It's well documented that we at Burnt Island Ventures love founder-market fit, but we really love it when it leads us to a founder and company that represents that fundamental leap forward in the operation of that market. Josh Mackanic is one of those founders. His two decades of experience in infrastructure has led him to build a platform people have talked about in the industry for a long time, but he and his team have been the ones to bring it to life. His deep knowledge of the infrastructure world is obvious in our conversation. We cover everything from the identification of the problem to how he thought through his fundraising process to how he sees the role of CivilGrid in unlocking a huge amount of friction in the wholesale infrastructure upgrade that the US requires in the coming decades. Please enjoy my conversation with the excellent Josh Mackanic. 

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For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-fundamental-molecule/id1714287205

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Josh Mackanic, seasoned infrastructure expert and founder of CivilGrid, shares his journey from managing large-scale construction projects at PG&E to creating a revolutionary platform for infrastructure management. He discusses his unique insights into utility operations, the significant challenges faced by the construction industry, his team’s design expertise, and the crucial role of meticulous planning in successful project execution. Explaining how CivilGrid preemptively consolidates vast amounts of site-specific data, our guest notes that this results in streamlining project design, and reducing costly errors. Finishing up, Josh shares his thoughts on the future of infrastructure, the impact of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) on the industry, and his advice for aspiring water entrepreneurs.

0:00 Start

0:49 Introduction

1:56 Josh’s journey to starting CivilGrid

5:42 ‘Dig ins’ and the potential issues with them

8:23 The problem he and his colleagues decided to solve

10:23 CivilGrid and its impact

14:25 Acquisition of a critical mass of data

16:20 Understanding your areas of strength and weakness

17:22 Learning about selling

19:24 The CivilGrid team’s exceptional understanding of design

23:25 Josh’s insights on fundraising

27:28 His perspective on the IRA, infrastructure, and the future

31:03 Retaining and ingraining values in the team members

30:31 Josh’s most important advice for future water entrepreneurs

Links:

Burnt Island Ventures: https://www.burntislandventures.com/

CivilGrid: https://www.civilgrid.com/

Quotes:

"Running a complex construction project is like orchestrating a symphony in an unstructured environment."

"90-92% of projects go over schedule or budget. Your biggest impact is at the design and planning stage."

"If you don't have customers, you don't have a business. Start with the customers and work backwards."

"Fundraising isn't just about money. It's about building the team and getting the right people aligned with your mission."

"Prepare yourself mentally and physically. The road is longer and requires more resolve than you expect."