The Nexus Podcast

“The fact that other industries were being solved with an API, it really made sense to create this single layer that takes on all the historic complexity and abstracts it away into that API, so that everyone doesn't have to keep repeating the exact same task over and over again.”
—Shaun Cooley

• How Jim thinks about building tech in three interrelated buckets (13:49)
• The landlord-tenant split incentive and how it makes technology a challenge and how we're very early in solving it (17:47)
• A smart buildings endgame (23:44)
• Boston Properties' data journey and how they've applied what they've learned and how they're looking for the next set of tools (30:38)
• How Jim is thinking about analytics as the next toolset (43:50)
• Jim's keys to the success they've had in the last 10 years digitizing buildings (52:10)

You can find Shaun Cooley on LinkedIn.
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“I used to chase kilowatt-hours and now I'm chasing renewable energy.”
—Rob Brimblecombe

• How Rob spearheaded the university's 100% renewables goal (12:56)
• How Monash defines Net Zero and how they're getting off gas (19:03)
• No longer chasing kilowatt-hours (32:00)
• How South Australia Water makes money off of demand flexibility (33:57)
• Good control means good grid economics (36:34)
• H ow appliance selection is the key to Passive House design (38:52)
• Proving the value of data modeling (50:23)
• Why the smart campus system is like an octopus and why the system is named the Kraken (1:01:38)
• How building technology works with DERs to provide flexibility (1:04:46)

You can find Rob Brimblecombe on LinkedIn.
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“I talk about market transformation forces. I think Volttron has that potential, not necessarily that everyone's going to adopt Volttron, but the fact that this open platform that exists that has some of these functionalities… It’s like a pressure source… to move the needle.”
–Andrew Rodgers

• Defining the independent data layer (8:20)
• Deep dive into Volttron (16:06)
• Updates from the field: Grid interaction (27:10), Advanced supervisory control (37:32)
• Some closing thoughts on market transformation (45:25)

You can find Andrew Rodgers on LinkedIn.
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“I don't have a single one-liner, 25-words-or-less elevator pitch about what a smart building is. Every building is going to be different.

What value are you trying to get out of it? And then I'll tell you what the smart building looks like. "
—Shen Chiu  

• How Jim thinks about building tech in three interrelated buckets (13:49)
• The landlord-tenant split incentive and how it makes technology a challenge and how we're very early in solving it (17:47)
• A smart buildings endgame (23:44)
• Boston Properties' data journey and how they've applied what they've learned and how they're looking for the next set of tools (30:38)
• How Jim is thinking about analytics as the next toolset (43:50)
• Jim's keys to the success they've had in the last 10 years digitizing buildings (52:10)

You can find Jim Chiu on LinkedIn.
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“Future readiness… this isn't about guessing that 5G is the future on this particular frequency, and I'm going to put that in my building and put all my eggs in that basket. It's about: how do we take a step back and make sure that as and when these technologies mature to a level that they're a definite ‘must have’ in a building, that I, as a landlord, can rapidly evolve the way my building is set up to deliver those features?”
–Sanj Ranasinghe

• The founding story of WiredScore: Making it matter (5:41)
• Scoring philosophy (20:00)
• Breaking down the certification process (27:14)
• Future readiness for tenant-side connectivity (33:13)
• Unpacking SmartScore (40:00)

You can find Arie Barendrecht and Sanj Ranasinghe on LinkedIn.
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“I think where the industry needs to get to is… looking at how best to service a portfolio, rather than the kind of one-to-one [management team to building] relationship. And there's a tipping point of scale where it's not even like a business case anymore, it's like an IQ test as to whether you've got that different [portfolio-scale] operational model in place. But I think like what the technology is doing is lowering that barrier to entry, that crossover point where having a centralized operational model makes sense.”
—Leon Wurfel

• Bueno founding story (8:53)
• Deep dive on Bueno (11:36)
• How analytics can scale Pt 1 (18:50)
• A rare look into refrigerated retail analytics (33:23)
• 2021: some COVID-related outcomes and the IOT stack (37:21)
• Favorite question (41:52)
• How analytics can scale Pt 2 (44:13)

You can find Leon Wurfel on LinkedIn.
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“So I know that's your favorite question and you want me to answer it, but I I'd reword it: Why is the adoption of technology behind? I won't go to say the technologies behind because this industry invented a lot of firsts.”
—John Petze

My Highlights

• John’s career history (2:02)
• Why technology adoption is so far behind: split everything (21:02)
• The history of Tridium (24:21)
• SkyFoundry: how and why SkySpark came to be, and where it’s going (35:27)
• The shiny object problem with graphics (58:24)
• The past, present, and future of Project Haystack (1:01:05)

You can find John Petze on LinkedIn.
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“There's a mentality, at least in Silicon Valley that says, ‘Hey, we're just going to run in like a bull in a China shop and disrupt… Disrupt, disrupt, disrupt.’ If you're a startup and you do that in this sector, you're just going to be one of a number of other companies off on the side of the road in a ditch."
–Scott Ellison

My Highlights

• Why is technology behind (it’s potential) (5:02)
• The 80s playbook (13:19)
• Scott’s consulting work, with some background on early-stage start ups (16:19)
• Why now, for building tech? (20:49)
• The biggest mistakes prop tech startups can make (28:13)
• Advice for startup founders pitching investors who may or may not understand the building industry (32:46)
• How the service provider challenge fits in (36:29)
• What the entrepreneurs of the next decade may look like (41:18)
• Things to look forward to in 2021 (43:14)
• The unique challenge and some advice for hardware innovators (46:54)

You can find Scott Ellison on LinkedIn.
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“Buildings are not bonds… The key difference that I think a huge amount of the real estate industry does not appreciate is that a building is a product that people have to use. So it is a fixed income asset, but it is also a product that people need to be in, you know, for you to make money as an owner. And that is really, really evident right now.”
–Aaron Lapsley  

• Aaron walks us through his unique resume in the energy and buildings space (2:21)
• The need/gap System2 filled (6:37)
• Most detailed answer yet to James’ favorite question - Buildings are not bonds, and six factors limiting innovation (8:53)
• Aaron’s experience with Cushman, supporting Google (31:16)
• Smart Building Strategy (37:55)
• RESET and IAQ (50:25)
• What Aaron is looking forward to in 2021 (1:00:26)

You can find Aaron Lapsley on LinkedIn.
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“I was very quickly disappointed once I realized there was a huge gap between the promise and the reality of BIM… The reality was that BIM was, is still largely used for drawing production, right? It's used for coordination, clash detection, and drawing production. "
–Anand Mecheri

My Highlights

• Anand’s past companies, all sold to Siemens (1:41)
• James’ favorite question (4:08)
• The problem and opportunity Anand saw in BIM (6:10)
• Deeper dive on Invicara (11:28)
• Rapid fire myth-busting on digital twins (15:22)
• Invicara today - Twinit.io, and enabling others to build their own solutions (26:47)
• The question of ontologies, and Invicara’s schema-less platform (37:21)
• Key differentiators: a complete kit of parts, a low-code platform for creating solutions, and more (41:49)
• Anand’s vision for the future (44:23)
• Asset owners’ role in unlocking industry change (49:12)

You can find Anand Mecheri on LinkedIn.
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