Thanks to hard work effort and dedication, over the years, EAE Business School has become a hub of entrepreneurs and innovators who are transforming several sectors of the economy with their projects. One such case is Alejandro Ruiz Lara, a graduate of EAE’s International Master in Project Management, who has developed Checktobuild: a disruptive startup providing an independent inspection service for construction and infrastructure projects.
Checktobuild has recently been selected to take part in the semi-finals of the PropTech Startup Europe Awards 2020. We take this opportunity to talk to the CEO, Alejandro Ruiz, and the COO, Iván Zamarrón, about this exciting news and the evolution of the company.
First and foremost, congratulations for being selected to take part in the semi-finals of the PropTech Startup Europe Awards 2020. What does this accolade mean for you and EAE Business School? How did you hear the good news?
Alejandro Ruiz: When I was 18, I already knew that I wanted to be an entrepreneur, but I also knew that I needed knowledge, so I decided to focus on technology and study software engineering in Málaga. After the degree, I thought that I would do a Master in business, so I went to Madrid, where I started the Project Management at EAE. While I was doing the program, I tried to set up my first startup: an equine centre management app. I set it up with a classmate and it was going well, but my classmate decided to pull out, so I decided to do an agile leadership entrepreneurship program, which is where Checktobuild came from.
Iván Zamarrón: The team has a notable intergenerational character, which capitalizes on the possibilities generated by combining the knowledge, experience and energy of really different age brackets. From the youth and courage of the driving force of Checktobuild, Alejandro, to the maturity of the old team members with more experience in the world of business. This is Alejandro’s first entrepreneurial venture and it embraces the ‘veni, vidi ,vici’ spirit of Julio Caesar. Other members of the team have previously developed quite a few other ideas, perhaps not with the same success rate as Alejandro.
Turning now to Checktobuild, what does the startup involve? What are its objectives and how does it plan to achieve them?
Alejandro Ruiz: give a precise definition, we are an autonomous inspection service for construction and infrastructure projects. However, we are opening up the industrial and technical survey market. This is possible because we really have the best features on the market, giving a flexible and adaptable inspection with cameras that achieve precision of down to a centimetre, the highest precision on the market with a camera, and this procedure is even patented. We give all the results of the inspection within a maximum of 2 hours, which is equivalent to 75% of the current inspection time of any construction project.
We do all this with the aim of saving time and money, as well as boosting the sustainability of the project. Moreover, we offer early error detection. Another thing that is gaining a lot of value right now is the digitization of the construction sector because, in the post-Covid age, the more we can work remotely, the better. Thanks to our services, when we inspect a construction site, you can register and share the results on our online platform with any user. We enable you to have lots of eyes on the project, without anybody actually being there.
Iván Zamarrón: Checktobuild integrates processes, technology and talent within a solution that is interoperable with the entire BIM ecosystem in construction, taking a great step towards the automation of project control. The company provides crucial support for making production decisions, as it detects execution errors early, enabling the supervisor to respond quickly with an early warning that is high standard, precise and informed. We want to protect the business case of all the agents in the construction supply chain. Checktobuild plans to consolidate its position in the #ConTech market in the short term in Spain, in order to diversify quickly to other markets, particularly the Americas and Southeast Asia. The backdrop of legal and investment uncertainty generated by the current government in Spain forces startups to develop new markets, there is no doubt about it.
How did the idea come about? What was the development process like?
Alejandro Ruiz: Checktobuild originated in a UC Berkeley Extension program. After my first entrepreneurial venture, I had a project with drones in mind and, on the program these, I met a Brazilian engineer who introduced me to BIM technology or, in other words, 3D blueprints. After discovering this technology, I thought that, if we then use drones to create a 3D model of the construction project, I could use BIM to create a comparison method and thereby inspect the project automatically. So, the idea took root and, in the afternoons, we started going around Silicon Valley to contact investors and people in the sector, but the project still needed development. On my return to Spain, I resigned from my job to focus exclusively in Checktobuild. I put the team together, which is when I met Iván and all the others.
Once the team was established, we finished developing a precise procedure and tested it at my house on a wall that my brother built. We then began contacting various clients and we have already raised 105,000 euros of the 150,000 that we set as a target. We have our first 5 clients and rank among the Top 50 in Europe. Honestly, we are really pleased.
Iván Zamarrón: Alejandro is the true brains and driving force behind Checktobuild. It all started with his enrolment on the Master in Project Management at EAE Business School in Madrid, his Master’s Thesis and the residential program in California in the summer of 2019. This experience had a great impact and created the seed for company which took shape in the second half of that year.
EAE now facilitates an extensive ecosystem of professional and personal relations, which, in my case, has enabled me to be in this position, helping Alejandro develop a product that I believed in straightaway. Of course, when I met Alejandro, he seemed really on the ball and stood out in the class. The fact is that I am not at all surprised to see how far he has reached already. The best is still to come. Checktobuild is a great blend of technology enthusiasts (including the latest addition to the project, José Fernández Tamames, the Director of EAE’s Master in Big Data, a great colleague and collaborator) and other professionals from the construction sector, well aware of the dynamics of the industry and its potential.
What was the trickiest part of creating a startup? What challenges did you face? What was the most fun aspect of the process?
Alejandro Ruiz: The most fun aspect is the rollercoaster. It is the aspect that is most fun, but also the worst. It is a seesaw of emotions. One day, it all goes well and you think you are reaching the summit. Then, the next day, it all falls apart. In my opinion, that is what is most fun. In terms of the trickiest bit, I would say believing in yourself because, when times are tough, it is the only way to keep moving forward.
Iván Zamarrón: If you ask Alejandro, he’ll perhaps have other insights but, in my opinion, the trickiest part was coming up with an innovative product in practical terms (this industry is very sceptical, wary and not open to inventions) and quickly building a committed team with values and keen to make a contribution. Checktobuild has been built as a startup in a fairly empirical, agile way. These are not times to constrict innovation within excessively formal mechanisms.
The most fun aspect was signing the paperwork for the startup in a lockdown, fully in the throes of Covid-19, in front of a notary. We couldn’t even touch each other. We couldn’t have a drink to celebrate. But seriously, it was a bit sad too because, just as we were putting the official seal on our entrepreneurial venture, the Spanish business community (especially small and medium enterprises, the country’s true bedrock) was and is falling part, so we had conflicting feelings.
How did the knowledge and services of EAE Business School help throughout this experience?
Alejandro Ruiz: I have always had lots of things on the go. For instance, I am the author of three novels. But I didn’t really make a name for myself until I went to study at EAE Business School in Madrid. That is where I shifted from the concept of a university student living at home to a person striving for professional success. EAE helped me achieve that shift of mindset, thanks both to the tuition, which is extremely good, and the people you meet. The networking is great, especially if you know how to use it.
Iván Zamarrón: EAE Business School has exemplified the critical role that business schools traditionally play in achieving a free, entrepreneurial society. All the team members of Checktobuild for part of this professional middle class that is so valuable in Spain, who strive to educate themselves and develop their careers. As such, postgraduate education plays a key role for them. The best way to put it is that Checktobuild is a child of EAE. The School has been the glue, the catalyst, the test tube for the first drafts of the idea. Moreover, Alejandro regularly applied practical knowledge acquired on both the Master in Project Management, and the Minor in Agile Project Management and the residential program at Berkeley.
Looking forward, what does the future hold for Checktobuild?
Alejandro Ruiz: This is one of the problems for me because I am so optimistic that I am always thinking of the next big step and I sometimes seem a bit of a dreamer. But the fact is that, right now, with Checktobuild, everything is going really well as we are in great shape. We are currently benefitting from support from international startup accelerators and, within the next 18 months, we are going to break into the United States market.
Iván Zamarrón: I emphasize that we have to work with humility and perseverance, gradually. We learn something new from every concept test, every feedback meeting with clients, every requirement specification with suppliers, etc. Just like every company, we manage knowledge. We are learning and facilitate learning. It is an agile development with an adaptive approach, that is for sure. The future is promising. The lockdown has given us the chance to gain a bit of perspective, measure our next steps, lay the groundwork for development in Spain and put out our feelers in terms of innovation and international markets in view of the political and economic situation in our country.
Investment funds, business angels, clients and potential partners have approached us with real interest, not speculatively at all. We are confident that we are going to make a contribution to an important time in the construction sector, in which much greater emphasis will be placed on digitization, automation, industrialization of the building process, artificial intelligence, augmented reality, etc. I have been working as a professional for 16 years, wanting to see this happen, and now we are going to take part in it.
Do you have a message for any entrepreneurs reading?
Alejandro Ruiz: I would like to say precisely to entrepreneurs who right now are in a period in which I have spent a lot of time and am now just starting to make my way out of. They call it the desert. There is a point in which your idea makes sense and you start to take it further, but them comes and undetermined period until your turnover starts to climb and the team is 100% committed. That is a hard period but it does end eventually, so I would tell anyone currently at that stage to keep going. The rollercoaster has its downs, but also plenty of ups.
Iván Zamarrón: The currently climate contrives to persuade entrepreneurs that there is nothing to be done (with objective evidence to show them, for sure), but the capacity to create freely, to innovate, to develop tools and features, is an innate characteristic of mankind. The current crisis should not put tomorrow’s businesspeople off developing their ideas. In fact, just the contrary, it should make us more. We are living in historic times in which the state has to take on competences that are not its jurisdiction. Its size and role must be optimal in order to ensure free competition and entrepreneurship. However, now more than ever before, it is essential for entrepreneurs to embody values. We hope to see these entrepreneurs in parliament in the future. That would put my mind at rest, for myself and for our customers.