The tool looks sick. I think the copilot vs black box approach is great. I found the demo to be enjoyable and satisfying to watch despite having no experience in the concrete estimation industry.
This is out of my wheelhouse but had a couple of thoughts. When you clicked P1, it found all of them. What happens if it doesn't? This would have been good to see in the video.
Also, I'm sure people familiar with these documents will have no trouble but was thinking it could be cool to do some effect to make references glow/be more noticeable at least temporarily when you are skipping around to them. Maybe some zoom controls too.
I wonder if this approach to starting a vertical business the founders have 0 experience in has ever panned out. I know YC pushes the B2B SaaS angle as hard as possible, searching for "underserved" niches, but seems like if you don't have true industry experience, it can't possibly work out.
Travis Kalanick had zero taxi experience and Brian Chesky had zero hospitality experience.
Now they created new models to existing paradigms, because I do tend to agree that founders that have verticalized experience tend to be far more successful (but perhaps arguably less 'disruptive')
Those were consumer apps, not B2B. No deep niche experience needed, Uber had to fight regulations but wasn't something industry knowledge would've helped with a ton
Looks like a useful tool but I don't know anything about construction.
Love the transparent AI helper implementation though. I feel like you don't even need to say it's AI because it's so helpful but not in your face but maybe that's what people are searching for.
A friend works in construction and they have details of how much materials each part of a construction needs. Most of it comes directly from the (not sure the name) SW they use to calculate the structure/ draw the plans.
I was going to say, I don't understand what this does that Revit doesn't already do better. I guess it's a fun demo, but I doubt this was a problem that needed solving.
> We started this when Sahil took a construction management class and realized how the estimation workflows hadn't changed in decades
That's because it's been used in the construction industry for literally a couple of millennium (e.g. ancient rome) and it's a fairly well-understood material. The variations come in with the newer "exotics" rated above 5k psi that are more chemistry than aggregate, water, and portland cement.
Did your one class teach you that any non-parabolic concrete cross section is approximately 7% steel? And that the bidding issues with concrete are centered around the steel rebar/wwm/wwf installation and formwork/earthwork prior to pour?
jessehorne | 21 days ago
This is out of my wheelhouse but had a couple of thoughts. When you clicked P1, it found all of them. What happens if it doesn't? This would have been good to see in the video.
Also, I'm sure people familiar with these documents will have no trouble but was thinking it could be cool to do some effect to make references glow/be more noticeable at least temporarily when you are skipping around to them. Maybe some zoom controls too.
Anyways, good luck!
asdev | 21 days ago
mbesto | 21 days ago
Now they created new models to existing paradigms, because I do tend to agree that founders that have verticalized experience tend to be far more successful (but perhaps arguably less 'disruptive')
asdev | 21 days ago
afzalive | 21 days ago
Love the transparent AI helper implementation though. I feel like you don't even need to say it's AI because it's so helpful but not in your face but maybe that's what people are searching for.
is_true | 21 days ago
andyfilms1 | 21 days ago
seebeen | 21 days ago
layer8 | 21 days ago
seebeen | 21 days ago
why is that different than other LLMs
motoxpro | 21 days ago
You can trivialize anything like this, salesforce is just a Postgres wrapper, doesn’t mean it’s not valuable.
officialchicken | 20 days ago
That's because it's been used in the construction industry for literally a couple of millennium (e.g. ancient rome) and it's a fairly well-understood material. The variations come in with the newer "exotics" rated above 5k psi that are more chemistry than aggregate, water, and portland cement.
Did your one class teach you that any non-parabolic concrete cross section is approximately 7% steel? And that the bidding issues with concrete are centered around the steel rebar/wwm/wwf installation and formwork/earthwork prior to pour?