This week:

Patric and Shubhankar dive deep into the growing role of robotics in construction tech. They discuss how labor shortages and inflation in mature markets are accelerating demand, and why founders with a product mindset do better than pure automation experts.

Other topics include: the promise of granular “micro-step” automation focused on valuable tasks; the need for robotics startups to sell actual construction outcomes rather than just equipment leases; the niche adoption so far in emerging markets versus the huge potential for leapfrogging; and the market triggers that could rapidly unlock construction robotics innovation globally. Whether you’re an investor or founder in this space, or just want an insider’s overview of the construction robotics landscape and business models, this episode delivers an insightful analysis.

This week:

Shub and Patric dive into amusing idioms from German, Hindi and Bengali to unearth essential wisdom for construction tech founders. Key topics span the extreme information asymmetry between insurgent AEC innovators and their backers, construction software's resilient growth trajectory, why seasoned advisors are invaluable, pragmatically tackling obstacles and avoiding chaotic expansion sans governance. The broad mix of cultural metaphors and situational advice highlight what makes the build sector unique while confirming universal startup truths. Enjoy these tactical, philosophical and entertaining nuggets to kickstart 2024 with inspiration, realism and humor.

This week:

This week's episode makes bold predictions across architecture, engineering and construction for 2024. It sees data pipelines and infrastructure gaining rapid traction as firms still lack adequate data systems for effective AI. Legacy vendors will feel threatened by new entrants, acquiring one key competitor for modern web capabilities and platform business models. Construction robotics adoption will outpace workforce education facing anti-immigration policies. Europe's building renovation wave will hit another inflection as energy prices increase while renovation incentives stay. And Indian-American collaborations among investors, founders and dual-market services firms will dramatically proliferate. Tune in for expert perspectives on these 2024 predictions and the market shifts underlying each.

This week has some behind the scenes war stories:

Patric and Shub discuss hidden stories of questionable behaviors that have led investors to walk away from deals in the construction tech sector. Examples include a botched funding round due to problematic revenue recognition, a VC blocking an outside investment in one company to force a quid pro quo investment in another company they partially owned, vague accusations of "book cooking" by a prominent founder's past investors, a founder secretly enriching themselves through an offshore subsidiary, bribery accusations against a board member, and sibling VCs scheming to promote one of themselves through a shaky deal. These stories demonstrate issues around greed, self-enrichment, abuse of power, and deception that can undermine deals even at the last minute. The podcast covers ways founders can safeguard their companies and partnerships to avoid these pitfalls.

This week:

This episode explores the major shifts happening in construction tech and AEC software. We discuss Snaptrude's recent $14 million Series A raise to build a "Figma for 3D AEC" led by Foundamental and Accel, and how they aim to bring real-time collaboration to 3D design.

We also examine the frustrations with legacy construction tech vendors and their closed-off, desktop-centric tools. However, new startups have an opportunity to disrupt them by utilizing cloud, APIs, multiplayer, browser and better optimization for concurrency.

3D design startups in architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) can gain an edge through community building and embracing open source, compared to the incumbent's historical top-down approach. And workforce shrinkage means construction firms will double their software spend per user as they automate more workflows. New technologies are enabling the creation of next-gen construction platforms.

This week:

This week Patric and Shubhankar discuss the potential for AI "procurement agents" to streamline purchasing for construction companies. They compare raising capital from generalist investors versus specialists focused on construction tech, explaining how their diligence process and priorities differ. The episode wraps up with them sharing what they are looking forward to in the coming week, including a new opportunity in timber/lumber and an exciting 3D reconstruction software company.

This week's main topic:

We also chat about:

This week:

This week with Bastien Dolla, co-founder at Rayon (https://www.rayon.design)