"The first time a customer said 'yeah, I just blue beamed it' - that was a moment."

When your product becomes a verb, you know you've built something legendary.

In today's episode of Bricks, Bucks & Bytes, we had Don Jacob, Co-founder of Bluebeam, and we got to learn about the wild 24-year journey from NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab to building one of the most iconic products in construction tech... and the future of AI-powered collaboration that's coming next.

Tune in to find out about:

✅ Why Don left the premier space agency in the world to "sell dog food online" (and how that decision led to Bluebeam)

✅ The secret sauce behind Bluebeam's legendary status: "When the phone rang, we picked up" - accessibility over everything

✅ How bootstrap funding became their competitive advantage and forced the discipline that built the company DNA

✅ Why we're living through the 1999 internet moment all over again with AI - and how Bluebeam Max is positioning for it

Bonus: the story of how a random bar encounter in Boston made this whole interview happen (thanks Tanya from Nemetschek!)

Don's been at this for 24 years and the energy hasn't dimmed. If anything, he's more fired up about what's ahead than ever before.

Listen now on Spotify and Youtube 🎧 Link in the comments!

Our Sponsor:

Aphex is the multiplayer planning platform where construction teams plan together, stay aligned, and deliver projects faster – check out aphex.co

Archdesk - “The #1 Construction Management Software for Growing Companies - Manage your projects from Tender to Handover” check archdesk.com

BuildVision - streamlining the construction supply chain with a unified platform - www.buildvision.io

Chapters

00:00 Intro

01:40 Introduction and Serendipitous Connections

03:50 The Legacy of Bluebeam and Its Founding

11:09 From NASA to Bluebeam: A Journey Through Innovation

17:27 Democratizing Design Data: The Birth of Bluebeam

26:13 The Evolution of Bluebeam: From PDF to Collaboration

33:06 Simplicity in Software: The Key to Bluebeam's Success

36:41 The Core DNA of Bluebeam

38:32 Evolution of Bluebeam's Product Offerings

41:28 Collaboration and the Introduction of Studio

43:20 Acquisition by Nemechek: A Strategic Move

45:58 Lessons Learned from Building Great Products

50:09 Leadership and Team Dynamics

55:15 The Unbound Event and Future Innovations

56:32 Integrating AI into Bluebeam's Offerings

What happened to carbon accounting? (Spoiler: Nobody cares anymore)

In this episode of Bricks, Bucks & Bytes, Owen, Martin, Dustin, and Patric dive into the rise and fall of carbon accounting in construction, why Autodesk's big bet didn't pan out, and what it reveals about the gap between tech hype and real-world adoption.

In this episode:

• The carbon accounting boom that went bust—and why the U.S. construction industry never really cared

• Patric's hilarious "Frankenstein scale" metaphor that perfectly captures the absurdity of pre-construction carbon tracking

• CIV Robotics founder Tom Yeshurun on why they killed their drone product and how they're now doing 5,000+ layout points per day

• The construction tech IPO everyone's watching (and what it means for the industry)

• BREAKING: PlanGrid founders Tracy Young and Ralph Gootee just got acquired again—Lennar Homes buys their new company Tiger Eye

Key quote: "When I was at Autodesk, they were very big on carbon accounting and everything would be front and center of every project by now... At least in the U.S., they don't really care about it. It's just the fact." — Dustin Devan

Plus: Why construction roles are "booming" (or are they?), what AI agent is helping build the next Siri, and an invite to Ediphi's Agent-a-thon in San Francisco on January 23rd.

Our Sponsor:

Archdesk - “The #1 Construction Management Software for Growing Companies - Manage your projects from Tender to Handover” check archdesk.com

BuildVision - streamlining the construction supply chain with a unified platform - www.buildvision.io

Aphex is the multiplayer planning platform where construction teams plan together, stay aligned, and deliver projects faster – check out aphex.co

Chapters

00:00 Intro

00:53 Introduction to Carbon Accounting

03:36 Understanding Carbon Accounting and Its Importance

05:46 Challenges in Carbon Accounting for Construction

10:38 Investigative Insights on Carbon Credits

20:05 The Acquisition of Plan A by Diginex

26:19 Incentives and Exit Strategies

27:05 Apple's AI Strategy: A Cautious Approach

29:07 The Value of Waiting in Tech Development

31:05 The Role of Employee Retention in Tech Companies

36:58 OpenAI and Competitive Reactions

43:41 EquipmentShare's IPO and Business Model Insights

53:18 Understanding Financial Metrics for Tech Companies

54:40 The Challenges of Financial Forecasting

58:26 Innovations in Construction: Civ Robotics' Approach

01:08:01 Future Directions and Exit Strategies for Startups

"I checked the cash balance and the number came out negative. I had to call my wife and say we might need to liquidate our entire 401k to make payroll."

In today's episode of Bricks and Bytes, we had Thiago Da Costa from DataGrid and Clifton Harness from TestFit and we got to learn about the raw truth of building construction tech startups - from pivoting at $1M ARR to nearly missing payroll.

These founders didn't hold back. They shared the moments that almost broke them and the decisions that saved their companies.

Tune in to find out about:

✅ Why Thiago pivoted his entire company after raising a Series A (and how he told his board)

✅ The morning Clifton woke up and realized he couldn't make payroll

✅ Why most construction tech companies plateau at $3-5M ARR and never break through

✅ How to know when you've actually found product-market fit versus when you're chasing a ghost

Watch now to hear the full conversation about what it really takes to build in construction tech.

Our Sponsor

Aphex is the multiplayer planning platform where construction teams plan together, stay aligned, and deliver projects faster – check out aphex.co

Archdesk - “The #1 Construction Management Software for Growing Companies - Manage your projects from Tender to Handover” check archdesk.com

BuildVision - streamlining the construction supply chain with a unified platform - www.buildvision.io

Chapters

00:00 Introduction to Startup Journeys

05:47 Navigating the Pre-Seed Stage

12:47 The Importance of Pre-Sales and Pivoting

17:39 Understanding Product Market Fit

23:22 Defining Product Market Fit in Construction Tech

31:14 Facing Startup Challenges and Scary Moments

33:25 Navigating Financial Challenges

37:07 The Importance of Family in Business

39:00 Facing Fear of Failure and Pivots

40:32 Balancing Hype and Substance in Business

48:47 Endurance in Entrepreneurship

54:53 Optimizing for People in Startups