Independent analyst · Advisor · Host
I make sense of the companies, technologies, and decisions changing how physical products are designed, simulated, manufactured, and sustained.
Experience forged inside
The most consequential AI story is not a single copilot. It is the rewiring of the decisions, data, and feedback loops that turn an idea into a physical product.
I follow that transformation across the complete lifecycle—and separate the durable signal from the industrial hype.
One perspective. Four ways into the work.
Research, data, and conversations for the people building, buying, and investing in the future of engineering.
The engineering-software intelligence layer for investors and strategy teams: expert-scored startup profiles, market maps, and incumbent-exposure analysis across CAD, PLM, simulation, and Industrial AI.
Explore the platform Ask ThreadMoat The AI research interface for ThreadMoat. Ask who is building in a category, what a company does, or what a term means.Independent analysis, buyer's guides, and a working glossary covering PLM, CAD, MES, simulation, Industrial AI, and the digital thread.
Read the analysisCandid conversations with the founders and operators putting AI to work across engineering and manufacturing, with full searchable transcripts.
Explore the episodesUnscripted expert panels with the people redefining PLM, product data, and the digital thread.
Watch on YouTube“AI is not replacing PLM. It is exposing every place where PLM was held together with Excel and goodwill.”
01Data before systems.
02Context before automation.
03Evidence before hype.
Independent since 2022
About Michael
Michael Finocchiaro is an independent industry analyst, consultant, and advisor with more than 35 years inside engineering software. His career spans IBM, Hewlett-Packard, PTC, and Dassault Systèmes.
Today he works across the startup, investor, software-vendor, and manufacturing communities—connecting market history with the emerging reality of Industrial AI.
Publishing the industrial AI interview series recorded at IMTS in Chicago and the Ignition Community Conference in Sacramento.
Working through who actually purchases from industrial-software startups, how expansion really happens, and what predicts an acquisition.
Adding to DemystifyingPLM's independent guides across PLM, CAD, CAM, MES, simulation, BIM, SCM, EAM, and IIoT.
Roundtables on configuration management, engineering and manufacturing BOMs, and whether AI belongs on top of broken PLM.
Strategy · Speaking · Briefings
Looking for an independent read on an engineering-software market, startup, product strategy, or the impact of AI across the lifecycle?