Maia Benson, MD of Forum Ventures, on Order Management
Hosts Dirk Hoerig and Kelly Goetsch welcome Maia Benson, Managing Director of Forum Ventures. The discussion traces Maia's e-commerce and logistics journey, spotlighting her pivotal role at Shopify and the challenges of building the self-embedded shipping network. They cover the Flexport acquisition, challenges in fulfillment systems, and the industry's dynamic nature amid Gen AI impacts. Maia also leads us through funding landscape trends and the startup thresholds needed to be fundable. Timestamps: Personal background / career to date 0:47, 01:10, 10:54 Explain the Shopify / Flexport debacle 04:33, 09:17 What is the Shop app? 06:06 Define fulfillment and order management. Common use cases, features required by software, etc 12:40 When does it make sense to have a standalone OMS vs one combined with your commerce platform? 14:36, 20:24 How does an eCommerce-only OMS differ from a retail OMS, or some other industry? 14:36 Should best in breed exist as a separate category? 19:17 How have Order Management Systems changed over the last 20 years? How have customer expectations changed and what are today’s use cases? 17:35 Tell us more about Forum Ventures and what types of companies you're looking to invest in 22:40 What are the thresholds that companies have to meet to be fundable? 23:31 Wrap / Where can people follow you? 28:20, 30:20 FYI - watch the MACH Alliance OMS CEO panel that Maia led 30:45