don't think it's really true. The common line is that the community is self-policing, but if you spend enough time on Reddit (I do), you start seeing tons of manufactured threads, and mods are clearly not catching very many of them. Plus Reddit is anonymous. So people do influence it, regularly, producing fantastic results. But I find it hard to believe this stage will last for long bacuse AI is getting smarter (I hope so). And this is where the difference between Reddit and G2-like platforms kicks in. Software directories hold a pretty unique position - they have structured data on products, those products are categorized, compared and rated and they also have reviews to which vendors can respond. But the difference is, in order to leave a review you have to get verified. And the platforms scrutinize people big time before they approve a single reviews from them. The best verification if via Linkedin (where you cannot be anonymous) or work email. So in fact it's a double verification. And if you've ever tried to collect or leave reviews on G2, you know what I'm talking about. So when an AI system is trying to recommend software, a hundred anonymous Reddit comments and twenty G2 reviews should not be treated as the same input. And yet they probably are now. So I'd be curious to hear more about that - the trust layer and how companies like G2 are working to solve it (if at all). Otherwise, a great episode, I recommend listening. P.S. Adam - on your Capterra and G2 comparison, there's a fascinating story on how the founder of Capterra Michael Ortner launched reviews back in 2008 (!) and how the idea was super controversial at the time, because the company was also making money from vendors.

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