Live from GroceryShop: Three Top VC's Dish on the Future of Retail Tech

Our third anniversary episode features the first of three episodes recorded live at GroceryShop in the Vantage podcast studio. We welcome three rock star venture capitalists--Ashley Hartman (Bluestein Ventures), Matt Nichols (Commerce Ventures), and Kevin Parakkattu (Plug and Play) --who share their thoughts on the future of retail tech. In a fast-paced discussion, we dig into the current funding environment, challenges scaling once promising technology, and what each of our panelists are looking for now. We also discuss the outlook for generative AI, connecting offline and online behavior, personalization, sustainability, store level analytics, retail media, and more!

As usual, we kick things off with our analysis of the week in retail news, starting with the Fed's interest rate pause and IPO fever. We then discuss Lowe's CEO saying the quiet part out loud when it comes to addressing a big driver of retail theft, before returning to the Wobbly Unicorn Corner for news of Stitch Fix's plans to right the ship. Then it's an early look at both holiday hiring plans and several firm's sales forecasts.

About Vantage

Enterprise brands and retailers in over 120 countries around the world use Vantage for data-driven ecommerce advertising. Vantage was built on the primary goal of helping ecommerce businesses of all sizes around the world grow. Driving this growth: artificial intelligence, machine-learning technology, predictive analytics, and performance at scale. We’re committed to helping businesses identify opportunities and grow revenue in an easy and data-driven way. We leverage the data from the thousands of retailers worldwide to best understand how to be successful.

About Ashley

Ashley co-leads Bluestein Ventures, driving the firm’s strategy, portfolio company support, and deal pipeline. Ashley has made over 30 investments in the space, and is an observer on three boards, including Base Culture, Grovara, and Rethink. Ashley has appeared in Forbes (here and here), has been featured on industry podcasts (here, here, and here), and regularly serves on food industry panels.

Ashley has deep experience leading growth strategy and establishing scalable infrastructure necessary to build sustainable ventures. Prior to Bluestein, Ashley was Vice President of Strategy & Operations at Hartman Windows & Doors, where she was responsible for growth strategy, leading expansion across the U.S. as well as setting the platform on which to grow. Ashley also worked for Coinstar in Business Development, focusing on launching their new ventures. After college, Ashley was an Analyst at NERA Economic Consulting.

Active in the Chicago and food community, Ashley serves on the Board of Naturally Chicago, on Selection Committee of the Good Food Accelerator, and as a mentor at Food Foundry, The Hatchery, and the LeAD Accelerator, in addition to being a judge at Booth’s new venture competitions. She is also on the National Leadership Council of United States Artists. Ashley received an MBA with honors from Harvard Business School and a BA in Political Economy, summa cum laude, from Williams College.

About Matt

Matt has been an investor in and operator of early-stage technology companies for more than 20 years. He leads the firm’s commerce infrastructure/retail technology investment team and is a member of the management committee. He serves on the boards of several portfolio companies, including Grabango and Pensa.

Prior to Commerce Ventures, Matt was the CEO of Gemvara, a disruptive jewelry eCommerce business that was sold to Berkshire Hathaway. Matt also worked as a venture capitalist at Highland Capital Partners and Morgan Stanley Venture Partners where his investments included Bullhorn (Acq’d by Vista Equity Partners), Pixable (Acq’d by SingTel), Avamar (Acq’d by EMC), Tarari (Acq’d by LSI), and Perceptive Software (Acq’d by Lexmark). Matt was a member of Morgan Stanley‘s Technology Corporate Finance team where he was part of the Google IPO team and also spent time in Google’s corporate development group.

Matt studied Economics at Pomona College and earned an MBA with high distinction from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth.

Fun Fact: Matt was once a nationally-ranked badminton player.

About Kevin

Highly versatile venture capital leader with a track record of demonstrated performance. Sourced and led 40+ Seed and Series A investments exceeding $10MM deployed with a combined market value of >$50MM inclusive of portfolio companies BigID, Madison Reed, ZigZag Global, ChargeAfter, MANSCAPED. Developed strategic partnerships with Nike, McDonalds, YUM Brands, Ernst & Young, PVH, and 12 other retailers and brands. Tenacious at developing investments, securing customer loyalty, and forging long term relationships with internal and external business partners. An adept people leader with a reputation of attracting and developing high performance teams.

About Us

Steve Dennis is a strategic advisor, keynote speaker, and bestselling author of focused on growth, innovation, and the impact of digital disruption. He is widely considered one of the foremost and influential voices in the retail industry. You can learn more about Steve on his website. His #1 bestselling book Remarkable Retail: How To Win & Keep Customers in the Age of Disruption is available at Amazon or just about anywhere else books are sold. Steve regularly shares his insights in his role as a Forbes senior contributor and on Twitter and LinkedIn. You can also check out his speaker "sizzle" reel here.

Michael LeBlanc is the Founder & President of M.E. LeBlanc & Company Inc and a Senior Advisor to Retail Council of Canada as part of his advisory and consulting practice. He brings 25+ years of brand/retail/marketing & eCommerce leadership experience, and has been on the front lines of retail industry change for his entire career. Michael is the producer and host of a network of leading podcasts including Canada’s top retail industry podcast, The Voice of Retail, plus Global eCommerce Leaders podcast, and The Food Professor with Dr. Sylvain Charlebois. You can learn more about Michael here or on LinkedIn.

Be sure and check out Michael's latest venture for fun and influencer riches - Last Request Barbecue, his YouTube BBQ cooking channel!

About Us

Steve Dennis is a strategic advisor and keynote speaker focused on growth and innovation, who has also been named one of the world's top retail influencers. He is the bestselling author of two books: Leaders Leap: Transforming Your Company at the Speed of Disruption and Remarkable Retail: How To Win & Keep Customers in the Age of Disruption. Steve regularly shares his insights in his role as a Forbes senior retail contributor and on social media.

Michael LeBlanc is a senior retail advisor, keynote speaker and media entrepreneur. Michael has delivered keynotes, hosted fire-side discussions hosted senior retail executive on-stage in 1:1 interviews worldwide. Michael produces and hosts a network of leading retail trade podcasts, including The Remarkable Retail Podcast, The Voice of Retail, The Food Professor, The FEED powered by Loblaw and the Global eCommerce Leaders podcast. He has been recognized by the NRF as a global Top Retail Voice for 2025 and 2026 and continues to be a ReThink Retail Top Retail Expert for the fifth year in a row.