Monumental Makes Construction Bots Play Nice Together | E2217 - This Week in Startups

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Today’s show:

Did you know there’s actually a shortage of US bricklayers? It’s TRUE! So feel free to marvel at Monumental’s brick-laying robots. They’re not putting anyone out of work, but filling a much-needed gap.

Join Alex and Monumental founder/CEO Salar al Khafaji for a deep-dive on how the startup is making construction robots play nice together by maintaining separate “zones” of operation, why Salar thinks startups need to focus on truly complex, real-world problems to truly blossom, and the secrets of fundraising in Europe.

PLUS Alex chats with Seasats CEO Mike Flanigan about designing the next generation of autonomous marine crafts. (That is to say, ocean drones.) From their home base in San Diego, the company is trying to get completely independent of all Chinese parts. Find out how it’s going, how they’re overcoming the “wildly negative” ROI on maritime tech, and why we have so few defenses against tiny, agile drones.

All that AND Jason takes some of YOUR Founder Questions.

Timestamps:

(03:23) How Monumental determined what kinds of robots construction sites need the most

(06:49) How maintaining “zones” ensure that the robots all play nice with one another

(07:52) There’s a shortage of bricklayers, so Monumental’s NOT taking anyone’s job

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(13:21) Why startups need to tackle large-scale, complex, real-world problems to really grow

(15:44) Why Monumental is building in The Netherlands, and running pilots in the UK

(19:07) Vanta - Get $1000 off your SOC 2 at https://www.vanta.com/twist

(20:44) Why construction is unique among applications for automation and robots

(26:01) Salar argues that fundraising in Europe is not as hard as you may have heard

(27:55) We don’t just need housing, we need BEAUTIFUL housing

(31:11) Pilot - Visit https://www.pilot.com/twist and get $1,200 off your first year.

(33:25) How the Scout autonomous boat challenge inspired Seasats

(35:28) Trying to make drones into an “iPhone Style” project

(37:39) Why Seasats is focused on endurance and staying power more than launches

(39:15) The complexities of working with fuel cells

(42:27) The importance of beautiful design even when working on government technology

(45:51) Why they’re building Seasats in beautiful San Diego, CA

(47:29) The challenge of getting entirely free from Chinese components

(53:52) “The Power of Small Things Has Changed”

(55:18) The “wildly negative” ROI on most humanoid robotics companies also applies to maritime tech

(59:09) Why there are so few defense nets against people with tiny but agile drones

(01:02:32) FOUNDER Q’s: Is a founder working 24/7 a red flag?

(01:10:11) How bad is it to use VC money to pay off credit cards?

(01:12:49) A look at Cursor’s unique recruitment strategy.

(01:19:57) Should young VCs go to startup conferences?

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