Brick & Mortar Ventures

Our accelerator program, Formwork Labs, just launched a podcast to share the learnings and experiences of those building, working at or working with construction tech startups/companies. Check it out and give it a follow!

Your Texas A&M College of Architecture thanks Texas A&M Innovation, Curtis Rodgers, Stephen Mulva, Nathanael Miller, Logan Farrell , Henning Roedel , John Borland, Shelly Brenckman and all the folks who made our innovation for expeditionary energy and data centers a fun and informative “co-operatition” this week. Special thanks to steven sisk for his coordination and planning!

📢 This Wednesday our CEO Matthew Kleiman will be speaking at The Society for Construction Solutions' (SCS) meeting on Data Center and Energy Construction, hosted at Texas A&M University. This events provides the opportunity for industry professionals to gather, share insights and facilitate collaboration between academia, research, and the data center and energy industries. We look forward to an engaging and dynamic event with the SCS! https://lnkd.in/gCg2hHaH

Construction tech founders, Formwork Labs is hosting an AMA on all things construction tech. Register for the Webinar here: https://lnkd.in/g6YAMFYQ

There's a new wave of ConTech startups directly competing with incumbents. Instead of selling their solutions to the industry, they are vertically integrating to become tech enabled contractors. Over 10 years ago, a VC famously proclaimed ‘Software is eating the world.’ They argued technology driven businesses will disrupt industries pointing to Facebook and Netflix as examples. While these companies have changed the way we live, they have yet to disrupt industries like Construction or Real Estate. The truth is the physical world needs physical solutions. Take Ento, for example. They were a workforce management solution for blue collar businesses assisting with scheduling and tracking labor. It created ~8-15% efficiency gains for subcontractors which was great… Except that theoretically the software should have produced over 50% gains. So what happened to the ~35%? They realized that selling solutions doesn’t guarantee contractors will fully adopt them. For founders who care about improving construction, it’s a frustrating realization. And now they’re asking, what if we were the contractor? Last Week in ConTech, Treehouse raised $16.6m in Series A funding. They call themselves the ‘Electrical contractor for the 21st century’ where Trades and Software live under one roof. Their software enabled installation platform for electrification projects (think EV charging or home electrification) gives them an efficiency moat. It allows users to quickly receive pricing estimates, perform load calculations and generate plans for permit filings. And their electricians use it to provide real-time updates during installation. A service incumbents don’t offer. It’s not the first time I’ve seen the model. Back in 2022, Roofer.com which uses drones and AI to undertake roofing inspections acquired a roofing contractor to vertically integrate. If I were an incumbent I’d be nervous. The competitive threat has never been from peers or smaller contractors. It’s from new entrants to the market, deeply embedding technology out-competing on price and efficiency. —--- Follow me and Last Week in ConTech to stay up to date with the latest construction tech news, policy changes and startup funding trends. Ento example from Vertical Integrators by Packy McCormick

Big thanks to Texas A&M University, Stephen Mulva, Patrick Suermann, and Pete ONeill! I'm looking forward to more great events in College Station, TX! We truly appreciate the coverage, Jeffrey Rubenstone! https://lnkd.in/gWs27h2f

We are excited to make some significant announcements for our decennial anniversary! 1. Our mission is now to support construction entrepreneurs commercializing emerging technology and construction intrapreneurs employing new solutions. 2. We have partnered with Texas A&M University to produce innovation competitions with intrapreneurs as judges and entrepreneurs as competitors. Additional resources for intrapreneurs are in the works! https://lnkd.in/ganicVJE

Excited to launch our first Innovation Challenge today with Brick & Mortar Ventures and the The Society for Construction Solutions (SCS) in partnership with Texas A&M Innovation and the Texas A&M College of Architecture https://lnkd.in/gwwsqW69

Brick & Mortar Ventures is hosting a construction tech panel during #SFTechWeek on Tuesday, October 8th at 3pm at our office in Jackson Square. The panel will focus on the nuances of go-to-market in the #construction industry and will feature: Claire Wilson (Siteline): selling to construction trade contractors Kevin Albert (Canvas): business model changes in construction robotics Kevin Soohoo (Egnyte): leading GTM for a later stage tech company selling into the AEC industry Nitin Bhandari (Planera, Inc): repeat founder now selling into construction and will be moderated by our founder and managing director Darren Bechtel. Sign up here: https://lnkd.in/gVasMWsQ We look forward to hosting all who are interested in joining, starting, running or investing in construction tech startups! Thank you TECH WEEK by a16z for putting all of this together! See the full schedule at tech-week.com #aec #constructiontech #innovation #contech #constructiontechnology #robotics #planning #security #contentmanagement #scheduling #financials #constructionrobotics