As always, Patric and Shub speak about nothing - this week about nothing in BIM and design for architects and construction with Altaf Ganihar (Snaptrude):
What does Snaptrude's BIM and CAD software do differently ?
Do architects make great product people and founders ?
Should ConstructionTech founders stay away from "best-of" lists and "market maps" created by VCs and pundits ?
Which tech are the nerds looking forward to in architectural design in the next 5-10 years ?
What was the craziest thing the nerds saw last week ?
Snaptrude as "Figma for construction"
Snaptrude’s founder Altaf shares how he is creating a "Figma for construction" - a modern design tool with the user at the center, not like the old clunky Revit and AutoCAD they've been stuck with. He says Snaptrude lets architects design how they want, rather than being limited by their tools.
Construction lags in cloud adoption
Shubhankar and Patric point out construction is way behind in moving to the cloud and SaaS models. Even "cloud" construction tools are often siloed and don't integrate well. A big issue is getting all the different software to collaborate smoothly.
Snaptrude's "single source of truth" vision
Altaf explains Snaptrude's vision is to be the "operating system of construction", managing information from start to finish on one platform. No more separate disconnected tools! This "single source of truth" would allow real-time collaboration - like an architect immediately updating models when issues come up on site.
AI still gimmicky in architecture
The guys agree AI is still gimmicky for architecture. Altaf says AI suggesting options seems more practical than full automation. He likes the idea of AI handling constraints while architects focus on creativity. But AI trained on individual firms' data makes more sense than some general solution.
Marketplaces like InfraMarket scale despite myths
Patric rants about an investor who says managed marketplaces can't scale well, even though platforms like InfraMarket have great metrics! He says profit margins in the mid-high single digits prove models like this can work in B2B. There's still lots of room for new SaaS companies in the under-digitized construction industry.
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Keywords: construction tech, AEC tech, SaaS, cloud collaboration, BIM, generative AI, managed marketplaces, digital transformation