Joseph Roee Shua-Haim and Thai Nguyen on Future Construct

By Luke Lightning

May 12, 2022

In this week's episode of the Future Construct Podcast (1 hour interview total in two parts), we are excited to feature Joseph "Roee" Shua-Haim, Founder and CEO at Hathaware (@Hathaware) in part one and Thai Nguyen, Director of Virtual Design and Construction (VDC) at Hensel Phelps (@HenselPhelps) in part two. Joining host Amy Peck (@AmyPeckXR) as co-host for this special episode is KP Reddy (@reddy_kp) from Shadow Ventures. KP is a globally recognized authority in AEC environments, AI, robotics, automation, mobile applications, and cloud computing and a sought-after subject matter expert, frequently speaking worldwide on BIM and the built environment. 

Joseph graduated with a B.S. in Civil Engineering from the Technion Israel Institute of Technology in the summer of 2016. After graduating, he moved to NYC, began his career as a structural engineer, and then took on an opportunity to shift into project management in real estate development. Since making the shift, Joseph has managed over $85M in ground-up developments. Today, Joseph runs a software company called Hathaware that is powering construction professionals and real estate developers with cloud-based project management solutions. Currently, Hathaware has over $350M in construction projects on the platform, 1MM+ square feet of ground-up construction, and clients from NYC to LA.

Click to listen to our interview with Joseph and Thai on Apple, Spotify, Google, or Audible, or watch on our Facebook or YouTube channels.

At Shadow Ventures, the focus is on investing in startups in tech-nascent markets where strategic capital is scarce. Their process and closed ecosystem of entrepreneurs, investors, designers, and developers are driven by both experience and technology to radically change how startups start, and investors finish. The company was founded in 2018 and partners with exceptional founders to transform the built environment. Shadow Ventures' incubator is custom-built to grow the next generation of built environment startups. With less than a 5% acceptance rate, each startup undergoes a vigorous vetting process to be accepted. Their current portfolio is made up of companies tackling hard problems in construction and real estate tech with unique solutions. Learn more about the Shadow Ventures portfolio here. 

In part two of this podcast, we are excited to feature Thai Nguyen, Director of Virtual Design and Construction (VDC) at Hensel Phelps (@HenselPhelps). Thai has more than 20 years of experience in the architectural and construction industries. As Director of VDC, Thai drives the innovation of construction processes for Hensel Phelps, one of the United States’ largest employee-owned general contracting firms. In this role, he leads VDC initiatives for all of Hensel Phelps’ district offices, managing a team of more than 80 individuals. This team provides company-wide leadership in VDC systems, tools, and processes. They continually expand the use of virtual design and construction tools within Hensel Phelps and within the Architecture/Engineering/Construction (AEC) industry.

Thai joined Hensel Phelps in 2006 as an engineer. In 2009 he began to focus on virtual design and construction. As opportunities grew with virtual design and construction, Thai rose to the challenge. In 2012 he led a team of 30 VDC engineers on one of the largest semi-conductor projects in the United States. He continues to lead Hensel Phelps in investigating new emerging technologies to enable people and drive efficiency in all core processes.

Highlights of Joseph and Thai’s interviews with hosts Amy Peck (@AmyPeckXR) and KP Reddy (@reddy_kp) include:

• The evolution of what's being built and opportunities for mid-size companies to bring technology in and improve processes

• How Joseph's developing Hathaware based on insights from conversations with customers

• Some of the unique challenges of bringing in new software to a
  large company

• The talent out of the BIM world that's leading innovation and how that may be causing a shift in new innovation roles within Hensel Phelps and other companies

Click to listen to our interview with Joseph and Thai on Apple, Spotify, Google, or Audible, or watch on our Facebook or YouTube channels.

Show Notes

0:50  Amy Peck introduces Joseph "Roee" Shua-Haim, Founder and CEO
at Hathaware.

10:31  So you're here and you've created this software, you're in the accelerator program now. Where do you see the evolution of what you're building, and some of the opportunities for mid-size companies to bring technology in and improve
their processes?

13:25  So you also mentioned another thing that can be a trap the founders often fall into, which is too many bells and whistles, trying to make things too fancy and future rich. When you're talking to customers, what are some of the things you're hearing that are informing how you're developing Hathaware?

21:18  Amy Peck introduces Thai Nguyen, Director of Virtual Design and Construction at Hensel Phelps.

27:10  You mentioned some of the unique challenges of bringing in new software to a large company. There are a lot of legacy systems. Is part of your job just understanding how are you going to be able to bring in new technology and what systems do you need to alter or change to allow for all of this new technology?

39:28  Your CIO and CTO are two completely different functions. I've seen this pattern of talent out of the BIM world, that's leading innovation. You're comfortable on a job site. Have you seen a shift in that, because having a CIO or CTO is pretty foreign to our industry?

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