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AI Engineering Tools for MEP Engineers to Multiply Output 10x Using Endra with Niklas Lindgren — Transcript

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0:00If you have like a 40story building and
0:03you know you're an electrical engineer
0:05like we help you to not place each and
0:07every socket or receptacle inside that
0:10model and we help you circuit everything
0:13[music] make sure to produce your load
0:15calculations and create all your
0:18documentation package that you need for
0:20submitt. We help you with whatever
0:22percentage but we help you get there so
0:24much faster and that is the core of what
0:27we [music] are doing. We're connecting
0:28all the parts as I said related to we're
0:31creating and populating the 3D models
0:33but we're also creating all the
0:35documentation packages like single line
0:37diagrams load calculations and so forth.
0:40>> On this week's show engineering
0:42generative AI with Nicholas Lingren from
0:46Endra. [music]
0:53[music]
0:57It's great to have you, man. Where are
0:58you coming to us from, Nicholas?
1:00>> I am calling in from Stockholm, Sweden.
1:03So, afternoon here in a currently rainy
1:06Stockholm.
1:07>> Ah, well, it's a currently rainy here,
1:09but it's morning here. I always love
1:11these that we can like just connect
1:13across the water, have a conversation,
1:16put it out. It's kind of fun, right?
1:17It's a new world that way.
1:19>> You are in the best part of America. I
1:21love your hometown.
1:22>> Uh, well, that's awesome. We love to
1:24hear that. you know, called to the
1:25Denver and Mountain area of Colorado.
1:28Hopefully, we'll see you out here a
1:29little bit more. You guys know the
1:31drill. Follow us on YouTube.
1:33YouTube.com/the
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2:21All right. So, Nicholas,
2:25tell me a bit about you and how you got
2:27here. Like, give us a little bit of your
2:29history.
2:30>> Oh my god. Yeah, that's uh that's a
2:32that's a long way, but I was my way into
2:36this industry, if we could start there.
2:38My dad is an architect, so I had some
2:40drawings on our dinner table growing up,
2:43uh looking at mechanical, electrical,
2:45and plumbing drawings. And uh so that
2:48was my probably my first sort of
2:50connection with buildings and with with
2:53this industry. My more professional
2:56approach was when I co-founded a design
3:00build integrator for security systems in
3:032014 while in law school. So still a kid
3:06at the time together with our fourth
3:09co-founder in Andra called Anton.
3:12We were building, designing and building
3:15and supplying physical security systems
3:17to real estate assets like data centers,
3:20large scale warehouses and enterprise
3:23office campuses all across the globe.
3:25Very different from the journey we're
3:27currently on. We were boot fully
3:29bootstrapped
3:31about to go bankrupt. I can't even count
3:35how many times. But we scaled it from
3:38nothing to quite substantial size. uh
3:41opened up an office in New York, scaled
3:43into the US, been working across the
3:46globe really on on real estate assets,
3:48installing security systems, designing
3:50as and installing security systems. We
3:52scaled it as I said for eight years,
3:54sold it to private equity in 2022,
3:56stayed there for a year and a half
3:58before starting Andra or two years
4:00before starting Andra. So that's my
4:01segue into into this industry. Uh we
4:04were very heavy on design. we were doing
4:07very complex projects and so we had a
4:10design team fully working at Revit and
4:12and and in the Autodesk suite. So sort
4:15of that is my segue into the design
4:17world and the engineering part of of
4:20this industry and um that is sort of how
4:23I ended up in uh choosing to work with
4:25Denver.
4:26>> That's crazy because I mean you're
4:28you're in school, two of you in school.
4:31What makes you decide that this is what
4:33you want to do and build it from
4:35scratch? like you didn't go find a
4:37company, you built it.
4:38>> What was the impetus?
4:40>> Apart from being a terrible lawyer, I
4:42would never I so I I kind of understood
4:45that I I'm never going to be that good
4:47lawyer and I didn't really enjoy going
4:50to law school. Uh neither did Anton who
4:52was who I co-founded our last venture
4:55with. So I like it was it was by
4:58accident. someone I knew someone who
5:00knew someone and then sort of we we
5:03started to to to bite our way into that
5:05industry and that where we started was
5:07very different from where we ended up as
5:09well and it it grew very organically
5:11over time and and uh as we started
5:14working on our larger scale projects
5:15with larger customers we did pivots
5:17along the way so we kind of iterated our
5:20our way um our way going there
5:23>> well it sounds like a good construction
5:24company story right and and
5:26interestingly like when you think about
5:28security in large scale security
5:30deployments are those and you said
5:32design build so those are early project
5:34you're in the earliest phases of the
5:36project doing that right
5:38>> exactly we were involved with our
5:40customers like even before like at the
5:44time they basically planned the plot and
5:47at the sort of program management level
5:49so very early usually um and as I said
5:52we were working with some quite few but
5:54very very large customers many
5:57hyperscalers many of these like the
5:59largest companies in like the warehouse
6:02and and logistics industry and large
6:05government clients United Nations you
6:07name it and we probably have worked with
6:10them. So we have u we we we were doing
6:13some projects across the globe but quite
6:15a few customers that we followed and and
6:17made sure that their real estate assets
6:19were um uh were safe and sort of
6:21functioned the same way.
6:23>> Awesome. So, you exit and it sounds like
6:28you and Anton hadn't had enough fun yet.
6:30So, where did you go next? Like, what's
6:33that next chapter look like?
6:35>> That next chapter looked like I was
6:38pinging
6:39or if we actually go back, we tried to
6:42hire someone called Gustav a couple
6:44years earlier uh as sort of a CTO role
6:48to our last venture. He was then working
6:52at a startup that got acquired by
6:54Goldman Sachs. He's an a developer, an
6:56engineer, and he made the wise choice of
6:59going into banking. He wanted to make
7:02some money, I think, and not be in the
7:03bootstrap startup world. So, he was he
7:06was he was going into he was going to
7:08Goldman Sachs and working on the
7:10autonomous trading team and building uh
7:13autonomous trading systems for Goldman.
7:15So, he said no. The first time we asked
7:17him back to to join our last venture and
7:20then once we did this venture I had
7:21lunch with him and I basically showed
7:23him what a sort of what a 3D model in
7:26Revit looks like, what a like what the
7:29related documentation packages are uh
7:32look like and how they are built and
7:34sort of how these two workflows are very
7:36disconnected today and show them what
7:40millions of engineers across the globe
7:42are working on like how their tools
7:45actually look like and what platforms
7:46they're working on and what the
7:48technical landscape in this industry
7:50looks like. And he was sort of very
7:52excited about our vision of of of
7:54getting into this space and creating
7:57something very different. And he said,
7:59but I will join as a co-founder for of
8:02if we're getting a fourth one. And that
8:04guy's name is um is David. David was
8:07also working together with with with
8:09Gustav in Goldman. and he had been on
8:12the algorithm trading team basically
8:14building the algorithm that Goldman
8:16Sachs used to to trade autonomously and
8:19uh he quit Goldman in I'm not exactly
8:22sure what year it was I think it was in
8:242022 to go build an AI company and he
8:28ended up building his own LLM which is
8:32um yeah he can speak about what he did
8:35there but uh he released it as an open
8:37source and it's it's it's it's called
8:39Netherite and uh he spent some time
8:42doing that. Then we approached him and
8:45um he very fast got excited as well
8:47decided to join as co-founder and that
8:49was the founding team back in 2024. So
8:51yeah that's the that's the sort of next
8:53chapter we managed to recruit to really
8:55really good technical talent. Uh so we
8:58come from the industry understand sort
8:59of the what the industry looks like been
9:01in the industry for all of our careers
9:03and they can bring the worldass
9:06engineering parts of this to make sure
9:09that we can actually pull this off and
9:10also attract other talent to join which
9:14is to be honest a very crucial thing for
9:17us. Uh we're trying to recruit the best
9:21engineering talent across the markets we
9:23operate in. And that's a much harder
9:26task than I ever thought it would be.
9:28But it's um it's a very hard task and
9:31and they they both just the two of them
9:34are attracting talent to us. So very
9:37sort of happy that we were taking on
9:38that decision to to have them join.
9:40>> Yeah. And it's a it's an undervalued
9:43portion in our industry and in most
9:46industries. It just so happens there's a
9:49lot of companies that have the same
9:50ideas at the same time. And the
9:52differentiator on who wins and why isn't
9:54always
9:56that you had the right idea. It's that
9:58you had the best team that's pushed in
10:00the right direction that's guided and
10:02viewed in the right direction. So, so
10:04you have this problem. You were working
10:06in Revit. you're working in all these
10:07disparate systems, but ultimately like
10:10what was the problem? Like what did you
10:12want this crack team of four to solve?
10:15What did you think could be different?
10:18>> So from the very beginning, spid was the
10:21first thing that we went into and wanted
10:23to tap. We wanted to split up the
10:25workflows for our customers and sort of
10:27have them do more with less. Multiply
10:29one engineer to work as five or 10 or
10:32whatever the numbers. That was sort of
10:34the the the very foundational idea of of
10:38what we do of what we did at the time
10:40and that we could generate the design so
10:42engineers could could work on different
10:44type of of versions of a model and and
10:46work on different type of they can
10:48iterate much more using using our
10:50technology and over time that has sort
10:53of hasn't shifted. That's still sort of
10:54one of the very core reasons why our
10:56customers are working with us. But it's
10:58also sort of now we we want engineering
11:01firms and engineering organizations, MEP
11:04engineering organizations across the
11:05globe to be able to store their
11:07knowledge as a system of record and
11:09compound that knowledge over time.
11:11That's that's a very important mission
11:13for us. Uh so they can sort of as I said
11:17store their knowledge, productize that
11:19to their customers and make sure that
11:21they get better over time. That's one of
11:23the very important northstars that we're
11:24we're um that we're having. So speed for
11:27engineering workflows, we connect the 3D
11:30modeling together with all the
11:32engineering workflows, which could be if
11:34you're speaking with for electrical
11:35engineering, that could be cable sizing,
11:37that could be equipment sizing, load
11:40calculations, voltage drop calculations.
11:42We connect this in a almost like an
11:44omniverse like environment where we
11:47connect all the physics related to the
11:49design together with the 3D modeling and
11:52um all the way down to the manufacturer
11:54level where we where we understand the
11:56constraints and and and understand what
11:58the manufacturer actually can support
12:00and and not support and and um and how
12:03to sort of optimize this this assign end
12:05to end from the 3D model down to the
12:08manufacturer level. So we connect the
12:10physical world and and the real world
12:13together with the modeling and uh that
12:15is like at the core of what we are what
12:17we are doing now.
12:18>> Yeah. I think people listening kind of
12:20got it because um ultimately I usually
12:22have construction on the show trades
12:25GC's. So when you were saying engineers,
12:27I wanted to be clear. These are not
12:29software engineers. These are true
12:32uh engineers, MEP, consultant engineers
12:36that engineer and draw the buildings and
12:38the systems and you know make sure they
12:40fulfill the specs of the owner, you
12:43know, for the architect and owner for
12:45that job. And you're doing it, you're
12:49not replacing the tools, but you're
12:51creating this new set of tools in Endra.
12:53So I don't think you said that, but it's
12:54Endra. So if anybody's interested, it's
12:56endra.ai.
12:57You're creating the platform for this to
13:00do those workflows for them.
13:02>> Exactly. Like you can if you if if you
13:04have like a 40story building and you
13:07know you're an electrical engineer like
13:09we help you to not place each and every
13:12socket or receptacle inside that model
13:14and we help you circuit everything make
13:17sure to produce your load calculations
13:20and and sort of create all your
13:22documentation package that you need for
13:25submitt and you we we we help you with
13:28whatever percentage but we help you get
13:30there so much faster. And um that is the
13:34core of what we are doing. We're
13:35connecting all the parts um as I said
13:38related to we're creating and populating
13:40the 3D models but we're also creating
13:43all the documentation packages like
13:44single line diagrams, load calculations
13:46and and and so forth. So, so that is the
13:49core of what Andre is doing and that is
13:51why it has such a big impact on our
13:54customers workflow because this is what
13:55their engineers are working to do to
13:59produce and we help them we help them
14:01produce this much faster. So as I said
14:03you can mult multiplying engineers and
14:06create better products. Ultimately it's
14:08not about sort of to sort of cut out the
14:11engineers. We are building this fully
14:13for human in the loop. The human and the
14:15engineer is always in control of what
14:16what what he or she is doing. And what
14:19we are doing is that we're we're just
14:20helping them split up remove uh mundane
14:24and tedious tasks and and shift that
14:27value upstream to their customers. So
14:29they can for example they can start
14:31evaluating four three three four
14:34different manufacturers for one
14:36building. They could see what a simmon
14:38system would have uh in in terms of bit
14:40of quantities or for cost impact for
14:42this building where they can look what
14:44what a net system or schneider system
14:46would would mean in terms of either
14:48quantities or or money or investments
14:51sorry. So those are the type of things
14:53that you can you can you can do with
14:55this. So you can start and that's why
14:57this is a very powerful type of um
15:00technology and and why it makes sense.
15:02>> Yeah. Well, I mean listen the the cycles
15:05to getting from owner to architect to
15:08engineer and back and then getting the
15:11construction project in the ground is
15:14something we need to speed up. Right?
15:16There is too much time spent on the
15:19manual tasks of it and not enough time
15:21spent on means and methods. not enough
15:24time spent on hey you know are there
15:27other opportunities here to to do things
15:29differently downstream to provide a
15:32better product but a faster product or a
15:35safer product or a more long-term
15:37valuable product there's so many other
15:39opportunities to bring into the process
15:42so the speed of the mundane like it's
15:46funny because it has become part of the
15:48job right like what do you do well I'm
15:49an engineer and I do Revit and it's like
15:51well No offense to Revit. That's not
15:54actually what your job's supposed to be.
15:56Your job is supposed to be engineer some
15:59sort of system for a project that
16:01creates the outcome and the design
16:03intent of the owner um to deliver.
16:06>> Yeah, definitely. And it compounds as
16:08well because you have multiple work
16:10streams inside your project, right? You
16:12have, as I said, you have your
16:13engineering work streams which in many
16:15cases is done by like a completely
16:16different team versus the modeling team.
16:19So once you combine these two there's a
16:22lot of like layers of uh of complexity
16:25and and just layers of like it creates
16:27more meetings just to have this two
16:29different workload that creates like
16:30overhead which then is being charged on
16:33the project. So it's um we try to sort
16:35of be the workplace for where MEP
16:38engineers over time will spend a lot of
16:41time inside and um and then we integrate
16:43we integrate natively through it. We
16:45integrate natively to the Autodesk part
16:47the Autodesk suite that we think makes
16:50sense and we integrate really the so we
16:52integrate as I said on a native level
16:54and and that is part of our strategy to
16:56be agnostic from Android you could
16:58export IFC files for for a model we're
17:00not sort of a closed environment
17:02although we have built we have built our
17:05own 2D format we have built our own 3D
17:07format which is a much richer geometry
17:09format than whatever is possible to get
17:11in inside IFC or inside inside inside
17:13inside inside Revit But we integrate
17:15nitib as I said to to to Revit and we
17:18support our users to exports so they can
17:21open them wherever they want and it's
17:23part of our sort of strategy is to be
17:25very open uh where we can be open and um
17:29and we want our users to not sort of
17:31feel that they being locked in inside.
17:34>> Yeah. And I I think that's what
17:35attracted me to it when I talked to you
17:37guys first when I talked to you first is
17:38that like you're not usurping anything.
17:41you're actually building something
17:43uniquely of its own that's complimentary
17:46to no matter which way you want to go.
17:49And the other part was I want you to
17:51touch on that knowledge capture because
17:55I think that's the step change of like
17:58so many generative design things that
18:00have pontificated is what I will say
18:02that they're going to do these things.
18:05It's really based off a historical and
18:07you know we're just going to we're just
18:08going to route it where it routes or
18:09we're just going to do what it does.
18:11You're talking about more than that. So
18:14what what does more than that look like?
18:16more than that look like. And I have to
18:17be a bit careful what I say here because
18:19at the time when this that when this
18:21podcast is released that we we are doing
18:23our
18:25large launch for our first product for
18:28our electrical product September 14th in
18:32Vegas and we've rented out like a full
18:34venue to to do this. So and that is
18:36where we are going to produce or present
18:38some of the core concepts of of of this.
18:41But on a high level where we want to get
18:44so I'll tell you sort of where this
18:46comes from and it comes from a place
18:48where our customers want to start
18:50productizing their internal
18:53uh knowledge. So they have currently
18:55they have like word documents, excel
18:58sheets, powerpoints
19:00that are unstructured and they want to
19:04have a way to take all of this bank of
19:07information and make sure to distribute
19:09this across the organiz organization to
19:12make sure that they can perform
19:15excellent across their whole enterprise.
19:16And we are only working with firms that
19:18are currently we only work with firms
19:20that are quite big. So this is like a
19:22key thing for them to to figure out and
19:24there will be a product in Andra where
19:26this is possible for the first time ever
19:28uh to start taking all of this knowledge
19:32build products around that and then
19:35offer to your customers. So but happy to
19:38to revisit that uh later this year
19:40because it's a it's a very strategic
19:42product that we're um that we're
19:44building and uh it's uh it's going to be
19:47released September 14th in Vegas.
19:49>> Well, I love to be the teaser. I love to
19:51be the place people come first. So, that
19:53was perfect. You gave them a little
19:54teaser of of what's coming in September.
19:58So, for any of you headed out there
19:59around that time, which I think quite a
20:01few of you will, it might be worth uh
20:03taking a look. But I want I want I want
20:05to touch on that, too. Right before
20:06Autoes University, I wanted to touch on
20:08something you said in there. This is not
20:11just something that you've, you know,
20:13got two three engineering firms that are
20:16trying this out or going there. You are
20:18at a whole new level. And so I want you
20:20to talk a little bit about that because
20:21you mentioned it. This is not for
20:23currently the small engineering firms.
20:26You are your clients are big.
20:29>> Yeah, we work with the largest players
20:33in the globe uh around the globe. I
20:36can't really say which ones. Uh
20:38>> that's okay. in general terms of size
20:41and why that's why is that your target
20:44>> have some that it has been publicly
20:46announced and those are the likes of uh
20:49the tetro tech company Rumble uh bureau
20:53and uh and and and many others but we're
20:56sort of not publicly uh announced we are
20:59waiting for our customers to announce
21:01because this is a key part of their AI
21:04strategy so they we help them do their
21:10AI transformation. How we do that is
21:13sort of a very strategic sort of bet
21:16that we're taking that we want to be
21:17part of how they make this trans
21:20transformation work. So when customers
21:23are sort of approaching us it's not
21:25about it's not in the sense of them
21:28buying a tool or buying some some piece
21:31of software. This is like a package
21:34half product half people coming with the
21:37product to make this transformation
21:39happen. And as I said currently we work
21:43in the enterprise part of the market.
21:45Currently moving down to uh to smaller
21:50organizations and having conversations
21:52with with firms that are from 100 people
21:55to thousand people. uh we haven't done
21:57that previously but we are doing it now
21:59and uh by the time this episode goes
22:01live we will definitely be in that cell.
22:04So it's been it's been a it's actually
22:06been a bandwidth type of problem for us.
22:08We're having so much inbound that we
22:10can't manage it. We have started to
22:12focus in three core regions. So we've
22:14been active in Europe, UK and the US and
22:16we haven't had bandwidth enough to make
22:19sure to serve everyone or make sure to
22:22um to on board or do this with with
22:24everyone. So it's been a massive massive
22:26interest across the globe really. I
22:28think our yeah I'm not sure if I should
22:31disclose the data but we I think our the
22:34Q4 like witness is that it was something
22:35likeund from people from 130 or 140
22:39countries and pressing access to to
22:41Andra. So it's it's been a global big
22:44global demand for for getting access to
22:46this and we are still building this like
22:49as I said we're releasing our first
22:50product September 14th. So we're we're
22:53um we're we're trying to tackle that
22:56demand with with uh with also building a
22:59a killer product and um that is the
23:02that's that's what we're doing right
23:04now. Yeah, it's a it's a unique method
23:06given that you can see the impact of the
23:08large organization, but it also goes to
23:10the founding group, right? You have two
23:12and two two from two highly technical,
23:15two highly industry. That would make
23:18sense that then you're I would call it
23:20the product is split up a little bit
23:22between it's a strategy and a set of
23:25tools to grow a business and a
23:27technology platform to really speed up
23:30the process. And it that makes sense why
23:32there's the four of you coming together.
23:34That's also I think why you're getting
23:36so much traction right now is anybody
23:39can build a tool but it's really about
23:41how do you transform the business model
23:43to take advantage of any given tool and
23:45if a large engineering organization can
23:48take advantage of the tool naturally it
23:52will make its way to smaller and
23:55smaller. big bet on your side though
23:57because going big we all know on this
23:58side is the harder thing right it's
24:00easier for me to go small and get a few
24:02so you know kudos to you for having the
24:05I would say the stomach maybe it's from
24:08your days of being a bootstrapper and
24:09knowing you know not knowing where lunch
24:11is coming from that you guys were able
24:13to get to this point
24:15>> yeah Jeeoff you know it's it's uh like I
24:17I wouldn't really get excited about this
24:20if it wasn't a big bet like in in like
24:23foundationally from from from from doing
24:26this and I am at a point I think
24:30currently in my career where I I don't
24:32want to sort of I don't work to get like
24:34a small outcome of this I work to do
24:37something big and transformational for
24:39this and
24:41that is why we are doing this and
24:43everyone working at ENRA shares that
24:46vision and then are joining us to to to
24:49do the same thing because as again back
24:51to what I said like we're we're probably
24:53like our engineering profile internally
24:56like developer profile that we are
24:57hiring for is probably very different
24:59from from the general as software
25:03company we are hiring from like pitches
25:05from Princeton and former app people
25:09from Apple applied intuition you name it
25:12and and sort of we we're trying to build
25:14like a stellar stellar team to try to
25:17pull this off and and it's not possible
25:21to recruit that type of that type of
25:24caliber of people if you're going for a
25:28$300 million exit to Autodesk. Like it's
25:31it's it's simply just not possible. And
25:34and so so so the whole sort of mission
25:37that we are having at Enra is is is much
25:41larger than to to sort of go build
25:43another tool. trying to transform how
25:47engineering is done globally and we want
25:50to be the workplace where people where
25:51engineers go to do this work. That's a
25:55very important mission and target that
25:57we're we're um that that we're um every
26:00day trying to um to get closer to.
26:02>> Yeah, it's something people can get
26:03behind and that's a a key to having a
26:06vision to not just create something but
26:09to solve a big problem or to transform
26:11how an industry delivers. And it's a
26:14critical part of the construction
26:15industry that engineering gets
26:18overlooked sometimes I think by the mass
26:21people just because you know it is in
26:23the background. It is a uh you know
26:25quietly known as not the most outgoing
26:27folks in the world but I think it's
26:30great to have a company culture that way
26:32right like if everybody's pulling in the
26:34same direction you can get somewhere and
26:36on that note you've been you do have an
26:39announcement you can make while you're
26:40here because of the timing. So, you've
26:44gotten the eyeballs, not just uh you've
26:47got some new eyeballs that I think are
26:48really interesting and I think it's a
26:50signal for our industry right now. So,
26:52if you want to talk about what you can
26:54tell everybody.
26:55>> I think you're you're speaking about our
26:57series A announcement that will probably
26:59be live when when this goes out.
27:02>> Um yeah, so we have raised we raised our
27:05so our funding sort of journey started a
27:09year ago something like that I think. uh
27:12yeah almost exactly a year ago where we
27:14raised a preid round of a 4 million that
27:18were raised in December of last year
27:20like seven sec seven months after we
27:22raised a $20 million sid round and we
27:25just are about to announce our sir which
27:29is a $50 million sir round probably I'm
27:33not sure about stats I haven't looked
27:35into it but I think it's one of the
27:36larger series at list in is a technology
27:39and it's done by Anderson and Horowits
27:42which is a Silicon Valley based fund
27:45sort of traditionally not in the
27:49industry but traditionally I'm not sure
27:51if they are sort of they're not super
27:54sector focused in my opinion at least
27:57they're trying to figure out where they
27:58have risk sounding terms and
27:59opportunities and and then go invest in
28:01that but so we have just raised our our
28:04$50 million serious day round which is
28:07uh which means that we've raised 74
28:10million the last 12 months something
28:12like that to go make sure that we build
28:15this mission and make sure that we can
28:17deliver on this. That is the
28:19announcement. uh there has been so much
28:22questions around this in the industry
28:24like there's been sort of so much focus
28:27towards that and a fund like Anderson
28:30Harit which is arguably the largest fund
28:33on the planet goes into to sort of this
28:38space and I get so many questions like
28:42why did they choose MP engineering and
28:44why did they choose like why did they
28:46get when is this business but goes back
28:48to sort of both obviously the the total
28:52market uh dynamics but much more so
28:56traction it's one sort of what our
28:58customers are saying like how they how
29:00they think about the product and the
29:03founding team and also sort of the the
29:06the the vision of this company they know
29:09that us and the founding team are not
29:12looking to do something just scale to 10
29:1620 million AR and sell to autodesk as
29:18fast as we can we're trying to do
29:20something much more sort of
29:23transformational in this industry and I
29:26think many are are intrigued by that. We
29:28had the largest funds the other largest
29:31funds in the glo on the globe to to
29:33choose from. We had terms from many of
29:36them at least and um we we chose indism
29:40because they have been incredible at
29:42backing this type of companies vertical
29:45integrated AI companies and they're you
29:47know I don't need to speak about their
29:49portfolio but they're investors in
29:51SpaceX World Labs Open AI uh Airbnb
29:57Instagram Meta you name it and they've
29:59probably been been there investing in
30:01it. So, it's obviously exciting, but it
30:04doesn't really weirdly change much.
30:07We're just doing exactly what we were
30:09doing before. Uh, and we're doing it
30:12faster and our tires did. I would say
30:14that's the sort of key
30:17difference. My job hasn't changed much.
30:20>> That's the interesting thing. So, uh,
30:23Andrea Norwitch recently released an
30:25article about every building you've ever
30:27been in was designed by software built
30:29in, what was it, 1997.
30:32And I think that may a be uh showing why
30:36they were looking for companies like you
30:38to really get the traction and change
30:40the industry because the industry is at
30:42at inflection point. But it's
30:43interesting because as I've watched the
30:45funds that are there in construction
30:47tech, they have been smaller. they have
30:50been focused in niche in the market. A
30:52lot of them come from the market or are
30:55backed by construction companies
30:56themselves or engineering companies. You
30:58know, we see this a lot. So, this is a
31:01unique one to see them stepping in and
31:03saying, "No, we we're betting on the
31:05bigger ones to deliver longer term and
31:10not just do that." And we've, it's funny
31:12you mentioned that Autodesk acquisition.
31:14There's lots of acquisitions out there
31:16and there is a trepidation. In fact,
31:18I've spoken with people who do software
31:21selection and that's one of their
31:22questions is what's your exit path? When
31:25are you looking to be acquired? And
31:27that's a signal to me that there's a
31:29fear of acquisition at points because
31:32you get involved in something and then
31:34ultimately when it's acquired, it
31:36becomes something different. So I think
31:38that's a unique signal.
31:39>> I can understand and respect if someone
31:41wants to do that like I did that in my
31:43last venture. So I mean it's it's but
31:45but it's not the company we're building
31:47now. We're trying to as I said build
31:50like the place where MEP engineers go to
31:52work and build the sort of
31:54infrastructure where firms are building
31:56their organizations on and scaling
31:58scaling on like scope down to the
32:00engineering parts of of of the workflow
32:02I mean the engineering parts of the
32:03workflow and um that is a huge
32:07opportunity and uh it's it's a huge
32:10market it's a huge mission to to go
32:12build on very very complex on many many
32:16dimensions s and um so we got job to do
32:20definitely for many years but the
32:23mission is sort of still the northstar
32:25and and that's why we're attracting
32:27amazing talent like keep coming back to
32:29that I hear that but it's really the
32:31sort of the team we're building here is
32:33stellar and we're building it across
32:34Stockholm, London, New York and San
32:36Francisco. It's a really cool company to
32:38work at right now in this exact moment.
32:41It's it's it's really cool. It's a
32:43really early stage and a really good
32:45time for it changing. And to your point,
32:46like I wasn't trying to offend anybody
32:48out there building the point solutions,
32:50especially given the last 10 years,
32:52there was a lot of workflows, a lot of
32:54specific things. There wasn't a lot of
32:56the technology we know of today
32:58available back then. And so, you had to
33:00stay focused and look for areas of
33:03improvement. And those became, you know,
33:05point solutions that then were acquired
33:07and did make sense longterm to be a part
33:09of a larger platform. there's just a
33:11different DNA and a different uh
33:14approach when you're looking at
33:15something like what Endra is biting off
33:18and and doing and it is going to take a
33:21very powerful very driven global
33:24organization but also you know it takes
33:27that investment like you know a lot of
33:29people look at venture capital as an as
33:31you know oh it's the easy money it's not
33:34easy money man it comes with if you use
33:36it right you know it's an accelerate to
33:38where you want to get So if you had to
33:41say beyond well you've said it and I and
33:43I really like this like this is you're
33:46trying to create the place where
33:48engineers go to work. How does building
33:52something where engineers go to work?
33:54How does that improve construction? Like
33:57because my folks listening are like why
33:58did you bring an engineering company
34:00here? None of us are going to buy it,
34:02right? And I'm like I understand that
34:04but this is going to drive a downstream
34:07transformation. So I wonder if you could
34:09spend a little time talking about that
34:10for them.
34:11>> It's quite easy to understand. So let's
34:12say you're an electrical contractor in
34:14America.
34:15>> You have if there's been an engineer
34:18working sort of on the on the on the
34:19first early phases of design, there is
34:22something which probably today is
34:24delivered to you in in in a drawing set
34:27or in in in best case a 3D model, right?
34:30If we can deliver this downstream in a
34:32much more structured format, we can help
34:34the all the electrical contractors or
34:36the mechanical contractors or the
34:38plumbing contractors to sort of generate
34:41their more detailed design from that.
34:43And also again I've been in that as I
34:46said my previous venture was a design
34:48build contracting so I know exactly sort
34:50of how how we're like what is being
34:53received at that stage and if we can if
34:56we can control that sort of ecosystem
34:58where we where we where we hand over a
35:01much more sort of datari design that we
35:03can start iterate on different type of
35:05solutions and optimize for cost or
35:07optimize for performance or optimize for
35:10this manufacturer or whatever you you
35:13you'd like to optimize for. We could
35:15actually help you as a contractor help
35:17you do that. And this is a future
35:19vision. This is not where we are. Uh we
35:21are we're in the consultancy part of the
35:24market. But long term, this is Andre is
35:26an ecosystem play. So we want to be able
35:28to offer that downstream to the
35:31contractors have them interface let's
35:33say with with the manufacturers and and
35:36they can start optimizing designs in a
35:38in this physics first and powered way
35:41that is that is um that is sort of how
35:44this will affect the full sort of
35:47broader ecosystem in this and if you're
35:49a GC as like as I said you can start
35:52evaluating five different cost scenarios
35:55I said it previously that you could you
35:56could evaluate what what a cinema system
35:58for this building would look like and
36:00what an ed system would look like and
36:01what a Schneider system would look like
36:03for this exact building that could
36:04differ millions of dollars and it's it's
36:06not today possible to to have an
36:09engineer create five different designs
36:11because you you simply don't want to pay
36:13for it right here you can have very
36:15detailed design you can you you could do
36:17five different versions of it and you
36:19can actually send the single line
36:21diagram to all of the manufacturers and
36:23you can send all the lo you can send all
36:25the data for manufacturers to to give
36:28you a price for all the buildup
36:29quantities, everything because Andra
36:31today models it down to almost or not
36:34almost it models everything down to a
36:36conductor level inside the electrical
36:38module. So it's it's very detailed down
36:40to a manufacturer level which which
36:43makes this as I said very powerful
36:45because it's it's connecting all parts
36:47of of the modeling and the engineering
36:49parts of the workflow. Yeah, it it
36:51drives a really powerful piece for GC's
36:53looking at that cost and being able to
36:55do iterations they couldn't do that are
36:57much more detailed and then in all
36:59honesty because you come from the design
37:01build world you know that if you have
37:03those MEPs at the table early in that
37:06process not only can they optimize maybe
37:09for one project but for a more of a
37:12portfolio approach and look at like how
37:15can we optimize across what we're
37:17building you know as these hyperscalers
37:19are building new hyperscalers, they got
37:22to manage those facilities over time.
37:23So, a level of consistency across their
37:27portfolio might be a great idea. I can
37:30see all sorts of opportunities and we
37:33keep saying this and it's come up on
37:34show after show. This can get us out of
37:37the mundane and into the means and
37:39methods and into how are we delivering.
37:41So not only now can you GC sit there and
37:44say hey these are some of the choices
37:46you have you they can bring the the
37:50trades in and say okay we have these
37:52opportunities but then also here's the
37:54speed at which we can do this if we make
37:56these decisions and by the way here's
37:59the sort of buying power we can get if
38:02we standardize you know we've seen this
38:03on little things just like hangers and
38:05standardizing on a single set of hangers
38:07can save you all sorts of money can also
38:09help you with supply chain right we have
38:11this this supply chain issue and supply
38:14chain disruptions that have happened
38:16over time. Endra would provide a
38:18platform that at some point could handle
38:21those supply chain disruptions in a way
38:23that doesn't cause work stoppage.
38:26>> Definitely and we even like Andre is
38:29today even modeling the metal in the
38:30cables and like optimizing for that. So
38:32it's like it's a as I said a physics
38:34based type of approach and uh you can
38:37get down to a very detailed level over
38:39time. As I said, back to the ecosystem
38:41type of strategy that we're having. We
38:44we just had actually today, this
38:46morning, we got a one of the largest GS
38:49in America, funneling a project through
38:53us to one of our partners in Boston and
38:56making sure that they can sort of they
38:59they will get the job if they use Andra
39:01and we are working with the the MK
39:03engineering firm in that case. And so
39:06Eder is being used as as a reason to
39:08work with a a firm that is connected to
39:11Endra because the GC's want faster
39:13turnaround times. They don't want to
39:14wait months if they don't need to. Uh
39:16same goes by the way for for owners if
39:19they can like increase the split to
39:21market and just you know have the
39:23designs made faster. They will take
39:25every chance they can in order to do so.
39:28And our thesis is that our engineering
39:30consultancies will be able to charge
39:32incredibly much more if they can deliver
39:35faster. We we've spoken with one of the
39:37largest real estate owners in America
39:40and they've said that they would be open
39:42to double their MEP engineering fees if
39:45they can shrink the design timelines
39:47with half. So it makes sense because if
39:50they have like 40 a 40story building in
39:52Manhattan waiting for their tenants to
39:54come in to come in into that building,
39:56they they lose a lot of money if there's
39:58like if there's no tenants in the
40:00building for let's say three or four
40:01months. So I see that over time as a
40:05very sort of key driver for for why this
40:07will will um make a lot of sense.
40:10>> Yeah. Yeah, I mean we heard that during
40:11the supply chain disruptions like I
40:12would pay double for a guarantee that
40:14all of the material I order shows up
40:16when I want cuz half the material or
40:18threequarters of the material showing up
40:19might as well none of it may have showed
40:20up because I can't get what I can't get
40:22done done. And you're right, this is an
40:25opportunity too. Time is money. And that
40:28was something interesting along the way
40:29is to learn that an owner who can't, you
40:32know, turn on the hyperscaler, can't,
40:34you know, have their manufacturing
40:36facility producing what they want to
40:38produce, they're losing dollars every
40:40day. And it's worth them, I mean,
40:41millions of dollars in some respects.
40:44And so that speed is important to them.
40:46So I can see that being a
40:47differentiator,
40:49but also they have fiscal
40:51responsibility. So to get the speed
40:54without sacrificing the efficiency,
40:56without sacrificing the quality of the
40:59building. Well, now you're now you're
41:01talking, man. Now you might as well just
41:02pull that mic out and drop it because if
41:05we get there, then uh Nicholas, you'll
41:07be on the show saying mission
41:09accomplished. So do me a favor, let
41:12everybody know where they can find you,
41:14man. Because uh I think people are going
41:16to be reaching out and looking and just
41:18wanting to follow you from our world.
41:19And uh I know I've got some engineer
41:21buddies out there that are probably
41:22going to be one of those inbounds. So
41:24tell everybody where to find out more
41:25about what you guys are up to.
41:26>> Yeah, they can either go on our website,
41:28endra.ai,
41:30that's ne.ai,
41:32or they can connect with me on LinkedIn.
41:34That's Nicholas Lindren, Nicholas with a
41:37K, or follow me on X. And I think those
41:39are the best ways to to reach out.
41:42>> You know it. We'll put it in the show
41:43notes for you. I've been waiting to get
41:45you on and I'm excited that we uh that
41:48you took the time to sit down. So,
41:49thanks for being a guest today,
41:50Nicholas, and uh and humoring us.
41:53>> Fired up, Jeff. This was great. Thank
41:55you.
41:56>> And thank you for tuning in today to
41:58geek out for our interview with Nicholas
42:00Lingren. To read all our new stories,
42:01learn more about our guests, and to
42:02listen to the show, visit the
42:04contactcrew.com.
42:06This is the Contact Crew signing out.
42:08Until next time, enjoy the ride and geek

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