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The Future of Forecasting with Matthew Bell

June 17, 2022

Many students may hear the phrase "forecasting is never perfect" throughout business school. However, a local start-up is on the cusp of changing that phrase for certain industries. Carmen Ventures recently sat down with Matthew Bell, CEO of PointPro in Columbus, OH to learn more about the company's founding and what they love about calling Columbus home.

PointPro was founded by Matt and Mrinal Kumar, the company's CTO in 2020. Their start-up is in the business of helping corporations and organizations use their assets and resources most effectively through a closed-loop simulation architecture that is able to forecast the life of industrial equipment based on physics-based models. "Sub optimal performance of machinery contributes a tremendous amount of money potentially to be saved," said Matt Bell when talking discussing why the company is able to make such a large impact. "PointPro is a simulation software in which you're able to make predictions about the condition of machinery. In other words, what the future condition of your machinery will be."

Q. Aside from the industries your company is currently operating in (Aviation, Space), what other areas do you see your technology being able to be applied?

A. "One of the main characteristics needed for us to be able to apply our technology is a physics-based model". Some of the industries Matt mentioned that he sees able to enter in the future include automobile manufacturing and government organizations. "It takes teams a long time to build out a physics-based model, but as companies begin to adapt this our technology will be able to be applied to a vast amount of industries".

Q. What differentiates you from your competitors?

A. PointPro utilizes a closed-loop architecture, meaning that the data forecasting the life of an asset comes from the asset itself, not large amounts of data about every other piece of machinery similar to that one. For customers that use their assets below or above the industry average, PointPro is able to give an accurate forecast of the asset's life which allows companies to make accurate decisions regarding their resources.

Q. How have you benefitted from incubators or start-up studios?

A. "Rev1 has been a terrific partner." Through working with Rev1, PointPro has been given access to coaching and mentoring over the past year that has allowed them to continue growing their business. "Rev1 offers a tremendous amount of resources, such as office space and connection to industry all sorts of things like that. The main thing that has been really helpful for us is individualized coaching. Every month, we have a call with two mentors, talk about our progress, and what we need help with."

Q. What gets you out of bed in the morning?

A. "Problems that need to be solved."

Q. What keeps you up at night?

A. "Making sure that our people have everything they need to solve the problems that we face."

Q. What has surprised you the most since starting this role?

A. "How helpful people truly are."

For more information on PointPro, feel free to visit their website to learn more! Below is a model of their technology for reference:

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